Request for clarification of Rules 11A and 11B

Running Chess Tournaments
1

11A: Illegal move during last ten moves. If, during a game, it is found that one of either player’s last ten moves was illegal, the position shall be reinstated to what it was before the illegal move. The game shall then continue by applying Rule 10, the Touched Piece, to the move replacing the illegal move. If the position cannot be reinstated, then the illegal move shall stand…

11B: Illegal move prior to last ten moves. If it is found that an illegal move was made prior to each player’s last ten moves, the illegal move shall stand and the game shall continue.

TD Tip for 11A: When the illegal move is a king left in check,…(a)ll moves, not just the first move, in which a player’s king remains in check (emphasis added) should be regarded as illegal. That way, an illegal move will always have occurred within the last half-move…

I noticed this while watching a “scratch” game down at club the other day. One player overlooked a check and made an unrelated, illegal move. The opponent failed to notice it (or at least, said nothing) and made another move. The first player then noticed the check and responded to it, and play continued. No one said anything about it.

It seems to me, based on the wording of the TD Tip, that only those two moves, one from each player, are considered illegal, because the position and moves are once again legal once the check is belatedly parried, and once ten additional moves have been made by each player, there would be no more chance to correct the moves.

Had this been a tournament, and one of the players claimed illegal position after those ten moves had passed, I would have ruled that the moves should stand under 11B. Would I have been correct to do so?

2

I believe your answer is found in the rest of the TD tip:

This tip clearly gives the TD discretion. Furthermore, even though it is not explicitly written as a rule here, the tip infers that ALL moves after check are illegal. So, I do not think that after 10 moves any illegal moves would stand. The TD Tip after 11B clearly dictates to go back to rule 11A if a king is left in check. So, I am sorry, but I must disagree with you. It would be incorrect to rule that all illegal moves after an unresponded check should stand if 10 moves have been played.

3

No – only those in which a player’s king remains in check.

Let’s say white fails to get out of check on move 40, and remains in check also on moves 41 and 42, with black making “other” moves during this time. Finally, white moves out of check on move 43. The tip says that the most recent illegal move is black’s 42nd, so that the ten-move rule would apply through move 52 rather than through move 50.

I agree with Rochester’s interpretation.

Bill Smythe

4

Obviously, my judgment is based upon the king remaining in check. If 10 moves pass and the king is still left in check during all of those moves you cannot use rule 11B and claim that the moves will stand. That is the basis for my conclusion. The scenerio presented did not specify whether check remained or not. Thanks for pointing out that very important point.

5

That’s true, since even the last-played move is still illegal.

The question is, what position do you revert to, if the king has been in check for several moves? You may have to go back more than 10 moves to reach a legal move.

What if it’s impossible to reconstruct the moves back far enough? Do you revert to a position in which the player not on the move is in check? If so, is capturing the king then legal? What if both players are in check?

I guess that’s why the TD is given lots of discretion here.

Bill Smythe

6

Yes, in the scratch game I watched the king remained in check for only one move, and it was rectified unnoticed.

I agree with the part about the king remaining in check for a long time and is still in check when the illegal moves are noticed, the TD Tip is pretty clear that in that case, all the moves must be taken back.

Thanks for the input everyone.