Rule 14B3 Draw offer before moving

Running Chess Tournaments
1

Greetings from Asheboro, North Carolina!

I recently had to make a ruling based on 14B3, and fortunately it was not a complicated situation. However, it got me to thinking…

What if a player proposes a draw before moving, and then finds and makes a checkmating move before his opponent responds? The way I read this rule, he could still not revoke his draw offer. This seems fair to me, but fair and legal are not always one and the same.

However, this seems to be in conflict with Rule 13A, unless ending the game with checkmate has become illegal due to the draw offer. This is logical, due to the player having committed himself by offering the draw.
In the same way, you commit yourself to moving a piece by touching it.

I want to be sure on this, though. A high rated master disagreed with my
interpretation on this. His logic was that the rules of chess trump the rules of tournament play. It was a friendly conversation, and not due to any ruling on my part.

So what’s the verdict?

Sincerely submitted,

William T. Hales

2

Until the players BOTH AGREE to a draw the game is not over. For example, if the second player let the time run out on his clock while considering the draw offer, he’d still lose the game. If a move is made that ends the game in checkmate, the players can’t subsequently agree to call the game a draw – it’s already over.

So if a player offers a draw and then makes a checkmating move (before the offer is accepted) the game is over and the result is a checkmate.

3

He should have made his move before offering the draw anyways.

However, I agree that the draw offer cannot be withdrawn.

I also agree that if the player then makes a mating move, it is a moot point that there is a draw offer on the table and the game is over. Checkmate ends the game.

4

Checkmate ends the game. So does agreement to a draw. If the opponent accepts the draw offer before the player completes the mating move, the game is drawn. If the player completes the move first, he wins. The opponent’s attempted acceptance of the draw offer after completion of the mating move is irrelevant, because the game is over.

5

I agree with John and at the same time, I use these instances as opportunities to educate the members of my chess club. At the next tournament that you hold, it would be helpful at the beginning of it to announce that the proper way to make a draw offer is to make the move first, say I offer a draw and punch the clock. Your opponent then has the opportunity to take as much time as he wants on his clock to decide - if he runs out of time thinking about it, he will lose on time. Otherwise, he can take the time to decide before answering. Oftentimes when my opponents offer me a draw in this fashion, my immediate response is that “I’ll consider it, let me look for a minute” so that he knows that I’ve heard the offer and am considering it.

Most often the issues over the board are created because the players don’t know the proper chess etiquette because they’ve never received the instruction necessary to know it.

6

John,

14B3. Draw offer before moving., clearly states that:

  1. The player offering the draw must allow the offer to stand until accepted or rejected,
  2. the opponent may verbally agree, decline or say nothing at all,
  3. the opponent may require the player who offered the draw to make a move, and
  4. in any case, the offer may not be withdrawn.

Please note that this article concludes with the following words of warning: “Such a proposal … can be disadvantageous, as the player may subsequently notice a strong move [checkmate ??] and regret the inability to withdraw the offer.” [emphasis mine]

In view of this, I would say that the draw offer is still on the table, and that it can not be withdrawn.

What am I missing?

7

A draw offer can only be accepted during the game. If the player who offered the draw completes a move which gives checkmate before the draw offer is accepted, the game is over and anything the opponent does or says at that point is irrelevant. The same reasoning underlies 14B4 (“A player who offers a draw may claim a win on time if the opponent oversteps the time limit while considering the proposal unless the offer is accepted before the flag fall is claimed.”)

8

Greetings from Asheboro!

I must agree with Terry on this. Unless 14B3 is wrong in its wording,
I don’t believe a player who offers such a draw can end the game with checkmate. I need to make several points regarding this:

I think it is logical that a player cannot make a checkmating move to end the game after offering a draw, without giving his opponent the opportunity to accept during his move.

When you touch a piece, you commit to a certain course of action that is limited. If you find a move with a different piece that checkmates, you can’t withdraw your commitment to moving the touched piece.

If you commit to offering a draw, you have chosen to limit yourself to not pursuing a win unless the opponent rejects your offer. By offering this draw, you have taken your opponent’s attention away from his train of thought, and focused him on whether or not to accept the offer.

There are penalties in chess for making a hasty decision. When you make a draw offer at the wrong time, this commitment must carry a responsibility. The rule book even states that when you are offered such a draw, you have “the right” to ask your opponent to move first.

This rule does not make an exception for a checkmating move. I propose that a checkmating move has become illegal to make, because it would violate the right of your opponent to accept or reject the draw. At the very least, such a move should be considered void if the offer is accepted.

“In any case, the offer may not be withdrawn.” Making a checkmating move is de facto withdrawing your offer. The person offered the draw may reject it by making a move, which is the same idea.

I am not 100% sure of my interpretation, or I would not have posted the original question. I am 100% sure that my standard of fairness tells me that the offer cannot be withdrawn by checkmating the opponent. This interpretation seems to be the most consistent with other USCF rules.

Is there a “final” authority on such questions?

Sincerely submitted,

William “Tom” Hales

9

I agree with John.

Tim Just
5th edition editor

10

OK Tom,

The “final” authority has spoken!

I don’t have a problem with having a checkmating move occur after a draw offer was tendered.

You made a comment about the consequences of hasty decisions. There should also be the consequence that if someone is offered a draw with mate-in-one staring him/her in the face, that they should pounce on it.

You can’t say that a checkmating move should be illegal in that case. What if I construct a position where the only legal move for black is a move that unmasks a check and results in mate? (Unlikely, but it is also unlikely that someone with mate in one is going to offer a draw, AND his opponent will want to wait for a move to be made.)

On a similar note, if you and I are playing, and I checkmate you but do not realize it, and then after completing the mating move and starting your clock I “properly” offer you a draw, it is a moot point because the game is over even if you agree to the draw. I’ve already won. The rulebook clearly states that the player does not have to be aware that he won to still have won; a director that observes a mate can go off and pair the next round while the players go on for 30 more moves.

11

Greetings from Asheboro!

As a USCF tournament director, I accept this final authority and will
rule this way should the situation ever arise.

However, I must make two points. I do not agree that this is a good
policy. It seems to violate the basic principle of fairness. If I were
playing a game, I would not checkmate an opponent with a draw offer
pending. It seems unsportsmanlike at the least. I think this rule should
be reviewed and perhaps reconsidered.

Point 2: If the rule is not changed, I think that 14B3 should be clarified in the 6th Edition. If two TDs read this rule incorrectly, it could indicate a lack of clarity.

These points being made, I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into hammering out these rules. So my opinion is offered with all respect to the authors and editors!

I appreciate everyone taking the time to discuss this issue here. This forum is of immense value for serious TDs.

Sincerely,

William “Tom” Hales

12

I don’t agree with you here. If a player that got a draw offer let his time run out, he still loses the game. If the player offering the draw makes a checkmating move, then the second player doesn’t get a chance to accept or decline the draw offer. If the player offering the draw made a stalemating move, then the second player ALSO doesn’t get a chance to accept or decline the draw offer.

These all seem consistent and fair.

13

Tim Just is correct, of course, and John has done an excellent job of explaining why.

This rule may have its problems, but the problems presented by the opposite possibility are FAR greater. What if, for example, an hour after the game, the checkmated player finally points out that his opponent had offered a draw?

Bill Smythe

14

Thanks Tim, but that’s not what the rule says.

The player who was offered the draw might not immediately see the mate-in-one.

Though I reluctantly agree with the concensus on this, perhaps the rules committee should consider an amendment, since the current language is at least ambiguous. While I would rule, as the primary TD, the checkmate valid in this case, I might be hesitant to overrule another TD’s decision if (s)he should rule in the opposite way, based solely on the current language of the rule: with the exception of a flag fall, a draw offer cannot be withdrawn.

I’ve seen at least a few humorous so and sos offer draws in this manner, i.e., with a mate in one that they are aware of, for no other reason than to show their arrogance and unsportsmanship.

Robgetty: Regarding your last paragraph, the mate came before the draw offer, and therefore immediatly ends the game.

15

I don’t understand. The guy who could deliver mate-in-1 offers a draw? He’s risking that the draw will be accepted quickly!

I guess the flavor of the rules is that checkmate trumps anything else. It ends the game immediately even if the players don’t notice it; the same is not true of say triple-repetition. In the jungle, a kill is a kill.

After checkmate, if you go back thru the score and discover that the opponent made an illegal move or smuggled an extra rook onto the board, it’s too late to challenge the result isn’t it? You’re dead. If it’s like this I have two followup questions:

(1) What if he delivers checkmate with an illegal move? What if he takes a piece from the side of the board and delivers checkmate, later claiming he thought he was playing bughouse?

(2) If that’s too egregious and checkmate has to be delivered with a legal move, what if the move he makes just before the one delivering checkmate is illegal? In a time scramble, that wouldn’t give the opponent much time to react and realize the illegal move before he’s checkmated.

16

If the move causing checkmate is illegal, the game does not end, and the opponent may claim an illegal move.

If the move delivering checkmate is legal, the game is over and the player delivering checkmate has won.

17

FIDE covered that one by changing “checkmate” to “a legal checkmate.” That eliminates things like 1.e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Qxf7 mate.

Then he’s screwed (should have managed his time better). An illegal move may only be corrected during the course of the game (see 11D1 and 16D1). The only gray area is if the illegal move involved leaving a King in check. Then the “TD Tip” (not the rule) under 11A suggests that “All moves, not just the first move, in which a player’s King remains in check should be regarded as illegal.” There are some serious practical problems with this interpretation.