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I was taught that there can only be one Queen in a game of Chess regardless. Is this wrong? Email to joec40@gtepacifica.net. Wish to avoid arguments during a game of Chess.
MY TEACHER (NOW DECEASED) I CONSIDERED TO BE BOTH EXCELLENT IN PLAY AND KNOWLEDGEABLE IN THE GAME, AND HE TAUGHT ME ONCE A PAWN HAS REACHED THE 8TH RANK, IT MAY BE PROMOTED TO ANY PIECE THE PLAYER DECLARES, INCLUDING A QUEEN, EVEN IF HE ALL READY HAS ONE.
There is a clear rule which the F.I.D.E. ought to specify: The king cannot move to a square under control (check) of an enemy chessman even if that chessman is pinned. (To be pinned = to be in line between its own king and its enemy queen, rook or bishop). Please tell me how to clarify this rule according to F.I.D.E. laws? email: nigel_j2000@yahoo.co.in
<i>FIDE's updated version of their rules does cover this situation. Please refer to the <a href='http://handbook.fide.com/'>FIDE Handbook</a> link. --DH</i>
2002-8-22 Thanks for your reply. My question was answered in the FIDE handbook link you suggested, under Para. 3.9(a). But why is the para numbering and the arrangement of laws there different from this page?
1) You have a king and a knight, and so does your opponent. Your opponent has no time left on the chess clock. Do you win or is it a draw? 2) You have a king and a knight. Your opponent has a king and a queen. Your opponent has no time left on the chess clock. There is no theoretical possibility of checkmating him. Do you win or is it a draw?
The player whose opponent has no time left wins in both cases--it would be a draw if the player with time left had only his King. See Law 10.14.
1) This rule is ridiculous. I suggest we should use the 'world's worst chessplayer' rule-that is, if the opponent is out of time and it's theoretically possible to checkmate him, it's a win, otherwise it's a draw. Don't you people agree? 2) Also, each chess set should contain two queens for each player, and no player should be able to have more than two queens! This is reasonable! 3) And one more bright idea from me: here's a way to compensate for the advantage of being white: one player sets the chess clock (with unequal times for white and black), whilst the other chooses the side. Damn it, I should be in the FIDE rules committee!
But how will you determine whether it's theoretically possible to checkmate the out-of-time opponent? While simple cases are known, and a broader class has been determined by retrograde analysis for computer endgame tablebases, when the flag falls, certainly the theoretical value of a position of even a small degree of complexity is not known with certainty.
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And it is somewhat unsatisfying to have to look the final position up in the table to find out who won; and more troublesome that according to this rule, as the size of the known tablebases grows, positions that were won on time last year might be a draw the next.
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Most troubling is it assumes that a player with a theoretical draw would actually have been able to find and play that draw, so a player who thinks that the position is drawn but can't figure out exactly how may be better off to just sit and let the time run off the clock and gamble that his gut instinct that the position was drawn was correct, thereby making inferior chessplayers able to draw endgames they normally would have lost.
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Actually, however, most clubs and many tournaments include an 'insufficient material' clause, whereby a player may claim a draw whenever their opponent has insufficient material to mate them, thereby limiting these drawn to trivially drawn games. How trivial a draw is sufficient to put it on the list is a matter of some dispute, and the FIDE drew the line at 'a bare king cannot win,' which is a rather conservative stance, but where <i>are</i> you going to draw the line? Here's a list taken from the Portland Chess Clubs rules.
<li>single minor piece
<li>bishops of opposite color with one pawn
<li>bishops of opposite color with 2P vs 1, w/ two of those pawns blockading each other.
<li>KP vs K, king blocking pawn's advance
<li>KRP vs KR, king blocking pawn's advance
<li>KR vs KR
<li>KQ vs KQ
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In some of these situations, a weak player clearly has a chance of being swindled, yet the Portland Club made them draws anyway. Where would you draw the line?
I believe the list of insufficent force draws should be limited to those cases where neither side can win with the game played as a helpmate--no illegal moves, but both sides cooperating to mate one side. This would clearly be a manageably-sized list that wouldn't change after it was drafted--the list in the laws is incomplete but probably not by a lot.
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The list in law 10.4 should be extended to these positions and law 10.5 should be amended to have a draw when a player exceeds the time limit if the opponents pieces would be on list as drawn vs a bare King. The exact forces the time-limit violator has shouldn't matter--why should a player with King vs King and Knight get a draw while a player with King and Rook vs King and Knight gets a loss?
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This should still be a mangable level of complexity but would be more equitable.
To Robert Sclim: Your opponent is out of time. You have a theoretical opportunity of mating him if one of the following is true: 1) You have a pawn, a Rook or a Queen 2) You have two of the following {Bishop, Knight} (BB, BK or KK) , except when BB are the same color. 3) You have a Bishop and the opponent has one of the following: {Bishop with different color, Knight, pawn} 4) You have a Knight and the opponent has one of the following: {Bishop, Knight, Rook, pawn} That's not so much, now is it? This covers everything. Give me an example if it does not.
I have changed my mind about this. Overstepping the time limit should lose no matter what the positon on the board is (excepting the case where the game has actally ended by checkmate, etc. but the player didn't stop his clock). The reasoning is simple--the opponent of the violator observed the time limit. If he had also violated the limit, he might well have found better moves. How much better, who can say? Certainly it is possible he could have played enough better to change a loss into a win.
What happens if a false checkmate is claimed
Why is it that if a player squanders his time so as to have insufficient time (less than 5 minutes) to keep score, he is rewarded by being alleviated of this responsibility, while his opponent who has conserved his time to leave enough to keep score is forced to do so? Either both players should be required to keep score, even if it results in time-forfeiture, or both players should be relieved of the responsibility, leaving it to the arbitor, as when both player have less than 5 minutes. The current rule allows the time-short player to gain the time to think, while his opponent writes down the moves, while his opponent does not. This is rewarding the perpetrator, while punishing the victim. The desire of the Arbitor, who is the 'owner' of the scoresheets, to have a complete record of the game should not supercede the rights of the players, nor impact the result of the games by favoring one player over the other. This is clearly a case of 'I make the rules (count the votes). What are you going to do about it?' - as favored by New York notorious Mayor Boss Tweed.
I was playing a game of chess with a friend and I was one move away from placing him in check and mate. Then, he placed me in check. The computerized game we were playing allowed my to make my final move and put my friend in check and mate while I was still in check. Is this legal or is the computerized game wrong?
the computerized version is correct if making the check and mate got you out of check.
The rule 4.2 should read: 'No piece, except the knight (Article 5.5), may cross a square occupied by another piece.' instead of: 'No piece, except the rook when castling (Article 5.1(b)) and the knight (Article 5.5), may cross a square occupied by another piece.' -- since there is no legal move in which a rook crosses a square occupied by another piece -- EVEN WHEN CASTLING.
but it DOES cross an occupied square... occupied by your king. 'Move your king two squares towards your rook, then move the rook to the other side of the king' (and by doing so, cross the square that the king is occupying now)
jg
Can one castle even though the queenside knight is still present, and all othrer conditions conducive to castling? There's nothing in the rules that explicitly forbids it, seeing the rook can jump over pieces during this move.
No, you cannot castle Queen-side if the Knight is still there. See rule 5.1.f.ii on this page. Also see our Castling FAQ at http://www.chessvariants.com/d.chess/castlefaq.html
Draw by repetition: A draw occurs if a repitition has occured three times, and the same player has the move, and both players have the same legal moves. Suppose in position 1, a player has not moved his king or rooks, so has the RIGHT to castle. However, castling is NOT a legal move in this position for some reason. Subsequently, he has moved his king and later moved it back befor the position has been 'repeated' again. Is this a repetition, assuming the LEGAL moves are the same? Another example: A player moves his pawn two squares, 'offering' it to be captured en passent, leading to position 1. However, the other player cannot take his pawn, because his own pawn is pinned, and would expose his king to check if moved. So the en passent capture is NOT one of his legal moves. If position 1 is 'repeated' later, with the same player to move, is this a true repitition, since the legal moves are the same?
Well, the current version of the Laws of Chess at <a href='http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=EE101'>http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=EE101</a> says
in Article 9.2,
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Positions are not the same if a pawn that could have been captured en passant can no longer be captured or if the right to castle has been changed temporarily or permanently. </BLOCKQUOTE>
So the answer to both your questions seems to be No.
(By the way, the link to the FIDE Handbook is broken and needs updating.)
can you castle if the rook has a piece ready to take it? otherwise, both rook and king have not moved, the night and bishop cleared the spaces, and the king is not in check.
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