The Elements and Basic Rules of Chess

The Board and Chessmen:

Chess is a game played by two opponents on a square, checkered board of 64 black and white squares with 32 black and white men. All of the squares are used in chess. The alternate light and dark colouring of the squares is a useful visual aid, with the pieces of each side distinctively coloured to avoid confusion. Often the squares are not actually white and black, but the lighter-coloured squares are always called white squares and the darker-coloured squares are always called black squares, no matter what colour they are. The board is always placed between the players so that a white square is at the bottom right-hand corner.
Each player has sixteen men at the beginning of the game:

K one king
Q one queen
RR two rooks
LL two bishops
NN two knights
eight pawns

The light-coloured men are always called “White,” and the dark-coloured men are always called “Black,” no matter what colour they actually are.
The traditionally used design of the chessmen is called a Staunton set because it was first proposed by the Englishman, Howard Staunton (1810-1874) who also first standardized the rules and organized the first international chess tournament in 1851. The Staunton design is preferable to other designs for playing in tournaments because of its elegance and simplicity and because each piece is easily distinguished from the others: The king is the tallest piece, with a crown surmounted by a cross. The queen is the next largest piece, also crowned but with a little knob on top instead of a cross. The bishops are rather slender figures with a slit on top that reminds one of a bishop’s miter. The knights are easy to recognize because they look like horse’s heads. The rooks look like castles with turrets. The pawns are the smallest pieces with a large rounded knob on top.
The eight horizontal rows of the board are called “ranks,” and the eight vertical rows are called “files.” Set up the White pieces as follows on the first rank from left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook, and place the pawns on the second rank. Set up the Black pieces in exactly the same way facing the same White pieces but place them on the eighth rank with the pawns on the seventh rank (see diagram on Page 1). Notice that White’s queen is on a white square and Black’s queen is on a black square.
To summarize the opening set-up of the board and pieces, the board always has a white square at each player’s right-hand corner, the rooks are always in the corners, the knights are beside them, and the bishops are next to the knights. The kings and queens are on the centre-most squares, but remember the rule, “queens on their own colour” and that a white square must always be in the bottom right corner to ensure that the pieces and board are set up correctly. All the pawns occupy the entire rank in front of these pieces.

Chess Notation:

In any chess diagram, White is always at the bottom and Black is always at the top. You will need to know chess notation. In this way, you will have access to any chess book or newspaper column, and you will be able to record all your games. Today the universal system of notation is the algebraic system, but a few years ago the descriptive system was often used. Nowadays, the algebraic system is standard everywhere, and this is what is used here.
The eight files are designated by the lowercase letters, a to h, from left to right, and the eight ranks are numbered from 1 to 8 from bottom to top. Therefore, each square can easily be identified by its rank and its file (with the file being stated first). Thus in the initial position shown on Page 1, the White king is on e1, the Black king is on e8, etc.
In English, the pieces are identified by the first letter of their name using a capital letter, with one exception: the king is K, the queen is Q, the rook is R, the bishop is B, and the knight is N (this is the exception; N is used because K is already used by the king). Pawns have no letters and any move written without a capital letter is a pawn move. If you record your game, all moves are numbered in order, starting with a number before each move by White with Black’s move following. (A complete move is a move of both players. If a move by Black is given without the move by White, then three dots (...) are placed before Black’s move to signify the missing White move.

1) A move is indicated simply by identifying the piece to be moved, followed by the square to which it moves (its arrival square): i.e., Bb5 means the bishop moves to the b5-square.
2) A capture is indicated by a multiplication sign (x) before the arrival square: i.e., Nxe4 means the knight takes the piece on e4.
3) If a pawn moves, then only the arrival square is given: i.e., d4 denotes a pawn moving to d4. Pawn captures are shown by giving the file on which the pawn starts, followed by the capture sign, and finally the arrival square on which the capture is made: i.e., exf5 means that the pawn on the e-file captures the piece on f5.
4) An en passant capture is shown like a normal pawn capture on the square where the pawn arrives followed by e.p. after the move: i.e., dxc6 e.p. means that the pawn on the d-file takes the pawn on c5 by arriving on c3. (See en passant below under How the Chessmen Move and Capture.)
5) A check is indicated by a plus sign (+) after the move: i.e., Qa4+ means a queen moves to a4 giving check.
6) When more than one piece of the same type can move to a particular square, the file is given immediately after the piece if this is sufficient to identify the piece that moves: i.e., Ngd7 means the knight on the g-file (and not the knight, say, on f3) moves to d7. If both pieces of the same type on the same file can make the move, then the rank is used instead: i.e., R1f3 means that the rook on the first rank (as opposed to the rook, say, on f7) moves to f3.
7) Checkmate is shown by # after the move: i.e., Ra8# means the rook moves to a8 delivering checkmate.
8) Pawn promotion is shown either by just putting the new piece after the pawn’s move or by putting an equal sign (=) or backward slash (/) after the move followed by the promoted piece: i.e., exd8Q or exd8=Q or exd8/Q means that the pawn on the e-file takes the piece on d8 and promotes to a queen.
9) Castling is indicated by 0-0 for kingside castling or 0-0-0 for queenside castling. (Note that the number 0 is used and not the capital letter O.)

How this notation works is quite logical, consisting simply of common sense, and will become more clear as we continue. Some special symbols used in chess notation:

K king
Q queen
R rook
B bishop
N knight
x captures
+ check (sometimes ++ is given for a double check)
# checkmate
0-0 castles kingside
0-0-0 castles queenside
e.p. en passant
... a move by Black without White’s move given
= Q (or /Q) promotes to a queen
! good move
!! brilliant move
? poor move
?? blunder
!? interesting move, but a speculative move
?! risky move, a dubious move
1-0 White wins
0-1 Black wins
½-½ draw

The Object of the Game:

If the king is attacked, it is said to be in check and it must get out of check on its next move. Any move which does not get it out of check is illegal. If any illegal move is made, there is no penalty but it must be taken back and a legal move must be made instead.
The object of chess is to place the king in check in a position where he cannot possibly get out of check. This is called checkmate and it ends the game. If he cannot get out of check with any legal move, it is checkmated and the game is over. If he has no way of escape, that is checkmate, and the game immediately ends. The player putting the opposition king in checkmate wins the game. The king is not actually captured, or removed from the board. However, if one player sees that he has no hope of winning, he can resign. This often happens between very good players when one acquires such an overwhelming advantage that the other player resigns rather than prolong a game he is certain to lose.

How the Chessmen Move and Capture:

Each player takes turns moving. White always moves first. On each turn, a piece is moved from one square to another; if it lands on a square occupied by an opponent’s piece, then it captures that piece and removes it from the board. No piece may move to a square on which a piece of its own side is situated. Two pieces may never sit on the same square at the same time.
Now let us see how the chessmen move and what they can accomplish. All chess pieces capture the same way they move, by moving to the square on which an enemy piece is situated and removing the enemy piece from the board. The six different men all have their own unique way of moving:

Rook: The rook moves in a straight line horizontally or vertically as many squares as it wants but it may not jump over any piece in its path. The rook does not move diagonally. A rook sitting on one of the four central squares on an empty board can move to 14 different squares.

Bishop: The bishop moves only diagonally in a straight line as many squares as it wants but it may not jump over any piece in its path. The bishop does not move horizontally or vertically. Notice that each bishop can move on squares of one colour only. A bishop sitting on one of the four central squares on an empty board can move to 13 different squares.

Queen: The queen combines the moves of the rook and bishop, that is, it can move in a straight line in any direction but it may not jump over any piece in its path. The queen can move either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. A queen sitting on one of the four central squares on an empty board can move to 27 different squares. As such, it is the most powerful piece.

Knight: The knight’s move is the most difficult to understand. However, it is important to note that it is the only chess piece that can jump over another piece. Its move cannot be blocked by another piece of either colour that happens to be in its way: It simply hops over it.
It moves in an L-shaped fashion, two squares horizontally then one square vertically to the side, or vice versa, or one square horizontally then two squares vertically forward or backward. One of the best ways to picture the knight’s move is to picture in your mind the “six” on a die or domino with each dot representing a square:
. . . . .
. . . or . .
. .

Depending on how you are picturing it, it can be displayed either horizontally or vertically, and you can think of it either way. The knight simply starts on one corner and moves to the corner furthest from it.
At first, the knight appears to move oddly as it hops around the board in an unusual fashion, but note that the knight always moves to a square different in colour than that of its starting square. A knight sitting on one of the four central squares on an empty board can move to 8 different squares.

Pawn: The pawn can move neither sideways nor backwards, but only forward on its file. The pawn is the only piece that cannot move backward. It can move only one square forward at a time but on its first move only, it may move one or two squares forward. The pawn is the only piece that captures differently from the way it moves. It may only capture a piece situated diagonally one square ahead of it and not in any other way.
Remember that a pawn can move only forward and only one square at a time except on its first move when it may move two squares forward, and that a pawn can only capture one square diagonally forward.
Because the pawn’s move is so limited, it is the weakest man. However, it has great potential: If a pawn manages to move to the last rank, it is immediately promoted. It is then replaced by any other piece of the same colour, either a queen, rook, bishop, or knight, but not a king because there can only be one king for each side. It does not matter if the new piece is already on the board, so that it is possible to have more than one queen due to a pawn promotion.
Because on its first move a pawn may move two squares forward, a rule was instituted so that it cannot bypass an enemy pawn on an adjoining file. For example, if a Black pawn is on f4 and a White pawn on e2 moves two squares to e4, it appears that the White pawn has passed by the Black pawn and has avoided capture. So that a pawn making its first move cannot evade capture by a pawn on the file beside it, this rule, called the en passant rule was made. In this example, Black can still capture the White pawn as if it had moved only one square, but he may do so only on his next move and not thereafter. If he chooses not to capture the pawn en passant, he may not do so later. Therefore, even though the White pawn is on e4, Black captures it on e3, with the notation, ... fxe3 e.p. (Notice the three dots, signifying a move by Black. Note that only a pawn that has advanced exactly three squares from its starting square is in a position to make such a capture.)
To summarize the en passant rule: If a pawn moves two squares on its first move, and it lands beside an enemy pawn immediately to its left or right, then on the very next turn only, the enemy pawn may capture that pawn en passant, as though the pawn had moved one square only. This rule causes confusion in beginners, so study it carefully so that it is fully understood.

King: This is the most important piece in the game, but not the strongest piece. It can be moved only one square at a time in any direction. A king sitting on one of the four central squares on an empty board can move to 8 different squares. If a king is directly attacked by an enemy piece, he is said to be in check. A king cannot be left in check and a king cannot move into check. If he is in check, he must get out of check immediately. Any other move is illegal. There are three ways to get out of check: 1) move the king to a safe square; 2) capture the checking piece; 3) block the line between the king and the checking piece. It is illegal to leave your king in check. The game cannot be won by capturing a king that moves into check or fails to get out of check. A king may not move to a square next to the other king, so that the two kings can never stand beside each other.
When a king is in check and there is no legal way for him to get out of check, he is checkmated. However, the actual capture of the king never takes place, even though that is the object of the game. If he cannot escape his fate, the game is over.
Because the king’s safety is the whole point of the game, it is allowed to make a special move called castling which helps protect it. This is a combined move of the king and one of the rooks and is the only time in chess when two pieces move on the same turn. Although both the king and rook are moved, castling is considered a single move of the king, which therefore should be touched and moved first, because touching the rook first may lead to a claim that only a rook move is intended.
You can castle with either rook. Castling with the kingside rook (sometimes called castling short) is notated 0-0 and castling with the queenside rook (sometimes called castling long) is notated 0-0-0. Castling is permitted only once by each side in a game. To castle, move the king two squares toward the rook, then place the rook on the square over which the king has passed.
Before castling is permitted, six conditions must be present: 1) The king must not have been moved previously in the game. If the king has previously moved, castling is not allowed in the game at all. 2) The rook you want to castle with must not have been moved previously in the game. If the intended rook has previously moved, castling with that rook is not allowed at all. 3) All the squares between the king and the intended rook must be empty. 4) The king must not be in check. 5) The king must not move to a square where it would be in check. 6) The king must not move over a square that is attacked by an enemy piece.
In friendly games, it is often considered polite to say “check” when checking an opponent’s king, but there is no rule about this and it is not necessary. But the player in check must get out of check. If he can make a legal move to do so, he must. If he fails to do so, it is an illegal move that must be corrected. In tournament games, the players do not announce check, because speaking to your opponent is not allowed during the game, other than to resign or to offer or decline a draw.

Value of the Pieces:

The object of the game is to checkmate the king, but in order to help evaluate the progress of the game, each piece has a relative value which is essentially determined by its mobility on an empty board. Some men are worth more than others because each commands a different number of squares. The pawn is the basic unit because it is the least powerful man. The knight and bishop are considered to be minor pieces and are more valuable than a pawn. The rook and queen are considered to be major pieces and are more valuable than the minor pieces. The rook is more valuable than a bishop or knight and the queen is more valuable than a rook. The queen is therefore the most powerful piece. Roughly, centuries of experience has concluded that the chess pieces have the following point values:

Pawn: 1 point Rook: 5 points
Knight: 3 points Queen: 9 points
Bishop: 3 points King: infinite

Some players consider the bishop to be very slightly more valuable than a knight, but remember that these point values are only a guide because it does not matter if you are ahead in points if your king is checkmated. The king is the most valuable piece of all because if it is checkmated, the game is over. Therefore the king’s value is infinite because his safety is paramount. His safety is the whole point of the game. However, as an attacking piece some players consider it to be approximately the same value as a knight in the endgame.

The End of the Game:

There are three possible results to a chess game: a win for White, a win for Black, or a draw. In tournaments, the winner receives one point, and the loser none, while each player receives half a point in the case of a draw. There are three ways for a player to win: 1) by checkmating his opponent’s king; 2) by his opponent resigning; 3) by his opponent losing on time. (See Chess Clocks under Other Rules below.) As stated previously, checkmate occurs when one of the kings is in check and has no legal way of getting out of check. The player who is checkmated loses the game.
Not every game ends with a winner because a draw can occur. Draws can occur in eight ways:

1) Insufficient Material: A game is drawn if neither side has enough material for checkmate. There are generally five ways this can occur: a) king vs. king; b) king vs. king & one minor piece; c) king & one minor piece vs. king & one minor piece; d) king & rook vs. king & minor piece; e) king vs. king and two knights. There are others but these are the principal ones that occur most often. In order to force checkmate, it is necessary to be ahead by at least a rook, with the exception of e). As such, pawn promotion in the endgame is very significant because as long as there is a pawn on the board, it may potentially win the game by promoting.
2) Stalemate: The game ends in a draw when a player has no legal moves on his turn but is not in check. This is called stalemate. Stalemate is not the same as checkmate because it occurs when the king is not in check but that player has no legal move available to him with any piece on the board. When stalemate occurs the game immediately ends in a draw. In checkmate, the king is in check; in stalemate, he is not. Stalemate produces a draw while checkmate produces a winner. Stalemate often occurs by mistake when one player who is ahead by a considerable amount of material inadvertently allows the opponent no legal move without putting him in check. So be careful when you have an overwhelming advantage. However, stalemate can occur by force too, when the weaker side finds a way to divest himself of all his pieces while forcing his opponent to stalemate him.
3) 50-Move Rule: If both players have made 50 consecutive moves without capturing a man or moving a pawn, the player whose turn it is to move may claim a draw. A player may make this claim only when it is his turn to move. However, each time a pawn is moved or a piece is captured, the move count begins all over again. In order to make this claim, you must be on the move and make the claim before making your move. (The point of this rule is to prevent someone from playing forever when he has no realistic chance of winning, and also to penalize someone who does not know how to deliver checkmate when he does have enough material to do so.) Keeping an accurate scoresheet is the only way to determine this in tournaments.
4) 3-Fold Repetition: A draw may be claimed by a player whose turn it is to move if exactly the same position on the board has been reached three times, which is to say, all the pieces on the board must be in the same position each time. The same position does not have to be reached three times in a row. It only needs to have occurred three times in the game. In order to make this claim, you must be on the move and make the claim before making the move. Like the 50-move rule, keeping an accurate scoresheet may be the only way to verify this in a tournament.
5) Perpetual Check: Although a perpetual check is not defined in the rules as a draw, if one player can demonstrate that he can give check endlessly without the opponent being able to stop this, it is in effect a draw, because it must eventually lead to a 3-fold repetition or the 50-move rule being applied. Therefore, perpetual check is a draw. Many a game has been saved when a player finds a way to perpetually check his opponent, thereby turning a certain loss into a draw.
6) Agreement: Players may agree to call the game a draw. The correct way to offer a draw is to make a move, then offer a draw, and then punch the clock (if clocks are being used). The draw offer is good for one turn only. A player may decline the offer either verbally or by making a move, or he may accept the offer in which case the game immediately ends in a draw. If a player offers a draw before making a move, the opponent may accept it or wait until after the player makes a move to consider it. It is improper to be repeatedly offering a draw, as this may be considered to be deliberately annoying the other player. A draw by agreement typically occurs when both players clearly recognize that the game will inevitably end in a draw if neither side makes a blunder and both players recognize that the other will not make any mistakes. A draw by agreement can occur even with a lot of material still on the board.
7) Clock (I): If the clock shows that time has expired for both players, the game is a draw.
8) Clock (ii): A draw occurs when a player, with sufficient material to deliver checkmate, runs out of time on his clock, but the opponent does not have sufficient material to deliver checkmate.

Other Rules:

The Touch-Move Rule: If a piece is touched it must be moved if it is legal to do so. If a player touches an opponent’s piece, it must be captured if it is legal to do so. If a player touches a piece that cannot legally move, there is no penalty. However if a piece is not sitting properly on its square, a player may adjust it provided he first announces his intention. Traditionally, saying, “J’adoube,” (French for “I adjust”) is the universal way of doing this. If a player makes an illegal move, he must retract it and make a legal move. There is no penalty.
Behaviour of Players: Players are not allowed to do anything which may annoy or distract the other player. In tournaments, you are not even allowed to speak to the other player.
Advice: Players are not allowed to give or receive advice in any form, whether they ask for it or not. Any spectators are not allowed to give advice or to annoy the players in any way. Players are not allowed to consult books, notes, computers, or anything else during the game.
Scoresheets: In professional tournaments, players are required to keep scoresheets with an accurate notation of all the moves of the game. (However, with five minutes or less remaining on a player’s clock, he may dispense with this.) If any dispute arises, the scoresheet may be the only evidence by which the dispute can be resolved. Additionally, keeping a scoresheet allows each player to have a written record of the game which he may study later in an effort to improve his play.
Chess Clocks: Special chess clocks are used in tournament games to create certain time limits. Chess clocks have two time displays, a separate one for each player. The player’s clock runs only when it is the player’s turn to move, while the player’s clock does not run when it is not his turn to move. However, if a player neglects to punch his clock after making a move, his opponent is under no obligation to point this out.
In tournaments, the clock is situated on either side of the board as determined by the arbiter or tournament director. If this is not stated by the director, then the player playing Black chooses on which side of the board the clock will be placed. Before the game, the clocks are not running. To begin the game, Black presses his clock which starts White’s clock, and then White moves.
A player who does not make the required number of moves in the required time on his clock loses the game. When completing a move, a player must press the button on the clock which stops his clock and starts his opponent’s clock, but he must do so only with the same hand used to make the move. (Chess is a one-handed game.) Players must not touch the clock at any other time.
Appendix A

Sample Games

Here are examples of some unusually short Grandmaster games:

Réti – Tartakover: Vienna, 1910 (Caro-Kann Defence, B15):
1.e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 dxe4, 4. Nxe4 Nf6, 5. Qd3 e5, 6. dxe5 Qa5+, 7. Bd2 Qxe5, 8. 0-0-0 Nxe4, 9.Qd8+ Kxd8, 10. Bg5+ Kc7, 11. Bd8#. 1-0.

Marshal – Burn: Paris, 1900 (Queen’s Gambit Declined, D55):
1. d4 d5, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. Bg5 Be7, 5. e3 0-0, 6. Nf3 b6, 7. Bd3 Bb7, 8. cxd5 exd5, 9. Bxf6 Bxf6, 10. h4 g6, 11. h5 Re8, 12. hxg6 hxg6, 13. Qc2 Bg7, 14. Bxg6! fxg6, 15. Qxg6 Nd7, 16. Ng5 Qf6, 17. Rh8+ Kxh8, 18. Qh7#. 1-0

Amateur – Goetz: Strasbourg, 1880 (King’s Gambit Accepted, C33):
1. e4 e5, 2. f4 exf4, 3. b3 Qh4+, 4. g3 fxg3, 5. h3 (Loses instantly, but there aren’t any good moves.) 5. ... g2+, 6. Ke2 Qxe4+, 7. Kf2 gxh1/N#. 0-1.

Alekhine – Allies: Palma, 1935 (Caro-Kann Defence, B17):
1. e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 dxe4, 4. Nxe4 Nd7, 5. Qe2 Ngf6?? (a terrible blunder. 5. ... e6 is called for.), 6. Nd6#. 1-0.

McConnell – Morphy: New Orleans, 1850 (French Defence, C02):
1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. e5 c5, 4. c3 Nc6, 5. f4 Qb6, 6. Nf3 Bd7, 7. a3 Nh6, 8. b4 cxd4, 9. cxd4 Rc8, 10. Bb2 Nf5, 11. Qd3 Bxb4+!, 12. axb4 Nxb4, 13. Qd2 Rc2, 14. Qd1 Ne3, 15. Resigns (White must lose his queen.) 0-1.

Loye – Beamish: Cheltenham, 1913, (Giuoco Piano, C54):
1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bc4 Bc5, 4. c3 Nf6, 5. d4 exd4, 6. cxd4 Bb4+, 7. Nc3 Nxe4, 8. 0-0 Bxc3, 9. d5 Bf6, 10. Re1 0-0, 11. Rxe4 Ne7, 12. d6 cxd6, 13. Qxd6 Nf5, 14. Qd5 d6, 15. Ng5 Bxg5, 16. Bxg5 Qxg5, 17. Qxf7+ Rxf7, 18, Re8#. 1-0.

Gauderson – Paul: Melbourne, 1928, (French Defence, C02):
1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 cxd4, 5. cxd4 Bb4+, 6. Nc3 Nc6, 7. Nf3 Nge7, 8. Bd3 0-0, 9. Bxh7+ Kxh7, 10. Ng5+ Kg6, 11. h4 Nxd4, 12. Qg4 (White is not interested in capturing the knight; he is interested in getting at the king.) 12. ... f5, 13. h5+ Kh6, 14. Nxe6+ g5, 15. hxg6 e.p.#. (An extraordinary finish, – checkmate by capturing a pawn en passant!) 1-0.Appendix B

The Act of Moving the Chess Pieces and the Conduct of the Players

1. The players shall participate in the spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship. It is forbidden to annoy or distract the opponent in any manner whatsoever.

2. Chess is a one-handed game. Each piece must be moved with one hand only.

3. The clock must be started and stopped with the same hand that is used to touch a piece while making a move. The player must not touch the clock, except to stop his clock, which starts the opponent’s. In the same vein, a player should not continually hover his hand over the pieces, the clock, or the chessboard. The position of the clock is determined by the arbiter or tournament director, or, if not stated by him, by the player playing the Black pieces.

4. No one should point out that time has expired on the clock except the players. Spectators and tournament officials should not point this out. It is up to the players to notice this and if no one notices it, the game continues. If time has expired on both clocks, the game is a draw, but again it is up to the players to notice this.

5. It is forbidden to speak to your opponent except to resign or propose a draw.

(a) When resigning, it is customary to stop the clock, and offer a handshake while saying, “I resign,” although the offering of a handshake is considered sufficient. For an old-style touch, you can also tip over your king as a statement of resignation.

(b) When offering a draw, the proper way is to make a move first, then clearly offer the draw before stopping your clock. An offer of a draw at any other time or in any other manner is still valid, but the opponent is entitled to demand that the player make a move before considering the offer. Examples of accepted phrases to use to offer a draw are, “I offer a draw,” “Draw?,” “Would you like a draw?,” “Remis?” (French, pronounced ray-mee), or “Nichya?” (Russian, pronounced nee-chya).

©) The opponent may either accept the draw offer verbally, accept by offering to shake hands, decline the offer verbally, or make a move himself (which automatically declines the offer).

(d) Persistent offers of a draw fall into the category of annoying the opponent.

6. A move is completed when the player’s clock has been stopped and the opponent’s clock has been started. In addition, a move is completed under the following circumstances:
(a) in the case of the transfer of a piece to a vacant square, when the player’s hand has released the piece;

(b) in the case of a capture, when the captured piece has been removed from the chessboard and the player, having placed his own piece on its new square, has released the piece from his hand;

©) in the case of castling, when the player’s hand has released the rook on the square crossed by the king. Castling is a move of the king that involves the rook, and therefore the king must be touched first. When the player has released his hand from the king, the move is not yet completed, but the player no longer has the right to make any other move other than castling on that side, if this is legal;

(d) in the case of a promotion of a pawn, when the pawn has been removed from the chessboard and the player’s hand has released the new piece after placing it on the promotion square. If the player has released his hand from the pawn that has reached the promotion square, the move is not yet completed, but the player no longer has the right to play the pawn to another square.

(e) When determining if the prescribed number of moves has been made in the allotted time, the last move is not considered completed until after the player has stopped his clock.

7. When a piece has been released on a square, it cannot be moved to another square, and the turn is completed. The move is considered to be made when all the relevant requirements of moving a piece have been fulfilled. It is considered impolite to keep your hand or finger on a piece for too long after you’ve moved it while you survey the resulting position.

8. There is no penalty for touching a piece that is off the board. A player who advances a pawn to the promotion square, and then touches a piece that is off the board, is not obligated to promote the pawn to the touched piece.

9. A player, on the move, who deliberately touches one or more pieces of the same colour, in a manner which may reasonably be interpreted as the beginning of a move, must move or capture the first piece touched that can legally be moved or captured.

10. If no touched piece has a legal move, and no touched opponent’s piece can be legally captured, the player is free to make any legal move.

11. Provided that he first expresses the intention (e.g., by saying “J’adoube,” or “adjust”), the player having the move may adjust one or more pieces on his squares. However, excessive adjusting of the pieces, such as constantly turning the knights to face in a certain direction, might be considered to be deliberately annoying the opponent and can be dealt with by the arbiter under the rule governing of the conduct of the players.

12. Sometimes it is clear that a player is adjusting, even when that player improperly fails to say “J’adoube,” or “adjust.” For instance, a player who uses one finger to slide a piece to the centre of its square is not necessarily acting in a manner usual to the beginning of a move, and probably should not be required to move that piece. Players are warned, though, that it is wise to announce one is adjusting in advance, as a safeguard against being forced to make an unwanted move.

13. An arbiter who believes a player touched a piece by accident should not require the player to move that piece. For example, a player’s hand reaching across the board may inadvertently brush the top of another piece, or a player may knock over a piece accidentally.

14. A player who deliberately touches a piece and then accidentally releases it on an unintended but legal square is required to leave it on that square.

15. If no touched piece has a legal move, and no opponent’s piece touched can be legally captured, the player is free to make any legal move.

16. Except as provided in the above, if the player having the move deliberately touches one or more of either player’s pieces on the chessboard, the first piece touched must be moved or captured. If the player touches one piece belonging to each side, the opponent’s piece must be captured using the player’s own touched piece, or, if this is illegal, move or capture the first piece touched. If it is unclear, the player’s own piece shall be considered to have been touched before the opponent’s.

17. If a player deliberately touches the king and a rook, he must castle on that side if it is legal.

18. If a player, intending to castle, touches the king or the king and a rook at the same time, but castling on that side is illegal, the player must choose either to castle on the other side, provided that castling on that side is legal, or to move the king. If the king has no legal move, the player is free to make any legal move.

19. If a player deliberately touches a rook and then the king, he is not allowed to castle on that side of the board on that move and the player must move the rook if this is legal. See 6. ©).

20. If none of the pieces touched can be moved or captured, the player may make any legal move.

21. If the opponent violates the touch-move rule, the player cannot claim this after he himself deliberately touches a piece. If a player wishes to claim that his opponent has violated this rule, he must do so before he himself touches a piece, otherwise his claim is void.

22. Most players make their move and then record it on the score sheet, but some record it first and then move. A player can do this either way. Recording the move first does not obligate the player to make the recorded move. It is the act of making the move on the board that is the determining factor.

 

Tournaments Within Our Own Chess Club:

In our tournaments, if any dispute arises over the rules, the decision of the Arbiter or the Tournament Director is final. He is considered to be the ultimate authority and it often occurs that his assistants confer with him to ensure that a ruling is proper, either in a question of rules or in an adjudication of the game. Remember, however, that an Arbiter is like a judge in a courtroom, and for him to rule on a dispute he will probably need evidence. If it is just one person’s word against another’s, his ruling will likely be based upon what he considers to be the fairest judgement based upon what the balance of probabilities were.
(Some of these rules, especially those concerning the touch-move rule, are not completely valid in the case of blind or disabled chessplayers. There are special pieces, boards, and rules for use by blind players. Since this does not apply for any current player in our chess club, I have not mentioned these situations here.)
It should go without saying that during a game, kibitzing (the offering of unsolicited advice, or even casual talk within earshot of the players), friendly or not, is forbidden. In fact, it is against the rules of chess to give or receive advice in any form during a game, whether solicited or not. Players are forbidden to consult books, notes, computers, friends, parents, spectators, or any other person or source during games.
For this and other reasons, we strive to keep parents and friends away from the players while play is in progress during tournaments. Our philosophy is to let the players play the game on their own. However, there is an expectation that the rules of chess will be respected, although we strive not to be too harsh or severe about this, but rather to be fair. Nevertheless, we expect the rules of chess to be followed.
Chess is a game that must played in silence, although it can get a bit noisy during our club games due to the excitement the game can create. However, during tournaments, there is an expectation of silence.
We do these things in order to give the players a sense of what occurs during the tournaments of the Chess Federation of Canada (CFC). We encourage any player who feels he can compete at that level, to join the CFC. We can offer advice and help in advancing to such a level. Indeed, children as young as seven to ten years old have competed in these tournaments, and have won games too. Age means nothing in chess.

 

“Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.”
– Siegbert Tarrasch, 1862-1934

“There is nothing wrong with moving quickly, but you should never move hastily.”

“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”
– William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
(Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Sc. 3)