The new Laws of Chess: what has changed?
1 July 2009 11:00 AM CET Last modified: 11:16 By Peter Doggers
As of today, July 1st, 2009 our beloved game of chess has a new edition of its official rules: the Laws of Chess. The best known, and most-feared change is the so-called “zero-tolerance” rule: a player who arrives just a few seconds late at his board, loses the game. We asked top arbiter and chairman of the FIDE Rules and Tournament Regulations Committee, Geurt Gijssen: what has changed, and why?
New Laws of Chess – what has changed?
We’ll start by discussing the infamous change of arriving late at the board, the so-called “zero-tolerance” rule: a player who arrives just a few seconds late at his board, loses the game.
Arriving (late) at the board
Old rule:
6.6 If neither player is present initially, the player who has the white pieces shall lose all the time that elapses until he arrives; unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.
6.7 Any player who arrives at the chessboard more than one hour after the scheduled start of the session shall lose the game unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.
New rule:
6.6 a. Any player who arrives at the chessboard after the start of the session shall lose the game. Thus the default time is 0 minutes. The rules of a competition may specify otherwise.
b. If the rules of a competition specify a different default time, the following shall apply. If neither player is present initially, the player who has the white pieces shall lose all the time that elapses until he arrives, unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.
This rule was already tested at the Olympiad in Dresden, November 2008, where the one-hour margin was changed to zero, which was possible because the October 2005 Laws of Chess already state that it’s possible to arrive late one hour unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.
The “zero-tolerance” rule was widely criticized after it became clear that the arbiters were applying it a bit over-enthousiastically. For example, a player who had already been at his board, but was away looking for a pen, was forfeited. Something similar happened at the recent Chinese Championship, where Hou Yifan was forfeited despite the fact that she was in the playing hall.
Optional: no short draws
In the July 1, 2009 version of the Laws of Chess, Article 9, which is about the drawn game, starts with a new, extra rule:
9.1 a. The rules of a competition may specify that players cannot agree to a draw, whether in less than a specified number of moves or at all, without the consent of the arbiter.
This means that the Sofia Rule hasn’t become part of the Laws of Chess (yet) but at least it has now been specified that organizers are allowed to include measures to prevent short draws.
Besides, the rule about incorrectly claiming a draw is now a bit simpler:
Old rule:
9.5 If a player claims a draw as in Article 9.2 or 9.3, he shall immediately stop both clocks. He is not allowed to withdraw his claim.
1. If the claim is found to be correct the game is immediately drawn.
2. If the claim is found to be incorrect, the arbiter shall add three minutes to the opponent`s remaining time. Additionally, if the claimant has more than two minutes on his clock the arbiter shall deduct half of the claimant`s remaining time up to a maximum of three minutes. If the claimant has more than one minute, but less than two minutes, his remaining time shall be one minute. If the claimant has less than one minute, the arbiter shall make no adjustment to the claimant`s clock. Then the game shall continue and the intended move must be made.
New rule:
9.5 b. If the claim is found to be incorrect, the arbiter shall add three minutes to the opponent’s remaining thinking time. Then the game shall continue. If the claim was based on an intended move, this move must be made as according to Article 4.
Old rule:
12.2 b. It is strictly forbidden to bring mobile phones or other electronic means of communication, not authorised by the arbiter, into the playing venue. If a player`s mobile phone rings in the playing venue during play, that player shall lose the game. The score of the opponent shall be determined by the arbiter.
New rule:
12.3 b. Without the permission of the arbiter a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue, unless they are completely switched off. If any such device produces a sound, the player shall lose the game. The opponent shall win. However, if the opponent cannot win the game by any series of legal moves, his score shall be a draw.
Chess960
Introduced for the first time in the Laws of Chess are the rules for Chess960, also called Fischerrandom. We quote the articles in full:
F. Chess960 Rules
F.1 Before a Chess960 game a starting position is randomly set up, subject to certain rules. After this, the game is played in the same way as standard chess. In particular, pieces and pawns have their normal moves, and each player’s objective is to checkmate the opponent’s king.
F.2 Starting position requirements
The starting position for Chess960 must meet certain rules. White pawns are placed on the second rank as in regular chess. All remaining white pieces are placed randomly on the first rank, but with the following restrictions:
a. the king is placed somewhere between the two rooks, and
b. the bishops are placed on opposite-colored squares, and
c. the black pieces are placed equal-and-opposite to the white pieces.
The starting position can be generated before the game either by a computer program or using dice, coin, cards, etc.F.3 Chess960 Castling Rules
a. Chess960 allows each player to castle once per game, a move by potentially both the king and rook in a single move. However, a few interpretations of standard chess games rules are needed for castling, because the standard rules presume initial locations of the rook and king that are often not applicable in Chess960.b. How to castle
In Chess960, depending on the pre-castling position on the castling king and rook, the castling manoeuvre is performed by one of these four methods:
1. double-move castling: by on one turn making a move with the king and a move with the rook, or
2. transposition castling: by transposing the position of the king and the rook, or
3. king-move-only castling: by making only a move with the king, or
4. rook-move-only castling: by making only a move with the rook.Recommendation
1. When castling on a physical board with a human player, it is recommended that the king be moved outside the playing surface next to his final position, the rook then be moved from its starting to ending position, and then the king be placed on his final square.
2. After castling, the rook and king’s final positions are exactly the same positions as they would be in standard chess.Clarification
Thus, after c-side castling (notated as O-O-O and known as queen-side castling in orthodox chess), the King is on the c-square (c1 for White and c8 for Black) and the Rook is on the d-square (d1 for White and d8 for Black). After g-side castling (notated as O-O and known as king-side castling in orthodox chess), the King is on the g-square (g1 for White and g8 for Black) and the Rook is on the f-square (f1 for White and f8 for Black).Notes
1. To avoid any misunderstanding, it may be useful to state “I am about to castle” before castling.
2. In some starting positions, the king or rook (but not both) do not move during castling.
3. In some starting positions, castling can take place as early as the first move.
4. ll the squares between the king’s initial and final squares (including the final square), and all of the squares between the rook’s initial and final squares (including the final square), must be vacant except for the king and castling rook.
5. In some starting positions, some squares can stay filled during castling that would have to be vacant in standard chess. For example, after c-side castling (O-O-O), it’s possible for to have a, b, and/or e still filled, and after g-side castling (O-O), it’s possible to have e and/or h filled.
To read a lot more about the rule changes, Chessvibes has posted about it here.
Stupid rule about coming late to the game.
hehe!! Yeah and we gettin on them about this white moving first in every game too,another stupid rule.