Official Rules of Chess • Cardoza Publishing

THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS • CARDOZA PUBLISHING Rules of Chess ERIC SCHILLER 3 THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS • CARDOZA PUBLISHING THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS The following are the standard rules of chess as applied in World Championship competition. In later chapter we present some of the variations of the rules used in amateur, scholastic, and online com- petitions. These rules conform in most part to those of the world chess federation (FIDE), but differ significantly from those found in American tournaments conducted under the auspices of the United States Chess Federation. Since most American tournaments are amateur events, those rules are discussed in the section on amateur rules. This set of rules was composed by International Arbiter Eric Schiller, with the cooperation and valuable assistance of Interna- tional Arbiters Andrzej Filipowicz (Poland) and Yuri Averbakh (Rus- sia). They were used verbatim in the 2000 Braingames.net World Chess Championship and were personally approved by World Cham- pion Garry Kasparov and his challenger Vladimir Kramnik. Additional advice was provided by Lothar Schmid of Germany, the Interna- tional Arbiter who oversaw the Fischer vs. Spassky matches in 1972 and 1992. SCOPE The Laws of Chess cannot cover all possible situations that may arise during a game. The Arbiter’s judgment will apply when there is no specific rule available. RULES OF PLAY Article 1: The Nature & Objectives of the Game of Chess 1.1. The game of chess is played between two opponents who move pieces alternately on a square board called a chessboard. The player who has control of the white pieces (White) starts the game. A player is said to ‘have the move’, when the opponent’s move has been completed. 1.2. The objective of each player is to arrive at a position such that the opponent’s king has no legal move which would avoid the capture of the king on the following move. This situation is called THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS • CARDOZA PUBLISHING checkmate and the player who checkmates his opponent wins the game. The player who has been checkmated loses the game. Article 2: The Initial Position of the Pieces on the Chessboard 2.1. The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal alternating light and dark squares. The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner square to the right of the player is a light square. 2.2. At the beginning of the game one player has 16 light-colored pieces (the white pieces); the other has 16 dark-colored pieces (the black pieces). Each side has one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. 2.3. The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows where the following symbols represent the pieces: = pawn, = knight, = bishop, = rook, = queen, = king: cuuuuuuuuC (rhb1kgn4} 70p0p0p0p} 6wDwDwDwD} 5DwDwDwDw} &wDwDwDwD} 3DwDwDwDw} 2P)P)P)P)} %$NGQIBHR} v,./9EFJMV 2.4. The eight vertical columns of squares are referred to as files. The eight horizontal rows of squares are referred to as ranks. A straight line of squares of the same color, touching corner to corner, is referred to as a diagonal. Article 3: The Moves of the Pieces 3.1. No piece can be moved to a square occupied by a piece of the same color (white or black). If a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece the latter is captured and removed from the chessboard as part of the same move. A piece is said to attack a THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS • CARDOZA PUBLISHING square if the piece could move to that square on the next turn and capture an opponent’s piece if one occupies the square. 3.2. (a) The queen moves to any square along the file, the rank or a diagonal on which it stands. (b) The rook moves to any square along the file or the rank on which it stands. (c) The bishop moves to any square along a diagonal on which it stands. When making these moves the queen, rook or bishop cannot move over any intervening pieces. 3.3. The knight moves to one of the squares nearest to that on which it stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal. 3.4. The pawn has five legal moves: (a) The pawn moves forward to the unoccupied square immedi- ately in front of it on the same file (b) On its first move each pawn may advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied (c) The pawn moves to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece which is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece. (d) A pawn attacking a square crossed by an opponent’s pawn which has advanced two squares in one move from its original square may capture this opponent’s pawn as though the latter had been moved only one square. This capture can be made only on the move following this advance and is called an ‘en passant’ capture. (e) When a pawn reaches the rank furthest from its starting position it must be exchanged as part of the same move for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color. The player’s choice is not restricted to pieces that have been captured previously. This ex- change of a pawn for another piece is called ‘promotion’ and the effect of the new piece is immediate. If the desired piece is not physi- cally available, the player should summon the arbiter, who will pro- vide the piece. Alternatively, the player may use an inverted rook to represent a queen, or may lay the pawn on its side and verbally indicate which piece it represents. If an arbiter is present, the arbiter should replace the inverted rook or pawn with a queen. 3.5. The king can move in two different ways, by: (a) moving to any adjoining square that is not attacked by one or more of the opponent’s pieces, provided that the king is not in check THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS • CARDOZA PUBLISHING at the conclusion of the move. The king is said to be in check, if it is under attack by one or more of the opponent’s pieces, even if those opposing pieces cannot themselves move. (b) Castling This is a move of the king and either rook of the same color on the same rank, counting as a single move of the king and executed as follows: the king is transferred from its original square two squares towards the rook, then that rook is transferred over the king to the square the king has just crossed. Castling is illegal in the following situations: [i] if the king has already been moved. [ii] with a rook that has already been moved. [iii] while the square on which the king stands, or the square which it must cross, or the square which it is to occupy, is attacked by one or more of the opponent’s pieces. [iv] while there is any piece between the king and the rook with which castling is to be effected. Article 4: The Act of Moving the Pieces 4.1. Each move must be made with one hand only. 4.2. Provided that he first expresses the intention (e.g. by saying adjust), the player having the move may adjust one or more pieces on their squares. 4.3. Except as provided in Article 4.2, 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 resulting move is legal. If a player touches one piece belong- ing 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 which can be moved or captured. If it is unclear, the player’s own piece shall be considered to have been touched before the opponent’s. 4.4. (a) If a player deliberately touches the king and a rook he must castle on that side if it is legal. (b) If a player deliberately touches a rook and then the king he is not allowed to castle on that side on that move and the situation shall be governed by Article 4.3. (c) If a player intending to castle, touches the king or 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 THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS • CARDOZA PUBLISHING 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. 4.5. If none of the pieces touched can be moved or captured, the player may make any legal move. 4.6. If the opponent violates Article 4.3 or 4.4, the player cannot claim this after he himself deliberately touches a piece. 4.7. When a piece has been released on a square, it cannot then be moved to another square, and the turn is completed. The move is considered to be made when all the relevant requirements of Article 3 have been fulfilled. Article 5: The Completed Game 5.1. (a) The game is won by the player who has checkmated the opponent’s king with a legal move.

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