Castling with 2 Hands 👹 Legal or Illegal in the US? its a cool rule imo 🥶

Under USCF rules nearly a decade ago, Hikaru eliminated Nepo in an Armageddon tiebreak with black. Nepo appealed after Hikaru castled with two hands, deemed illegal under FIDE rules. Still, the committee rejected the appeal, giving Hikaru a warning since it was legal under American rules and he had no malicious intent. now I am wondering if is it still legal under USCF rules or not. also made this forum cause what do you guys think about casting with 2 hands? IMO it's one of the coolest rules if not the coolest rule IMO cause while it doesn't do anything visually it just feels like magic!

it's just so fluid and looks like a magic trick! here is Hikaru's response at the time where he stated it was legal in an interview but again don't know if they made it illegal now which is sad. it realistically is the only rule that makes sense to have legal as casting does involve moving 2 pieces so why not use 2 hands when making the move? it's not everyone's cup of tea especially Nepos but again what do you guys think?

https://new.uschess.org/news/just-rules-us-chess-vs-fide#:~:text=Using%20both%20hands%20to%20make,a%20rook%20move%2C%20not%20castling.

USCF has no rules about using the same hand for castling under classical time controls, but in USCF rated blitz, the players are required to castle with the same hand to "complete the move."

I guess when castling with two hands would be the most beneficial (to save time), that's when they make it illegal

I castle with the same hand (right hand) during all time controls. I don't want to have to think about what time control I'm playing; keeping things consistent gives me one less thing to worry about.

well ig I made an illegal move cause in a USCF rated blitz tournament on sat I castled with 2 hands in an armageddon trying to be like hikaru (ye ik I am not him) and ended up winning with black using a scandi. now with the same hand that I touched the king in the video I also hit the clock so would that technically still count as the same hand? or still illegal since I used both.

its just very funny idk why I just felt like doing it around 0:22 so yea but I actually am left handed when playing chess so it felt very weird using my right hand to castle even tho I am actually right handed haha

Technically an illegal move, but your opponent didn't call it before their move, so the illegal move stands as legal.

You were the black pieces and in USCF rules, the player with the black pieces gets to decide which side of the chess board the clock is on. If more comfortable for you, then you could have placed the clock on the other side of the chess board and then played with your dominant left hand. You can also alternate which hand to move with if you REALLY wanted to. The rule is that you must move the chess piece with the same hand you press the clock with, but there's no rule saying that you couldn't use your right hand for some moves and your left hand for other moves. You just can't use different hands in the same chess move (like castling).

ah so i did it thats awesome lets goooo nakamura style!!!

you would have to be a real a-hole of a player to call a director on someone for such a faux pas. I would never as much as talk to that person again if they pulled such a joke on me. This is the level of petty of someone touching a piece clearly by mistake with their forearm and getting the director called on touch move.

agreed there is no malicious intent and IMO casting with 2 hands should be legal at least in FIDE blitz tournaments

Me too. It's not as illegal as playing 1.g5, but still weird.