Castling Variation - Touch Rook First

I agree with this, yes. Also, apology of course accepted :)

The player would not have to be touching both pieces at the same time.

- Player touches the Rook intending to castle.

- Player realizes mistake and releases Rook.

- Player picks up king and proceeds to castle as though he'd never touched the Rook.

Maybe it would be easier for me to give Tim Just a call. :)

This is all very confusing, and I blame the rule book. The rule book discusses the case of the rook being touched first, but it doesn't clarify whether that also means that the rook can be MOVED first. In other words, in the case of the rook being touched first AND moved first (before the king is touched), does the touch-move rule supercede the castling rule, or are you allowed to first move the rook, release the rook, then move the king? I don't know for sure, and I can only make a guess.

I would lobby for the USCF to just adopt the FIDE castling rule.

The rule doesn't need to clarify what it isn't. Only what it is. There is no mention of being allowed to take a completed Rook move back because that's not what the rule is about.

Whether or not the rule has been incorrectly written and was supposed to mean that would be an entirely different question, but the rule is not ambiguously worded.

It's just a starnge concept for the USCF to have introduced. It's the reason why it's been introduced that's confusing people more than anything. It's worded clearly, it's just such a stupid rule that people are perhaps questioning if that's what it really means (or just misreading something, which is easy to do).

Castling is for sissies....a real man attacks the opponent without any delay...

No rule posted here has said you're allowed to castle Rook first. The rule says you can touch the Rook and still castle. It doesn't say you can castle Rook first. That is not said.

You're 100% making that up in your own head. I can't explain it any other way to you. The rule simply doesn't say what you're saying it does.

Castling is considered as a King move and the king should always be touched/moved first when castling . Many players castle using both hands but this isnt always allowed by all arbiters I dont believe . Some opponents will complain about people castling using both hands . The confusion is partly due to USCF and FIDE rules being somewhat different where castling is concerned .  I have played many tournaments under fide rules as well as uscf rules and have discovered that where they differ in the rules I much prefer FIDE's rules and find them superior/more logical . 

As I tell the kids who are just starting out: castling is a king move. You are moving the king to safety (we hope). So you start by touching the king. Do this always and you will never be entangled in a worthless, time-consuming argument.

The intent? The idea of rules isn't for each reader to make their own guess at what the intent is behind each rule and then follow that interpretation instead of the rule itself. Everybody has to follow the same set of rules: the actual rules themselves.

If you think that the rule has been written incorrectly and doesn't say what it was intended to say then that's very bold of you but it isn't relevant here. You can't take a thesaurous to each word in the rule and substitute things in until it makes the sense that you believe was the intent of the writer.

The rule isn't ambiguous. There is only one way to correctly follow that rule. It isn't worded in a way that could mean two different things.

Just like playing the game of chess itself, the time isn't wasted if it's interesting or enjoyable to somebody. Once I stopped being frustrated I starting enjoying this discusion.

Just stick to touching the King first.

I don't know, urk. How could I?