As I understand it, the touch rule only forces the player to make a legal move:
"If none of the pieces touched can be moved or captured, the player may make any legal move."
http://www.fide.com/component/handbook/?id=124&view=article
So, the touch rule would not have any effect here.
Yep, he was lucky ...
tnx guys
What ended up happening?
i went on to win the game by exchanging the pieces and pushing the kingside majority
So he was allowed to play ...Re8+ at the time. Just checking.
i was unsure whether it was allowed or not so played on. turns out it IS allowed :)
But does resignation count as a legal move?
in a recent OTB game in my local club championship the following occured...
Black to move. My opponent initially thought he was losing his queen and touched his king and started to tip it over as if to resign. Then he noticed he has Re8+ and he only loses the exchange so he played it. Could I have claimed the win here due to the touch move rule? Bearing in mind the king does not have a square to move to?