What did the TD say or recommend? it seems like even if that isn't exactly spelled out in official chess rules, it would still be spelled out for the tournament.
Illegal move counted?
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I will offer two opinions, neither of which are supported by any factual knowledge or experience whatsoever.
1. The only harm you did was wasting a few of your own seconds. He should not be awarded a half-point for that.
2. Don't you mean you accidentally dropped the piece, then picked it up and placed it on the correct square? Yeah, that's what happened. Of course if its a big game you may need Alexander Hamilton to back you up on that.
Tim, the TD told us he can clear this up by just offering a draw. He was originally saying that he would put 2 minutes on, but the player didn't pause the clock to bring it up, so he couldn't do that, but then he also said that it doesn't matter if I didn't press the clock and fixed my move. I don't really trust him because there's been rules that I've reviewed that he was in fact wrong about, but nothing really about this. I didn't really want to argue since I'm 16, and I'm just dealing with adults, and I was in a major rush to leave, so I just said yeah sure. Yes, Ivan, I dropped on the wrong square. We were moving so quickly since we knew one or the other was going to lose on time.
I am not sure of the rule, however, I think that you would probably be okay to change your move as long as you didn't hit the clock first. I believe that illegal moves are clock-move. However, once he made a move after your illegal one, any claim on an illegal move is completely null and void. He cannot return to the point where you made an illegal move once he moves, nor can he make any claims related to it, so you should have won the game, and not taken the draw, although why you agreed to a draw is understandable.
It somewhat depends on the time control you were playing under, but it sounds to me like your TD never bothered actually reading the USCF handbook.
If you dropped your piece on the way to it's intended square and it drops onto an illegal square, then of course your only obligation is to move the piece you touched.
If your opponent lost on time but THEN tries to complain about this illegal move business and chose not to immediately pursue the TD, then it's too late. Once you agree on a result to the match, it's set in stone.
So, if you accidentally made an illegal move, but corrected yourself before he bothered to say anything and before hitting the clock, then I don't see where there ought to be any punishment. Certainly least of all would be changing the result to a draw after he lost on time.
If it was rated I'd consider submitting a formal complaint to the USCF about the TD, he shouldn't be in charge of stuff if he can't be bothered to understand what's going on and enforce the correct rules.
Well, this is kind of an old thread now, and it's much too late to complain, but thank you for the insight. It was a rated game, but after that little incident, I made sure to never go back there for a tournament with that TD. That same person acts like he practically knows nearly all of the rules relative to tournaments. It's all in the past though, that was a draw against a ~1400, last tournament I played in, USATE, I beat two 2000+'s. I'd rather look to the future. :D
Mar 13, 2011
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#8
It's a good idea to avoid tournaments directed by that TD. He missed several things:
1. A move is not completed until the clock is pressed (there was no illegal move)
2. A claim of a rules violation has to be made during the game, not after.
3. If your opponent makes two moves (ten moves if more than 5 minutes are on the clock) following your illegal move, the illegal move stands (not applicable to your case, but useful to know).
woton wrote:
It's a good idea to avoid tournaments directed by that TD. He missed several things:
1. A move is not completed until the clock is pressed (there was no illegal move)
2. A claim of a rules violation has to be made during the game, not after.
3. If your opponent makes two moves (ten moves if more than 5 minutes are on the clock) following your illegal move, the illegal move stands (not applicable to your case, but useful to know).
CORRECT!! If your playing with clocks your turn doesn't end until you hit the clock. I had a game like this where I touched my piece (which happened to be a pawn) and was intending to move it up one space and attack a bishop (but while I was about to make the move I realized that it would be bad for me. My opponent jumped on the situation and was like "TOUCH MOVE" like he had won the game. I calmly moved my pawn 2 spaces instead of the one I had intended and my position was saved.
This happened to me during a tournament game a few days ago. My opponent and myself were both under 5:00, I made an illegal move but I did not touch the clock, (basically I was just doing anything and quickly noticed it was illegal) so I moved the same piece I touched onto a legal square. Does my opponent still receive an extra 2 minutes? He lost on time, but he complained to a TD about it, so we just agreed to a draw. (He said it was an illegal move after I put my piece on the correct square, and he didn't pause the clock so we kept playing.) Should I have won, or should he have received the 2 minutes?