CHAPTER VI
CHESS RULES
I. The board must be so placed between the two players, that each has a white square at his right hand corner.
II. If a board is incorrectly arranged it may be adjusted, provided the error is discovered before either of the players has made more than three moves. When more than three moves have been made on either side, the players must continue the game without correcting the position of the Board.
III. The chessmen must be of a pattern in general use and any player may object to playing with men of a foreign design, provided the objection is made before the first move. A game once begun must be completed with the same set of men.
IV. If, at any stage of the game, either player discovers that a Piece or Pawn has been omitted or wrongly placed in setting up the board, the game must be annulled, no matter how far it may have progressed.
V. The choice of color with which each person plays is decided by drawing lots; and the person who draws the White men is entitled to the first move unless otherwise agreed. In a match or series of games between the same players, each retains the color which he drew for the first game, but the first move of each successive game alternates between them. If a game is annulled, however, the person who opened that game has the privilege of making the first move in the next game.
VII. When odds are given, the odds-giver has the choice of men and the first move in each game unless otherwise agreed.
VIII. The players move alternately, one Piece or Pawn at a time, except in castling; and in no case does a player make two moves in succession, unless they are given as odds.
IX. If a player touch one of his own Pieces or Pawns, he must move it, if he can do so legally. If he cannot legally move it, he must move his King. If a player touch more than one of his own Pieces or Pawns, he must move any one of them which his opponent may select; if none of them can be legally moved, he must move his King.
If a player touch one of his opponents Pieces or Pawns, he must take it if it can be taken legally; but if he cannot take it legally, he must move his King. If a player touch more than one of his opponent's Pieces or Pawns, he must take any one of them which his opponent may select; or if none of them can be taken legally, he must move his King. The touching of a force implies an intention to move or take it, according as it is the player's own or his opponents; but if a player wishes to touch a Piece or Pawn for the purpose of adjusting it on the board, etc., he must make his intention clear by saying "J'adoube," or words to that effect, before touching it. It must also be understood, that in compelling a player to move a particular Piece, the opponent can only indicate the Piece to be moved, not the particular move it shall make.
X. A legal move is complete and irrevocable when the player making it has ceased to touch the man moved, but as long as his hand remains in contact with it, he may move it to any square which it commands and which he has not touched with it during his deliberation. If a player after taking hold of a Piece or Pawn touches with it all the squares which it commands, he must move it to any one of them which his adversary may select.
XI. A Pawn on reaching the eighth rank must be queened or exchanged for any other Piece, except a King, that the player may select; and the move is not complete until the player has made the exchange.
XII. Each player may castle once during a game with either his King's Rook or his Queen's Rook under the following conditions:—
(a) If neither his King nor the Rook with which he intends to castle has been moved.
(b) If the squares between the King and Rook are unoccupied.
(c) If the King is not in check.
(d) If the King in moving does not cross a square commanded by any opposing man.
A player must make evident his intention to castle by either:
(a) Moving his King first, or
(b) Moving King and Rook simultaneously.
XIII. The capture of a Pawn en passant is a forced move if no other move is possible.
XIV. If a player makes a false or illegal move when it is his turn to play, he must retract it and make a legal move or move his King as his opponent may select. If he captures a Piece or Pawn belonging to his adversary in an illegal or false move, he must take that Piece or Pawn legally or move his King as his adversary may select.
XV. Moving out of turn is an illegal move.
XVI. If a player, in attacking his adversary, fails to call "Check" he cannot exact any penalty if his opponent fails to notice the check.
XVII. When check is given, any move made by the player, whose King is in check, is illegal if it does not stop the check.
XVIII. If a false or illegal move is found to have been made, in a game, all subsequent moves must be retracted, and a proper move made, after which the game proceeds as if no error had been made. But if the source of the manifest illegal or false move cannot be traced, then the game must be annulled.
XIX. In the case of a dispute between the players, if the question is one of fact, it must be referred to a bystander or umpire; and if it is a question of law it must be referred to any acknowledged authority on the game. The decision, in either case, must be final and accepted by both players.
XX. Bystanders or umpires are not allowed to interfere in a game of Chess or with the players, except under the following conditions:—
(a) When appealed to to settle a question of fact.
(b) When a Piece or Pawn has been omitted or misplaced in setting up the Board.
(c) When a false or illegal move has been made, but only after another move has been made to allow the players time to discover the error.
XXI. If a bystander interferes in a game, or gives advice to either player as to his move, or cautions or encourages him in any way by voice or gesture, the game must be annulled.
XXII. If a player waives his right to impose a penalty or agrees to depart from the rules of the game, he cannot demand a like concession from his adversary. A player cannot impose a penalty after he has made his own next move or touched a Piece or Pawn in reply to the illegal or false move of his adversary.
XXIII. When a Piece or Pawn touched cannot be legally moved, and when the King cannot be legally moved, no penalty can be exacted.
XXIV. When the King is moved as a penalty, he cannot be castled.
XXV. When a game is played by time, and when a player is considering what penalty to inflict, the time shall be counted against him and not against his adversary.
XXVI. Each player must make a given number of moves (generally eighteen) within an hour, which is arranged for at the beginning of the game, and if a player fails to make the given number of moves within the specified time he forfeits the game.
XXVII. Each player must keep his adversary's time, but he is not obliged to give his adversary any information concerning it.
XXVIII. A player loses a game:—
(a) When a dispute arises and he refuses to accept the opinion of a bystander or umpire, or that of a recognized authority.
(b) When he ceases to play and fails to resume within a reasonable time.
(c) When he wilfully disarranges the men or upsets the board.
XXIX. A player may claim a draw:—
(a) When the same move, or series of moves, has been repeated three times.
(b) When the same position has occurred three times, it being the same player's turn to move each time.
(c) When, after fifty moves, no Piece or Pawn has been captured by either side.
Rules when Odds are Given.
XXX. The player giving odds is entitled to the choice of color and to the first move unless otherwise agreed.
XXXI. When a Pawn is given as odds it is to be the King's Bishop's Pawn.
XXXII. The player receiving the odds of a move or moves must not play any Piece or Pawn beyond the fourth rank, or beyond the middle of the board, before his adversary has made a move.
XXXIII. A player giving the odds of the exchange may remove whichever Rook he may select, and he may also call upon his opponent to remove either Knight or Bishop.
XXXIV. A player receiving two or more moves as odds must make those moves at once and they are to be counted collectively as if they were his first move.
XXXV. A player giving a Knight or Rook, or two minor Pieces, as odds, may remove whichever Knight or Rook or minor Pieces he may choose.
XXXVI. A player giving a Rook as odds cannot castle on the side from which the Rook was taken.
XXXVII. When a player undertakes to mate with a particular Pawn, he may not Queen it.
XXXVIII. When a player undertakes to mate on a particular square, his adversary's King must be on the square in question when it is mated.
XXXIX. If a player undertakes to win a game in a particular way, he is to be adjudged the loser if he wins it in any other way, or if the game is drawn.
(The rules for ordinary play apply when odds are given unless they are obviously inapplicable).
Rules for Play by Consultation.
XL. Each player is bound by the move communicated to the adversary, whether such move be declared by word of mouth, in writing, or be made on the adversary's board.
XLI. If the move communicated differ from that made on the player's own board, the latter must be altered.
XLII. If a move, as communicated, admit of more than one interpretation, the adversary may adopt whichever interpretation he chooses. He must, however, before making his move, announce which interpretation he adopts, otherwise the move is to be interpreted according to the intention of the player making it.
XLIII. A player moving more than one man (except in castling) or moving a man when it is not his turn to play, shall forfeit the game.
XLIV. If either player permit a bystander to take part in a consultation game, the adversary may claim a win.
XLV. If any bystander interfere by sign, word, or gesture, in a consultation game, such game shall be null and void.
(The rules of ordinary play also apply to consultation play unless obviously inapplicable).
Rules for Play by Correspondence.
XLVI. An umpire or referee shall be appointed whose decision shall be final upon all questions submitted to him.
XLVII. A move is final and cannot be recalled when dispatched by the medium agreed upon before the beginning of the game. If it is a false or illegal move, the person making it is subject to the same penalties that he would be subjected to were he playing over the board.
XLVIII. If a move is sent in such a way that it admits of more than one interpretation, the adversary may interpret it to suit himself. When sending his own move in return, however, he must state which interpretation he used, otherwise the move must be made according to the intention of the sender.
XLIX. A player is not obliged to send more than one move at a time, and if he does he must abide by those moves if they are legal, and if not he must pay the penalties for false or illegal moves.
L. When no penalty for delay has been agreed upon, the person who fails to send his move on or before the appointed time forfeits the game.
LI. If a player accepts assistance other than that which may have been agreed upon at the beginning of the game, he loses the game.
LII. If a player sends an unintelligible move, he is subject to the same penalty that he would have to pay if he did not send any move at all; but the opponent must announce to the umpire that the move in question is not intelligible.
(The rules for ordinary play also apply to play by correspondence unless obviously inapplicable).