Saying/Calling check

The most recent thread on this that I found was five years old so...

...seriously, I must have missed the part when saying check went out of favour - or perhaps I just missed that part of my chess education. I fully recognise that it is not done in professional chess and - so people say - not in tournaments or club chess.

In my teens  - in the 70s - I played competitive chess (tournaments and matches) and reached BCF 164 (1940 Elo) and I always said "check" - not in an aggressive gamemanship way, just that I thought it was (literally) conventional. No-one ever complained and most of my opponents - but not all - also said "check".

I played some competitive chess again late 80s and early 90s and my experience was again the same - ie, I did it; some others did; no-one complained.

I now coach chess and tell my students to say, "check" - not as a "you have to" rule but in a "this is what you do" way. Am I  - inadvertently - training my students to annoy their opponents? Perhaps I am.

Yes you are!

It's a distraction more than anything else.  Especially in time trouble when you are checking every move, it's extremely distracting.  I actually TELL (yes, TELL, NOT ASK) my opponents to cease immediately.  If they don't stop, I start slamming pieces on my moves to get the point across to them.

It is the responsibility of the player in check to recognize that they are in check.  By the time you get to my level, almost 2100, even with a low tone, you are going to get a lot of "No Sh*t Sherlock" type responses by the 2nd or 3rd time you say "check".

If the player in check doesn't get out of check, then it depends on the type of tournament you are in:

Blitz - Player can capture the King

Quick or Standard - Player states that you made an illegal move, reports it to the TD, and the TD adds 2 minutes to the non-offending side's clock.

in all tournaments I have participated in we don't say check anymore.

but in the first tournament one got angry because I did not say check and he moved a piece that resulted him in losing his queen cause he had to use it to prevent the check.
so he lot up the rule book and even got in to discussion with the TD who is rated 2000.
before the tournament everyone told me it was most polite not to say check so I said nothing. which the TD also told the angry person.

Is this part really true?: Blitz - Player can capture the King

Quick or Standard - Player states that you made an illegal move, reports it to the TD, and the TD adds 2 minutes to the non-offending side's clock.

The rule is used many places in clublevel because it is fun however the rule is that it is illegal to be in check and move something else and therefore you lose the game.

there is no official otb blitz rating so people do what they want.
but I was told by someone who read the rules that capturing the king is wrong.
in the club I used to play we also play with taking the king if he overlook check.

not in quick there is no 2 minutes if you make an illegal move your opponent can claim a win.

FIDES law of chess §b3

An illegal move is completed once the opponent’s clock has been started. The opponent is entitled to claim a win before he has made his own move. However, if the opponent cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves, then the claimant is entitled to claim a draw before he has made his own move. Once the opponent has made his own move, an illegal move cannot be corrected unless mutually agreed without intervention of an arbiter.

 

Which article of the FIDE Laws of Chess is that in, i can't find it?

http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf
it is in the book...p17 p18

also I think
annoucing check is not directly forbidden however you may say it is unnessesary noise in the playing room. p14.

12.6 It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner whatsoever. This includes unreasonable claims, unreasonable offers of a draw or the introduction of a source of noise into the playing area.

a helpful point, Estragon - thanks.

Slamming your pieces on the board to get your point across?  I hope that is facetious.  Enough said.

Not mandatory

wow this post was six years ago.  What am i doing here?

Imo, chess is for beginners or scholastic players and when you get better, you don't have to imo.

Going back to the original point from a casual player’s point of view (not a club or tournament player) - two people I play I know are capable of not only recognising they are in check but foreseeing that could be coming. In those instances neither of us say “Check” because we trust the other player is aware of the fact. It is also true that we do not say “Checkmate” but rather wait for the other to agree it is Checkmate (usually with a nod or smile). Because we are good friends and play often we don’t do the handshaking business.

One player I play who I also allow him to take back moves etc, I do announce “Check” because he may not recognise the situation on the board.

If someone I didn’t know told me they were a club player I would expect not to have to tell him/her they were in check or checkmate.

Just my view.

Saying check is good sportsmanship, especially in a friendly game or club game.   However, when you're playing in a tournament for money, most players don't say check because:  A. It's not required by the rules  B. Not saying check might lead to your opponent wasting valuable clock time by analyzing the wrong moves.   Also, you should never say check in a blitz game, because if your opponent doesn't see the check, he will make an illegal move (which you can claim as a foul/penalty) and in coffeehouse games you can capture his king and win that way.

I always say checkmate and then stop the clock when I mate my opponent.   

Quick question, idk if you guys know much about scholastic tournaments, but if you call checkmate, and the tournament organizers go over to make sure it's checkmate but then you run out of time by the time they get there, who won? your opponent or you

I played OTB f and was a TD for years back in the day, and also coached a (very very good) scholastic team. I always thought only rookie /weak players actually said check. My view was that it was an insult to say check as it was so obvious. 

To me, it's opinionated. This is why I ask my opponent, "Do you want me to say check when you're in check?" 

How are hockey players checked?  Now that's a confusing game!