The rules of chess
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Here are some rules of chess. Read them.
The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess) are rules governing the play of the game of chess. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The rules also varied somewhat from place to place. Today Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), also known as the World Chess Organization, sets the standard rules, with slight modifications made by some national organizations for their own purposes. There are variations of the rules for fast chess, correspondence chess, online chess, and chess variants.
Chess is a game played by two people on a chessboard, with sixteen pieces (of six types) for each player. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The goal of the game is to checkmate, that is, to threaten the opponent's king with inevitable capture. Games do not necessarily end with checkmate – players often resign if they believe they will lose. In addition, there are several ways that a game can end in a draw.
Besides the basic movement of the pieces, rules also govern the equipment used, the time control, the conduct and ethics of players, accommodations for physically challenged players, the recording of moves using chess notation, as well as provide procedures for resolving irregularities which can occur during a game.
Initial setup
Chess is played on a chessboard, a square board divided into 64 squares (eight-by-eight) of alternating color, which is similar to that used in draughts (checkers) (FIDE 2008). No matter what the actual colors of the board, the lighter-colored squares are called "light" or "white", and the darker-colored squares are called "dark" or "black". Sixteen "white" and sixteen "black" pieces are placed on the board at the beginning of the game. The board is placed so that a white square is in each player's near-right corner. Horizontal rows are called ranks and vertical rows are called files.
Each player controls sixteen pieces:
At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram: for each side one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The pieces are placed, one on a square, as follows:
Popular phrases used to remember the setup, often heard in beginners' clubs, are "queen on her own color" and "white on right". The latter refers to setting up the board so that the square closest to each player's right is white (Schiller 2003:16–17).
Gameplay
The player controlling the white pieces is named "White"; the player controlling the black pieces is named "Black". White moves first, then players alternate moves. Making a move is required; it is not legal to skip a move, even when having to move is detrimental. Play continues until a king is checkmated, a player resigns, or a draw is declared, as explained below. In addition, if the game is being played under a time control players who exceed their time limit lose the game.
The official chess rules do not include a procedure for determining who plays White. Instead, this decision is left open to tournament-specific rules (e.g. a Swiss system tournament or Round-robin tournament) or, in the case of non-competitive play, mutual agreement, in which case some kind of random choice is often employed. A common method is for one player to conceal a piece (usually a pawn) of each color in either hand; the other player chooses a hand to open and reveal their color. Play then commences with white.
Movement
Basic moves
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I have just worked out my problem, I have been moving my knights the wrong way
Okay, yes, I have question about this site. The following game was played just now and I got frustrated at my opponent for not accepting the draw when it was a draw and he forced a win on time from me. I have played on engines and sites before where a draw by three-fold repetition would be automatically enforced by the engine and so was not aware when playing this game that I had to do it immediately after I made my move. Is there a way chess.com can fix this feature so that a draw can actually be enforced rather than rage being built up by one player due to his opponent not understanding the rules of chess?
No, it actually follows the rules of chess.
In a chess game you must claim the draw, it does not automatically happen. In a tournament you would stop the clock and call a TD to claim the win.
Yeah. I hit the draw button. Why wasn't a draw claimed despite the fact that it had already hit third-move repetition? Like I said, chess.com does NOT follow the rules of chess. If it did, the draw would be enforced regardless. If I claim a draw in a tournament, I show the proof to a third party (in this case, the third party is an engine), the move list, and the arbiter sees that third-position repetition has been made and enforces opponent to accept a draw. The game only allowed me to offer a draw and my opponent kept declining. So I kept offering it because I knew it was a draw and even posted on his page that he was being a dick for not knowing the rules of chess. How do I claim a draw when it is a draw then? In OTB play, you can simply just claim a draw without even having to make the move that will lead to a draw. Also, the arbiter enforces a draw when a draw is claimed but the site wouldn't let me claim a draw. (Hence, it would happen automatically.) I swear if I lose another game because I had three-fold repetition and the site would only let me offer a draw, I am suing the site until it improves it's law features. My opponent should not have declined the draw is what I am saying. I offered it prior to my third-position repetition and after. My opponent clearly is an ignorant moron who does not know the rules of chess. He should not have been given the option to decline the draw offer.
@newengland: I haven't been in the situation, but this support page claims there is a second button called "claim draw" which you have to press to claim the draw on three-fold repetition or after 50 moves:
https://support.chess.com/customer/portal/articles/1444798-how-do-i-claim-a-draw-
Btw, the comment text all centered and put in a box for me. As if the previous comment was somehow missing a closing tag or overwriting some html styles.
Edit: Heh, at least I could get rid of the centering in this comment with some html trickery :)
Well that would be nice if there actually was a "claim draw" button that showed up after situations like that. I hit the draw button prior to making the third position repetition thinking my opponent knew the rule and what I would next play. He declined and then I made my move thinking the game would claim a draw like most sites but then he made a move breaking the three-fold repetition. I really don't think I should have to be lightning quick in order to enforce a draw as the help-and-support article suggests. The feature should be able to last after and beyond the third position repetition if you know what I mean. I have asked chess.com to edit that game to a draw though. IDK if they will.
Also, the OP does not have a dragon avatar. The dragon avatar is mine.
Just press the draw button. It is not difficult. Why should chess.com change the rules of chess just because you dont like them.
I pressed the "draw" button but all it was saying was that I was "offering a draw" when I was trying to claim a draw and enforce a draw. Thus, my opponent had the option to decline and he kept declining even though the rules clearly indicate that the game was long-since drawn at move 46.
Much in the same way that at a tournament you have two options:
Offer a draw to your opponent - which he or she has the right to refuse (that is what you did and your opponent did not need to accept)
Claim a draw - which if valid will end the game in a draw, your opponent cannot do anything about it or "refuse" (this is what you did not do and that is not the fault of your opponent or chess.com)
Those are the actual rules of chess.
My point was I was TRYING to claim a draw which in a tournament my opponent would not have had the right to refuse. I had no intention of offering a draw yet the server for some reason said I was offering a draw. I hit the draw button thinking it would end the game in a draw as it was already post move 46 (the third-move repetition). All it said was I was offering a draw. I told my opponent numerous times not to decline the draw offer as I was not offering a draw but was claiming a draw. My opponent had no right to decline the draw offer as I was not intending to offer the draw. This is the fault of chess.com. I have no idea why hitting "draw" even allowed my opponent that option. I'm new here so it's probably something that chess.com needs to work on about the draw button. Maybe throw in a "claim draw" button that appears after third position is repeated. It's not like for many the rule is obvious as it does not have to be three moves in a row but rather the position on the board has to be repeated. I think therefore a "claim draw" button would be better to have than just a "draw" button which only gives you the option of claiming the draw immediately after the third position is repeated (meaning opponents are actually given an option to decline a draw when the game is long since a draw). This is definitely a fault of chess.com. Again, I was not trying to offer a draw to my opponent yet because the server only gave me the option to offer a draw to my opponent, I kept clicking the "draw" button until either they accepted or forced themselves a win on time even though the game was long since a draw. I had chat disabled during the game but if I did have it enabled I would probably have clarified to my opponent my intention was to claim and enforce a draw and asked how I was supposed to do that. Again, I did not intend to offer my opponent a draw. There was only one draw button, I kept clicking it thinking it would claim a draw but it was only offering a draw. I was claiming a draw but the server said I was only offering a draw. My opponent should have had no right to refuse. This is therefore chess.com's fault and I hope they change that game to a draw and fix their draw status so that at the very least a separate "claim draw" button can appear when third-position is reached or fifty-plus moves without capture occurs. I shudder to think how many have lost drawn games because chess.com's "draw" button only allows them to offer a draw unless they catch the third repeated position exactly when it happens.
And further, if this was an actual OTB tournament, I would have actually also had the option to claim a draw which chess.com's software was not allowing me to do. Whenever I clicked the draw button post-move 46, it said I was offering a draw. I agree a draw offer my opponent can decline, however, a draw claim he cannot. A draw claim was what I was trying to make and enforce because I know the rules of chess. So I kept hitting the draw button thinking my opponent would eventually understand that the only reason I was doing this was because I was trying to claim a draw which chess.com's software was not allowing me to do. If chess.com is actually following standard, OTB rules of chess, (even correspondence rules of chess which is more what I play due to school and what-not) they would enable you to claim a draw or offer a draw thus giving you the option of whether you want to claim or offer a draw. As I was trying to claim a draw but chess.com's software did not allow that, this loss is on chess.com and I have requested them to fix it to a draw.
Even further, in OTB rules, a player does not even have to make the move which produces third-position repetition in order to claim a draw. He/she merely has to state their intentions of doing so and they can claim a draw. I've played people on shredderchess.net who have had the intention of placing me in perpetual check who have offered draw prior to third move repetition. Seeing this was their intention, I've accepted. I even clicked the draw button prior to the third-position repetition at move 46 and my opponent declined. I made the third-position repetition thinking the engine would automatically enforce a draw. Was shocked it did not, hit the draw button afterwards and was even more shocked when all it was saying was that I was offering a draw (I WAS TRYING TO CLAIM A DRAW FOR THE RECORD SO PLEASE DO NOT SAY THAT I ONLY WAS OFFERING A DRAW--CHESS.COM'S SOFTWARE WOULDN'T ALLOW ME TO CLAIM A DRAW SO THIS ON THEM!!!).
OK I WON'T SAY THAT ANYMORE!
(But you obviously did not do it correctly, so there is always that.)
HAVE A GREAT LIFE!!
How am I SUPPOSED to do it correctly?!? The site appears to only give me the option to claim a draw immediately after it happens. This is NOT what OTB tournaments do, FYI. So if you are trying to defend the site's clearly faulty software or my opponent's refusal to accept the draw when the game was drawn, then you clearly have no clue how the rules of chess work either. There's only one "draw" button and the site appears to only allow you to enforce the draw after you have made the third-position repetition. As my opponent made his move at move 47 before I could process what just happened, I think this is chess.com's fault, not my own and I am going to petition them to make this a draw as it is their faulty software that prevented me from claiming a draw. I kept hitting the draw button post-move 46 (when the game was by rule a draw) and it said I was only offering a draw. There's only one draw button. There's no "claim draw" button. So no, I was not doing it incorrectly. This is on my opponent for being ignorant of the rules of chess and on chess.com for having faulty draw software. Do not try to shift the blame to me.
This is also not what correspondence chess tournaments do either. You show the moves to the director and can claim a draw and the director makes final decision.
Rsava says: "Offer a draw to your opponent - which he or she has the right to refuse (that is what you did and your opponent did not need to accept)
-FALSE--I was trying to claim a draw by clicking the draw button. It would only allow me to offer a draw. The draw claim was valid had it allowed me to do that.
Claim a draw - which if valid will end the game in a draw, your opponent cannot do anything about it or "refuse" (this is what you did not do and that is not the fault of your opponent or chess.com)"
-FALSE--I posted on my opponent's board post-game that my "draw offers" which were only what chess.com was allowing me to do, was me claiming a draw and he had no right to refuse. This is the fault of both my opponent and chess.com. DO NOT try to defend the reputation of chess.com. Accept that I am correct on this and my opponent had nor right to reject the draw as I was not intending to offer a draw. Accept that chess.com's draw features are bogus and do not follow rules of chess. And DO NOT say that I did it wrong. Post-move 46, I only had the one option of clicking the draw button. I had NO intention of offering a draw to my opponent. That chess.com's bogus software interpreted it as that and my opponent kept declining my pseudo-draw offer is the fault of my opponent and chess.com not me. If you want to say it is my fault, then continue in your merry fantasies. DO NOT try to be apologetic toward this site just cause you "like them". Admit their draw feature is bogus and help me fix this situation so this game can be a draw.
newengland7
Just a guess, but it looks as if your opponent was taking advantage of the Chess.com programming. I have claimed many draws on three-fold repetition and have had no problems.
Typically, when I see that a position is about to repeated for the third time, I offer a draw and make my move. If the position is repeated for the third time, the system declares the game drawn. However, if my opponent declines the draw offer before I make my move, I have to make another claim after I make my move and before he makes his move. An opponent who is gaming the system can thwart the three-fold repetition claim if they act quickly (One of the limitations of playing online - no arbiter to verify a valid claim. OTB, you stop the clock and call the arbiter. Your opponent cannot decline the offer or make a move).
You need to make your move then press the "offer draw" button. If conditions are met it will be an immediate draw. If your opponent is very quick or is using premoves you may not have enough time to claim the draw. Tough.