Touch move rule should be abolished

A master explained it to me ages ago: If you're serious about playing chess, you play with your brain, and then grab the piece and move it.

I have problems with the touch move rule because I have had too many instances where right after I moved, I realized that the move I made was a complete blunder. Being down lots of material does not apply because you won the game because you outplayed your opponent. Winning by touch move means that you probably did not outplay your opponenet and you won by luck. The same goes for losing by touch move. I think that the game would be much more fun to play if the touch move rule did not exist.

Funny how thousands of OTB players don't have a problem with touch move and haven't lost a game because of it.

The downside I see to eliminating touch move is having the annoying dude who holds his piece for like 5 minutes

Touch - move is a bit of a nightmare to judge as an arbiter in kids tournaments. The problem with this rule is that kids are very anal. If one kid by coincidence knocks over the king, then the other kid will cry "Game over" etc.  But it is not so difficult if you explain the intention and application of the rule to them. Some will, of course, still try to exploit it. Without the touch move rule, matters would get worse at such an event. Kids will start disputing every move they or their opponent has made.

Live would get much easier if kings were allowed to be captured - no need to find out what the previous moves were. Checks are being overlooked so often.

The stalemate rule makes a lot of sense, keeps it interesting, teaches the stronger kids to pay attention and leads to a lot of anger and tears.

I have never experienced an OTB tournmanent yet so maybe my position is moot but I learned of this rule as a kid and always found it kinda iffy.  I mean, it can work both ways, you move something, then take it back immediatly you just exposed a possible game plan and that in itself is enough of a penalization*sp*.  Not only that some anxious, nervous bodies such as myself who play OTB with family and friends tend to move a piece to quickly realise, oh shit.  lol.

I dunno, perhaps until you are world class, I don't think the rule should exist, who knows, maybe not even then.

No... it means that you won because you were thinking with your head, and he was thinking with his hands.

You can't use the board as an analysis board.  If you make a move and then realize it's bad it's too late.  It's as if you're asking for take backs.  Obviously serious chess would never be played this way.  This is as silly as that other rule change thread about forced resignation.

The absolute worst case of touch-move enforcement that I've ever seen took place in a tournament in Saint John, New Brunswick back in the early 1980's.

It was a rainy day, and a few spectators had come in to watch the games. One of them was wearing a loose raincoat, and after looking at the play on one of the top boards he turned around to walk away... and the edge of his raincoat knocked the White King off the h1-square. The player (Charles Graves) bent down to retrieve the King off the floor, and as he straightened up with the King in his hand, his opponent said "touch-move".

The tournament director upheld his claim.

Unless the move that captured the king was illegal... which has happened.  In the complaint I heard the adult ruled the kid that lost his king lost the game... which is terrible.  In that case 1.Qxe8 wins every time.   I don't think there's any way around it.  It's just difficult working with a bunch of young kids.

Very poor TD... wow.

Although the ruling seems a bit harsh, i note that Graves could have simply said "i adjust" prior to picking up the piece.

blueemu wrote:

The absolute worst case of touch-move enforcement that I've ever seen took place in a tournament in Saint John, New Brunswick back in the early 1980's.

It was a rainy day, and a few spectators had come in to watch the games. One of them was wearing a loose raincoat, and after looking at the play on one of the top boards he turned around to walk away... and the edge of his raincoat knocked the White King off the h1-square. The player (Charles Graves) bent down to retrieve the King off the floor, and as he straightened up with the King in his hand, his opponent said "touch-move".

The tournament director upheld his claim.

Yeah, that was very poor officiating.

Agreed, Charles could have said "j'adoube"... but he wasn't reaching to touch a piece on the board. It was on the floor.

Here's a little mental exercise:

Which of these following two scenarios is the above story (about Charles) closest to?

1) You've already captured an enemy Knight and it's sitting beside the board when someone knocks it off the table... under the rules, you DON'T need to say "j'adoube" before picking it up.

2) You reach out onto the chess-board to properly center a piece on its square... under the rules, you DO need to say "j'adoube" first.

You might answer: Well... an already-captured piece isn't in play.

Neither is a King on the floor.

So if I don't want to say "I adjust", the king stays on the floor and the game continues without it, right? You certainly don't have to say anything, if the king accidentially is knocked off the board, because it is clear that you are touching the piece to put it back on its square.

On topic: Never had a problem with touch rule in my tournament games. My opponents, too.

International it is "j'adoube"! Written in the English version of FIDE rules! 

I don't see any reason to change this rule! 
Of course there are problems to prove it even in big tournaments. If there is no witness for example. Then you simply have statement against statement! 

chess players are honest truthful and to be taken at their word always, especially in big tournaments when a touching dispute arises

In those days games were adjourned. This would have been a perfect challenge of the arbiter's claim before the jury! The game would have been adjourned until the jury decision! 

No! Definitively not! I remember a case in Biel were a GM from Latvia took back a done move. His opponent unfortunately had no witness for this. Bad luck! 

Rubbish.

What's rubbish?

Touch-move rule is good in tournament and other serious games, but for training and very friendly game it often makes sense to be lenient or even allow a take-back. A blunder can ruin a beautiful game.