Bughouse rules

Running Chess Tournaments
1

Is there a document available that describes official rules of Bughouse that the USCF uses when it runs side events?

Some questions that have come up for me include whether the end of the game is at checkmate, or at king capture. I’m guessing it is at Checkmate, but that also brings up an issue. Suppose that a position is reached that would normally be checkmate, but there is the possibility of interposing. In that case, theplayer could wait until his partner captures a piece, and then drop it, blocking checkmate.

If stalemate is reached on one board, what happens? If a player has no legal moves, he could wait until he receives a piece, and then drop that piece, thus having a legal move. What if both boards are stalemated and neither partner has a piece in hand? (Seems highly unlikely, but I’m guessing someone has thought of it and written down an answer.)

I’m sure there are other questions that I haven’t even thought of. I’m guessing that since side events are run at the Scholastic championships, there is an official set of rules. Is there, and can I get it?

2

Here is a link to the Rules and Regulations:

main.uschess.org/content/view/7864/131/

The bughouse rules can be found there.

– Jabari

3

Thanks.

For those curious about the questions, checkmate ends the game, but if an interposition from a dropped piece is possible, it isn’t checkmate. There is no stalemate. The player with no legal moves would just sit with his clock running until it expired, causing a loss.