Here is a fun one–April and Maud call the td over to the game, and Maud is in a classic
ladder checkmate, with April’s two queens. However, April has no king. Upon query,
April states, “Well, I moved my king all the way to the eighth rank, and promoted my king
to a queen”. Neither are notating, and any kind of prior position is impossible to create.
As a further note, not all of the pieces are on the board that were there when the game
ended according to both players, as they have started to clear the board to reset the pieces.
The only way the TD knows of the strange transformation of April’s king, is April’s tale,
confirmed by Maud. The girls have shaken each other’s hands and agreed that April did indeed
win the game. Should this result be allowed to stand, or another imposed??
CoachBob, not sure, forgot to ask, a fellow TD sent me this–but I do believe it was USCF rated.
But, how would you have ruled on the game, either way??
I would agree with their decision and try to gently explain that certain moves are not legal in real chess. If they are not in a K-3 section, I would encourage them to learn notation from their coach or parent.
CoachBob- Adults are learning to play now more than ever. And many are starting in the novice section. One of my students, an adult, castled to get out
of check. As a coach, I take the “hit” for this one, for given her age, and length
of years in playing, I assumed she knew the basic rules. And we know where
assumptions lead us.
ask who won the game and treat the phrase “she did” as a resignation which means the game is over without the need for TD involvement.
try to come up with a position that has both kings on the board and that both players can accept as close to correct, with the players then continuing from that position.
Option one more closely follows a TD-non-interference philosophy while option two more closely follows a have-the-rules-followed philosophy.
Dealt with a similar situation one time. I was informed after the end of the game that two kids were playing with only kings left. When one of them got her queen to the other side, she said, “Queen, I win.” The other kid agreed and they marked the result. After rolling eyes, I accepted the result and gave them a short, funny lecture on the rules and the situation that arose. The kids giggled and agreed they goofed, but they agreed the result should stand as the game was over. One parent was not happy. I asked him where his son had received instruction on the rules and how to play. He sheepishly said that he had taught his son the game. I suggested several books and a good coach. Lessons learned all around.
The two players agreed on the result of thee game. The result stands.
I once had a game where I made an illegal move (left my king in check) and declared “checkmate”. He agreed, and shook hands. As we started to clear the pieces, he realized what I had done and said, “Oh wait. You were in check.” I said “Oh” and started to cross off the move on my scoresheet and sat down to continue play, but my opponent said that the result stood since we had agreed and shook hands. I “appealed” to the TD, but the TD upheld my opponents “claim” to the loss, and it was recorded as a win for me.
And for what it’s worth, both of us were adults, with ratings close to 700 at the time.
George Koltnowski recounted an incident in his weekly column many years ago.
He’s at his club watching two rank amateurs playing each other. After a flurry of captures and recaptures and more than a few blunders, each has only a king left. Yet, they keep making moves.
Kolty casually commented, “Er, not much purpose in playing on, eh?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” says one of the clueless dudes. “He just might make a mistake!”
Later on he goes by the board, and sees the same fellow packing up his pieces.
“Well,” he says, “I suppose that you figured out it was a draw.”
“Oh no,” says the guy, “I lost.”
“You lost? How??”
“He got his king to the eighth rank and made a queen out of it.”
now Bill, from a novice perspective, ie, a lack of knowledge of the choices one has while in
check, then it would be possible for them to “agree” that one was in checkmate. As I tell my
students, if you opponent tells you that your hair is blue, that does necessarily make it so.
Bill, I have to disagree. There is indeed a mate possible. I can think of eight positions, one of which is Qc7 and Ka8 with the king to move.
Now if you had said there was no CHECKmate then I would have agreed with you.
Some people think that the checkers rule, that a stalemated player loses, carries over into chess.
At one of my chess classes, two kids about 8 years old were playing. White had nothing but a King on e7. Black had everything (and on their starting positions) except d and e pawns. (Yes, white’s king is in check by 4 pieces, including the black king, er well, the kings are next to each other).
Black to play: Kd7!! … white played Kxf7!.. black shook his head and said “I just can’t mate this guy!”
My first tournament game, as a youngster, I took two pawns with one move. The mot
wonderful move of my chess career (although, it was of course, illegal). Called En Passant
(I did not understand the rule then), and took another pawn the usual way. I was proud
of myself-what a move. Then it dawned on me that there just might be a reason the chief
TD was laughing when I told him. (See I had an assumption–I naturally figured that if the
move was illegal, my opponent would tell me. Well, he assumed that if I made such a move it must be legal)
When you were both moving your kings here and there, exactly what were you planning to do? How were you going to attack? Why did you think you needed to defend?
If you knew that his getting to the eighth rank was important, just how could you let his king get past yours?
Did you notice that a lone queen can’t force a checkmate anyway?
If indeed you were just waltzing about until he made his break, and he was already past you, then why didn’t you take steps to queen your own king to even things up?
What would have happened when you both had just a queen? Would you have been looking for new ways to win, or waiting for a mistake? Just how could you win?
I suspect that Koltanowski felt discretion the better part of valor and snuck away.