I want to ask TDs, “when is a tournament player allowed to make his moves? Can he make his move after his opponent’s move is only determined, or must the player wait til his opponent presses the clock? Is the player allowed to make his moves on his opponent’s clock time between the time his opponent makes his moves and next presses the clock?” What is legal here?
The move is not completed until the clock has been pressed. (9G)
It is not legal to make a move until it is that player’s turn to move, which occurs when the opponent’s last move has been completed–including pressing the clock. Thus, an illegal move has been made.
It is also very rude, thus it can fall under the player’s code of conduct.
As a TD, I would give that player a warning about this, but if the player keeps doing it, then there are several levels of sanctions possible, ranging from adding time to the opponent’s clock to forfeiture of the game and expulsion from the tournament.
This is the type of situation where a good TD will politely explain to the player the inappropriate nature of that player’s actions and the potential for sanctions if that inappropriate behavior continues.
Question for discussion: Is this a touch-move situation?
Question for discussion: Is this a touch-move situation?
That seems to have been hotly debated 3 years ago.
I’m not sure if the relevant parts of the rules have been revised since then, that’s why I phrased this as a question for discussion. 
The player was not fiddling with his pieces for adjustment but intending to move the g pawn, so why shouldn’t that move issue be counted as a touch move situation?
Because Rule 10B limits the touch-move rule to “a player on move”. In the described scenario, the player touching the pieces wasn’t on move, and accordingly you can’t directly apply Rule 10B.
The relevant phrase of 10B is probably:
a player on move who deliberately touches one or more pieces
Until the clock has been pressed, the other player is still on the move.
So, while an argument could also be made that this was an illegal move, another argument could be made that it wasn’t a move at all, since you can’t make a move, illegal or legal, if you aren’t on the move. That’s why I would probably cite the code of conduct rather than the rulebook.
If you like creating ugly hypothetical situations, consider this one:
Player A makes a move but doesn’t press the clock. Player B moves a piece, after which player A’s flag falls. Can player B claim a win on time or can player A request additional time be added to the clock because of an illegal move, thus negating the flag having fallen.
Assuming that Player A’s move does not produce checkmate or stalemate (xref Rule 9.E), Player A’s move has been determined but has not been completed as Player A has not pressed the clock (see Rule 9 generally). Therefore Player A is still on move, and correspondingly Player B is not on move (see Rule 6.B).
However! Rule 11.C, accidental piece displacement, which is the closest thing I can figure here for moving a piece on the opponent’s turn, is treated as an illegal move.
But wait! Both Rules 11.A (Illegal move) and 11.D.1 (Illegal move in time pressure), specifically do not restore time to the player claiming an illegal move (note that in 11.D, the standard penalty only kicks in if the opponent has pressed the clock, and that under this hypothetical Player B very specifically hasn’t pressed the clock (neither has Player A, of course)).
There’s more! Under Rule 11.J (Deliberate illegal moves), if a player intentionally makes illegal moves, the director may impose penalties.
So, as a director, in your ugly hypothetical, I would restore some amount of additional time to player A and cite Rules 11.J and 11.C as my justification.
Would your analysis of the applicable rules and ruling change if this was a Blitz chess event?
What if it was a FIDE rated event?
The applicable rules would certainly be different in both cases. As for the rulings?
For Blitz, Rule 7c appears applicable (note that Rule 7e says specifically that a player can still claim a flag fall after making an illegal move if the claim is made before the illegal move is called, and further note that Section 9 refers to displacement and would let Player A hit the clock, but of course Player A not hitting the clock is the problem) and I would rule that Player B wins on time.
For FIDE, I would refer primarily to Rule 7.4 for displaced pieces, noting that the player is required to re-establish the correct position on their own time (7.4.1) and that the arbiter may penalize a player displacing pieces (7.4.3). In particular I note that the Arbiter’s Manual note to Rule 7.4 contemplates forfeiting a player who is deliberately displacing pieces to gain time or repeatedly, so I would reach the same result as the USCF one through different rules.
As long as I can stop a player from making moves on his opponent’s time due to a rule, that is what I need to know.
Yes, you certainly can, it could be considered a form of harassment of the opponent, in extreme cases possibly even a SafePlay bullying violation.
Most of the time it is just a player who doesn’t know it is rude, which is why a polite conversation with the player(s) may be all that’s needed to keep it from becoming something you DO have to make a ruling on. But players who want to be a jerk deserve the consequences of their behavior.
I once had a game against a higher rated player from another state. We got to an interesting rook-and-pawn ending and at one point he commented, “You know, you can’t win this game.” My response was, “Yeah, but can YOU win it?” BTW, the game did result in a draw. I showed the position to a couple of Masters I knew, they also thought the game was most likely drawn but agreed with my decision to continue playing until I was sure of that. I did not and would not consider that bullying and it really wasn’t phrased as a draw offer, either. But I have seen some high rated players browbeat lower rated opponents.
Ulmont, if I am not wrong, I read in a message board post that FIDE declares that once Player A moves a piece for move 1 without pressing the clock, then Player B moves a piece, if Player A moves a new move for move 2, then Player A’s first move is declared “Completed.”
Would you give a warning w/o a complaint by the opponent?
In blitz or time pressure this frequently happens especially with book/forced/obvious move sequences. I think most blitz players expect this to happen and ignore it when it happens (even when I announce it before blitz)
There are similarities to players adjusting their pieces when their opponent’s clock is running which I now include in my announcements.
This is Rule 6.2.1.2 (“A move is also completed if: the player has made his/her next move, when his/her previous move was not completed.”). In the hypo Player A had moved but not completed the move and Player B had moved but not completed the move either, so while under FIDE rules Player A could just move again and hit the clock, in the hypo Player A doesn’t do that.
It would depend on the specific circumstances, including the age/experience of both players and where they were in the game. But, yeah, I have been known to take players aside and explain tournament courtesy to them.
This would be incorrect from a FIDE perspective. FIDE actually allows the player to move once the other player has made a move on the board, but a player must always have the right to press their clock.
Yes, this can run into a situation where a player moves, a player responds and presses their clock, and then the initial player presses their clock to complete their initial move, which may confuse the other player although is perfectly legal. The other player now gets to press their clock in return having already made their move on the board. However, in all of my experience this situation has never happened in a game I was overseeing.
Also, as someone else has said, FIDE considers your previous move complete once you have made your next move, regardless of if you forgot to press your clock for your previous move.
I actually find the FIDE Laws superior to the US Chess Rules in this regard and much easier to monitor at the end of a blitz game when both players are moving fast.
Can you walk me through this in more detail?
Rule 4.2.1 is clear that only the player having the move may adjust a piece, and Rule 6.2.5 is similarly clear that only the player whose clock is running is allowed to adjust the pieces.
Rule 4.3 is clear that touch-move only applies to the player having the move.
Rule 6.2.2 is somewhat of the opposite, but I’m not seeing why the opponent making their next move would not be considered an error. That is, where is the affirmative “you can move after your opponent has moved but before they have hit their clock?” (possibly the “Arbiter’s Tip” next to 6.2.1.2, but that doesn’t seem like it’s stating the correct way?)
1.3 A player is said to ‘have the move’ when his/her opponent’s move has been ‘made’.
6.2.2 A player must be allowed to pause his/her clock after making his/her move, even after the opponent has made his/her next move.