In the following position, with White on-move, White lifts his king off of square d1, then places it back on d1.
White settles in for what appears to be a long albeit pointless think. Then several minutes later White takes a bathroom break, all while White’s own clock continues to run (White has lots of time remaining).
Black is hungry and tired, and is irritated by all this pointless delaying. Black calls over the T.D. and claims victory based on the fact that White’s earlier touch of White’s d1-King means that now White’s only legal move gives Black an easy checkmate Rc1##.
White objects and says Black cannot declare checkmate until after checkmate happens physically on the board. Besides, Black might get confused and fail to make Rc1## his reply.
Should the T.D. honor Black’s sensible claim, or make Black continue to wait and wait?
Under the US Chess code, presuming that the fist full of King was observed by the TD or is otherwise verifiable, once the opponent makes the claim, the TD should inform White, “You must move the King, which means you must move Ke1.”
Under the FIDE Laws of Chess, once the arbiter observes the fist full of King, he should inform White, “You must move the King, which means you must move Ke1.”
Failure to promptly comply with this directive to continue play in the only permitted manner should be swiftly and severely dealt with under the relevant provisions of either code (lack of interest in continuing a lost game in the US Chess code; sections 11.1 and 11.7 of the FLC).
USCF rule 18G1 applies. Adjudicating (after a warning) using the stated guideline of best play on both sides would include the player of the black pieces requiring touch move.
The TD should not immediately declare the game won by black, but he should point out that, because the white king was already touched, it must be moved, and that since the king has only one legal move, white must move it promptly. If white continues to stall, subtract all but one minute from white’s clock, giving him the option of time-forfeiting or being mated within one minute. Accompany with a stern lecture about sportsmanship.
Obviously this is a judgment call on the part of the TD, but how long does it take to analyze the position when you have only one legal move, as in the position given here by the OP? How would you handle this situation?
At one scholastic national I saw a player facing mate in one (K+B+N vs K in the wrong corner but with the K-only player having made a mistake) and just sitting there, somewhat distraught. There was a center aisle and the player’s father was close enough to see the player but not quite close enough to see the position. Once I got the father off to one side and quietly explained the situation the father left the room and the player no longer felt the pressure of having to immediately answer to the father about the loss, with the result that the player quickly played a move and got mated. At no time did either player call over a TD and no TD said anything to either player.
As stated earlier, a player sitting there staring at a forced mate in one may have a very legitimate reason to not move. It may not be the player’s turn because the opponent did not press the clock.
In the latter case (all legal moves leading to stalemate in one), the game is already over under FIDE rules, and under USCF rule 14D4. Neither player needs to claim it. It’s just over, period. Any subsequent resignation or flag-fall claim is irrelevant, because it would have happened after the game ended.
Therefore, the TD would be extremely justified in declaring the game drawn at that point.
Many non-positive situations are caused by parents who admonish severely at every single misque. which as stated by Jeff, removing them calms the situation,
quite often.
The stalemate situation I understand (someone plays the queen next to the king compelling capture and producing stalemate). Does a position exist where all legal moves LEAD to mate in one? The OP allows mate in one, which is clearly quite different.
White Kd1, Qe1, Qc1, Pf3, Pb3
Black Kd3, Rd2, Qf4, Qg5
White is in check and the only legal move is QxQ+, to which black’s only legal response is QxQ+, forcing QxQ+ forcing QxQ#. That provides positions where all legal moves lead to mate in one and earlier lead to mate in two.
Alternatively
Black Ka1, Rb1, Pa2, Pa3
White Ke1, Rd1, Bf1, Pd2, Pe2, Pf2
Add knights of one color on e3 and b4 while the other color is on a3 and d4. Whoever is on move can play Nc2+ at which point the succeeding moves are NxN+, NxN+, NxN#
True, the situations are very different. The OP situation, though, had the extra wrinkle of incredibly bad sportsmanship thrown in.
Yes, there exist positions in which all legal moves lead to mate in one, e.g. where any legal move by white forces black to play a checkmating move.
A while ago I posed a puzzle, where I asked for a position where white has only two legal moves, one of which immediately checkmates black, and the other of which forces black to immediately checkmate white. jwiewel came up with such a position.