50 move rule
50 move rule
Has anyone ever heard of a 50 move rule? What exactly is it?
Re: 50 move rule
Yes there is a rule. I think it states a draw can be claimed when 50 moves (I think they mean move pairs) have been made without a pawn move, capture, or check being given. It may have changed since I last read the USCF rules.winston wrote:Has anyone ever heard of a 50 move rule? What exactly is it?
USCF Rule 14F1: The game is drawn when the player on move claims a draw and demonstrates that the last 50 consecutive moves have been made by each side without any capture or pawn move.
Please note that checks are irrelevant to the rule--in KBN vs K, for example, mate can be forced in under fifty moves, but many players, even some grandmasters, will fail. Starting the count anew with each check would needlessly prolong this failure.
FIDE expanded the rule to 75 moves because of certain KRB vs KR endings, where computers have demonstrated forced wins in more than 50 moves. I believe thay restored the 50 move, however. USCF allows more than 50 moves for certain conditions if properly announced.
Please note that checks are irrelevant to the rule--in KBN vs K, for example, mate can be forced in under fifty moves, but many players, even some grandmasters, will fail. Starting the count anew with each check would needlessly prolong this failure.
FIDE expanded the rule to 75 moves because of certain KRB vs KR endings, where computers have demonstrated forced wins in more than 50 moves. I believe thay restored the 50 move, however. USCF allows more than 50 moves for certain conditions if properly announced.
Thanks for the correction
I was in 6th grade when I last read the rules. Was the part about check ever in the rule? Or was I misinformed by some of the people teaching me to play and just added their mistake into the rule?
Likely it was ignorance being passed off as knowledge. Checks have been irrelevant to the 50-move rule as long as I've known the rules (~30 years).
Many errors regarding check persist because people teach them. While teaching third graders to play, I must correct several who insist check doesn't count if you don't say it, and other such absurdities that they have learned from other kids, parents, grandparents, etc.
It is the same thing with Monopoly. People all over the US (does anyone else play Monopoly?) want to put money in the middle, and gather it when they land on free parking. The rules specifically prohibit this.
Many errors regarding check persist because people teach them. While teaching third graders to play, I must correct several who insist check doesn't count if you don't say it, and other such absurdities that they have learned from other kids, parents, grandparents, etc.
It is the same thing with Monopoly. People all over the US (does anyone else play Monopoly?) want to put money in the middle, and gather it when they land on free parking. The rules specifically prohibit this.
The 50-move rule has gone through several changes, some recent, although a form of it dates to India 1000 years ago. According to the Oxford Companion to Chess (Hooper and Whyld), the rule of draw in fifty moves without a capture or pawn move was in force at the London 1883 tournament.
Hooper and Whyld also mention FIDE's 1988 extension to 75 moves for Q vs BB, Q vs NN, BB vs N, NN vs P, QP (on the seventh) vs Q, and RB vs R.
The current FIDE laws (since 1997) state:
9.3 The game is drawn, upon a correct claim by the player having the move, if
a. he writes on his scoresheet, and declares to the arbiter his intention to make a move which shall result in the last 50 moves having been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without the capture of any piece, or
b. the last 50 consecutive moves have been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without the capture of any piece.
http://www.fide.com/official/
Hooper and Whyld also mention FIDE's 1988 extension to 75 moves for Q vs BB, Q vs NN, BB vs N, NN vs P, QP (on the seventh) vs Q, and RB vs R.
The current FIDE laws (since 1997) state:
9.3 The game is drawn, upon a correct claim by the player having the move, if
a. he writes on his scoresheet, and declares to the arbiter his intention to make a move which shall result in the last 50 moves having been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without the capture of any piece, or
b. the last 50 consecutive moves have been made by each player without the movement of any pawn and without the capture of any piece.
http://www.fide.com/official/
Monopoly is also played the UK - but with different streets. Strangely enough there is the same deviation from the rules of putting fines in the middle to be won by the guy landing on the free parkingwulebgr wrote:
It is the same thing with Monopoly. People all over the US (does anyone else play Monopoly?) want to put money in the middle, and gather it when they land on free parking. The rules specifically prohibit this.
The 50 move rule
Hope this might help:
Yes indeed there are positions where a win ( has to be demonstrated by the player) will take more than 50 moves.In FIDE tournaments the promoter or Tournament Director have to announce before the tournament starts the positions repealing automatically the 50 move rule when being reached. Don’t know if this condition is really fulfilled in each tournament. At any rate it’s – in OTB and CC – always the player who must prove it. At the ICCF’s and the BdF (the German Correspondence Chess Federation) the player claiming for a win must send the score sheet to the tournament director and prove that the win is forced (after 50 moves). At the USCF it should be the same. Of course in OTB-tourneys the player claiming a win is not allowed to demonstrate the win with the help of an engine. So even if some positions are theoretically won after 50 moves it will be very very hard for the player to prove it. See for example the following position:
White: Kh1 Na4 Pawn a3
Black: Ka8 Nb7 Nc5.
With Black to move this position is won (by mating the opponent) after 55 moves. But I don't think that even the best OTB's could prove it.
Yes indeed there are positions where a win ( has to be demonstrated by the player) will take more than 50 moves.In FIDE tournaments the promoter or Tournament Director have to announce before the tournament starts the positions repealing automatically the 50 move rule when being reached. Don’t know if this condition is really fulfilled in each tournament. At any rate it’s – in OTB and CC – always the player who must prove it. At the ICCF’s and the BdF (the German Correspondence Chess Federation) the player claiming for a win must send the score sheet to the tournament director and prove that the win is forced (after 50 moves). At the USCF it should be the same. Of course in OTB-tourneys the player claiming a win is not allowed to demonstrate the win with the help of an engine. So even if some positions are theoretically won after 50 moves it will be very very hard for the player to prove it. See for example the following position:
White: Kh1 Na4 Pawn a3
Black: Ka8 Nb7 Nc5.
With Black to move this position is won (by mating the opponent) after 55 moves. But I don't think that even the best OTB's could prove it.