2013 Laws of Chess

Edit: I have been asked to point out that this was an April Fool Joke, Colin

Please find below the rule revisions due to take place from July. Many thanks to Graham B for forwarding this to me on Monday:

'I have been made aware of the changes to the Laws of Chess to be implemented from July 1st, 2013.

A full text of the Laws will be made available within the next few days. The main focus has been to reduce the number of draws in the game, along with other measures in a bid to make the game more attractive to non-players and the wider media. The main changes are:

(1) The rules of a competition may no longer specify a default time other than 0 minutes. Players in breach of this will be disqualified from the event. His opponent will win the game by default, and not be re-paired.

(2) To avoid having to explain the concept of check, checkmate, and stalemate to non-players, they are being removed from the Laws as concepts. Instead, players are free to move into check. A player will win the game by actually capturing his opponent’s King. If the player leaves his King in check, but it is not captured, then the game shall continue with the King remaining in check.

(3) The penalty for an illegal move shall be the immediate loss of the game. This rule already applies in Blitz chess, but is now being applied to chess with any time control.

(4) Games may no longer be drawn by agreement at all. If a game “ends” in this way, then both players shall score 0 for the game in question.

(5) Players will not be permitted to repeat the position on the board within two moves of its previous occurrence. If a player does so, then it shall be treated as an illegal move, and so the player who repeats shall lose the game. This rule is already used in Go, a board game popular in Japan and China.

(6) Games may no longer be drawn by the “fifty-move rule”, which has been removed from the Laws.

A full copy of the final text of the Laws will be e-mailed to all organisers once they have been made available by FIDE. These exciting changes are sure to enhance chess in the 21st century, and increase the strategy of the game. They are quite radical, so players will have to tread carefully to avoid falling into foolish traps.

- Alex Holowczak, Director of Home Chess – 1st April, 2013'