Manual de Fritz 15 2015 | Page 341

Chess rules (FIDE)

4

Chess rules (FIDE)

4.1

Preface

341

FIDE Laws of Chess cover over-the-board play. The English text is the authentic
version of the Laws of Chess which was adopted at the 67th FIDE Congress at
Yerevan September-October 1996, coming into force on 1 July 1997. In these Laws
the words 'he', 'him' and 'his' include 'she' and 'her'.
The FIDE Rules and Regulations and other official documents are the property of FIDE
and the FIDE member federations and may be dealt with by each under their own
national law. The General Assembly urges the member-federations to make the FIDE
Rules and Regulations widely available in their countries in an appropriate manner. The
name "Official / Authorized Rules and Regulations of FIDE" and the FIDE logo may not
be used without the consent of FIDE.
FIDE stands for Federation Internationale D'Echecs.

Preface
The Laws of Chess cannot cover all possible situations that may arise during a game,
nor can they regulate all administrative questions. Where cases are not precisely
regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision
by studying analogous situations which are discussed in the Laws. The Laws assume
that arbiters have the necessary competence, sound judgement and absolute
objectivity. Too detailed a rule might deprive the arbiter of his freedom of judgement
and thus prevent him from finding the solution to a problem dictated by fairness, logic
and special factors.
FIDE appeals to all chess players and federations to accept this view.
A member federation is free to introduce more detailed rules provided they:
(a) do not conflict in any way with the official FIDE Laws of Chess
(b) are limited to the territory of the federation in question; and
(c) are not valid for any FIDE match, championship or qualifying event, or for a FIDE
title or rating tournament.

4.2

1: Nature and objectives of chess
1.1. The game of chess is played between two opponents who move pieces
alternately on a square board called a 'chessboard'. The player with the white pieces
commences the game. A player is said to 'have the move', when his opponent's move
has been completed.
1.2. The objective of each player is to place the opponent's king 'under attack' in such
a way that the opponent has no legal move which would avoid the 'capture' of the
king on the following move. The player who achieves this is said to have 'checkmated'
the opponent and to have won the game. The opponent who has been checkmated
has lost the game.
1.3. If the position is such that neither player can possibly checkmate, the game is
drawn.

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