It can be confusing for new chess players to keep up with all the rules and illegal moves.
Let’s take a look at the top illegal moves in chess and what to be careful of while playing chess online.
Contents
1. Moving the Chess Pieces the Wrong Way
Each chess piece has a defined range of moves. So, for example, the bishop has to move diagonally. It can’t be moved forward, or sideways. But the rook does move that way. Or the king can only be moved one square in any direction, but no more.
The only piece that can “jump over” another piece is the knight. The knight can move in an “L” shape: one space over and two spaces up, or two spaces over and one space up. If a piece is in the way, just jump over! Moving a piece the wrong way is illegal.
Illegal Moves Online and Chess Hustlers
If the game is being played on software, or online, then the player can’t make an illegal move with a piece because the program won’t allow it. But if the game is in person, referred to as “over the board,” then it is the job of the other player to catch an illegal move. Chess hustlers will sometimes take advantage by playing an illegal move with a piece. They hope it’ll be overlooked, so be careful.
2. Moving the King into Check
Another illegal move is to move the king into check. “Check” means the king can be captured by another piece. So an illegal move would be to move the king so that it could be captured by another piece.
3. Capturing the King
The corollary is when a player has moved a piece, and the king can now be captured. Then the king is in “check.” Sometimes the player will announce this by saying “check.” But saying “check” is not required, it’s just a courtesy.
When the king is in check, then something has to be done to take the king out of check so that it can’t be captured. So if the king can move, or the piece giving check can be captured, or another piece can be moved in-between, then that’s what needs to happen. If it’s impossible, then it’s ”checkmate” and the game is over.
Here again, a software or online program won’t allow an illegal move and will require that check be negated. Otherwise the program will announce checkmate and end the game.
However, if playing over the board, the players can agree that the king can be captured. If that’s the rule and the king is captured, the game is over. However, this is not the rule unless it’s specifically agreed. Chess hustlers will make this one up too.
4. Cheating Online
The final category of illegal moves is the most frustrating. That’s when players use a chess program to cheat. So a player will use a software program, or a website which provides the moves, to find the best move against the other player. This is referred to as using an “engine.”
Cheating is rampant in on-line chess, and makes ratings almost meaningless. After playing thousands of online games with players all over the world, I estimate one-third of the players will cheat. Often cheating will happen after a player gets behind in the game.
Chess.com Cheating
Even grandmasters cheat. Recently, a grandmaster playing against world chess champion Magnus Carlsen was accused of cheating in an over the board game. That grandmaster admitted to previously cheating on chess.com. But chess.com let him still keep playing.
Final Word
Unfortunately, little can be done except to just quit the game if the other player is cheating. The chess websites either can’t or won’t police the cheating. So illegal moves will always be part of chess.
-Coach Jack