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Adopted 09/23/2000
1. The speed chess rules apply to any game played with a time limit of G/5 or faster.
2. Unless stated differently herein, the rules of a regular chess contest also apply to speed chess. Some of those applicable
rules from regular chess include:
a. Touch-move.
b. Checkmate (and stalemate) takes precedence over a simultaneous flag fall.
c. A player with insufficient mating material and no forced win only draws when the opponent oversteps on time.
d. A flag fall should not be called by anyone except the opponent.
e. Black has the choice of clock placement.
f. It is unnecessary to announce check.
3. Keeping score is inadvisable and of no validity.
4. The “insufficient losing chances” rule for sudden death time controls does not apply to speed chess.
5. The player must use only one hand to make moves, including castling and captures, and must press the clock with the
same hand.
6. Neither player may touch the clock except to press it or straighten it.
7. A player is entitled to press the clock immediately after moving.
8. A player who knocks over a piece is required to replace it before pressing the clock. The opponent may press the clock
before moving to enforce this.
9. A player with less than a minute left who promotes a pawn and states what piece is may continue to use the pawn as the
stated piece. The opponent then has the right to stop the clock and request that the pawn be replaced with the proper
piece before the game is continued.
10. A player may claim a draw in an endgame of queen against queen or rook against rook, unless the opponent can
demonstrate a forced win.
11. An illegal move without a clock press is corrected in the manner given by regular chess laws. If a player makes an
illegal move and then presses the clock, the opponent may claim a win (a draw when lacking mating material). Taking
a king left in check is considered to be an acceptable way of making a claim. If the opponent fails to make an illegal
move claim before replying, the player who made the illegal move may not profit from this by making an illegal move
claim. Play continues if the current board position is now legal, or is backed up to the earliest point of infraction if not
legal.
12. To claim a time overstep by the opponent, a player on move is required to neutralize the clock before both flags are
down, with would be a draw.
13. A player may claim a draw by using the “Michigan twenty move rule,” as follows:
a. The player starts counting aloud “one,” “two,” et cetera, up to twenty, to keep track of consecutive move-pairs that
do not involve a capture or pawn move. (If this type of move occurs the count must start over).
b. If twenty consecutive moves by each player are counted without a pawn move or capture the game is drawn,
except for certain specified endings that extend the count for at total of forty moves. These endings are
K + queen vs. K + rook, K + bishop and knight vs. K, K + bishop and bishop vs. K, and K + rook vs. K.
c. The player who starts counting is offering a draw, which may be accepted any time during the duration of the count.
