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.