[Retros] 50-moves rule and mate

[Pastmaker at aol.com]

Friends,

The rules, of course, are all quite arbitrary, but my composition presenting 
the purported clash of two rules was intended as amusement -- the clash is a 
fake because under the FIDE rules for over-the-board play only the player on 
the move can claim a draw.  The checkmating move is unassailable under that 
regime because the other player (i) is not on the move when the checkmating move 
is played, and so must remain mute while the move is played, and (ii) never 
regains the move, as the play of the checkmating move ends the game.  It is 
precisely the priority given to the moving player, or, if one prefers, the 
subordination of the non-moving player, that establishes the result under those rules.

Castling is not considered in these remarks, which pertain only to 
over-the-board play.  (I believe that problemists can do whatever we want in our 
compositions.)

However, if the rule were that a 50-move draw could be claimed at any time by 
either player (or if it was automatic), I believe that the clash of checkmate 
and draw would be real, as each player claims its desired result 
simultaneously with the play of the checkmating/100th move (or the conflicting automatic 
results occur simultaneously).  

But in any case, I entirely agree with Guus that the policy behind the draw 
rule would suggest that it yield to the checkmate (in my view under any of the 
proposed regimes).  That is essentially why in a claim-of-draw regime (whether 
by the player on the move or by either player) the claim must (at least I 
hope it must, not having checked the rule) be made in the midst of the sequence 
(and not, for example, after a pawn move that follows 120 non-P move, 
non-capturing moves).  In an automatic-draw regime, the player checkmating on the 100th 
move would argue that he was entitled to his full 50 moves to do something 
decisive before the draw occurs. (I suspect we could easily fashion a position 
in which a player is faced with the choice of either a checkmating move that is 
not a P-move or a capture, or a collection of losing moves each of which is a 
P-move or capture (thus freeing his opponent from the draw), and in an 
automatic draw regime in which the checkmate does not predominate, it seems to me 
that such a player really does not get the full use of his 50 moves.)

If the claim of draw were not limited to the player on the move (or if the 
draw occurred automatically), and one agreed with the "checkmate predominates" 
policy articulated by Guus, the rule should contain the necessary proviso.  For 
the claim of draw regime: "Draw can be claimed at any time by either player 
if the most recently played 100 (or more) moves did not include a capture or a 
pawn move unless the last such move played was a checkmating move."  Automatic 
draw regime: "Draw occurs upon the 100th consecutive move without pawn move 
or capture unless the 100th such move gives checkmate".  

Regards,
Tom Volet
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