Talk:Threefold repetition

In another amusing game, one of the players claimed a draw by repetition which his opponent disputed by saying that in the previous instances of the postion the positions of the two white rooks had been interchanged! What followed was a painstaking replay of the game by tournament officials on an alternate board to verify the claim.

I have removed this, as even if this very unlikely situation were to occur, such an interchange of rooks would not be an issue under modern FIDE rules. To quote part of article 9.2 of the FIDE laws of chess (see [1] (http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=EE101)):

Positions as in (a) and (b) are considered the same, if the same player has the move, pieces of the same kind and colour occupy the same squares, and the possible moves of all the pieces of both players are the same.

Note in particular the part I have italicised. It does not say "the same pieces occupy the same squares" but rather "pieces of the same kind and colour". Therefore, even if such an interchange of rooks as described occured in a game, a draw could still be claimed.

I suspect, therefore, that the story is apocryphal. If it really did occur, the game must have been played under some other ruleset (or the arbiters were incompetent, which wouldn't really make it worth mentioning in the article). If this is so, there should be a note of explanation saying under what rules this incident occured, and that under current FIDE rules it would not. I think the story could also do with a source, as it sounds rather unlikely to me.

I also have my doubts about the Karpov - Miles story. Do we know when and where this game was played, or do we at least have a source for the story? A quick check through my database (which is not completely comprehensive, but which is pretty large) turns up no games between the two where this sort of thing happened. --Camembert

Hi,

Totally sure about the Karpov-Miles game. I remember that I read it in the "Chess Mate" magazine, so I could find the reference, but I have something like 200 copies of the mag, which would take hours, so I'm unwilling to do it.

About the other game, it was some local tournament in India; either my memory is wrong or the arbiters were incompetent, either way, as you say, it shouldn't be in the article.

Arvindn 13:30, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

No problem on Karpov-Miles - if you're sure it's right, I believe you. Do you have any idea about what year it happened, roughly? I want to try and track down the score (it would be good to quote in the article). --Camembert

Aha! I think I've found it: Karpov-Miles, Tilburg 1986 [2] (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068512). I'll add the reference to the article. --Camembert

Wow, nice find :) Still, I have a lingering doubt: I seem to remember that it was Karpov who had lost the right to castle, whereas in the game you gave it is Miles! (and therefore the article is inconsistent as it stands.) Miles is apprently a jolly guy, is there a chance of emailing him or something? :) Arvindn 15:34, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Ah, good point. Should've noticed that really. I'll take the reference back out for the time being, and see if I can dig up something more comprehensive. No chance of mailing Miles, I'm afraid - he died a couple of years ago - but I'll have a poke around and see if I can come up with anything. We'll get this sorted out eventually, I'm sure :) --Camembert

Oh, sorry, didn't know Miles died, about 7 years since I played tournaments; haven't kept up with news since then. Yes, it'd be real nice to get this sorted out :) -- Arvindn 15:52, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)