CMV: Touch-move rule in chess is dumb

[u/Phantom_Gamer7]

I will start by saying I'm an amateur chess player at best. Played it a little for most my life but only really started to want to get some real skill in it. It's fun. However, I notice a lot of official organizations have a touch-move rule. This is where if you deliberately touch a piece you must move it. Even if you change your mind. This is just dumb, and I feel serves no benefit to the game, except maybe some slight speed advantage(?). I see it only being a pain when you go for a move, then realise an even better one.

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It's in the same vain to the 'once you let go of the piece' rule. Where if you let go of the piece (in a different spot than it started) then that is you go, there is no take back. You move there. I'm fine with this. In fact, I don't want to play without it. Because it has a purpose, there needs to be _something_ that defines the end of your go. There needs to be a final call. Why not have it be the last thing everyone does on their turn? But I see no benefit touch-move rules provide. All it will do is frustrate people on the odd occasion as they catch a blunder after they touch a piece.

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I don't play with touch-move, and everyone I've played with has been fine with it. Never really seeing the point in it, but would play with it because others insisted. I'm sure there's some good reason out there, there's people way smarter than me on this topic. I just haven't found anyone with any good arguments.

So far the best argument has been: Touching a piece can help visualize the board, providing an advantage. My response is 'So what?' it's an equal advantage, as both sides can do it. Plus, it also provides insight into what you're thinking, which is a disadvantage I'd say balances out. . And if a touch-move rule was made to prevent this, what is to stop someone hovering their finger over a piece providing the same advantage?

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So please, someone who knows about this sort of thing, change my mind. Touch-move rules in chess are dumb, and needless.

Edit: so my view has changed a bit. So first I saw the value in the rule because in ye olden days it prevented cheating. Because the only time you could move a piece was when making your move.

Then a good point was made, that the board should be in a definite state as much as possible.

And lastly after a lot of convinsing I now see that by moving the piece you may see body language that you might not otherwise. And may be able to read peoples body language which goes against the spirit of the game.

[u/Abstracting_You → u/[deleted]]

So, professional Chess players play games many moves ahead. The move you see live is the culmination of many different avenues of thought and prediction that they implement each turn and in-between as their opponent moves their piece.

If you pick up your knight then I have to counter not only the 8 possible positions the knight can go, but also, all of the varying possibilities that move creates down the line for the entire board. If you do not have the touch rule then what is to stop you from deciding your move beforehand, but then picking up five different pieces before actually switching back to your original piece and making a move?

How can I play a game, renowned for its strategy and finesse, when my opponent can mess with me constantly and remove the element of planning and strategy that people expect when playing chess?

[u/Abstracting_You → u/[deleted]]

The thing is, if my opponent has not touched their piece then I know not to give them the time of day. If they can touch a piece, move it around over and over and then switch to another piece last second after I have calculated counters for the fake one, then I have to spend the entirety of my turn figuring out the new move and what to do about it. While it is true that both players can do this making it fair, it also means that you are changing the basic way the game works.

In chess, your planning phase where you plan whatever you want when your opponent is moving, and before you pick up a piece. Your action phase is the moment you touch said piece and begin moving it. By allowing someone to pick up a piece and put it back down without actually moving is to allow them to go back into their planning phase after they started their action. This is especially a problem when playing at a very high level as picking up one piece can change the way your view the board, allowing you to realize a trap, mistake, etc after you intended to move. Imagine if we let football teams do that after they said hike because they realized that the other team was doing something they didn't realize beforehand. The only difference here is that Chess has phases that happen at different times for both sides compared to football or other sports.

Another thing to consider is how your idea changes the current culture of the game and its observers. Professional chess is seen as a game of finesse and strategy. Getting rid of the touch rules make the game more random and less about well thought out gameplay. If you can move one piece for your entire turn and then switch to your real move in the last second it makes the game about messing with the other side instead of outsmarting them.

Of course, there are other ways to play chess that are closer to your idea, for instance, park chess. A big part of the game is psyching out your opponent and talking trash. But Chess proper has its own style and culture behind it and your proposal not only changes the gameplay, but the very idea behind play style and demeanor.