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Yeah that would be Law XIII of the Code of Laws of the British Chess Association. Law XIII said, "When a pawn has reached the eighth square, the player has the

Yeah that would be Law XIII of the Code of Laws of the British Chess Association. Law XIII said, "When a pawn has reached the eighth square, the player has the option of selecting a piece, whether such piece has previously been lost or not, whose names and powers it shall then assume, or of deciding that it shall remain a pawn." No restriction on piece type or color. So under those laws, promoting to a king or a piece of the other color would have been legal. From what I've read though, this sounds like it was sloppy wording, and the normal promotion rules we are familiar with today were actually intended, except for the option of remaining a pawn, which was obviously intentional since it is explicitly called out, and was actually the controversial part of that rule.

Enginerrrd 6y ago
Interesting. I suppose that could let one draw an otherwise dominated game where an opponent is up by more than a queen. Under such circumstances, it seems like it would be quite unlikely to come up in practice. The promoting to an opponents color is interesting, though I don't know that I'd be inherently opposed to it. Who gets to move that piece? It would be your opponent wouldn't it?
- jsmith45 6y ago
  >Who gets to move that piece? It would be your opponent wouldn't it? More an amusing curiosity than anything truly interesting. It would rarely be practical to give your opponent another piece. Puzzle creators have apparently come up with a few ways to make a scenario where that would be a move required to win, but my understanding is that none of them are terribly realistic.
- LorenPechtel 6y ago
  Yup. I can't imagine it happening in reality but I have seen a puzzle that's mate in one by promoting to an enemy knight, causing a discovered check and the knight can't be captured because it is the opponent's piece.

Enginerrrd 6y ago

Interesting. I suppose that could let one draw an otherwise dominated game where an opponent is up by more than a queen. Under such circumstances, it seems like it would be quite unlikely to come up in practice. The promoting to an opponents color is interesting, though I don't know that I'd be inherently opposed to it. Who gets to move that piece? It would be your opponent wouldn't it?

jsmith45 6y ago
>Who gets to move that piece? It would be your opponent wouldn't it? More an amusing curiosity than anything truly interesting. It would rarely be practical to give your opponent another piece. Puzzle creators have apparently come up with a few ways to make a scenario where that would be a move required to win, but my understanding is that none of them are terribly realistic.
LorenPechtel 6y ago
Yup. I can't imagine it happening in reality but I have seen a puzzle that's mate in one by promoting to an enemy knight, causing a discovered check and the knight can't be captured because it is the opponent's piece.