Answers.Body: <blockquote>
  <p>Is there a timeline of &quot;key&quot; historical changes to rules (FIDE, USCF
  and earlier)</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>Not so far although former FIDE rules commission member, Stewart Reuben, <a href="https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&amp;t=9330&amp;p=245229&amp;hilit=fide%20history#p245229" rel="nofollow noreferrer">recently said</a>:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>To make it clear. I am writing a book, together with my co-authors Alex McFarlane and Sean Press. It is called A History of the Laws of Chess. Alex is dealing with the first section, from about 600 AD to the 15th century with the old rules. Sean is dealing with the introduction of the augmented powers of the queen, bishop and pawn 15th century to the formation of FIDE. I am dealing with the Laws since FIDE was formed IN 1924. That section is more-or-less completed.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-11-14T11:39:02.660Z
Answers.Text: That will be terrific! May still need something terser based on that book.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Laska
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-11-14T11:18:29.427Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-11-14T11:18:29.427Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>A well-answered question here: <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/26807/fide-laws-of-chess-pre-2017">FIDE Laws of Chess pre-2017</a> asks for locations of historical sets of FIDE Laws. I am asking for something which partially builds on that.</p>
  <p>Is there a timeline of &quot;key&quot; historical changes to rules (FIDE, USCF and earlier) &amp; the WFCC Codex of Chess Problem Conventions, please? It's not going to be perfect initially or ever, but something which can grow.</p>
  <p>Having such an artifact would allow us to assign a historical context to those chess compositions that riff on specific rules and conventions, for example: Dummy Pawn, Bosma theme, Dead Reckoning, Retro Strategy &amp; Partial Retro-Analysis. This would be a general foundation for specific timelines listing relevant compositions themselves, e.g. the one at <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/21212/when-if-ever-was-it-a-rule-that-pawn-promotion-was-optional">When (if ever) was it a rule that pawn promotion was optional?</a></p>
  <p>EDIT: I would like to record here a great link reported in a comment: <a href="http://aekphotography.co.uk/CAA/html/laws_historic.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://aekphotography.co.uk/CAA/html/laws_historic.html</a> which contains as good a historic record as I think we’re ever going to get.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-12-09T23:58:16.907Z
Comments.Text: Yep, and I'm in vain searching for a reference for when it was clearly stated that promotion had to be to a piece of the player's own color. The famous British Law XIII would have allowed promotion to a piece of the opponent's color, but would the "international" rules explicitly forbid it back then? I think it was explicitly fixed only later.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Max
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-12-10T05:24:43.103Z
Comments.Text: @Max I think the best person to contact is Stewart Reuben. See Brian Towers' answer
Comments.UserDisplayName: Laska
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-12-17T16:29:52.193Z
Comments.Text: Thanks! FWIW, I finally found the precious web page http://aekphotography.co.uk/CAA/html/laws_historic.html (probably a copy of http://www.chessarbitersassociation.co.uk/html/laws_historic.html which doesn't exist any more) with many historic versions of rule sets dating up to back in the 17th century (Greco).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Max
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2024-12-17T16:51:24.243Z
Comments.Text: @Max thanks so much for the link, I’ve added it to the question
Comments.UserDisplayName: Laska
Tags: <rules><problems><history><fide>
Title: Timeline of key historical changes to FIDE Laws & WFCC Codex?
ThreadText: # Timeline of key historical changes to FIDE Laws & WFCC Codex?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-11-14)
  
  A well-answered question here: [FIDE Laws of Chess pre-2017](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/26807/fide-laws-of-chess-pre-2017) asks for locations of historical sets of FIDE Laws. I am asking for something which partially builds on that.
  
  Is there a timeline of "key" historical changes to rules (FIDE, USCF and earlier) & the WFCC Codex of Chess Problem Conventions, please? It's not going to be perfect initially or ever, but something which can grow.
  
  Having such an artifact would allow us to assign a historical context to those chess compositions that riff on specific rules and conventions, for example: Dummy Pawn, Bosma theme, Dead Reckoning, Retro Strategy & Partial Retro-Analysis. This would be a general foundation for specific timelines listing relevant compositions themselves, e.g. the one at [When (if ever) was it a rule that pawn promotion was optional?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/21212/when-if-ever-was-it-a-rule-that-pawn-promotion-was-optional)
  
  EDIT: I would like to record here a great link reported in a comment: <http://aekphotography.co.uk/CAA/html/laws_historic.html> which contains as good a historic record as I think we’re ever going to get.
  
  **Tags:** rules, problems, history, fide
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Yep, and I'm in vain searching for a reference for when it was clearly stated that promotion had to be to a piece of the player's own color. The famous British Law XIII would have allowed promotion to a piece of the opponent's color, but would the "international" rules explicitly forbid it back then? I think it was explicitly fixed only later.  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 I think the best person to contact is Stewart Reuben. See username_2' answer  
  > **username_1**: Thanks! FWIW, I finally found the precious web page http://aekphotography.co.uk/CAA/html/laws_historic.html (probably a copy of http://www.chessarbitersassociation.co.uk/html/laws_historic.html which doesn't exist any more) with many historic versions of rule sets dating up to back in the 17th century (Greco).  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 thanks so much for the link, I’ve added it to the question  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2020-11-14. Score: 4
  
  > Is there a timeline of "key" historical changes to rules (FIDE, USCF
  > and earlier)
  
  Not so far although former FIDE rules commission member, Stewart Reuben, [recently said](https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9330&p=245229&hilit=fide%20history#p245229):
  
  > To make it clear. I am writing a book, together with my co-authors Alex McFarlane and Sean Press. It is called A History of the Laws of Chess. Alex is dealing with the first section, from about 600 AD to the 15th century with the old rules. Sean is dealing with the introduction of the augmented powers of the queen, bishop and pawn 15th century to the formation of FIDE. I am dealing with the Laws since FIDE was formed IN 1924. That section is more-or-less completed.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: That will be terrific! May still need something terser based on that book.  
  
  ---
  
  