Completed move

In a game with a chess clock, which measures each player’s time separately, moving and releasing a piece does not always complete the move. The player normally must press their side of the clock, stopping their own time and starting the opponent’s. Time between the board move and the clock press still belongs to the player who moved.

The distinction matters because the rules attach specific effects to completion. An illegal move, meaning a move that breaks the rules, is considered completed when the player presses the clock; the previous position is then restored and the illegal-move penalty may apply. Before that press, touch-move rules, which can require the player to move the first piece intentionally touched, may still determine how the move must be corrected.

Other ways a move becomes completed

• If the move immediately ends the game, for example by checkmate, when the attacked king has no legal response, or by stalemate, when the player to move has no legal move and the king is not in check, it is completed without a clock press.
• If a player did not press the clock after an earlier move and later makes their next move, the earlier move is considered completed.