Originally Posted by Bill Gletsos
Actually it is a pretty poor post as his points have nothing to do with the new 2005 law requiring the writing of the move after the move is made.
The situation he describes has always been against the laws of chess.
I thank you for your comment, Bill. However, just because it was against the rules to use the scoresheet as an aid, does not mean that it was not used as such. In the distant past (the 1970s) some players used to write down a number of alternatives before deciding on a final move. None of those players, to my knowledge, were denounced for illegal behaviour. Presumably the laws have been refined over the years to outlaw this practice.
I do not know what the laws were before 2005 (having only returned to chess recently), however I assume that a move was not completed until a piece had been released onto a square. Therefore a player could write down a move and, before moving a piece, choose to change the written move any number of times before actually making the move on the board. The player would then have a list of alternative moves in front of them (albeit crossed out) before actually playing a move. This behaviour would have been considered illegal if done for the purpose of aiding thought, but presumably it would have required the arbiter to make a judgement that that was the purpose.
This law makes it clear that the move must be written down after the move is completed on the board and avoids this situation.