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Pairing Touch Piece Using Chess Clocks Digital Chess Clocks Notation Quickplay Finish Playing Blind Players
Home Page	Pairing Boards or Finding Your Opponent
Congress Calendar Congress Results and Reports	Normally, at a chess tournament, opponents are paired in a pairing board, something like the one below. (If you click on the photo you will see a larger version of it). Each player has a pairing card which gives information including their name, club, grade, which colours they have played (after round 1) and who they have played (again after round 1)and their score. All the players on the left of the central numbers will be playing white, whilst those on the right will be playing black. The numbers are the board numbers and will correspond to numbers placed by the actual playing boards. Frequently these numbers will be continuous throughout the tournament, but occasionally each section will start renumbering again at 1. If the latter is the case then it is important that you ensure that you are sitting in the correct section. If your card has "see controller" by it, then you probably have a bye - this means that you will get 1 point, if all the other players turn up. You may well be paired with someone from another section who also has a full point bye to play a graded friendly. As far as possible players on the same score group are paired together. Thus, if you win your first game, you will probably be playing someone who also won their first game.
	Touch Piece, Move Piece and Adjusting A Piece's Position
	You probably are already aware that if you touch a piece you must move it. However, there are times when you are studying a position and become aware that a pawn or piece is not quite central to a square. It starts to annoy you and you want to adjust it. If you just go ahead and do this, your opponent can insist that you move that piece. Instead, you need to state "j'adoube" or "adjust" first. (Make sure that your opponent hears this, without disturbing the games around you!). Another alternative is to make your move and then adjust the piece. Back to top
	How To Use A Chess Clock
	Chess clocks come in two main types, analogue and digital. For the purposes of explaining how to use a chess clock, an analogue will be used. Then, the special features of digital clocks will be looked at. Below is a typical analogue chess clock. As you can see, it has two faces, one for each player. The clock is normally placed on the black player's right. The face nearest to each player is 'their clock'. At the start of the game both clocks should be set to the same time. When the arbiter announces "please start white's clock" it is customary to shake hands with your opponent (if they are there) and then black presses down the button/lever on his side of the clock. (If the white player is not present, black should still start the clock). This will start the clock furthest from him. When white has made his move he presses the button closest to him, this will then start black's clock and is known as 'hitting the clock'. If, for any reason, the arbiter needs to be called the players should stop the clock by pressing the higher button gently until both clocks stop. At the end of the time period given for a player, the flag will fall. The flag is a small piece of red plastic (usually) which is gradually raised by the minute hand during the last few minutes of a player's time. At the end of the time period it drops (or falls) back down. If the player has not made the required number of moves before his flag falls he has lost on time, unless he does not have mating material, in which case the game is drawn. Frequently, there will be more than one time control for a game, the initial time control is followed by another standard control, or a quick play finish. When the 2 players have made the number of moves required for the first time control the clock is put back - that is both clocks are wound back a prescribed number of minutes and the game continues. There is a special rule pertaining to quick play finishes which will be explained later. Buy an analogue chess clock Buy 6 analogue chess clocks Back to top
	Digital Chess Clocks
	There are a variety of digital chess clocks, but the two most commonly used in chess congresses are the DGT 2000 and the DGT XL. There are some differences between them, so the main features will be included in the DGT 200 description and then the special features of the DGT XL will be covered. The DGT 2000 looks like this: (If you click on the picture you will see a larger version). For times over 20 minutes digital clocks show the time in hours and minutes. Once the time goes below 20 minutes, the time is shown in minutes and seconds. Thus a display would go from 0:20 to 19:59. This can cause some concern if you aren't used to or expecting it. When the time hits 0:00 the flag has fallen, if the required number of moves have not been made. These clocks do not require players to put the clock back when a time control is reached. Instead, the time is automatically added on when one of the clocks hits 0:00. Once the time has been added on a - sign will appear by the time which first hit 0:00 and will remain for a few minutes. It can be a little disconcerting to be well into a second time period and not have the extra time added because neither side have reached zero. However, digital clocks are generally much more accurate than analogues, flag fall is accurate to 1 second! Starting and stopping the clock is done by pressing the button marked 'start/stop'. The DGT XL looks like this: In most respects it works the same as the DGT 2000. However, this type can be programmed to count the moves and then add on the extra time after a certain number of moves have been made. This has the disadvantage that if one of the players forgets to hit their clock, then the clock will add the extra time one move later, or more if the player forgets the clock on more than one occasion. Also, if for some reason extra hits of the clock are made, the extra time will be added in advance of the real time control. It should also be noted that frequently the clocks are not programmed in this way and so add on the time when one clock reaches 0:00 (as for the DGT 2000). Starting and stopping the clock is done by pressing the central square button. Back to top
	Chess Notation - Algebraic
	It is a requirement to keep a written record of your score in long play games, except in special circumstances (eg blind players). Each square on the chessboard is described by a lower-case letter and a number. The letters describe the files (vertical lines) and the numbers describe the ranks (horizontal lines). The pieces are shown with the following letters: K = King Q = Queen B = Bishop N = Knight R = Rook So, Ba6 means that the light squared bishop imoves to square a6. Pawn moves are just shown by the square that the pawn moves to, so, at the start of a game, 1.e4 means that the white pawn moves 2 squares forward to e4. When a piece is captured a x is used. So, Bxa6 means bishop takes whatever was on a6, and bxa6 means that the pawn on b5 or b7 takes whatever was on a6. Check is shown with a +. Checkmate should be shown with a #, but is frequently shown as ++. Castling on the King-side is shown as 0-0 (castling short) and castling on the queen-side is shown as 0-0-0 (castling long). Sometimes two of the same kind of piece is able to move to the same square. For example, it may be possible for either of the two knights to move to d7. This would then be notated as, for example, Nbd7 or Nfd7 - showing which file the knight moved from. An offer of a draw should also be noted, normally as (=). In congresses where you are required to notate, your score sheet must be an accurate and up-to-date record of the game in progress. If, at any time in the game, you realise that your score sheet is in error, you can ask your opponent for their score sheet in order to correct the error, but this, and the correction, must be done in your own time (i.e. whilst your clock is running). It is also possible that your opponent will notice that you have made an error and request that you correct it, again in your own time. It is not necessary to notate for the last 5 minutes, on your clock, to a time control. However, once the time control is reached it is necessary to ensure that your score sheet is up to date. Normally, a congress that requires you to notate will provide score sheets for players at the start of the game. These may include a tear-off result slip, or even be duplicate sheets where you hand in the top section(s) to the controller at the end of the game. It is usual for the winner, or the player of the white pieces in the case of a draw, to hand in the result of the game, but this does sometimes vary, especially in junior events. Back to top
	Quickplay Finish or Rule 10.2
	This is probably the most misunderstood rule, also known as the 2 minute rule. Basically, if you are in your last 2 minutes of a quickplay finish and you believe either that it is not possible for your opponent to win by normal means, or that he is not trying to win by normal means then you can summon the arbiter and claim a draw. The arbiter will then decide whether this is the case or not. The formal wording of the rule is as follows: 10.1 A `quickplay finish` is the last phase of a game, when all the (remaining) moves must be made in a limited time. 10.2 If the player, having the move, has less than two minutes left on his clock, he may claim a draw before his flag falls. He shall stop the clocks and summon the arbiter. a) If the arbiter agrees the opponent is making no effort to win the game by normal means, or that it is not possible to win by normal means, then he shall declare the game drawn. Otherwise he shall postpone his decision or reject the claim. b) If the arbiter postpones his decision, the opponent may be awarded two extra minutes and the game shall continue in the presence of an arbiter, if possible. The arbiter shall declare the final result later in the game or after a flag has fallen. He shall declare the game drawn if he agrees that the final position cannot be won by normal means, or that the opponent was not making sufficient attempts to win by normal means. c) If the arbiter has rejected the claim, the opponent shall be awarded two extra minutes thinking time. The decision of the arbiter shall be final relating to 10.2 a, b, c. Back to top
	Special Rules For Playing Blind Players
	Basically, you need to announce your move, after you have made it and your opponent then makes this move on his peg board. When he announces his move, you then need to make the move on the standard board. It is useful to keep an eye on the peg board when the blind player is making your move to ensure that he had correctly heard the move that had been announced. A situation may arise where the position of the tournament board and the peg board are not the same and the arbiter needs to step in. You may find that you use a lot more time than normal. You should avoid getting into time trouble when playing a blind player, as each move does take slightly longer. There are separate rules within the Laws of Chess regarding playing blind players and, for those who have not yet had that experience, the ones that players are most likely to require are detailed below: On the visually handicapped player’s chessboard a piece shall be considered "touched" when it has been taken out of the securing aperture. A move shall be considered "executed" when: a. In the case of a capture, the captured piece has been removed form the board of the player whose turn it is to move; b. A piece is placed into a different securing aperture; c. The move has been announced. Only then the opponent’s clock shall be started. As far as points 2 and 3 are concerned the normal rules are valid for the sighted player. A slip of the tongue in the announcement of a move must be corrected immediately and before the clock of the opponent is started. If during a game different positions should arise on the two chessboards, they must be corrected with the assistance of the controller and by consulting both players` game scores. If the two game scores correspond with each other, the player who has written the correct move but executed the wrong one must adjust his position to correspond with the move on the game scores. The blind player may require that the move is announced using a system of names for the files (Anna, Bella, Cesar, David, Eva, Felix, Gustav and Hector). This does at least reduce the risk of the file name being misheard. The correction of a slip of the tongue is particularly important as, in an endgame, it is very easy to accidentally announce a piece to the wrong file (particularly d and e). The blind player only has your announcement of the move to go on. If, when such differences occur and the two game scores are found to differ, the moves shall be retraced to the point where the two scores agree and the controller shall readjust the clock accordingly. Back to top
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