Tournament chess rules and etiquette

Over-the-board chess has rules that do not exist online. Touch a piece and you must move it. Press the clock with the hand that moved. Write every move down. Offer a draw only after you have moved and before you press the clock. Run out of time and you lose, unless your opponent cannot possibly mate you. None of this is hard, but the first tournament is where people learn it the expensive way. I did. These pages cover the clock, time controls and increments, the touch-move rule and j'adoube, illegal moves and what an arbiter does about them, Swiss pairings, ratings and titles, and the small etiquette that stops you annoying a room full of strangers.

1. The touch-move rule explained

   If you touch one of your pieces intending to move it, you must move that piece; if you touch one of your opponent's, you must capture it.

2. What does j'adoube mean in chess?

   It is French for I adjust, and it is the phrase that lets you straighten a piece on its square without touch-move forcing you to play it.

3. How does a chess clock work?

   A chess clock holds two displays and only one of them ever runs.

4. Chess time controls explained

   A time control is written as base minutes plus increment seconds, so 90+30 gives each player ninety minutes and adds thirty seconds after every move.

5. Increment and delay in chess clocks

   Increment adds a fixed number of seconds to your clock every time you complete a move, so your total can grow.

6. What happens when your time runs out?

   You lose.

7. How to offer a draw properly

   Make your move on the board, say that you are offering a draw, then press your clock.

8. How to resign a chess game

   Say that you resign, stop the clock and offer your hand, then fill in the result on both scoresheets and sign them.

9. Illegal moves in a tournament: what happens

   An illegal move counts once the player has pressed the clock (Art.

10. Do you have to write down your moves?

    In a classical FIDE rated game, yes.

11. What is a Swiss tournament?

    A Swiss tournament gives every entrant a game in every round.

12. How do chess ratings work?

    A rating predicts a result.

13. What is FIDE?

    FIDE is the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, the world governing body of chess, founded in Paris on 20 July 1924 and based in Lausanne.

14. Chess titles explained: GM, IM, FM and the rest

    FIDE awards four open titles for life: Grandmaster needs a 2500 rating plus three norms, International Master 2400 plus norms, FIDE Master 2300 and Candidate Master 2200 with no norms required.

15. What does a chess arbiter do?

    An arbiter is the referee of a chess tournament.

16. Can you talk during a chess game?

    Almost nothing.

17. Which hand do you press the clock with?

    The hand that made the move presses the clock.

18. What is a bye in chess?

    A bye is a round in which you have no opponent and no game.

19. What is an Armageddon game?

    Armageddon is a single tiebreak game that cannot end level.