Chess tournament

A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition among serious players.

Today, the most recognized chess tournaments for individual competition include the Linares chess tournament and the Corus chess tournament. The largest team chess tournament is the Chess Olympiad, in which players compete for their country's team in the same fashion as the Olympic Games. Since the 1950s, chess computers have even begun entering the tournament scene.

Most chess tournaments are organized and ruled according to the World Chess Federation (FIDE) handbook, which states many guidelines and regulations to conduct tournaments by. Chess tournaments are mainly held in either round-robin style, Swiss system style or elimination style to determine a winning party.

1 History 1.1 Chess Olympiads 1.2 Computers in chess tournaments 2 Rules 2.1 The chess clock 2.2 Irregularities 2.3 The recording of moves 2.4 The drawn game 2.5 Quickplay finish 2.6 Scoring 2.7 Player conduct 2.8 The role of the arbiter 3 Formats 3.1 Round-robin 3.2 Swiss system 3.3 Elimination 4 Gallery 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Although modern chess had been established since around 1475, it was not until 1851 that the first international chess tournament was held.^[1][2] This first tournament, known as the London 1851, took place during The Great Exhibition, and would serve as a guide for future international chess tournaments that would follow it. This tournament not only showed the need for time controls but it also clearly demonstrated the drawbacks to the knockout elimination tournament format.^[3] It was won by Adolf Anderssen of Germany, who thereby unofficially became the "World's Best Chess Player".^[4]

The amount of international chess tournaments increased rapidly afterwards. By the end of the 1850s, chess tournaments had been held in Berlin, Paris, Manchester New York, San Francisco, Birmingham, and Vienna.^[5][6][7] By the end of World War II there were 24 international chess tournaments per year, and by 1990 there were well over a thousand.^[8]

Main article: Chess Olympiad

An attempt was made in 1924 to include chess in the Olympic Games. However, since it was so difficult to distinguish between amateur and professional chess players, the event was called off.^[9] While the 1924 Summer Olympics was taking place in Paris, the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad took place separately from the Olympics, but also in Paris. The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) was formed on the closing day of the first unofficial Chess Olympiad.^[10] FIDE organized the first official Chess Olympiad in 1927 in which there were 16 participating countries.^[9] By the 29th Chess Olympiad in 1990, there were 127 member countries.^[8] The Chess Olympiads were held at irregular intervals by FIDE until 1950, when they have been held regularly every two years.^[9]

Main article: Computer chess

The first chess engine (a chess playing computer program) to beat a person in tournament play was the Mac Hack Six, in 1967.^[11] Soon after, tournaments were created just for chess computers. In 1970, the first North American Computer Chess Championship (NACCC) was held in New York City, and in 1974, the first World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was held in Stockholm. Kaissa, a chess program of the Soviet Union was named the world's first computer chess champion.^[12][13] In 1995, the first World Computer Speed Chess Championship was held in Paderborn, Germany for blitz chess. Top commercial programs such as Shredder or Fritz have even surpassed world champion players at short time controls. On September 26, 2008, Swedish Chess Computer Association ranked Deep Rybka 3 as the best chess engine in the world with an Elo rating of 3238.^[14]

Main article: Rules of chess

FIDE tournaments are held according to the FIDE handbook rules, which is used as a basic guide for many chess tournaments. The handbook contains nine articles dealing with chess competitions.^[15]

A chess clock is a clock with two separate time displays of which only one display can be running at a time. The player with the black pieces will initiate their opponent's timer at the start of the game. Thus the player with the white pieces will have their timer running first, and will make the first move. The player or the arbiter may end the game at any time after the player's opponent has oversteped their time limit. If a timed out clock remains unnoticed, the game will continue as normal. If the game needs to be interrupted, the arbiter shall stop the clock.

If it is found that the starting position of the pieces is incorrect, the game must be cancelled and restarted. If it is found that an illegal move has been made, the game must return to the position directly before the irregularity. For the first two illegal moves by a player, the arbiter shall give two minutes extra time to his opponent each time. If a player is to make a third illegal move in the same game, the arbiter can declare the game lost by the offending player. If a game begins with the piece colors reversed, the game should be stopped and restarted unless an arbiter rules otherwise. If a player displaces any pieces, they should place them in the correct locations on their own time.

In games with long time controls, each player is required to record all moves of the game in algebraic chess notation. However, if a player reaches less than five minutes on their clock, and does not have a time delay of thirty seconds or more, they are excused from recording the remaining game moves until the game has been completed.At the conclusion of the game, both players must sign each other's scoresheets and turn them to the event organizers if instructed to do so. In fast chess games, players are not required to record moves, as it would take away from important thinking time. The scoresheets must be visible to the arbiter at all times. Each player must be familiar with the following chess abbreviations:^[16]

Symbol	Meaning
=	Draw offer
0-0	Kingside castling
0-0-0	Queenside castling
x	Capture
+	check
# or ++	Checkmate
e.p.	Capture by "en passant"

See also: Chess draw

A player must make their own move before offering a draw, and must not stop their own clock and start their opponent's clock before they have made the offer. No conditions may be attached to a draw offer. If a player claims a draw according to the rules of chess, the player must immediately stop both clocks and record the draw claim. If the claim is found to be correct, the game is drawn. Once a player has made their move, they lose eligibility to claim a draw.

The quickplay finish is the phase of the game when all remaining moves must be made in a limited time. If a player has two minutes or less left on their clock, they may ask the arbiter to adjudicate a draw. The arbiter must decide if the player's opponent is making any attempt to win the game by normal means, or if the position can be won in any way. If the arbiter decides against a draw, the player's opponent will be awarded two extra minutes of time. Otherwise, the game is drawn, and the decision of the arbiter is final.

Players are granted one point (1) for a win, a half (½) point for a draw, and no points (0) for a loss toward their tournament score, unless otherwise stated by the tournament director beforehand. Full-point byes are received when a player is excluded from a round because of an extra player. Thus, in tournaments with an odd number of players, a different player will receive a full-point each round. A full-point bye is equal in points to a normal win. Half-point byes can be requested by a player who will be unavailable for a round. If accepted, the player will receive a half-point, as if they had drawn the game.^[17] A player who wins by forfeit or default will also be granted one point. Players may use the following format to record the game score:

Symbol	Score
1-0	White wins
0-1	Black wins
½-½	Drawn game

Players are not allowed to take any action that will bring the game into disrepute. Players can not make any use of any outside information. This includes advice, notes, and analysis of another chess board. Electronic devices are not to be brought into the tournament area unless appoved by the arbiter. If a player's mobile phone rings during play, they must immediately forfeit the game. Chess scoresheets may online be used for recording matters relevant to the game. Players should not distract or annoy their competitor in any way. Once a player has finished their game, they are considered a spectator. Refusal of a player to comply with the rules will result in penalty. If two opponents both refuse to obey the rules, the game will be considered lost by both players.

The arbiter's job is to see that the Laws of Chess are observed and make decisions in the best interest of the competition, but must not interfere with the game otherwise. If a rule is broken, the arbiter may choose from a number of penalties including the following:

• warning the offending player
• increasing the remaining time of the opponent
• reducing the remaining time of the offending player
• declaring a game to be lost
• reducing the points scored in a game by the offending player
• increasing the points scored in a game by the opponent
• expulsion of the offending a player from the event

The arbiter may also expel offending spectators from the venue. Spectators are also forbidden to use mobile phones at any time in the playing area, and may be expelled for it. Member federations are allowed to ask FIDE authorities to give an official decision about problems relating to the Laws of Chess.

Most chess tournaments are held in either round-robin style, Swiss system style or single-elimination style.

In round-robin tournaments, each participant plays every other participant an equal number of times.^[18] Round-robin tournaments involving four participants are known as quads. Round-robin tournaments are often used for small groups because the element of luck is reduced when every player plays everyone else. Rating categories are sometimes used to separate players of different levels into to different round-robin groups. The World Chess Federation, the Australian Chess Federation, and the United States Chess Federation all use different categorization scales to distinguish player ability.^[19] Similar to the Round-robin style is the Scheveningen system.^[20] The Scheveningen system is often used to face two chess teams against each other, where each player on one team plays each player on the other team.^[21][22]

The Swiss system tournament style is commonly used for tournaments involving too many participants for the round-robin style.^[23] In the Swiss style, players are paired with opponents who have done equally well.^[24] For example, players with six points will play other players with six points, so that the player with the most amount of points at the end of the tournament is the winner.^[24] Pairing players for Swiss system tournaments is often quite complicated, so tournament organizers commonly use a computer to pair players.

Single-elimination style or knock-out style are also sometimes used for chess tournaments. In fact, the first international chess tournament was held in single-elimination style.^[25] In single-elimination tournaments, the loser of a game is immediately eliminated from winning the first prize.^[26][27] In most single-elimination chess tournaments there is a backdraw for players to compete for positions other than first. Players are normally given seeds based on their rating in order to prevent the highest ranked players from facing each other early in the competition. Double-elimination tournaments and triple-elimination tournaments work in the same way as single-elimination tournaments except that a player loses eligibility to take first prize after two or three losses, respectively.^[28]

Tournament hall at Liverpool's World Museum, 2008

Chess congress, Ormskirk, 2005

European Individual Chess Championship, Warsaw, 2005

Large youth chess tournament

• List of strong chess tournaments
• List of mini chess tournaments
• World Chess Championship
• Women's World Chess Championship
• World Junior Chess Championship
• Candidates Tournament
• International Arbiter

• FIDE tournament rules
• Chess Tournament and Match History

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