![Sahovska olimpiada Bled 2002 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Sahovska_olimpiada_Bled_2002_1.JPG)
A chess tournament is a series of
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
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
The Linares International Chess Tournament ( Spanish: ''Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Linares'') was an annual chess tournament, usually played around the end of February, which takes its name from the city of Linares in the Jaén p ...
(now defunct) and the
Tata Steel chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...
. The largest team chess tournament is the
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...
, in which players compete for their country's team in the same fashion as the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
. Since the 1960s,
chess computers
In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest.
A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface with n ...
have occasionally entered human tournaments, but this is no longer common.
Most chess tournaments are organized and ruled according to the
World Chess Federation
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
(FIDE) handbook, which offers guidelines and regulations for conducting tournaments. Chess tournaments are mainly held in either
round-robin style,
Swiss system style or
elimination style to determine a winning party.
History
![And00278](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/And00278.png)
Although
modern chess
Modern chess is a chess variant played on a 9×9 board. The game was invented by Gabriel Vicente Maura in 1968. Besides the usual set of chess pieces, each player has a prime minister and an additional pawn:
: The prime minister (M) combines ...
had been established since around 1475, the first tournament (in the sense of structured competitions) was in Leeds in 1841.
There was a knockout tournament in London in 1849 and a tournament in Amsterdam in 1851. The first international chess tournament was held in London in 1851.
The
London 1851 tournament took place during
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took p ...
, and would serve as a guide for future
international chess tournaments
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
that would follow it. The tournament not only showed the need for
time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game cloc ...
s but it also clearly demonstrated the drawbacks to the
knockout elimination tournament format. It was won by
Adolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. He won the great internat ...
of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, who became regarded as the world's best chess player as a result.
The number of international chess tournaments increased rapidly afterwards. By the end of the 1850s, chess tournaments had been held in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
New York,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. By the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
there were 24 international chess tournaments per year, and by 1990 there were well over a thousand.
Chess Olympiads
![Chess Olympiad Torino 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Chess_Olympiad_Torino_2006.jpg)
An attempt was made in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...
to include chess in the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
. However, because it was very difficult to distinguish between amateur and professional
chess players, the event was called off.
[
] 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
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
(FIDE) was formed on the closing day of the first unofficial Chess Olympiad. FIDE organized the
first official Chess Olympiad in 1927 in which there were 16 participating countries.
By the
29th Chess Olympiad
The 29th Chess Olympiad ( sr, 29. Шаховска олимпијада, ''29. Šahovska olimpijada''), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female p ...
in 1990, there were 127 member countries.
The Chess Olympiads were held at irregular intervals by FIDE until 1950; since then, they have been held regularly every two years.
Computers in chess tournaments
![RS Chess Computer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/RS_Chess_Computer.JPG)
The first
chess engine
In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest.
A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface wit ...
(a chess playing
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program ...
) to beat a person in tournament play was the
Mac Hack Six, in 1967. Soon after, tournaments were created just for chess computers. In 1970, the first
North American Computer Chess Championship The North American Computer Chess Championship was a computer chess championship held from 1970 to 1994. It was organised by the Association for Computing Machinery and by Monty Newborn, Professor of Computer Science at McGill University. It was one ...
(NACCC) was held in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and in 1974, the first
World Computer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) is an event held periodically since 1974 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association. It is often held in conjunction with ...
(WCCC) was held in
Stockholm.
Kaissa
Kaissa (russian: Каисса) was a chess program developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. It was named so after Caissa, the goddess of chess. Kaissa became the first world computer chess champion in 1974 in Stockholm.
History
By 1967, a ...
, a chess program of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
was named the world's first
computer chess champion. In 1995, the first
World Computer Speed Chess Championship
World Computer Speed Chess Championship is an annual event organized by the International Computer Games Association where computer chess engines compete against each other at blitz chess time controls. It is held in conjunction with the World Co ...
was held in
Paderborn, Germany for
blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blit ...
. For a time, computers competed in human tournaments as well, but computers have become so strong that humans are no longer able to compete with them; players now tend to treat them as analysis tools rather than as opponents. Interest remains in computer chess tournaments, especially the
World Computer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) is an event held periodically since 1974 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association. It is often held in conjunction with ...
and
Top Chess Engine Championship
Top Chess Engine Championship, formerly known as Thoresen Chess Engines Competition (TCEC or nTCEC), is a computer chess tournament that has been run since 2010. It was organized, directed, and hosted by Martin Thoresen until the end of Season 6; ...
.
Rules
FIDE tournaments are held according to th
FIDE handbookrules, which is used as a basic guide for many chess tournaments. The handbook contains nine articles dealing with chess competitions.
The chess clock
![Sah sahovska ura](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Sah_sahovska_ura.png)
A
chess clock
A chess clock consists of two adjacent clocks with buttons to stop one clock while starting the other, so that the two clocks never run simultaneously. Chess clocks are used in chess and other two-player games where the players move in turn, and ...
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 overstepped 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.
Due to most tournaments having increment or delay as well as digital clocks being more precise, digital chess clocks are the preferred choice of equipment in tournaments.
Irregularities
If it is found that the starting position of the pieces was 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 illegal move by a player, the arbiter shall give two minutes extra time to his opponent. If a player makes a second illegal move in the same game, the arbiter shall 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.
The recording of moves
![Planilha_Eisenberg_e_Capablanca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Planilha_Eisenberg_e_Capablanca.jpg)
In games with long
time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game cloc ...
s, each player is required to record all moves of the game in
algebraic chess notation
Algebraic notation (or AN) is the standard method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess. It is based on a system of coordinates to uniquely identify each square on the chessboard. It is used by most books, magazines, and news ...
. If, however, a player reaches less than five minutes on their clock, and does not have an
increment
Increment or incremental may refer to:
* Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism)
* Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming
* Incremental computing
* Incremental backu ...
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 score sheets and turn them to the event organizer 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 score sheets must be visible to the arbiter at all times.
The drawn game
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. If a player does not make a move before offering a draw, the opponent can request a move before considering the draw offer (which cannot be retracted). No conditions may be attached to a draw offer. If a player claims a
draw
Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to:
Common uses
* Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them
* Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...
according to the
rules of chess, the player is allowed to stop both clocks and record the draw claim as long as their opponent agrees to the claim. If the opponent disputes the draw claim, the director may be called to come to a conclusion. If the claim is found to be correct, the game is drawn. Once a player has made a move from a position eligible for a draw, they lose their rights to claim a draw in that position.
Quickplay finish
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.
Scoring
Players are granted one point (1) for a win, a half point (½) for a draw, and no points (0) for a loss toward their tournament score. A minority of tournaments use alternative scoring systems such as "football scoring" (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw), but they are treated the same as regular scoring for the purposes of
Elo rating. 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. A player who wins by forfeit or default will also be granted one point.
Player conduct
Players are not allowed to take any action that will bring the game into disrepute. For example, deliberate attempts at cheating by sneaking a captured piece back on to the board can be punished by this rule, rather than the rules dealing with illegal moves.
Players can not make any use of any outside information. This includes advice, notes, and analysis of another chess board. During play, a player is forbidden to have a
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
or any other electronic means of communication in the playing venue; failure to comply with this may result in a forfeit. Chess may 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 may result in penalty, up to and including forfeiture of the game or even disqualification of the player. If two opponents both refuse to obey the rules, the game may be considered lost by both players. In 1976,
smoking was banned in a major tournament for the first time (the National Open,
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
).
The role of the arbiter
The
arbiter must 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 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.
Formats
Most chess tournaments are held in either round-robin style, Swiss system style or single-elimination style.
Round-robin
In
round-robin tournaments, each participant plays every other participant an equal number of times. Round-robin tournaments involving four participants are known as
"quads" or "foursome". 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 different round-robin groups. The
World Chess Federation
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
, the
Australian Chess Federation
The Australian Chess Federation (ACF) is dedicated to promoting the game of chess in Australia, and is a member of FIDE, the World Chess Federation.
The ACF administers its own chess rating system for tournaments in Australia, and runs the ACF ...
and the
United States Chess Federation
The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...
all use different categorization scales to distinguish player ability.
Most round robin tournaments use the traditional 1-½-0 scoring system. In recent years, however, a few tournaments, such as Bilbao and London, have experimented with the football 3-1-0 scoring system to encourage players to go for wins.
Swiss system
A tournament that has too many participants for a round-robin format is commonly conducted as a
Swiss-system tournament
A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor (team or individual) does not play all the other ...
. This is the most common format for amateur events, and is also common at professional level. In the Swiss style, players are paired as far as possible with opponents having same or similar scores.
Pairing players for Swiss system tournaments is often quite complicated due to some nontrivial constraints:
* Players do not face the same opponent more than once.
* As far as possible, color allocation is equalized, and in the end, the number of White and Black games should differ by no more than one.
* In some tournaments, pairings between players from the same federation are avoided in the final round to avoid match fixing.
* In some tournaments, pairings between players from particular countries are avoided for political reasons.
Swiss tournament pairings were traditionally done by hand using cards. Today, tournament organizers usually use software.
Due to the high percentage of draws and the small granularity of the scoring system which is entirely based on final results, it is common for players to have the same score as the tournament finishes. Although it is often not an issue, as the tied players often split prizes equally, in case of necessity (for trophies, qualifications to other tournaments, etc.), there are a few ways to achieve tiebreak. In no particular order:
*
Sonneborn–Berger score
The Sonneborn–Berger score (or the Neustadtl score) is a scoring system often used to break ties in chess tournaments. It is computed by summing the conventional score of each defeated opponent, and half the conventional score of each drawn opp ...
* Rating performance
* Number of wins, number of Black wins, etc.
* Tiebreak games, often involving the players playing a series of games with increasingly faster time controls until one player scores higher points (explained in more details in Elimination section)
Tournament organizers specify the tie-breaking rules (if any) on the entry form.
Elimination
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.
[ This can be viewed online at or downloaded as PDF from ] In single-elimination tournaments, the loser of a game is immediately eliminated from winning the first prize. In most single-elimination chess tournaments there is a chance for players to compete for positions other than first. Players are normally given seeds based on their
rating
A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both.
Rating or ratings may also refer to:
Business and economics
* Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...
in order to prevent the highest ranked players from facing each other early in the competition.
Double-elimination tournament
A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...
s work in the same way as single-elimination tournaments except that a player loses eligibility to take first prize after two losses.
Since chess is believed to have a
first move advantage for white, to ensure fairness, the players have to face each other in an equal number of white and black games. For example, in the
Chess World Cup, players face off each other in two games, except the final with four games. Resolving ties is absolutely crucial in this format, with the modern rule generally following:
1. The players play a number of rapid games (2 or 4) until ties are broken.
2. If the players are tied, they keep playing pairs of blitz games until ties are broken, or until a set number of pairs are played (usually 1 or 2 pairs, although it can be up to 5 pairs).
3. If the players are still tied, a single deciding game (Armageddon) will be used, with Black receiving draw odds (draw count as a win) in exchange for White having time advantage (typically 5 vs 4 minutes).
Scheveningen system
The Scheveningen system, first used in
Scheveningen, Netherlands in 1923, involves two teams, each member of one team playing against each member of the other team. Typically each team has between 6 and 12 players, and both individual and team prizes may be awarded.
Relaying moves and broadcasting
Relaying moves formerly required another person to copy the moves of the players on a large demonstration board behind the players, and then transmit them via radio or telegram. Advancements in camera technology allowed zooming clearly at the players' board, although relaying moves was still done manually. In the early 2000s, autosensory boards were introduced, allowing moves to be relayed instantaneously, but are not commonly used due to their cost.
In elite tournaments, besides cameras on the players' boards, there are also chess commentators – strong chess players who comment on the game and explain the thought processes and plans of the game. Advances in
chess engines
In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest.
A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface wit ...
also allow for casual viewers to evaluate the position in real time; for this reason tournament broadcasts commonly include a 30 minute delay.
Disabled players
FIDE has rules for disabled players, with the aim of facilitating competition on an equal footing with able-bodied players.
Although the
Blind Chess Olympiad
The Blind Chess Olympiad is an international chess competition for the blind in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event takes place every four years, and is sponsored by the International Braille Chess Associati ...
is the most significant chess event for the
blind and
visually impaired
Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment ...
, players in either group can participate at most standard tournaments including international ones. In some cases, specially designed chessboards with raised squares and pegs are used to aid the visually handicapped, while a tournament assistant can be used to help players with other physical handicaps.
Tournament categories
FIDE uses tournament results to determine whether a player has qualified for a
title
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
, such as
Grandmaster. For a number of years, starting in 1970, FIDE classified tournaments in ''categories'' according to the average Elo rating of the participants, as part of the calculation of whether a particular tournament result could count towards a particular title. The starting category for master-level tournaments was category I, which applied to a tournament whose participants had an average rating from 2251 to 2275. From 2276 to 2300 it was a category II tournament, and so on with a further category every 25 points. Categories are no longer used in these calculations, but informally, strong tournaments are sometimes described by category.
Through 2005, the strongest tournaments had been classified category XXI. The
Zurich Chess Challenge 2014, held from 29 January to 4 February 2014, was the first ever category XXIII tournament, with an average Elo rating of 2801. The
2014 Sinquefield Cup, held from 27 August to 7 September, was the second category XXIII tournament, with an average Elo rating of 2802.
Tournament classes
To gauge tournaments held before 1970,
Jeff Sonas Jeff Sonas is a statistician, statistical chess analyst who invented the Chessmetrics system for rating chess players, which is intended as an improvement on the Elo rating system. He is the founder and proprietor of the Chessmetrics.com website, wh ...
devised an unofficial ''class'' system, intended to roughly correspond to categories. This is simply based on the presence or absence of the world's ten highest-ranked players at the time, and does not involve rating numbers.
According to this system, the
Vienna 1882 chess tournament
The second international Vienna 1882 chess tournament was one of the longest and strongest chess tournaments ever played. According to the unofficial Chessmetrics ratings, the tournament was (as of March 2005) the strongest tournament in history, ...
would compare in strength to
Linares 1993.
Time controls
A time control is a mechanism in tournament play that allows each round of the match to finish in a timely fashion so that the tournament can proceed. The three main types of time controls used in chess tournaments are ''blitz'', ''standard'', and ''compensation''.
Blitz
In
blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blit ...
(also known as ''sudden death'' chess) each player starts with a fixed amount of time for all their moves of the game.
[Duif's Guide to Time Controls](_blank)
Retrieved January 25, 2009 The
FIDE Handbook
/span> designates the following common blitz time controls:
*Bullet: one or two minutes per side.
*Blitz: less than 10 minutes per side (often 5 minutes), sometimes with a small time increment every move.
*Rapid: 10–60 minutes per side (often 25 minutes), sometimes with a small time increment every move.
*Armageddon
According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...
: a single game guaranteed to produce a decisive result, because Black has draw odds (that is, for Black, a draw is equivalent to a victory). To compensate, White has more time on the clock.
Blitz time controls increase the odds that a player would "lose on time", meaning forfeiture of the game due to expiration of their clock time. Blitz tournaments are often documented with the notation "G/5" or "G/15", meaning "game in 5" and "game in 15", respectively.
Standard
In standard time controls (STCs) a player has a set amount of time to complete a specified number of moves. If the specified number of moves is met, the player's time will rejuvenate. The first standard time controls, introduced in 1861, were 24 moves in two hours, with the average game lasting five hours.[Chess Standard Time Controls at Britannica.com](_blank)
Retrieved January 24, 2009 In the mid-1980s, a new format, 40 moves in two hours, proved popular because few games lasted over 60 moves.
Compensation
There are two main forms that provide compensation for both the time lost in physically making a move and ensuring that a player can avoid having an ever-decreasing amount of time remaining.
* Simple delay (also known as countdown delay and US delay). When it becomes a player's turn to move, the clock waits for the delay period before starting to subtract from the player's remaining time. For example, if the delay is five seconds, the clock waits five seconds before counting down. The time is not accumulated. If the player moves within the delay period, no time is added or subtracted from his remaining time. There is also Bronstein delay which displays the delay differently but is mathematically equivalent to simple delay.
* Increment, invented by Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...
. When it becomes a player's turn to move, the delay is added to the player's remaining time. For example, if the delay is five seconds and the player has ten minutes remaining on his clock, when his clock is activated, he now has ten minutes and five seconds remaining. Time can be accumulated, so if the player moves within the delay period, his remaining time increases. This form of time control is common on internet chess server
An Internet chess server (ICS) is an external server that provides the facility to play, discuss, and view the board game of chess over the Internet. The term specifically refers to facilities for connecting players through a variety of graphical c ...
s.
Prizes
The winners of chess tournaments are often rewarded with monetary
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are ...
prizes. Often, the chess tournament draws its prizes from a prize fund
Prize money refers in particular to naval prize money, usually arising in naval warfare, but also in other circumstances. It was a monetary reward paid in accordance with the prize law of a belligerent state to the crew of a ship belonging to t ...
, dispensing rewards for all the winners in each section. For example, the 2008 World Open chess tournament The World Open chess tournament is an annual open chess tournament played in most editions in Philadelphia and some editions in New York City. The inaugural event was a huge success played in New York in 1973 with 732 participants, and was won by Wa ...
had a prize fund of $400,000. The winner of the open section was rewarded $30,000, while the winners of lesser sections were rewarded subsequently smaller amounts. Other chess tournaments, such as the World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013.
The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...
, also reward the winners with a title, such as "World Chess Champion". Lesser tournaments sometimes replace monetary rewards with book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
prizes or trophies
A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, i ...
.2009 Queenstown Chess Classic tournament overview
Retrieved January 24, 2008
See also
*List of strong chess tournaments
This article depicts many of the strongest chess tournaments in history.
The following list is not intended to be an exhaustive or definitive record of tournament chess, but takes as its foundation the collective opinion of chess experts and ...
* List of mini chess tournaments
*World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013.
The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...
*Women's World Chess Championship
The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is played to determine the world champion in women's chess. Like the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE.
Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, wh ...
*World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...
* Candidates Tournament
*International Arbiter {{No footnotes, date=April 2022
In chess tournaments, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the rules of chess are followed.
International Arbiter
''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed ...
*Tie-breaking in Swiss-system tournaments
Swiss system tournaments, a type of group tournament common in chess and other boardgames, use various criteria to break ties between players who have the same total number of points after the last round. This is needed when prizes are indivisible ...
References
External links
FIDE tournament rules
Kalendarz Szachowy - Turnieje Szachowe
Youngest Player in Chess Tournament World Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chess Tournament