Let me be the first to congratulate you on playing in your first chess tournament! It’s a stressful endeavor, but reading this article is your first step. Now, if you are still on the fence and not sure if you want to play, let me help convince you to play. No matter what your level is, a chess tournament is a fabulous way to improve.  

How Chess Players Find a Chess Tournament

So, if you have decided to play in a chess tournament, the next step is finding a tournament. There are many options for finding chess tournaments near you, but here are a couple of the best options.

Local Clubs, Libraries, and School

If you already have a place where you play chess regularly, this is an excellent resource for you! If you are looking for a tournament for your child. It is possible that their school or local library has a chess tournament or that other people also want to play in one. Even if it is just a group of chess-playing friends who meet up at a local coffee shop, it is likely that one of those people knows about an upcoming chess tournament near you, or even better, maybe a group of those people would want to go together to a nearby tournament. Check the places where you already play!

Searching for Chess Matches in Your Area

Now, if that doesn’t work, or you don’t have a local place where you regularly play chess, then that is your new first step! Look up chess clubs in your area, they may be running regular tournaments. A simple Google search with your city name and chess club can likely turn up a result that can get you playing soon.

Resources for Finding Chess Tournaments

There are a few websites that you can use to look up official tournaments in your area. You can use the USCF tournaments page to search. Or there are other options like Chessaction.com for searching up Continental Chess Tournaments. Or kingregistration.com to search other aggregated tournaments in your area.

Deciphering A Chess Tournament Listing

Unfortunately for those new to the chess world, understanding a listing for a chess tournament can be like learning a whole new language. Often, organizers do not arrange them in a way that makes it easy for new players. I will give you a few of the important details to look out for, where to find certain needed information, and help you feel more comfortable going into your first tournament.

This is the top of the listing for the Chicago Open. This is a sizable open tournament with many players who may be playing their first big tournament. The start here is easy enough to understand, with the location and date of the tournament, important information to find quickly, but it’s further down the page that becomes more untenable.

This is the bulk of the information that players or potential players can get about this event. There is really important information buried in here, and even if you know what to look for, it could be difficult to decipher. If you are playing in your first tournament, the tournament listing you may find looks something like this, and I wouldn’t blame you if you changed your mind and didn’t play. This is an impossible chunk of information if you barely know what some of the important terms are. After some digging, I was able to find the webpage with the information slightly more formatted. But this is a good exercise in knowing what kind of information to look for about a chess tournament. Let me highlight the areas you would need to focus on if you are playing in your first tournament.

Sections

First, there are a lot of different Sections. It will be important for you to know which Section you are signing up for, so make sure you know what your USCF rating is, or if you are playing unrated in a U1000-rated section, etc. For this particular tournament, it looks like they charge a fee if you are unrated and try to play in the Open section, so be aware of that sort of thing.

Rounds and Time Control for the Chess Games

This is also where the number of rounds and the time control are listed. Time controls, when listed in this manner, are the closest thing to science fiction in chess. It can feel like some kind of coordinates to a far-off planet. Here is the time control as listed: 

7-SS, 40/80, SD/30; d30

• 7-SS: This means the tournament follows a 7-round Swiss system, where players are paired based on their scores, and no one is eliminated. It is not a knock out format.
• 40/80: Each player must make 40 moves within 80 minutes.
• SD/30: After the first 40 moves, the game enters a sudden death (SD) phase, where each player gets 30 more minutes to complete the game.
• d30: This means there is a 30-second delay per move. Instead of adding time after each move (like increment), the clock pauses for 30 seconds before counting down.

Players get 80 minutes for their first 40 moves, then 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second delay per move throughout.

Details About the Venue

There are often details about the venue in these listings as well, sometimes, they really can’t afford to be missed! In this example, there is free parking at the venue, but that may not always be the case. Also, later, they list information about the hotel fees. One very important decision you will have to make when playing in a chess tournament is whether you play in something that is multiple days or that would require a hotel stay. This can completely change the cost of your trip, so understanding the hotel costs– and making reservations early– is key. 

 Entry Fees for Your Chess Tournament

Speaking of costs for your trip, it's important to be aware of entry fees. Entry fees, listed in this listing occasionally as EF, can vary depending on the section you are playing in or the schedule you are signing up for. Tournaments may have different versions of their schedule that change based on if you are playing in a three-day, four-day, or even five-day version. This often changes the time control in some of your games– and other factors. In this example, the U1000 entry fee is $97.

What to Bring to Chess Tournaments

Buried at the bottom of the information is the fact that you need to bring your own chess board and clock. If you are new to chess tournaments, this may be news to you! Luckily, there are many great options for tournament chess boards and clocks. Familiarize yourself with the clock you are bringing; maybe practice setting it to the time control for that specific tournament and the Blitz tournament, which is also an option.

Other Things to Do and Decide

Once you are signed up for the tournament, know your round times, and are ready to go, there are other plans you need to make for yourself that will make your tournament better.

1. Decide when, where, and what you will be eating during the tournament. Maybe you want to have some food ready for you in your hotel room, or you can scope out the surrounding area for walkable dining options. Either way, don’t wait until you are hungry and only have thirty minutes before your next round to think about what and where you will eat.
2. Plan to arrive early and familiarize yourself with the space. Figure out what restrooms players are allowed to use, where water can be found, etc.
3. Figure out where or how you are meant to mark your results. They should let you know during the tournament, but make sure you know how you are meant to mark the results of your game.
4. Have fun and make friends! Introduce yourself to other players. Often, after a game, your opponent will be willing to analyze the game with you, and you can both try and learn from the match. But make sure you leave yourself enough time to prepare for your next round!

Etiquette & Rules

If this is your first tournament, there may be a few basic etiquettes to learn. Some of this may seem obvious to you, but I have been surprised by chess players, even higher seeded players in the past!

Noise

Once in the playing hall, you should be as silent as you can be. Especially once games have begun, there should be no talking or noise of any kind. You should not speak to your opponent unless offering a draw or resigning once the game has begun.

Moving Around the Playing Hall

You are allowed to get up from your seat and stretch your legs, but don’t do so during your own time, and if you are getting up often, your opponent might get suspicious of your actions.

No Electronics

This one should seem obvious, but if you are new to chess, you might not realize the severity of the issue. Listen to the Tournament Directors onsite, but to make things easiest, I would leave any electronics either in your hotel room or with a loved one if possible. Otherwise, do as the TD says, but you cannot look at a cell phone or anything like that during your game.

Frequently Asked Questions