Frequently Asked Questions đ
A Minnesota State Chess Association production. đĽ
đ Hello!
This is a getting started guide, sometimes specifically for playing chess in Minnesota, often for OTB chess in general. OTB stands for âOver The Boardâ, or playing in person. We mainly talk about rated play here. We also have things to say about online chess and chess improvement.
This is aimed at players of all ages that want to play this ancient and beautiful game, with added notes for parents that are just starting on a rewarding journey with their children. Educators will also find useful information for school programs.
đ§ Please send us an email if you have further questions or if you find a broken link or other inaccuracy. Despite the length of this document, it is by necessity limited in scope, and it will omit mention of many great chess resources. The joy of further discovery is left to you!
đşď¸ đ§
đ Tournaments đď¸Â (byes, time controls, notation, âŚ)
đ United States Chess Federation (US Chess) đşđ¸
đ Chess Boards, Pieces, and Clocks â°
đ Study & Improvement đď¸
Most rated events are in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, organized by the MSCA or taking place at the Chess Castle in Edina. Clubs in Rochester and Duluth/Superior also hold rated events.
The MSCA Chess Challenger series is designed for new tournament players, unrated or rated under 800. These are planned to be held quarterly. The event is unrated, the pressure is low, and you have a chance to beat a National Master in the simultaneous exhibition that takes place before the tournament. Weâve also tried an Easy Chess Night and may have more of these, too.
đ See our affiliates page for pointers to non-MSCA organizations. This page is just getting going in 2024 and we expect to have more affiliates in time.
đ The MSCA Grand Prix is aimed at promoting chess in Greater Minnesota, with official MSCA tournaments in St. Cloud and Duluth/Superior, and MSCA-supported events in Rochester and Franklin.
See our events page for upcoming MSCA tournaments and our calendar which shows events for the MSCA, the Chess Castle, and others.
Two letters that are important to know: TD. This is the Tournament Director. The TD runs the show and is the person to go to with any questions or issues. (Another term youâll see used more outside the U.S. is âarbiter.â)
Byes are rounds where you donât play a game. They may be voluntary or (unfortunately, occasionally) involuntary.
When you sign up for a tournament you can usually select up to two half point byes. For example, three games in one day can make for a long, grueling day. You might decide to take a bye for the first or third game of the day. You get a half point for that round, as if it was a draw.
(Scoring is simple in most chess tournaments. You get a full point for a win, a half point for a draw, and zero points for a loss.)
Byes that you request in advance will be listed by your name on a posted wall chart. You should confirm that these are correct!
In MSCA tournaments, we typically require players to declare half point byes before the start of round 3. Maybe you were eager to play those three games on a Saturday, but felt wiped out after the second round. You can still get a half point bye in round 3.
Make sure to let the TD know any time youâre going to miss a game, for any reason! Itâs important for them to know as soon as possible so that you donât get paired for that round. (You donât need to let them know about byes already scheduled.)
Some events donât allow you to take half point byes in one or more of the final rounds. Official MSCA events typically donât have this restriction, but MSCA supported events might.
You may also take zero point byes. Maybe there are three games on Saturday and two on Sunday, but you are unable to play Saturday at all. You can take two half point byes and one zero point bye and start Sunday with 1 point. Zero point byes are also available when there are final round restrictions.
FINALLY, you might receive a full point bye if there are an odd number of players in your section and there is no opponent for you. The player with the lowest score and rating will get the full point bye, unless theyâve already had to take another one.
You might still get in a rated game for that round, however! There will usually be a note by your name on the pairing sheet to âSee TD,â and they might be able to pair you with the odd-player out from another section. The game will be rated but it wonât count as part of the tournament. Youâll get the full point for the standings whether you win or lose. These extra games appear in US Chess tournament results as a separate section with a creative name like âExtra Games.â
Involuntary byes are unfortunate, but theyâre part of tournament chess. You should keep this risk in mind if you decide to âplay upâ in higher sections. You may be more likely to fall into the bottom of those sections.
Games not played because of byes or forfeits will count in tournament standings, but will have no effect on rating.
You can withdraw from a tournament at any time. Let us know ahead of the event day and weâll process the withdrawal and refund your entry fee.
During the tournament, just let the TD know youâre withdrawing. If you donât let us know and youâre paired, your next round opponent will get a forfeit win. It gains them a full point in the standings but it will be disappointing to anyone looking forward to a game of chess. There may also be consequences for your ability to participate in future events.
G/90 +30s? G60;d5? What does it mean? đđ
Time is an important element in chess. All rated games use a clock to limit the amount of time that a game and each player can take.
To prevent unseemly scrambles when time is running out, most events use an increment (also called a bonus) or a delay for each turn. An increment is an amount of time added to the clock each time the player presses the button. This is time that is âbanked,â to be spent later. A delay is a period of time before the clock starts counting down each turn. Both methods provide some time for players to convert a winning position or defend a drawable one.
The benefit of a delay time control is that it reduces the variability in game times and allows for a shorter time between rounds, but the downside is that when youâre low on time, you will stay low on time, versus increment where you might run low on time, but then a few quick moves can give you some breathing room.
Increment time control is usually specified as âGame in (# of minutes) plus (# of seconds) per turn,â where each player starts the game with the specified number of minutes. This is usually given in a shorthand like G/90 +30s or even simpler as 5+5 or 3/2. (Those would be for a blitz game, which might not prevent the unseemly time scramble!)
Delay time control would be âGame in (# of minutes) with a (# of seconds) delay per turn,â for example G/60 d5Â or G30;d5.
There are also time controls that specify a certain number of moves in different time periods, but most rated events in Minnesota keep it simple with one time for the game, and the increment or delay. Most MSCA events have 90 or 60 minute games.
Parents! Be aware that young scholastic players tend to play quickly, often completing their games in less than an hour when there might be 4-5 hours between rounds. You will have time to fill!
Some venues will have âskittlesâ rooms or areas where people can review and play casual games, but some wonât. Tables and chairs may or may not be available nearby. Families will often bring camp chairs and even small tables, setting up outside in nice weather or in hallways/common areas.
You should consider the time control when selecting tournaments. Scholastic events tend to have shorter games like G/45. Game 90 plus a 30 second bonus will have the most variability. If two players use all their time and play 60 moves, thatâs a 4 hour game! đ
The time control has some bearing on game notation, too, which weâll cover next. (We also have a section for online time controls below.)
âNotationâ and âscorekeepingâ refer to the same thing: writing down the moves of the game.
Wikipedia has an informative article on algebraic notation. (Wikipedia has a mind-boggling number of chess articles.) Chess.com also has a nice explainer.
(Descriptive notation is an older system that has largely been replaced by the algebraic method, which is more efficient and provides greater clarity. You may run across it in old books.)
Keeping score is important for managing disputes and deciding claims at tournaments, and later for analyzing and learning from your games. Your scoresheet will support a claim of draw by repetition or the 50-move rule. (More on these below.)
Youâre not expected to be perfect when youâre starting out, whether youâre 6 or 60, but youâre expected to notate your rated games! Make your best effort. Opponents will often be helpful in explaining things to new players.
Notation is required for longer games, but not for blitz and other short games. For longer time controls with a short increment or delay, you are required to notate until either playerâs clock goes below five minutes, and then may stop if youâd like. An example of this would be a 30 minute game with a 5 second delay.
When there is an increment or delay of 30 seconds, that is considered enough time to record every move. If unsure, you can always ask the TD.
As mentioned, just do your best! If you make a mistake, you may ask your opponent to look at their scoresheet in order to make corrections. You should do this on your own turn, however, when your own clock is ticking, and you shouldnât make excessive requests.
Most events have sections by rating to group players into similar skill levels, to make for more enjoyable and competitive games. The top section is open to any player and thus often called the âOpenâ section, although in the MSCA weâre more often calling it the âPremierâ section, followed by âunderâ sections like U1900, U1500, U1100.
You canât play lower than your rating, but you can play higher. That is, if you are rated 1450, youâre not eligible for the U1100 section, but you can play in U1500 or higher. See our unrated policy to determine how we might assign a rating to you even if you are technically unrated.
If youâve never played OTB before, you should 95% of the time start in the lowest section, and 99.9% shouldnât play in the top section. You likely wonât bring the house down like Beth Harmon in the â63 Kentucky State Championship. That said, if youâve played a lot online you should obviously consider your skill level there in choosing.
It is often good to âplay up,â to challenge yourself against stronger opponents, although it may not be as beneficial to play more than one section up. Â But there is plenty of good opposition in the lower sections, and if youâre mismatched, you can take that into account next time while enjoying your unrated prize winnings.
Great! Try to get a good nightâs sleep, and double-check the round starting time on the event flyer so you can be on time and not rushed. If youâre late, your clock will be ticking and the game forfeit after a half hour.
If youâre already registered online, you donât need to check in when you arrive. You will of course have your chess set and clock with you. Itâs a good idea to bring water and snacks, too, although please donât eat at the board.
The tournament directors will be handling walk-in registrations, and will post pairings on the wall near the round start time. (Weâve also started posting them online in a Google spreadsheet.) Pairings will show opposing player names, which color each will play, and a board number where they should set up. The playing hall is very hierarchical, with higher rated players on lower numbered boards.
Near the pairing there is also a wallchart that shows byes that people have selected. Make sure your byes are correct, and let the TD know if youâd like to make any changes to them. Typically you can still add half point byes for future rounds before the start of round 3 in a 5 round event.
When everyone is (about) ready to go at round start time, there will be announcements from the organizers and tournament director, and then play will begin!
At the conclusion of your game, record the results next to your names on the posted wall pairing sheet: 1 for a win, 0 for a loss, or ½ for a draw. It is important to record a result! The TD may have to assign a double-forfeit if they canât determine what happened.
Oh boy are there! There are the US Chess Official Rules of Chess. This is good reading for players and future tournament directors alike. Much too much to be covered here, but letâs consider a few important ones.
đ Touch move: If you touch one of your pieces, you must move it as long as it has a legal move. If you first touch one of your opponentâs pieces, you must capture it if possible. You may say, âadjustâ (or jâadoube) before touching a piece to adjust its position. You should avoid doing this excessively and should do it on your own turn. See US Chess Rule 10 for all the fine print, including the importance of âintention.â
đ Draw by threefold repetition:Â US Chess Rule 14Â spells out all the ways in which a game can be drawn. One way is when the same position occurs three times. This often happens automatically in online play, but in OTB a player must make a claim to the TD. See Rule 14CÂ for more glorious fine print.
âłď¸ 50-move rule: If 50 consecutive move are made by both sides without a capture or pawn move, a draw may be claimed. See Rule 14F. Your scoresheet will support this and the repetition claim.
đ¤ Draw by agreement: This is the most common type of draw, covered by Rule 14B. You should be aware of the proper method of offering a draw: Make a move and offer the draw before pressing your clock. Your opponent may accept, or reject the offer verbally or by making a move. The offer canât be withdrawn once made.
đĽ Finally! There is Rule 20G: Annoying behavior prohibited. This is a rather open-ended rule to prevent unsportsmanlike or distracting behavior. Judgment, enforcement, and penalties are up to the tournament director. For example, eating crunchy snacks at the board might be considered annoying and distracting and contrary to all principles of civilized behavior. (All of Rule 20 is worth reviewing: âConduct of Players and Spectators.â)
The biggest scholastic tournament of the year is the MSCA State Scholastic Championship, held in the spring. đą We had 300 players at St. Thomas University in 2023 and 2024! Information on this and other scholastic events will appear on our home, scholastic, and events pages. The scholastic and events pages also have pointers to news and results from previous events.
The School Chess Association (SCA) is a venerable chess institution in Minnesota, founded by MN chess Hall of Famer Larry Lampert in 1969. They hold scholastic tournaments and a summer chess camp.
The MHSCL is an online league that has been running for several seasons. Three half-point byes are allowed, so teams can join as âfullâ participants after the season starts, before round 4. Teams can still join after that as âtrialâ participants at a discounted rate, and are not included in the standings. The league director will attempt to find these teams the most appropriate opponents.
US Chess has an extensive guide about starting a scholastic chess program that is far more comprehensive than we can cover here.
In this FAQ weâll offer a few brief thoughtsâŚ
At the most basic level, you need some chess sets, of course! These can be had for a low cost. You can read more about chess sets and clocks below in the FAQ, but if you choose single-weighted pieces instead of triple-weighted, along with simple regulation vinyl boards, you can get 10 sets for less than $200. Chess clocks will add to the bill, but when just starting out you might get by with free chess clock apps. (These arenât allowed in US Chess rated competition. More below.)
Once you have equipment, get your students practicing and playing! For new players, there is more in this FAQ about study and improvement.
Players should practice basic endgames against each other until they can always win with king and queen or rook against a lone king, and they should be able to promote a pawn or prevent a promotion in king and pawn vs king, depending on the position. (Humans can be better practice partners than computers. When a chess engine âknowsâ a position is lost, it sometimes makes less challenging moves.)
You might consider a ladder competition system. These have some drawbacks but can help rank players and promote competition. Here is an interesting discussion on chess.com about ladder rules. The US Chess scholastic guide mentioned above covers club ladders as well.
Scholastic chess has some common age groupings that may be helpful when forming your club. For example, K-3, K-5, Middle School, High School. Grouping your students in this manner may help them find a playing partner of equal skill level, and this will align your club with scholastic chess tournaments such as the State Scholastic.
Having a chess coach with chess experience to help teach the students is very helpful. Many times a scholastic chess club will have both an organizer and a chess coach and these are two different roles. One is more administrative and one is more about the technical aspects of chess (teaching principles, learning strategies, practicing technique, etc).
The United States Chess Federation is the governing body for âofficialâ chess in the U.S., and provides the ratings that weâre all obsessed with. (They are also known by the initials, USCF.) A US Chess membership is required for all USCF-rated events, which is pretty much all rated events in the USA.
There is also FIDE for international chess and ratings, but weâre not getting into any of that here.
US Chess writes the rules of chess. (We discuss some of these above. Good follow-up reading for when you finish this FAQ!)
One of the more useful functions of the US Chess is to provide results of all rated events. For example, the results of all MSCA events can be found here. Perusing these âcrosstablesâ will provide you with much entertainment and enlightenment. You can get a good sense of the level of competition youâll face by studying past events.
You can usually pay for or extend your membership when registering for a tournament, but it may be easier to sign up on their site, where you can also set up an account. Join US Chess!
The Minnesota State Chess Association is the designated state affiliate of the United States Chess Federation. The MSCA awards the official Minnesota State Champion Titles as recognized by US Chess.
See our âaboutâ page for more about us.
The MSCA also has memberships, which are required starting in 2024 to play in most of our tournaments. An MSCA membership is a low-cost and great way to support Minnesota chess!
The MSCA holds (generally) larger tournaments most months of the year, primarily in the Twin Cities. We are fortunate to also have a first class chess club in town that holds regular and frequent rated events: The Chess Castle of Minnesota! âď¸
The Chess Castle is located at Southdale Mall in Edina and holds events most days of the week and most weekends. Their calendar is here đď¸. (Itâs essentially the same Google Calendar as the MSCAâs.)
Mondays: Action Quads! Players are grouped by rating and play three 30 minute games. This is a good format to start getting a lot of experience against similarly-rated opponents.
Tuesdays: Fire & Ice đĽđ§ First a rated 60 minute game which is part of a month-long tournament, and then a weekly unrated blitz tournament. (The blitz tournament is only held if there are enough players that want to stay after the long game.)
Casual Wednesdays:Â Unrated casual play, game review/lecture from an expert/master, and an unrated blitz tournament. This is a good night to learn more about the club and ease your way in.
Thursday Knighter:Â A month-long tournament with a 90 minute game each week. There are open and premier sections, where the premier section has a minimum 1700 rating and generally has players rated 2000 and up.
Most weekends have events going one or two days, with various time controls.
A membership isnât required, but they are available! Memberships provide discounted entry fees to most Chess Castle events and they are important for supporting this valuable Minnesota chess institution.
Probably! This is generally how it works in the U.S. and in Minnesota. Assume youâll need these items unless the event info says otherwise.
đď¸ Note: By law or custom, the person playing Black chooses which set and clock to use, and on which side to place the clock. (This should provide full compensation for Black having to move second.)
Fortunately, it is a materially simple game. You can outfit yourself with a tournament kit including roll-up vinyl board, plastic pieces, chess clock, and carrying bag for about $50-$100. (Maybe more, maybe less, but thatâs about what it is at the time of this writing.)
Letâs put together a low-cost and durable starter kit that will be suitable for US Chess rated events. Examples come from US Chess Sales and Amazon, but this is not an endorsement of either site, and we donât receive compensation for any purchases.
Weâll consider items individually, but you can probably save money buying a board, pieces, and bag together. (A bag isnât required, but weâll show you one that works great for carrying your stuff around.)
A regulation tournament board has 2.25â squares. Green squares are the traditional color, but there are many to choose from. Vinyl boards roll up nicely for storage and transporting.
Weighted plastic pieces will serve you well on the field of battle, typically with a 3.75â tall King. For example, this triple-weighted set will be sturdy and good looking. Regulation pieces for your regulation board.
You need a digital clock that supports increment (bonus) and delay time controls.
Consider investing in the DGT North American clock. Itâs a popular clock and youâll be happier with it long term. Youâll probably find it for a lower price at Amazon or elsewhere, but it will still add a lot to the cost of your set. A lower-cost alternative is this LEAP clock that is also popular and will do the job.
Be sure to read the manual and experiment with setting up increment and delay times before bringing it to your first tournament! Tournament details should always specify the time control so you can have it set in advance.
(There are free clock apps for phones that can be used in casual play, but are not allowed in rated tournaments. The lichess app has a clock included, and chess.com has a nice standalone clock app.)
Youâll want something like this âdeluxeâ bag. It compactly and comfortably holds a rolled up board, pieces, clock, scoresheets, pens, snacks, and magic beans. đŤ
Hereâs a good board/pieces/bag combo for a lower price as a set.
There are two big websites: chess.com and lichess.org. Both let you play games, analyze them with a chess engine, have mastersâ games to study, opening explorers, and tactics trainers with large collections of puzzles for practice. Chess.com also has a subsidiary, chesskid.com, which we understand to be a good site for kids.
Both the big sites have a good playing interface and will quickly pair you up with similarly rated opponents in a variety of time controls. The author of this FAQ likes to split playing time between the sites.
Chess.com has more users and is a for-profit site. Some features are limited without a paid account, for example, the number of puzzles you can solve per day, or lessons you can view.
Lichess is a charity and 100% free, running only on user donations. The aforementioned FAQ author considers lichess to be every bit as good or better than chess.com, and imports chess.com games into lichess to analyze there.
New players will benefit more from longer time controls where you have time to develop your calculation skills. However, it can be harder to find playing partners, and you run a greater risk of people stalling or abandoning games and wasting your time.
Your best bet online may be to use the 15+10 time control, for which chess.com and lichess both have preset âquick pairingâ pools. This is considered a ârapidâ time control. This will provide you some time to think, allow you to get a game completed in a manageable amount of time, and lessen the annoyance of poor sportsmanship.
If playing blitz, 5+3 on lichess or 5+5 on chess.com have large playing pools, providing for quicker matching, and the increment will give you a little more time to conclude games without (as) frantic of a time scramble. Zero increment games may be exciting as you seek to âflagâ your opponent or avoid being flagged, but they are even less conducive to learning how to play a âproperâ game.
These short games wonât provide you the deep thinking exercise youâll get from classical OTB games, but theyâre still good for developing intuition and pattern matching skills, practicing openings, and most importantly, having fun. Spend some time analyzing each game, to see what you missed.
See the time control section above for more about how time controls work. Itâs geared to OTB but explains what 15+10, etc, means. The online sites use increment or no increment; we havenât seen a delay time control.
Not full. But yes, there are nasty trolls out there. There are also a lot of friendly and helpful people. And there are various levels of nuisance behavior. Fortunately there are ways to improve your experience. (The following is specifically for the websites. Your mileage may vary with mobile apps.)
On chess.com:
âď¸Settings âśď¸ Live Chess âśď¸ Game Chat, set to âNobodyâ or âFriends Onlyâ
On lichess you can disable all site communication:
âď¸ Click on username in upper right âď¸ Preferences âśď¸ Kid mode
Less drastically, in the playing interface âChat roomâ there is a toggle to turn chat on and off.
Youâll be forgoing positive interactions as well, but weâre here to play chess, not chitchat. đş
There is also âzen modeâ on lichess and âfocus modeâ on chess.com that hides much of the interface, including chat. This is an amazing feature. It can be easily toggled with the âZâ key (same key on both sites).
Chess.com âLive Chessâ settings has âAlways Use Focus Modeâ. This will make sure a game always starts that way, but you can still toggle with Z.
Lichess âDisplayâ preferences has âZen modeâ, but games will start wherever last toggled. Zen mode in lichess also applies to puzzles which is nice for focused tactics work.
The motivation for these features is surely a sporting one.
Mouse-slips happen in online chess. You meant to castle, but accidentally released the mouse button early, only moving the king one square. Your opponent may be merciful and grant a âtakeback.â
Or you may be playing a great game, perhaps even an immortal one, and time is running low. Neither you nor your opponent want to have this masterpiece decided by the clock! With âgive more timeâ, there is the option to add 15 seconds to your opponentâs clock.
As with everything, this will come down to your preference, but these things are often used to irritate people or are simply distracting. Consider setting them to âNeverâ or âIn casual games onlyâ:
âď¸Preferences âśď¸ Game behavior âśď¸ Takebacks
Itâs better to live with your mistakes and not spend time and energy trying to decide if your opponentâs requests are reasonable. Was it really a mouse-slip, or a careless blunder?
âď¸Preferences âśď¸ Chess clock âśď¸ Give more time
It seems more often this is used to annoy or confuse people. Youâre not going to get extra time in OTB chess, so you might as well get used to playing in the allotted time.
âThe lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.â âChaucer
This is a big topic! This FAQ will only attempt to mention a few basics and point to a few resources. Itâs just a start! You will find your own path, and you can take your own time. You have a lifetime to work on this great game. âąď¸
Minnesota chess Hall of Famer Ted Haugan taught his students fundamentals: Develop your pieces, learn basic endgames⌠never resign! Experienced players may better judge when itâs time to resign, but beginners should learn to convert their endgames, and make their opponents prove their technique. You should know basic checkmates like king and queen vs king and king and rook vs king. You should know how to play king and pawn vs king. Sometimes itâs a win for the side with the pawn, and sometimes a draw for the defending king, that will surely feel like a hard fought victory. Maybe. Depends on what happened earlier in the game. But still, youâll be happier with the draw than a loss. đŞ
The best way to get better at chess is to practice a lot and play a lot. Elsewhere in this FAQ we say more about online chess and Minnesota OTB opportunities.
Thereâs nothing like playing OTB in the real world, but playing and practicing online is clearly a convenient way to work on your game. Lichess is 100% free and has excellent lessons for basics, further practice, and a huge collection of puzzles/tactics. đ§Š
chess.com is the bigger and well-known chess site, and itâs good, too. It has excellent lessons but they are quite limited unless you have a paid subscription (the same goes with their tactics trainer).
đ§ŠAll lichess puzzles come from games played on the site, and the puzzle interface is seamlessly integrated with the analysis board. Before solving, you can review all moves in the game leading up to the tactic, if youâd like. After solving you can quickly check engine evaluations and variations before and after the starting position, and visit the original game. Sometimes you wonder, how did this position happen? Now you can find out. Itâs neat.
There is an astounding quantity of chess videos online, on YouTube and elsewhere. Much of it good, much of it not so good, and much of it free. A lot of it may serve the purpose of entertainment better than serious study, but different things will work better for different people.
In this Minnesota chess FAQ, weâll call attention to our own John Bartholomew. John is another MN Hall of Famer and an internet chess celebrity. He explains the game very well. Anyone would benefit from visiting his YouTube channel.
Check out the playlists! His âClimbing the Ratingâ ladder series is popular. There are also endgame fundamentals and other fundamentals.
For in person coaching, you might try visiting a club, where flyers and business cards are sometimes posted. The Chess Castle has bulletin boards with information. Rochester Chess has coaches listed.
Whether in town or across the world, most chess coaches work online now. This works really well with video calls and the study tools that the big chess sites have. Teachers and students can use a shared analysis board and make moves, draw arrows, etc.
Lichess and chess.com both have coach pages:
Coaches on either site might have blog posts which can give you an idea of their approach to instruction. Youâll find a wide range of rates.
The usual caveats apply as with anything online! Be mindful that the coaches on either site are not vetted. Make sure they accept a convenient form of payment like PayPal, and be prepared to try different people until you find someone that works well for you.