New to chess tournaments?

Joining an event

Upcoming tournaments are listed under Events. Each event page shows the dates, the venue, who can play and whether entries are open. When entries are open, use the Enter this event button on that page.

Not sure which event suits you? Message us on 9140545 or email info@maldiveschessclub.com.

On the day

• Arrive before the first round so you have time to find your board.
• Check the pairings to see your board number, your colour and your opponent. On this site, open the event and use the Rounds and pairings tab, or Find my board.
• Switch your phone off. Under FIDE rules, a phone that rings or is used at the board can lose you the game.
• Parents and friends usually watch from outside the playing area so players can concentrate.

At the board

• Shake hands before and after the game.
• Touch-move: if you deliberately touch one of your pieces, you have to move it. If you touch an opponent's piece, you have to take it if you can. To straighten a piece, say "I adjust" first.
• The clock: after you move, press your clock with the same hand you moved with. A time control like 15+10 means 15 minutes each, plus 10 seconds added after every move. 3+2 is a fast blitz game.
• Writing moves: in longer games you write down every move. In rapid and blitz games you usually don't have to.
• If something goes wrong, stop the clock and raise your hand for the arbiter. Don't argue with your opponent.

How scoring works

• A win scores 1 point, a draw ½ and a loss 0.
• Swiss system: most open events use it. You play every round, and each round you meet someone on a similar score. Nobody is knocked out.
• Round robin: everyone plays everyone once.
• Team events: clubs play matches over several boards, and each board is one game. A match win gives the team 2 match points, a drawn match 1, and a lost match 0.
• Bye: with an odd number of players or teams, one sits out a round and usually gets a bye. In our team events a bye has counted as a match win.
• Forfeit: if a player doesn't turn up, the opponent wins. It's shown as + and – in the results.

Tie-breaks

When players finish on the same score, tie-breaks decide the order. The ones used in our events so far are:

• Direct encounter: the result of the games between the tied players.
• Buchholz: the total score of all your opponents, so a tougher set of opponents ranks higher. Cut 1 drops your weakest opponent's score and Cut 2 drops the two weakest.
• Match points and game points: in team events, match points come first, then the total of all board results.

Each event's Final ranking tab lists exactly which tie-breaks it used as TB1, TB2 and TB3.

Using this site

• Search (the magnifying glass at the top, or the / key) finds players, events and games.
• Events show the starting rank, every round's pairings, the final ranking and the crosstable.
• Players have profiles with medals, results and their DGT games. Tap Follow to see a player on the home page. This is saved on your phone only.
• Games lists every game recorded on the DGT boards. Replay any game, or download it as PGN for a chess app.
• A rating of 0 in a table means the player has no FIDE rating yet.