Chess games

For one round whose base control has no increment, add 2 seconds after every move.

• For one round whose base control has no increment, add 2 seconds after every move.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Increment Bonus Replacement: Choose the host’s 5+0 control; for the announced round replace it with 5+2. Leave its 3+2 alternative alone if that was the selected control. Play this combination: Set both clocks before White moves and show a test press. The two seconds are ADDED after each move, not a delay or a single opening bonus. Use the same modified control on every board in that announced round. Keep the full pairing grid, colors and 1/0.5/0 results. At the next round restore 5+0 unless another modifier was announced; do not alter a live game when another table finishes. If the existing control already has any increment, this modifier makes no change rather than stacking another two seconds. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Increment Bonus as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Increment Bonus; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Give the lower-rated player 2 extra starting minutes per full 200 rating points of gap, capped at 6.

• Give the lower-rated player 2 extra starting minutes per full 200 rating points of gap, capped at 6.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Rating-Gap Clock Handicap Replacement: Keep the host’s chosen base clock/increment; only the lower-rated player’s STARTING main time receives the computed addition. Play this combination: Before pairings start, agree one common rating source/date and how unrated players will be rated for this house handicap; if no comparable rating is available, use equal clocks rather than invent a gap. Use complete 200 point bands: a 199 gap gives 0, 200 gives 2 minutes, 400 gives 4 and 600 or more gives 6. At 5+0, a 450 gap is 9 minutes for the lower-rated player versus 5 for the higher-rated player; the higher player’s clock is unchanged. This makes the higher-rated side’s relative time smaller, not an additional deduction from it. Apply the calculation afresh to each pairing, show both settings and retain the same result points. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Rating-Gap Clock Handicap as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Rating-Gap Clock Handicap; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Play one announced full game without ordinary table talk; keep rules and safety communication available.

• Play one announced full game without ordinary table talk; keep rules and safety communication available.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Silent Chess Round Replacement: For the chosen host round, replace spoken draw offers and ordinary chat with the stated visible offer signal. Play this combination: Agree before starting that laying the scoresheet face up on the marked offer spot means ONE draw offer, not a resignation. Make it after your move and before pressing the clock; the opponent may accept with the agreed written/visible DRAW response or decline by making a legal move. No response is not acceptance. A sheet merely used for recording is not an offer. Needed rules, clock, access or safety speech always remains available, as do neutral required check/ruling communications. After both players confirm the result, ordinary speech resumes away from live boards. Game points and all legal endings stay unchanged. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Silent Chess Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Silent Chess Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

The loser selects the next game’s format from a list everyone approved before play.

• The loser selects the next game’s format from a list everyone approved before play.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Playoff Bracket Players: 4-16 Where: Club tables with a posted bracket Format: Single elimination Description: Seeded single-elimination bracket of best-of-three blitz mini-matches. Setup: Rank names by the agreed rating, drawing tied/unrated order neutrally. Choose a bracket with 4, 8 or 16 slots, using the smallest one that fits the roster. Put seeds in this slot order: four slots 1, 4, 2, 3; eight slots 1, 8, 4, 5, 2, 7, 3, 6; sixteen slots 1, 16, 8, 9, 4, 13, 5, 12, 2, 15, 7, 10, 3, 14, 6, 11. Adjacent slots form first-round pairs. An absent seed is an empty slot, giving its opponent a bye that advances without a played mini-match point. Thus the highest seeds receive the byes and the top two occupy opposite halves. Each played pairing uses 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, alternating colors after a neutral first-color draw. Post the full bracket and any third-place option before play. Play: For the ordinary 3+2 games, use this procedure: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Play up to three games per mini-match, counting 1/0.5/0 internally. Stop early only when the trailing player cannot catch the leader with the scheduled games remaining. If level after three, use this separately declared house Armageddon: For one tied pair, flip for colors. White has 5 minutes and must win; Black has 4 minutes and draw odds. No increment. A drawn board result therefore awards the tiebreak to Black; only a White board win awards it to White. Checkmate/resignation end normally. This card explicitly uses its authored house rule that a claimed flag loses, overriding the ordinary possible-mate flag exception; do not describe that blanket rule as FIDE regulation. Record the deciding result only; the winner earns the parent mini-match’s one bracket point, with no extra tiebreak award. Scoring: Each won mini-match earns 1 bracket point. Internal game points and the deciding tiebreak establish advancement; do not add them again to the bracket total. Win: Advance each mini-match winner until one champion remains. The bracket champion wins even if a separately reported consolation award differs. Twist: The two semifinal losers may play the same complete mini-match procedure for third place and 1 bonus point, announced before the event. This does not alter the champion. Share: Blitz Playoff Bracket: best-of-three blitz matches, Armageddon settles ties. STUD recognition: Recognize the best comeback or the most composed semifinal finish. SELECTED MODIFIER: Loser Picks Next Variant Replacement: Within each host best-of-three mini-match, the loser of the previous played game chooses the next scheduled ordinary game’s format. Keep 3+2, alternating colors and the stated bracket-point award. Play this combination: Before the bracket begins, approve this short list and its complete rules: ordinary chess, or King of the Hill with the host’s normal legal moves/clock plus an immediate win for a LEGAL king move onto d4/e4/d5/e5. Moving into check is forbidden and checkmate also wins. For King of the Hill games only, replace the embedded ordinary host’s mate-only material tests: stalemate draws, but insufficient mating material does not draw because even a bare king can reach the hill legally. A timely flag claim awards the game to the nonflagged player, and the host’s second completed illegal move loses without the mate-only exception. An immediately winning legal hill arrival also takes priority over a last-move automatic draw. Ordinary-chess games keep the host’s ordinary material tests. Do not add that variant activity’s separate final-round delayed-hill option. Start game 1 with ordinary chess. The loser names the next game’s choice before its clocks are set; a drawn previous game uses the pre-agreed ordinary default because neither player lost. A choice never creates an extra game after the mini-match has been decided. The tied-after-three Armageddon remains its separately advertised ordinary 5/4 draw-odds game, not another ordinary-game choice. Use only this pre-approved list; an unavailable/unagreed game cannot be imposed. Rules/access/safety pauses remain available. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Loser Picks Next Variant as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Loser Picks Next Variant; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Neither side may castle during the announced round.

• Neither side may castle during the announced round.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: No-Castling Round Replacement: Replace ordinary castling permission in that host round with a complete castling ban for both colors. Play this combination: Leave every starting piece in its normal place. The king may still move one legal square and rooks may move normally; moving a king two squares as a castle is unavailable even if the ordinary path is clear. If an attempted castle is completed by pressing the clock, pause and restore the previous position, then apply the host’s posted illegal-move procedure. A mistaken request noticed before completion is corrected on the running clock without inventing an extra penalty. Record the house ban on every table’s round sheet; remove it only after that round’s result is confirmed. Scoring and draw rules otherwise stay the same. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score No-Castling Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after No-Castling Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Each side must push an a-, b-, g- or h-pawn during its first three own moves, except an immediate-mate danger.

• Each side must push an a-, b-, g- or h-pawn during its first three own moves, except an immediate-mate danger.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Pawn Storm Start Replacement: For the announced standard-start round, add the wing-pawn obligation to each side’s first three moves. Play this combination: Mark one box per color and tick it when that player legally moves a pawn from one of the four wing files. One-step or an available two-step starting push counts; moving a central pawn does not. By that side’s third move, choose a legal qualifying push if it has not already happened. Never make a move that leaves the king in check. If every otherwise qualifying legal push permits the opponent an immediate mate, show the threat to the host and waive that side’s requirement; the exception is not a blanket excuse for disliking a position. Pause for that ruling, then resume the ordinary clock. Record a missed obligation for a host correction before resuming, without inventing a point fine or letting the opponent capture a king. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Pawn Storm Start as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Pawn Storm Start; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Each table nominates one creative move; the winning player earns 1 challenge point.

• Each table nominates one creative move; the winning player earns 1 challenge point.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Most Creative Move Vote Replacement: After the chosen round, add the stated creative-move award to a separate bonus column. Play this combination: Wait until all games in that round finish. Each table can nominate one legal move actually played, with its move number, player and a short reason; a table may pass. Set the position again only after recording results, away from live games. Give each willing participant one ballot for a nomination or PASS, with no vote for their own nominated move. Most valid votes wins; tied leading nominations share recognition and each nominated player receives the stated 1 point. If there are no valid ballots, award no point. Ordinary game results remain unchanged, and the same nominated move is counted once even if several people explain it. Add the stated bonus to that player’s host night total in its own labeled column; it never changes the board’s win/draw/loss result. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value.
• Score Most Creative Move Vote as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Most Creative Move Vote; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Apply touch-move strictly; a repeated slip costs the offending player 1 minute.

• Apply touch-move strictly; a repeated slip costs the offending player 1 minute.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Touch-Move Honor Round Replacement: Keep ordinary touch-move but add the posted house one-minute deduction for repeated violations in that round. Play this combination: Before clocks start, demonstrate “adjust” and the obligation: intentionally touching your own legally movable piece commits that piece; touching a capturable opponent piece commits the capture. If the touched piece has no legal move/capture, choose another legal move. The first failure to honor a commitment is a warning with the position restored; the second and each later slip costs that player 1 minute, with the host logging the warning/charge. Deduct from remaining main time once per slip; reaching zero invokes the normal flag rule. A completed illegal move uses the host’s separate illegal-move procedure, not a second disguised touch fine for the same incident. Deliberate adjustment, accidental brushing and needed assistance are not tactical touches. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Touch-Move Honor Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Touch-Move Honor Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Players claim their own threefold repetition; an unclaimed third occurrence continues.

• Players claim their own threefold repetition; an unclaimed third occurrence continues.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Threefold Call Replacement: Keep the host’s standard repetition rules and make clear that the scorekeeper supplies no unsolicited third-occurrence claim. Play this combination: The same position needs the same side to move, pieces and available rights; a different castling right or legally available en-passant capture can matter. A player who has the move pauses clocks and asks the host to verify a correct claim from the log/current position, including an intended move where the rules permit it. A mere repeated king shuffle is not proof by itself. If nobody claims the third occurrence, play continues. This does NOT erase automatic fivefold repetition or the seventy-five-move rule; the host still applies those actual endings. Keep a ruled result 0.5 each rather than add a bonus for spotting the draw. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Threefold Call as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Threefold Call; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Ordinary draw offers open only after both sides have completed move 20.

• Ordinary draw offers open only after both sides have completed move 20.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Draw Offer Window Replacement: Add this house offer window to the chosen round; it does not postpone any automatic or claimable draw rule. Play this combination: Until both sides have completed their twentieth move, an offer is automatically declined without a move or point penalty. Black may first offer just after completing Black’s twentieth move; White may first offer after White’s twenty-first. Offer after making your move and before pressing the clock. The opponent accepts explicitly or declines by a legal reply; silence is not agreement. Record an accepted draw 0.5 each. Stalemate, dead positions, a correct repetition/fifty-move claim and automatic draws may end the game before the offer window. The host stops repeated distracting offers under ordinary conduct rather than inventing a score penalty. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Draw Offer Window as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Draw Offer Window; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Each player has 1 ordinary coaching takeback, requested before pressing their clock.

• Each player has 1 ordinary coaching takeback, requested before pressing their clock.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Beginner's First Session Players: 2-8 Where: Club table near the entrance Format: Teach + coached games Description: A 10-minute lesson followed by coached games with questions and takebacks. Setup: Prepare a set for each newcomer/coach pair, a demonstration board and 20 minutes on each side’s clock. Give this ten-minute lesson: orient a light square at each player’s right and put queens on their own color; show pawn one-step/two-step first move and diagonal captures, knight L jumps, bishop diagonals, rook ranks/files, queen both, king one safe square. Demonstrate check, escaping by moving/capturing/blocking, checkmate versus stalemate, castling with an unmoved king/rook and safe king route, immediate en-passant reply and promotion to queen/rook/bishop/knight. Opening principle: develop pieces and make the king safe. Use the sample legal position White Kf6/Qg6, Black Kh8, White to move: Qg7 is mate; Qf7 instead leaves Black stalemated. All other squares are empty. Play: The newcomer plays a patient opponent/coach, may ask one ordinary strategy question per move and may take back any number of moves in this teaching format. Pause clocks while explaining or restoring agreed moves; retain the recorded times rather than awarding a new 20 minute start. Needed rules/access/safety questions are unlimited and never spend the ordinary strategy question. Explain a threat before asking for a choice; do not claim a hinted tactic as independent. Finish to an agreed ordinary legal result or flag; pause to resolve confusion rather than enforce tournament illegal-move penalties on a lesson. Offer an equal return game with colors reversed if a second game was scheduled. Scoring: The pair receives 1 point for each completed game. A newcomer who independently finds a tactic without a hint receives 1 bonus point once in that game; name the actual fork, pin, mate threat or material-saving move together after it. Completion points are shared pair results, not wins over the learner. Win: Every pair finishing a full game shares session success. Highest pair points earns the newcomer acknowledgment; tied pairs share. A learner may stop without explaining or being pressured to finish for recognition. Twist: Only with the newcomer’s agreement, the final scheduled game uses no ordinary takebacks; tell them before that game starts. Rules/access/safety pauses still apply and an agreed error repair is not a hidden withdrawal of support. Share: Beginner's First Session: 10-minute teach, then coached games with takebacks. STUD recognition: Recognize the most patient coach or a newcomer's first independently chosen tactic. SELECTED MODIFIER: Takeback Teaching Round Replacement: For this pairing only, replace the host’s unlimited ordinary takebacks with one per player; keep its teaching and unlimited needed support. Play this combination: Show each player a token before play. After placing a move but BEFORE pressing the clock, they may request their one teaching takeback; pause for a brief explanation, restore the prior legal position, spend the token and choose again on their remaining clock. A request after the press is outside this ordinary option. Once a token is used, continue teaching through questions without quietly granting more strategic rewinds. Rules/access/safety error repair and consent pauses are never rationed by the token. Keep the host’s 20 minute allowance, pair completion/tactic points and final-game consent condition; do not apply two different ordinary takeback limits simultaneously. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Takeback Teaching Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Takeback Teaching Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

A flag against an opponent who cannot possibly mate is a draw, including a bare king.

• A flag against an opponent who cannot possibly mate is a draw, including a bare king.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Flag Fall Round Replacement: Use the host’s ordinary possible-mate flag rule without importing a faster-time blanket win. Play this combination: Pause after a timely flag claim and confirm whose time expired and the legal position when it did. If the nonflagged side has only a king, it cannot mate and the game draws 0.5 each. The test is whether ANY legal sequence could lead to mate, not whether the claimant can force it or knows the technique; unusual remaining material may need the host’s reference check. Do not automatically call every king-and-minor position a draw if the opponent’s pieces could make a mating position possible. Confirm the result together before resetting. No bonus is awarded simply for claiming time. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Flag Fall Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Flag Fall Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Reverse colors in every scheduled rematch of the same pair.

• Reverse colors in every scheduled rematch of the same pair.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Colors Swap Rematch Replacement: Use the host’s pre-announced second complete cycle and reverse each first-cycle pairing’s colors. Play this combination: Write both colors on the grid before the first game. The player who had White against that opponent takes Black for the return; do not draw new colors or let the game winner keep White. With an odd roster a rest has no color, and each actual rematch still reverses its played predecessor. This modifier does not itself create another game if the evening scheduled only one cycle. If a third full cycle was explicitly part of another approved format, reverse the most recent meeting again. Keep the host’s published clocks, additive second-cycle increment and point totals. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Colors Swap Rematch as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Colors Swap Rematch; stop at the agreed finish condition.

After each round, game winners move up one table; the top-table winner stays.

• After each round, game winners move up one table; the top-table winner stays.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Board Rotation Break Replacement: For this selected six-player pairing, replace the host’s round-robin opponent grid with the five-round table ladder below; keep 5+0 and 1/0.5/0. Play this combination: Number three tables 1(top), 2 and 3. Draw six names into seats before round 1. After each completed round, first record all results. A decisive winner from table 2 moves to 1, from 3 to 2; table 1’s winner stays. These claims occupy at most two seats at the top and one at the middle. All other players, including both players of a drawn game, form a list in the original drawn name order and fill remaining seats from table 1 down. A top-table loser does not stay merely because the table is top. Set next-game colors to favor the player with fewer Whites, resolving an equal count by the original list. Repeat for five rounds, then compare ordinary totals and share ties. Everyone is offered five games, but repeat opponents are possible: do not call this an all-opponents round robin. Move people only after clocks stop, carrying sets safely. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Board Rotation Break as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Board Rotation Break; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Move all post-game analysis to a separate corner after confirming and depositing the score.

• Move all post-game analysis to a separate corner after confirming and depositing the score.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Whisper Analysis Corner Replacement: Keep the host’s games/pairings unchanged; add the analysis-table transition after each result. Play this combination: Before play choose an analysis spot far enough from live boards for normal low conversation, with clear walkways and a spare set. When a game ends, both players confirm its result, hand the finished scoresheet to the analysis table/scorekeeper, and only then discuss the position there. Do not carry away a live board or announce tactical suggestions across the room. If a player declines analysis, let them rest; the other can review with a willing helper away from the games. Rejoin only for the next scheduled pairing, not for extra scored attempts. This etiquette adds no point. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Whisper Analysis Corner as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Whisper Analysis Corner; stop at the agreed finish condition.

The first legal capture in EACH game earns its player 1 bonus challenge point.

• The first legal capture in EACH game earns its player 1 bonus challenge point.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player in short 5-minute games with simple 1-0.5-0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: 5-minute games, everyone plays everyone, 1 point per win. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: First Capture Bonus Replacement: For this pairing, use the detail’s per-game scope and treat “win material” as that first capture, not a later net-material calculation. Play this combination: At each game’s first legal capture, note the capturing player and move on the sheet. That player receives the stated 1 bonus once in that game even if the opponent immediately recaptures; exchanges do not cause the award to migrate. Ordinary board results still score 1/0.5/0 and use a separate column. A game ending with no capture gives no bonus, and an illegal move that was restored gives none. This declared house award is once per game, not just once for the entire evening. Add the stated bonus to that player’s host night total in its own labeled column; it never changes the board’s win/draw/loss result. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value.
• Score First Capture Bonus as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after First Capture Bonus; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Each legal pawn promotion earns 1 challenge point; promotion to knight, bishop or rook earns 2.

• Each legal pawn promotion earns 1 challenge point; promotion to knight, bishop or rook earns 2.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Pawn Promotion Point Replacement: Add this promotion ledger to ordinary host game scoring without changing promotion legality. Play this combination: When a pawn legally reaches its last rank, replace it with the chosen queen, rook, bishop or knight and record that player, move and choice. A queen promotion earns 1; an underpromotion earns 2 TOTAL, not 1 plus 2. Each distinct pawn can earn its own award when it actually promotes. A new queen placed as a setup correction, an illegal promotion restored by the host or a repeated description earns none. The game still ends immediately on checkmate or another legal result; no extra move is allowed merely to chase a promotion point. Keep bonuses separate from the board result and include them in the declared night total. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value.
• Score Pawn Promotion Point as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Pawn Promotion Point; stop at the agreed finish condition.

A player who loses a game ending at move 40 or later receives 0.5 challenge points.

• A player who loses a game ending at move 40 or later receives 0.5 challenge points.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Survival Point Replacement: Keep the ordinary result column, then add the stated half-point consolation to the losing side only when the move record qualifies. Play this combination: Use the final completed move’s full-move number on the legible sheet. A game ending after a recorded move numbered 40 or greater qualifies; one ending after 39 does not. If White’s fortieth move was played and Black then resigns or flags before replying, the last recorded move is still 40 and qualifies. Record the loss as 0 ordinary points plus 0.5 in the survival column; the winner keeps the usual 1. A draw already scores 0.5 each and has no losing player, so this loss-only bonus does not apply. If the move count cannot be verified, ask the host to reconstruct it before awarding rather than estimate from elapsed time. Add the stated bonus to that player’s host night total in its own labeled column; it never changes the board’s win/draw/loss result. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value.
• Score Survival Point as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Survival Point; stop at the agreed finish condition.

A player’s first three recorded checks in one game earn 1 challenge point.

• A player’s first three recorded checks in one game earn 1 challenge point.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Check Streak Bonus Replacement: Add one check-count award per player per game to the host result sheet. Play this combination: On the final complete scoresheet, use + for legal checking moves and # for checkmate. Count checks delivered by that player, whether consecutive or separated by other moves; three checks in the same game qualify without being consecutive. When the third verified check appears, award that player 1 once for that game. Six checks do not silently create a second award. Checks from a move later restored as illegal do not count. Either or both players can qualify, and ordinary mate/draw/flag results still apply immediately. Ask the host to verify doubtful notation from the move log rather than reward a shouted claim alone. Add the stated bonus to that player’s host night total in its own labeled column; it never changes the board’s win/draw/loss result. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value.
• Score Check Streak Bonus as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Check Streak Bonus; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Start each paired attempt from a supplied endgame position and play it from both colors.

• Start each paired attempt from a supplied endgame position and play it from both colors.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Endgame Lab Players: 2-8 Where: Club table with a demo board Format: Study + convert Description: Practice converting and defending three classic endgame positions from both sides. Setup: Use these three Lichess practice starts; White moves first, with no castling or en passant. Queen: White king e3, queen e1; Black king d6 (FEN 8/8/3k4/8/8/4K3/8/4Q3 w - - 0 1). Lucena: White king g8, rook f1, pawn g7; Black king e7, rook h3 (6K1/4k1P1/8/8/8/7r/8/5R2 w - - 0 1). Opposition: White king d4, pawn c4; Black king c7 (8/2k5/8/8/2PK4/8/8/8 w - - 0 1). All unlisted squares are empty. Set 10 minutes per side. Form pairs for a complete six-attempt cycle: two games from each position, switching sides. Any spare player observes or scores, then joins a new complete cycle; start a fresh scorecard when the pairing changes. Play: Play each position twice, switching sides. White aims to win; Black aims to draw. Queen plan: restrict the king, bring your own king closer, and avoid stalemate. One example is 1.Qa5 Ke6 2.Ke4 Kd7 3.Kd5 Ke7 4.Qb6 Kf7 5.Ke5 Kg7 6.Qf6+ Kh7 7.Qg5 Kh8 8.Kf6 Kh7 9.Qg7#. Lucena begins 1.Re1+ Kd7 2.Re4: the rook reaches the fourth rank to shield the king from checks while the pawn promotes. Black can choose other replies; these are teaching lines, not forced cooperation. Opposition begins 1.Kc5!, placing the kings two squares apart; a pawn push instead allows a draw. Continue to an ordinary chess result. A 50-move draw requires a correct claim after 50 moves by each side without a pawn move or capture; moving a pawn or capturing resets the count. It is not simply 50 moves since the exercise began. Scoring: Score 1 point for a conversion and 1 for a successful defense ending in a draw. A defender's win also earns the defense point. Apply ordinary clock rules; a timeout is drawn if the opponent cannot possibly checkmate. Only one player receives a point per completed attempt. Win: Within each pair’s complete cycle, the higher total across all three positions wins; ties are shared. Do not aggregate extra cycles played by one person into the same comparison. Twist: The final position is played at 3 minutes per side. Share: Endgame Lab: set positions, convert as the strong side, hold as the defender. STUD recognition: Recognize the most precise technique or the most helpful partner feedback. SELECTED MODIFIER: Endgame Only Start Replacement: Use the complete host’s three exact starting positions and its two-game color swap per position. Play this combination: Before each attempt, empty the board and rebuild the named position from the supplied piece list/FEN, checking side to move, no castling and no en passant. Play it twice, each player taking the attacking and defending role once, then move to the next supplied position. Do not carry the last game’s captured pieces or pawn locations into the reset. Keep the host’s 10 minute clocks and conversion/defense points; its announced final-position 3 minute option remains a separate optional choice. Only compare each pair’s complete six-attempt cycle, not a fast pair’s extra repeats. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Endgame Only Start as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Endgame Only Start; stop at the agreed finish condition.

In the clocked simul, start the giver with half each challenger’s minutes.

• In the clocked simul, start the giver with half each challenger’s minutes.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Simul Night Players: 5-12 Where: Boards in a U-shape Format: Simultaneous exhibition Description: One strong player faces the whole room at once; challengers score for results. Setup: Arrange boards so the simul giver walks a loop. Challengers sit on rotation; the giver takes White on every board. Play without clocks, or agree before starting to give both sides 30 minutes on each board. In the clocked option, the giver's clock runs on every board where it is White's turn, including while the giver is elsewhere. Play: The giver moves board to board. A challenger must move when the giver arrives — one announced pass per game is allowed. Standard rules otherwise. Scoring: Challengers score 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw; the giver scores 1 point per challenger defeated. This is intentionally asymmetric: the giver has several scoring games while each challenger has one. The total is an exhibition tally, not an equal-opportunity skill comparison. Win: Highest individual exhibition tally when all boards finish wins the night; ties are shared. Keep the giver’s multi-board opportunity visible beside the challengers’ single-game results. Twist: Clocked option only: when exactly three unfinished boards remain, pause those clocks together and halve the giver's remaining time on each of them once. Leave challengers' time unchanged, then resume. Announce this before starting; do not add clocks to an unclocked exhibition mid-game. Share: Simul Night: one player takes every board, challengers score for draws and wins. STUD recognition: Recognize the toughest challenger defense or the most encouraging giver. SELECTED MODIFIER: Clock Simul Handicap Replacement: Select the host’s clocked 30 minute option and replace the giver’s starting time with 15 minutes on every board; challengers retain 30. Play this combination: Show all clocks before the first move and start the giver’s White clock on each board as appropriate. The giver’s time keeps running at every board where it is White’s turn even while visiting another board; the handicap does not create one shared pool. Keep the giver White and each challenger’s one announced pass. Choose THIS starting handicap instead of the host’s optional last-three-boards halving, so a second hidden half is not applied. Use the accepted asymmetric exhibition tally exactly and keep the giver’s many boards visible. A paused safety/rules intervention is coordinated across the affected clocks; it does not cost extra time as a penalty. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Clock Simul Handicap as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Clock Simul Handicap; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Each team may call one 60 second coach huddle before its move; its game clock keeps running.

• Each team may call one 60 second coach huddle before its move; its game clock keeps running.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Hand and Brain Players: 4-12 Where: Club table Format: Team pair game Description: Pairs split thinking and moving: one names a piece type, the other chooses the move. Setup: Create teams of two, each with a Brain and Hand, with one board/clock per paired teams and a team score sheet. Use 10 minutes per side, no increment. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, team r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one team aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, team r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four teams 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two teams once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Agree between-game role swaps on the roster so both willing partners can try each role. With an odd number of participants, invite a willing reserve/helper and rotate that invitation between complete round-robin cycles with fresh scorecards; keep each active team’s two members fixed during its cycle. Post the teams before making the grid. Do not substitute a lone player for a two-role team. Play: On each turn the Brain says only a legal piece type: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight or pawn. The Hand chooses which piece of that type and its legal move, then presses the clock. Naming a type with no legal move is corrected to a legal type on the same running team clock; it grants no free move or extra time. No square names, hints, gestures or extra tactical discussion from the Brain. Only the Hand touches pieces. Needed rules/access/safety clarification is free. Apply the ordinary legal-result and clock procedure; pause for a host ruling rather than let a mistaken type force an illegal move. Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: Team win 1, draw 0.5, loss 0. Add only the team’s game results, not a separate result per partner. Win: After every team has met every other team once, highest team total wins; tied teams share. Twist: In the announced final round only, the Brain has 10 seconds of the running team clock to name a legal type. The source supplies no new timeout penalty: if no call arrives, the game clock continues and the Hand waits; ordinary flag procedure still ends the game. Share: Hand and Brain: name the piece type, your partner picks the move. STUD recognition: Recognize the clearest Brain call or the most patient Hand. SELECTED MODIFIER: Coach Call Timeout Replacement: For this selected Hand and Brain game, allow one ordinary team-strategy huddle that temporarily suspends the no-tactical-discussion rule. Play this combination: Give each team one huddle marker. Before the Brain announces the next piece type, call the huddle, start a separate 60 second timer and leave the team’s main clock running. The two partners may discuss tactics during it, with no outside advice; at the bell stop discussion and return to the normal Brain-type/Hand-move roles. Mark the huddle used even if they finish early. A flag can still end the game during it. Needed rules/access/safety clarification remains available after the marker is spent and pauses appropriately; it is not a second strategy huddle. This adds no new points or fresh thinking time to the clock. Select this huddle instead of the host’s separate optional final-round ten-second Brain cap, so the two ordinary discussion limits do not conflict. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Coach Call Timeout as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Coach Call Timeout; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Resolve a pre-announced tied result with one identical puzzle; a wrong answer locks that solver out for 60 seconds.

• Resolve a pre-announced tied result with one identical puzzle; a wrong answer locks that solver out for 60 seconds.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Puzzle Tiebreak Replacement: Replace shared ties only when this puzzle tiebreak was announced before the host event; retain ordinary game totals. Play this combination: The host keeps the key private and gives solvers position-only slips. Use this original position for the tied players together: White king f6, queen g6; Black king h8; all other squares empty, White to move. Ask for mate in ONE move; the private key is Qg7#. Rebuild or show the same board to everyone at the same instant and start a five-minute overall window. First verified correct first move wins the tie; truly simultaneous correct calls share it. A wrong caller alone is locked out for 60 seconds, then can answer again if nobody has solved; other players continue. The caller may write or state a move using the agreed access method. Reveal/explain the key when solved or the window expires; if no one solves, report the tie unresolved/shared rather than invent a fastest wrong winner. Do not reuse a puzzle already seen by one finalist. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Puzzle Tiebreak as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Puzzle Tiebreak; stop at the agreed finish condition.

A player who keeps a complete legible move record through the final played move earns 1 challenge point.

• A player who keeps a complete legible move record through the final played move earns 1 challenge point.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Correspondence Corner Players: 4-12 Where: Demo board on a side table Format: Slow long game Description: A single demo-board game played one move per window across the evening. Setup: Set one demo board and a move log card. Two volunteer captains or teams agree on one move per 20-minute window while the rest of the night's events run. Post the final window and the midpoint of the evening before starting; a game may continue at the next meeting. Play: Each window, the side to move records one legal move on the card and updates the board. Spectators stay silent about the position. Scoring: Score 2 points for a win, 1 point per side for a draw, and 1 shared group point if the game lasts the whole evening. Win: A completed game has its ordinary win or draw result. If unfinished at the final window, both sides may agree a result; neither a material lead nor a host's impression decides it automatically. Otherwise record the full position, side to move, castling rights, en-passant square and move log, and resume next time. Award the shared evening point now, but defer the game-result points. Twist: Each side may call one 5-minute team huddle before the posted midpoint and one after it. The huddle fits inside that side's current 20-minute move window; it grants no extra move. Unused huddles do not carry across the midpoint. Share: Correspondence Corner: one slow demo-board game across the whole evening. STUD recognition: Recognize the deepest long-game idea or the most disciplined spectator. SELECTED MODIFIER: Notation Point Replacement: Keep the accepted slow-game log and add the stated complete-scoresheet award once per eligible recorder. Play this combination: Before play, name who is keeping their own scored sheet; both sides may do so, with agreed writing/communication assistance. Record every actual legal move in order, corrections clearly marked, through the final move played that evening. If the game is unfinished, include the saved position/side/rights/en-passant information the host requires; do not fabricate moves to make it look finished. At the end, compare against the official log and repair a genuine transcription error before verification. Each complete eligible sheet earns its recorder 1 once, not a point for every page, duplicate copy or helper. Keep it separate from the 2/1 game-result and shared evening point. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value.
• Score Notation Point as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Notation Point; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Avoid repeat opponents until everyone has met; redraw a premature repeat.

• Avoid repeat opponents until everyone has met; redraw a premature repeat.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Fair Pairing Shuffle Replacement: Before the host’s first complete cycle, draw the names into its numbered grid and check the WHOLE cycle, not isolated ready pairs. Play this combination: Use the complete posted round-robin algorithm to guarantee each pair meets once. If a proposed pair repeats before that player has met all others, discard the entire faulty proposed round and restore a valid unused grid round; do not keep redrawing only the last two people until they are trapped together. An odd rest is not an opponent and cannot serve as a fake meeting. Only after the full cycle may a scheduled return cycle repeat pairs with colors reversed. If someone withdraws, pause and post the resulting available roster/schedule before further play; record missed games as unplayed instead of inventing wins. No shuffle bonus is awarded. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Fair Pairing Shuffle as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Fair Pairing Shuffle; stop at the agreed finish condition.

After every drawn game, add 1 second to the next-game increment, up to 5 seconds for the rest of the night.

• After every drawn game, add 1 second to the next-game increment, up to 5 seconds for the rest of the night.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Increment Escalation Replacement: Choose the host’s 5+0 base control and use one visible event increment counter beginning at 0. Play this combination: Record each confirmed drawn game once. Its result raises the common counter by 1 second, capped at 5; several draws in one round each count until the cap. Apply the new setting only to games that start after those results, never edit a running game. To keep a scheduled round uniform, wait for all of that round’s results, update the counter and then start the next round together. For example, two draws from a zero-second start make the next round 5+2; three more reach 5+5 and later draws leave it there. Do not also use the host’s separate optional second-cycle increment increase; choose one clock option before starting. Pairings, colors and result points remain the same. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Increment Escalation as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Increment Escalation; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Remove both original queens before the announced round; later promotions remain legal.

• Remove both original queens before the announced round; later promotions remain legal.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Queens Off Round Replacement: For the selected normal-start host round, remove White’s d1 queen and Black’s d8 queen before either clock starts. Play this combination: Check that every other piece and pawn remains correctly placed and record QUEENS OFF on each scoresheet. This is a house starting position, not a capture earning a first-capture or promotion bonus. Ordinary legal moves, castling rights for unmoved king/rooks, check and drawn results still apply from the new position. A pawn reaching the last rank may promote to a queen normally; do not remove that promoted queen. Return the two original queens only when resetting for a later ordinary round. Keep the chosen time control, paired opponents and 1/0.5/0 game scoring. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Queens Off Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Queens Off Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Replace the increment with a five-second SIMPLE delay before each player’s main time starts running.

• Replace the increment with a five-second SIMPLE delay before each player’s main time starts running.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Delay Clock Round Replacement: If the host uses 3+2, set both sides to 3 minutes with 5 seconds simple delay and ZERO increment for the announced round. Play this combination: Demonstrate the clock: each new turn first uses the five-second delay; only time beyond that reduces the main balance. A move made in three seconds consumes no main time but does not bank the unused two seconds. A move taking eight seconds consumes three main seconds. Pressing the clock starts the opponent’s new delay; it does not add five seconds to either stored balance. Use a clock with an actual simple-delay mode, not a mislabeled increment; if unavailable, defer this modifier and keep the agreed base control. Retain ordinary flags, pairing and score rules, and do not combine another increment escalation. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Delay Clock Round as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Delay Clock Round; stop at the agreed finish condition.

The trailing player starts the next ordinary mini-match game with 1 extra minute until the match levels.

• The trailing player starts the next ordinary mini-match game with 1 extra minute until the match levels.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Playoff Bracket Players: 4-16 Where: Club tables with a posted bracket Format: Single elimination Description: Seeded single-elimination bracket of best-of-three blitz mini-matches. Setup: Rank names by the agreed rating, drawing tied/unrated order neutrally. Choose a bracket with 4, 8 or 16 slots, using the smallest one that fits the roster. Put seeds in this slot order: four slots 1, 4, 2, 3; eight slots 1, 8, 4, 5, 2, 7, 3, 6; sixteen slots 1, 16, 8, 9, 4, 13, 5, 12, 2, 15, 7, 10, 3, 14, 6, 11. Adjacent slots form first-round pairs. An absent seed is an empty slot, giving its opponent a bye that advances without a played mini-match point. Thus the highest seeds receive the byes and the top two occupy opposite halves. Each played pairing uses 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move, alternating colors after a neutral first-color draw. Post the full bracket and any third-place option before play. Play: For the ordinary 3+2 games, use this procedure: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Play up to three games per mini-match, counting 1/0.5/0 internally. Stop early only when the trailing player cannot catch the leader with the scheduled games remaining. If level after three, use this separately declared house Armageddon: For one tied pair, flip for colors. White has 5 minutes and must win; Black has 4 minutes and draw odds. No increment. A drawn board result therefore awards the tiebreak to Black; only a White board win awards it to White. Checkmate/resignation end normally. This card explicitly uses its authored house rule that a claimed flag loses, overriding the ordinary possible-mate flag exception; do not describe that blanket rule as FIDE regulation. Record the deciding result only; the winner earns the parent mini-match’s one bracket point, with no extra tiebreak award. Scoring: Each won mini-match earns 1 bracket point. Internal game points and the deciding tiebreak establish advancement; do not add them again to the bracket total. Win: Advance each mini-match winner until one champion remains. The bracket champion wins even if a separately reported consolation award differs. Twist: The two semifinal losers may play the same complete mini-match procedure for third place and 1 bonus point, announced before the event. This does not alter the champion. Share: Blitz Playoff Bracket: best-of-three blitz matches, Armageddon settles ties. STUD recognition: Recognize the best comeback or the most composed semifinal finish. SELECTED MODIFIER: Comeback Clock Replacement: In a host best-of-three mini-match, keep 3+2 but recalculate the one-minute handicap from its INTERNAL game score before every next ordinary game. Play this combination: After game 1, compare that pair’s accumulated 1/0.5/0 game points. A trailing player receives 4+2 for game 2 against the leader’s 3+2; after the next result, recompute from the base rather than adding minutes cumulatively. If level, both return to 3+2. A draw that leaves a deficit keeps the one-minute next-game advantage; it does not create another minute. Mini-match advancement and the one bracket-point award remain unchanged. A tied-after-three Armageddon has its own advertised 5/4 draw-odds control, with no trailing player at that tied score. Announce this option for all affected mini-matches before the bracket begins. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Comeback Clock as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Comeback Clock; stop at the agreed finish condition.

Close every game with an offered handshake and both players’ confirmed result.

• Close every game with an offered handshake and both players’ confirmed result.
• Play the host with the selected replacement below; it overrides only the stated part. The host option is not automatically selected. HOST: Blitz Round Robin Players: 4-10 Where: Club table / community room Format: Round robin Description: Every player faces every other player at the preselected 5+0 or 3+2 control, with 1/0.5/0 scoring. Setup: Provide one set and clock per active pair, a pairing sheet and a host. Choose 5 minutes per side without increment OR 3 minutes plus 2 seconds after every move for every game in the first cycle. Write the full round-robin grid before play. With an odd roster, let n be its size and number everyone from 0 to n−1. Use n rounds, numbered 0 to n−1. In round r, player r rests for 0 points; pair r+1 with r−1, r+2 with r−2, continuing until everyone else is paired. Wrap numbers beyond the end back to 0 and negative numbers around from n−1. The first name in each pair is White. With an even roster, set one player aside as FIXED; n is now the size of the remaining odd group, numbered the same way. Instead of resting, player r plays FIXED, with FIXED White in rounds 0/2/etc. and Black in rounds 1/3/etc. For four players 0, 1, 2 and FIXED, round 0 is FIXED–0 and 1–2; round 1 is 1–FIXED and 2–0; round 2 is FIXED–2 and 0–1, White listed first. One full cycle pairs every two names once, with colors differing by at most one. Odd-roster rests are not played wins; everyone receives one. Do not redraw by current score. Play: Use legal chess moves: White begins, then alternate, moving one piece and pressing the clock with that same hand. Never leave your king attacked or capture a king. Checkmate ends the game immediately; resignation concedes it. Stalemate and a position where neither side can ever mate are draws. A flag claim wins only if the claimant could checkmate by some legal continuation; otherwise it is a draw. Pause both clocks for a disputed rule or needed access/safety help and call the host; spectators give no move advice. For these unrated club games, post the FIDE rapid/blitz illegal-move procedure: restore a completed illegal move, add one minute to the opponent on the first such offense, and a second loses unless the opponent could never mate. Ordinary touch-move means intentionally touching your own movable piece commits it, or an opponent’s capturable piece commits that capture; say “adjust” before straightening a piece. Threefold repetition and fifty moves by each side without a pawn move or capture require a correct claim; fivefold repetition and seventy-five such moves are automatic draws, with checkmate on the last move taking priority. Record both players’ confirmed result before resetting. Scoring: A win scores 1, a draw 0.5 and a loss 0. A bye is scored only as the posted pairing procedure states. Win: Finish the entire grid before comparing totals. Highest total wins; equal totals share. An increment can extend play, so schedule the grid rather than promise a fixed event length. Twist: If everyone chooses a second complete cycle before play, repeat the pairings with colors reversed and add 1 second to the chosen increment: 5+0 becomes 5+1, or 3+2 becomes 3+3. Add both complete cycles to the same sheet. Share: Blitz Round Robin: choose 5+0 or 3+2, complete the grid and count 1/0.5/0. STUD recognition: Recognize the calmest time management or the most gracious post-game handshake. SELECTED MODIFIER: Handshake Result Replacement: Keep the host result procedure and add a courteous acknowledgment before posting. Play this combination: Stop clocks after the legal ending and state the exact result together, such as “draw, half each.” Offer the customary handshake without requiring physical contact; an agreed nod, wave or spoken thanks serves the same courtesy for a player who declines touch or needs another accessible form. Never penalize that choice or hold a result hostage to it. The scorekeeper posts only the confirmed result; if the players disagree, preserve the position/log and ask the host before resetting. This adds no bonus for popularity, contact or fast reporting and does not authorize conceding another player’s game. Chess nights are seated, low-impact play. Keep walkways clear around tables, keep chairs tucked in, and place clocks and scoresheets where they will not fall. Handle sets with care and return every piece after each round. Keep voices low near games in progress — no hovering, kibitzing, or touching another game's pieces. Coaching and takebacks only where the format allows them. Games are for points and bragging rights only — never money or prizes of value. Scored results are tracked as challenge points.
• Score Handshake Result as 1 challenge point, separate from the main score.
• Reset and rotate evenly after Handshake Result; stop at the agreed finish condition.