Introduction

Tip

As of Jan 2024, rapidplay is a 1 minute penalty for illegal moves
When adding time to an opponent for an illegal move, you must decrease the increment gained by the offending player

Summary of FIDE Arbiter's Manual Articles

Article 1: The nature and objectives of the game of chess
Article 2: The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard
Article 3: The moves of the pieces
Article 4: The act of moving the pieces
Article 5: The completion of the game
Article 6: The Chessclock
Article 7: Irregularities
Article 8: The recording of the moves
Article 9: The drawn game
Article 10: Points
Article 11: The conduct of the players
Article 12: The role of the Arbiter

Covers things such as penalties, such as warnings, time penalties etc.

Gear (Things to bring to chess tournaments)

Tip

Printer

Under no circumstances should you not bring a printer. Printers are the bane of every arbiter's existence. We will always need more printers.

Tissues
Scissors (for cutting up paper)
Paper (A4)
Sellotape (hanging up signs)
Duct-tape + tissues (for dampening doors that close loudly)
AA batteries
1000 score sheets
Pens!!! (Or pencils. Don't expect to get them back)
Snacks (quiet snacks)
Blu tack
(Hand sanitizer)
Clipboard (A4 size)
Silent counter
Ruler (alternative to scissors)
Measuring tape?
Black and white printer
Portable fan
Extension cable
Silent mouse

To-get list

Things to get:

Black and white printer. Laser printer, not inkjet because inkjet is noisy
Clipboard for keeping track of illegal moves, players that show up late etc.

Daysheet letters

What do the letters on the daysheets mean?

Titles (left of their rating)

c - Candidate Master
f - FIDE Master
i - International Master

Everything else (right of their rating)

c - Converted rating (e.g. from chess.com etc.)
e - Estimated grade (e.g. from chess.com, or because they've not played enough matches)
u - Unrated (estimate rating)
* -- Wildcard player

Inputting results

Marking a round as complete

Go to Home > Schedule. The states are as follows:

Publish (white): Games are published live. Games are either ready to start or are taking place
Finished (pink): Games are complete, results have been entered
Completed (red): Games are completed, and cannot be modified
Future (yellow): Games haven't started. Pairings haven't been published

Do NOT rush the announcements. Make sure you take your time and say everything that has to be said. It's more important to say everything than kick off just because of time.

Hi
Names of arbiters
Toilet locations
Fire exits!
Analysis room location
Time control (when stating the time control, if there's no multi-segment time (e.g. all moves in x minutes then + x for the rest of the game), then state that it's blah time for the rest of the game)
Recording of the moves (moves should be recorded always if 30 seconds increment. If there's not a 30 second increment, move DO NOT have to be recorded in the last 5 minutes of the match)
How to submit results (sign copies, bring to arbiter, update score sheet at the end of the table for a team comp). For rapid play, raise hand or come see the arbiter etc.
Default time (e.g. 1 hour)
Spectating (allowed/not allowed)
Refreshments (e.g. water available on the water desk)
Mobile phones
- Switched off and completely powered down. Silent is not the same as switched off
- Includes smartwatches, fitness trackers etc.
- If found to be switched on or it makes a sound during play or on your person, you will be defaulted
- These rules also applies to spectators
- If you have electronic devices for medical reasons, let an arbiter know asap
Start time for the next round (e.g. if you're playing over multiple days)
- Typically described on https://www.4ncl.co.uk/data/2122_rules.htm#12_2122 - 4NCL main rules states where the times for each thing
Do not move the clocks
Any questions?
Good luck, please start white's clock

Patrol tasks

Ensure clocks are ticking
Ensure bishops aren't on the same color
Look out for players in check
Ensure scoresheets are being updated correctly
Check that players have adequate scoresheets (make sure you have spare in case they need more)

Using liveboards

When a game is finished, pause the clock, move the kings to the middle. If you don't do this, the live board computer has no idea what the result of the game was! Results are recorded as the following:

White wins: Both kings are placed on white squares (white king on e4, black king on d5)
Black wins: Both kings are placed on black squares (white king on d4, black king on e5)
Draw: Both kings are placed on their respective colours in the middle of the board (white king on e4, black king on e5)

Tips

Before the game starts

If a player has a medical device, they MUST tell the arbiter before play, and they MUST let their opponent know.

Once the game starts

Keep a note on paper of missing opponents. Note the board numbers, the colour and the name - this way if they show up you can point them straight to their board.

After the default time elapses

In certain tournaments, a re-pairing system may be in place after the default time has elapsed. This allows players with no opponent to be re-paired with another opponent for a rated game. This typically only occurs if time is available and would normally have the shortened time instead of the full allocated time for other games.

Players must consent to being re-paired (you should ask both players if they'd like to be re-paired)

Near the end of the game

When giving out scoresheets, wait until a player has pressed the clock, then give the scoresheet to them (and the same for the opponent - wait for them to play their move first). This avoid disturbing the player during their move.

Illegal moves + Illegal actions

Illegal moves

An "Illegal move" is completed when any of the following occurs:

A player moves a piece to a square it can’t legally move to
A player fails to complete promotion properly
A player starts the opponent’s clock before making a move
A player moves a single piece with 2 hands. (Moving with one hand and pressing the clock with another hand is not an illegal move)

Article 7.5.4: If a player uses two hands to make a single move (for example in case of castling, capturing or promotion) and pressed the clock, it shall be considered and penalised as if an illegal move.

The "picture" analogy

A quick way to check if something is an illegal move or an illegal action is to use the "picture" analogy:

Imagine you took a picture of the board before the irregularity occurred, then took a picture of the board after the irregularity occurred. If the new picture is a legal position, then this is not an illegal move.

The "picture" analogy doesn't cover every case, for example castling through check.

Illegal actions

An illegal action is any other irregularity that is not an illegal move. Typically this covers:

Touch move
Moving a rook first and then touching a king in order to castle (also classifies as touch move)
Moving a piece with one hand and pressing the clock with another hand

Illegal actions are not (usually) punishable by the 1 or 2 minute time penalty. Typically these are covered by a warning, except for touch move: the penalty for touch move is "you have to move the piece that you touched first".

Dealing with illegal penalties

In general, you add two minutes to an opponent's clock in standard play, and one minute to an opponent's clock in Rapidplay or Blitz. If the tournament has increments, the increment gained must be reduced

Article 7.5.5: The arbiter’s have to follow the uniformity in reducing the increment (in general 30 seconds) for the player who completed the illegal move by pressing the clock and adding two minutes for his opponent. In Rapid and Blitz also the increment obtained by pressing the clock has to be reduced accordingly

Handling Claims

How to handle a three-fold repetition claim

Ensure the player is making a claim correctly. To do this, ensure:
- The player has written the move on the score sheet
- The player has not actually played the move
- The player has informed their opponent
- The player has stopped the clock
Warning

If a player has not done these steps correctly, then the claim is not valid. If they, for example, haven't written the move down on their scoresheet, you should explain how to make a proper claim, and restart the clock.
Ask the opponent if they'd like to check the claim, or accept the claim. If they accept the claim right there and then, the game is drawn. If they'd like to check the claim...
- Load up a new game in Chessbase
  
  Tip
  
  This may take some time, you might want to grab a second arbiter to oversee the rest of the tournament!
  
  Use of analysis
  
  You must not have analysis enabled when verifying a claim in Chessbase. Go to the Analysis tab and uncheck Assisted Analysis and Instant Analysis in the Assisted Analysis ribbon!
- Input the game, including the move the player has written down
- Go to the Home tab, go to the Find Position ribbon, and click In this Game (top right of the Find Position ribbon). If this identifies three positions, this classifies as a three-fold repetition

Clock shenanigans

Weird chess clock nonsense

Clocks that have time added after a time period (e.g. like how in the 4NCL, where clocks add +30 mins "after 40 moves"), when one player's clock reaches 0, both clocks have the time added to them.

Drawn Games (Article 9)

Tip

If an arbiter is summoned to a game, the arbiter should make sure the clocks are stopped.

What constitutes to a draw?

If you are in a stalemate, it’s a draw.
Blocked position is a draw (no series of moves can lead to a checkmate) - This is the pawns all jammed next to each other example. As soon as the drawn position is over, the game is over. Time is irrelevant.
Insufficient mating material (e.g. king vs king + bishop; king vs king + knight; king + bishop vs king + bishop (bishops are on the same color))
Drawn by repetition (same position occurs 3 times) and then the player can claim the draw.
50 move rule (75 move rule for arbiters to step in). In both cases, only the person to move can make this claim. - If there’s a 50 move thing, arbiters cannot step in, it’s only for 75 moves.
Agreement (not all tournaments allow this under 30 moves)

Draw by repetition

They don’t have to be consecutive! All of the same possible moves should be possible (e.g. en-passant doesn’t apply). The same player must have the move.

Tip

Don’t call it a “three-fold repetition”. It’s “the position occurs three times”.

The player making the move must claim the draw. If they make the move (not completed, which means pressing the clock), they’ve lost the right to claim (You have to
You should: Write the move on the score sheet (don’t actually play the move), inform the opponent and only then stop the clock (You have to write the move BEFORE stopping the clock).
If they’ve stopped the clock and haven’t written the move, a “sensible arbiter” is allowed to explain the laws and then restart the clock. Stopping the clock is allowed at any point to ask advice from the arbiter.
Losing the right to castle counts as a different position. Moving a piece on a certain player’s turn is a different position.
If you write the move and their flag goes, you CANNOT claim the draw - you’ve lost. HOWEVER, if it is 5 repeated positions, then it IS a draw.
Looking at the scoresheet isn’t enough to confirm a draw by repetition - you should actually “act it out” on another board.

The 50 and 75 move rule

Article 9.3.2: The game is drawn upon a correct claim by a player having the move, if the last 50 moves by each player have been completed without any captures or pawn movements.

"A move" consists of one player making a move, followed by another player making a move. For all intents and purposes, think of it as "a pair of moves" that you would see on a scoresheet.

As an arbiter, this only applies upon a correct claim. You do not step in unless they claim it.

As an arbiter, you cannot tell someone it has been 50 moves. This has these weird cases:
- If they ask how many moves it has been and it's been over 50 moves, you can tell them it has been over 50 moves. You can tell them that they can make their draw offer.
- If they ask how many moves it has been and it's not been over 50 moves, you can give them a penalty for disruption.
Article 9.6.2: The game is drawn if 75 moves with no captures or pawn moves.

If the last move was checkmate, the game is checkmate.

After 75 moves, you as the arbiter must intervene and stop the game, declaring it as a draw.

Nuance cases with regards to the 50 move rule

Article 9.5.3: If the claim is incorrect, the opponent gets +2 minutes and the player must play the move which is written down. This is not classified as an illegal move, unless of course the intended move is illegal, in which case another move must be made.

If the player’s disagree that it’s a draw, this is when an arbiter normally has to play through it.
If the player’s agree, then it’s free and easy! The best thing to do in this case is to ask the opponent if they agree if it’s a draw.
The 50-move rule: If the last 50 moves have had no capture or pawn moves, you can claim a draw.

If the claim is incorrect, the opponent gets +2 minutes and the player must play the move which is written down

If you touch a piece, you lose the right to claim.

If 75-move rule, the arbiter declares the game drawn. (The game now ends)

Game is drawn if neither player can get checkmate

A good idea is get both players together, and ask them to “Play through the game and show me the first position”. The arbiter should properly be looking at the replay. You then ask “play until the second/third position” etc. Players must assist the arbiter in reconstructing the game

If the claim is wrong, the arbiter should SHOW the claim to the user stating why it’s wrong.

If the claim is wrong, you can add +2 minutes to the opponent for “disrupting the game”. If the opponent is actively making incorrect claims so they can get extra thinking time, the arbiter can take further actions/penalties

If you’re not recording moves, you can claim from the arbiter’s scoresheet (if they’re recording) or the live boards. If there’s no recording, you have no proof and cannot make a claim.

Don’t forget, if both players agree, you can have drawn by agreement (see below)

Remember, agreement is tournament-specific.

You make the move, you offer the draw then you press the clock. If a draw offer is made, it cannot be withdrawn. If you make an offer before making the move, the draw offer is valid and the opponent can wait to see the move.

To reject a draw, you can state it (i.e. say no), or touch a piece to move it, or the game is otherwise concluded (e.g. you checkmate the opponent, you make a draw offer, you’re done. Game is over because the game has already been concluded, so the draw offer is rejected)

If an arbiter is summoned to a game, the arbiter should make sure the clocks are stopped.

Make sure to write the move down then make the claim for repetition.

The 50-move rule: If the last 50 moves have had no capture or pawn moves, you can claim a draw.

If the claim is incorrect, the opponent gets +2 minutes and the player must play the move which is written down

If you touch a piece, you lose the right to claim.

If 75-move rule, the arbiter declares the game drawn. (The game now ends)

Game is drawn if neither player can get checkmate

A flag has only fallen after it has been noticed by a player or an arbiter. If a player offers a draw and it is accepted and then they notice that the flag has fallen, then the game is a draw.

If a flag falls and they can't win, it's a draw.

Tournament Types

Round Robin (AKA “All-play-all”)

Used at the top level for competitions with a fixed pool of players N players => n - 1 rounds. You want an even number of players, otherwise the highest number is a bye (i.e. everyone gets a bye at least once!) Double round robin (e.g. if you played white one tournament, you get to play black the other tournament) Everyone draws a number from a hat (effectively) and gets a number. Often used for blitz tournaments

Knock-out

Not very popular (every round half of the people playing go home!)

Matches

Player A plays against player B. Nice an simple. In individual matches, they may play each other multiple times

Scheveningen System

A team event system. Teams are up against each other in pairs and it’s effectively a round robin then - everyone in team A plays everyone in team B. Works for many teams. E.g. 4 teams of 3 players = 9 rounds (For example, player A1 plays A1 -> B1, B2, B3; A1 -> C1, C2, C3; A1 -> D1, D2, D3)

Swiss System

Reproducible (always makes the same result)
Can support (n) rounds, where (2^n) is the number of players:
- 3 rounds supports up to 8 players
- 4 rounds supports up to 16 players
- 5 rounds supports up to 32 players
- etc.
Dutch System (FIDE Swiss): Pairs top to bottom
Lim System: Works towards the middle from top and bottom
Dubov System:
Accelerated Swiss: When doing the first round pairing, you assume round 0 has taken place and award the top half players 1 point. At the end, you remove the additional points that we gave. The idea is that we boost the top half (which is where the winner is likely to be) so we get to the result much much faster.
Pairings are arranged by score group, so people play people with the same score

Tie breaks

Sum of progressive scores

In each round, sum their previous scores (i.e. 1 + 2 + 3 + ... = Score of round 1 + (Score of round 1 + Score of round 2) + ...). Higher number somewhat implies that you’ve been facing harder opposition. Also super easy to calculate! Rewards your own efforts and rewards doing better at the beginning.

Koya

(for Round Robins because you have to have played everyone). Compares how you did against the top 50%. Comparing how you did against other players.

Team events

compare highest game points or highest match points (In the tie break example slide 6, 2 = win, 1 = draw, 0 = loss for match points). (Game points = sum of points for all members in a team)

Board count

Add the number of the board in which wins happen. Lowest score wins. Typically used for team events. Rewards wins on top boards (e.g. board 1) compared to lower boards (board 8)

Board elimination

Basically board count, but eliminate the bottom board (e.g. board 8). If drawn, repeat.

Bucholtz (Sum of opponents scores)

Rewards playing against better players. Entirely depends on other players, so isn’t amazing. Variation: Cut 1 - Ignore the lowest score Variation: Median Bucholtz - Ignore the highest and lowest score

Sonneborne-Berger

Donneborne-Berger (Individual)

Take the product of how you’ve done (0, ½ or 1) against your opponent’s scores and then total all of those values. Reflects partly your success against other players and compares that with how your opponents performed.

Sonneborne-Berger (Team events) - Basically regular ol’ Sonneborne-Berger and either specifically on game points or match points.

Average rating

Calculate the average of opponent ratings. Unrated opponents can be given a flat rating (e.g. 1000). Rewards playing against harder opponents

Tournament performance rating

Find the percentage of games you won (ignoring unrated games). Look it up in the lookup table (it’s effectively a normal curve +- 800). Add it to the average rating of their opponents to get your TPR (Tournament performance rating)

Rating Prizes

Give a prize to the lowest rated player in the group

Play-off!

4 standard games, 4 rapidplay games, 4 blitz games
Armageddon - white had more time than black (e.g. 6min vs 5min. Commonly, 5m vs 4min and after 60 moves then +3 second increments). If you draw as black, you win.

Irregularities

What to do when an irregularity happens

Restore the point immediately before the irregularity.
- If you don’t know where that point is, keep going back until both players agree.
If the initial position is wrong, restart the game UNLESS the game is finished, in which case it’s finished! It’s the arbiter’s decision to figure out what to do with the clocks (either keep them the same, give extra time or restart it)
If the players are the wrong colors and it is noticed before 10 moves are made, then the game is restarted. Normally, you’d update the pairings by stating the color they actually played in the game.

Displaced pieces (e.g. you knock over a piece) should be replaced on the player’s own time. If you knocked over the piece and pressed the clock, someone should pause the clock and then the piece is put back. The arbiter can decide whether they should add time/remove time or leave it - it’s up to the arbiter.

This isn’t common, but the laws don’t actually say when the time is added. You can choose to not add the time right away (may be best in like, blitz, by adding the time right there and then, you might be giving both sides more thinking time by editing the clock), but you have to make sure to add it (e.g. if they were going to run out of time you can give them more time).

Illegal Moves

An illegal move is a move that is not valid. The easiest way to tell if something is an illegal move or otherwise is to imagine you took a picture of the board before the move and took a picture of the board after the move. Is it possible to make a move that gets from the first board to the second board, and is the second board in a valid state?

Examples of illegal moves are the following:

Move a piece to a square it can’t legally move to:
- You move a rook diagonally
- You move a king into check
- You make a move that doesn't get you out of check
Failing to complete promotion properly
Starting the opponent’s clock before making a move

Examples of things that aren't illegal moves (but are irregularities either way):

~~Moving with 2 hands.~~ Moving with one hand and pressing the clock with another hand
Touching a piece, then moving another piece

Illegal moves only require attention once the move has been completed. If a player makes an illegal move (e.g. picks up a rook, moves it diagonally, places it on a new square, releases the piece), the player can correct this (move the piece back and move it correctly).

If a player makes an illegal move but the piece they touched cannot be moved (e.g. they touched a rook, but they're in check and moving the rook cannot get them out of check), then they can move any other piece.

If illegal move is completed, position is reset (similar to the irregularity rule above). Don’t forget, touch move exists. If they touched a piece and they’re in check:

If they can use the touched piece to prevent check, they have to move that piece
If not, then they have to use whatever they can to get them out of check

Tip

When a player completes an illegal move when they're in check and the piece they touched can get them out of check, you are allowed to tell them that they can move that piece. It's better to say "you must move the rook because you've touched this piece", than "touch move applies". This doesn't count as giving advice - you're ensuring future illegal moves don't get played.

Promotion

If you move a pawn to the end and click the clock before placing the new piece, that piece is now a queen. This is an illegal move. Time penalty (+2 mins) applies, and the game resumes with the queen as the promoted piece.

Upside-down rooks

Upside down rooks are rooks and not queens. (No exceptions). When it comes to promotion and there aren’t enough pieces (e.g. there isn’t a queen available), you as the arbiter should be offering the pieces - DO NOT offer a queen, you HAVE to offer a queen, rook, bishop and a knight. Otherwise, it can be seen as giving advice (if you only offer a queen)

If a player uses an upside down rook, arbiters can only step in if a player moves the upside down rook diagonally (because that’s incorrect). If the opponent puts an upside down rook, you cannot step in because that’s classed as disruption.

If you can do this before the clock resumes, you can pause the clock and correct the orientation of the piece (turn it right-side up) (reminding the player to place his pieces correctly) and tell the players “this is a rook”. If you cannot do this before the clock resumes, you leave it be. You can class this (stopping the clock and correcting the orientation of the piece) as a “distraction for the opponent”

Second illegal move

Second illegal move loses the game. If the opponent cannot mate, then the game is drawn instead.

Laws

Points

1 for win, 0 for loss, ½ for a draw.
- Score of 0 - ½ is allowed. If a player isn’t recording their moves (and has no valid reason for doing so) and the opponent has only a king. You default the player for not recording and give the player the maximum score they could get (a half because they cannot mate)
- Score of 0 - 0 is allowed. Both players agree if a move hasn’t been made by both players (e.g. 1. e4). Typically in this case, the arbiter can just say “you’re not allowed to make a draw until both players have made a move each”. Another example would be if both players have an argument about the game, you can default both of them
- Score of 1 - ½ isn’t allowed.
- Pre-arranged drawn games are illegal, but incredibly hard to enforce.
Some tournaments have different point systems (junior events) which typically have 3 for win, 2 for draw, 1 for loss, 0 for default (loss). It rewards participation points (for juniors).

Player conduct

Players shouldn't bring the game into disrepute
Shouldn't leave the playing venue without the arbiter's permission
Player having the move can't leave
Players who have finished their games are spectators
Players should not distract their opponents. For example, continually coughing/sneezing.

Tip

Bring a box of tissues!
If you refuse to comply with the Laws, they shall be penalised with the loss of the game
- For example, a player not recording moves (increment 30+ and time > 5 mins)
Players may ask arbiters to explain points of law

Tip

Be careful with the wording that you give out - make sure you're not giving advice!
Players have the right to appeal an arbiter's decision

Mobile phones

Banned unless a tournament specifies otherwise
Phones must be off and stored in a bag. Silent/Airplane mode is not turned off!

Tip

Preferably not on the ground, this can lead to trip hazards

If a phone rings even if say, they have just a king as material, the result is a loss, not a draw.

Role of an Arbiter

Penalties

Arbiters can give out penalties:

Warning. These can be issued:
- At the time
- After the game
Increase opponents time
Reduce time of offender
Reduce points scored by the offender
Fine
Expulsion from round(s)
Expulsion from tournament

Blind/visually disabled players

Basically, you make the move, you announce the move and then the clock is pressed.

Moves are transmitted in German (local languages may be acceptable also). Used to prevent confusion between letters such as C and D.
A piece is touched when it is removed from the "hole"
The clock is pressed after the move is made and announced
Both players must keep score
A slip of the tongue must be corrected immediately before the clock is pressed

Assistants

Either player can have an assistant.

Things an assistant can do:

They can make the move
Can announce the moves
Can keep score and start the opponent's clock
Inform the player on the number of moves made and clock times
Inform the arbiter of a breach of touch move
Claim the game where time limit has been exceeded
Assist if the game is adjourned

Adjourned games

The move is written on both scoresheets, both scoresheets are shoved in the envelope as well.
Player to move writes his next move down and this move will be played when the game restarts. This move is written and shoved in an envelope.
Used if a game is halted (e.g. a player is ill)
If a player's next move that they wrote is "resigns", this is treated as bringing the game into disrepute.
Conditional draw offers are not allowed.

Chess 960

King must be placed between the two rooks

Quickplay finishes

If you're in the last segment on the time control and you have less than 2 minutes remaining and it is stated in the tournament regulations, then quickplay applies.

Cannot have increment
Doesn't apply to Blitz
Only works for when you have less than 2 minutes

A player having the move in the last 2 minutes of the final session may claim a draw (they stop the clock and summon the arbiter).

If allowed, the player on the move with less than 2 minutes may request 5 seconds delay. In this case, this effectively becomes a draw offer which can be accepted/rejected. The opponents gets +2 minutes
If the arbiter disagrees with this they can postpone the decision (if flag falls, you could add +2 minutes), or reject the claim (Opponent gets +2 minutes).

The recording of the moves

Moves must be recorded using the following procedure:

You make your move (play the piece) FIRST
(Optional): You press the clock to complete your move
You write the move down

You cannot write the move first. The only exceptions to this rule are the following:

You want to make a draw claim
You're adjourning a game

Before making a move, you must have recorded the previous move first. The following is allows:

You make a move (and record it)
The opponent makes a move
You respond to the player's move
You record the opponent's move, and then your move

A player may reply to his opponent’s move before recording it, if he so wishes. He must record his previous move before making another.

Rapidplay Rules

Rapidplay games are games which are more than \(10 \lt x \lt 60\) minutes long (based on 60 moves).

Additional rules for rapidplay

Players do not need to record the moves

If you have 1 arbiter per 3 games (for the whole tournament), the normal laws of chess apply

If there is not 1 arbiter per 3 games, and the games are not being recorded:

After 10 moves each, if:
- The clock settings were initially incorrect
- If the king or rook is positioned wrongly (but you can't castle between them)

Illegal moves in rapidplay

The penalty for an illegal move in Rapidplay is 1 minute as of January 2023.

Note that these rules don't apply if you have 1 arbiter per 3 games, these are rapidplay-specific rules.

Both arbiter or opponent can indicate illegal moves before the opponent makes his next move.
If this is the second illegal move offence, the game loses unless the opponent cannot get checkmate (in which case, draw).
If the arbiter doesn't intervene or they don't claim it, the game continues with the illegal move played.
- If you walk past a board with say, two bishops on black squares, the arbiter cannot do anything unless the illegal move was done and the arbiter saw it.
- If the arbiter observes both kings in check or a pawn on the promotion square (which is still a pawn), the arbiter waits for the next move to be completed. If the illegal position still stands, the game is a draw.
  - So yes, if you see both kings in check or a pawn on the promotion square, we wait for the next move. If say the next move gets them out of check but there is still an illegal position on the board (e.g. two bishops on the same color square), the game is still declared drawn.
- Case scenario
  
  The arbiter sees a move made illegally, but the arbiter isn't near the board. The arbiter walks towards the board and the opponent makes their move. What should the arbiter do?
  
  Solution: Nothing. The move has been made and the arbiter didn't get there in time.
- Case scenario
  
  There's an illegal move and you mate your opponent. What happens?
  
  Solution: The mate stands.

Illegal positions

Not to be confused with illegal moves. This is an invalid game state. This includes:

Two kings in check
A pawn on the final rank
A player has both bishops on the same coloured squares, and all 8 pawns are still on the board

The first two are the only two illegal positions which apply for the rules above. Positions with say, two bishops on the same colour are not governed by the laws of chess.

Blitz Rules

Blitz games are 10 minutes or less.

Penalties are now 1 minute instead of 2 minutes, as of January 2023

If you have 1 arbiter per game, then normal rules apply. Otherwise rapidplay rules apply.

Pairings

Rules for Swiss Systems

Number of rounds should be declared beforehand
Two players cannot play each other more than once
If there is an odd number of players, one player is unpaired who gets a bye (Whether they get a point or not is up to the tournament).
A player who received points without playing cannot get a bye
Players are generally paired to others with the same score

Other rules:

If you have a defaulted game (where one player doesn't appear), they can be paired together in a later round
Byes have no colour. They are neither white or black.
The number of whites and blacks that a player gets to play as should not be greater than 2 (i.e. you can't have 2 whites more than black or two blacks more than white) unless it is the last round.
Colors should try to be balanced and have alternating colors

How to do pairings

Notes from the course

Order members by rating (1 is highest rating)
- For unrated players you can use a national rating (converted) and it should be shown (for example, with an asterisk). This is so we don't take these into account for calculating ratings.
- For unrated players with no other ratings, normally you'd put them at the bottom in alphabetical order
Figure out what the top seed is - this is either white or black (top seed as white means player 1 plays white). This is generally random

CB represents color balance - positive is white and negative is black.

We want to get rid of the lowest player from the larger colour group. We only down float from the larger color group
The colour columns on the pairing table represents the colour they are due to play.
The higher ranked player keeps their colour sequence if there is a player that has to change colour

When we're doing "top half vs bottom half", we ignore floats

Basically the order of stuff we do is:

Make sure players aren't playing the same players they've played
Try to pair people with the same score
Float
We want a player to play the highest rated player
We don't do double float unless there is no other choice
Everything else
Colour change (we want to avoid this wherever possible)

When you're doing pairings, you need to think: What is the optimal pairing? (as in, can we pair top and top) Can we do this? If so, do so. We can relax the rule of "top player should play the colour they want" in the case of say, the opponent has two consecutive white games.

So remember: What is the optimal pairing

Try to get the ideal pairing whenever possible

We can also consider doing a "median split" - changing what the top and bottom half are.

You publish the pairings and then find some byes. In this case, you pair the players with no opponents (if the players agree, otherwise if they ask for the point you give them the point).

How to do pairings (My notes from practising)

Construct the table of points and the colours that players are due, ordered by player number when in the same points group
If we have too many people (odd number) in the current (highest) points group, float one down and ignore them:
1. When selecting a player to float down, choose the lowest pin from the biggest color group. If you have 3 white and 2 black, float down the white.
Now pair top half vs bottom half. Make sure we're not pairing people who have played against each other before. When doing top half vs bottom half, this is where you're allowed to change color.
When it comes to floats (pairing a float down with an opponent - i.e. choosing someone to float up):
1. If the opponent has floated up before, reject.
2. If the opponent has played before, reject.
3. Select a player with the highest pin and right color. If we already know we're going to do a color swap, then we prioritize the highest pin which hasn't already upfloated.
Do a color switch (lowest possible priority - you basically never ever want to do this UNLESS you have to)

Ratings

Standard play games

Requirements for a game to be rated

For a game to be rated, we take a look at a player with the highest rating in the tournament. We assume that the game lasts 60 moves

2200 or greater: 120 minutes for each player
1600 or greater: 90 minutes for each player
< 1600: 60 minutes for each player

For games with multiple time controls, this is 40 minutes to the first time control.

You can only have at most 12 hours of play in one day
Tournaments should not last more than 90 days (without approval). These should be reported monthly

Getting the first rating

Play 5 games against rated opposition. These games should take place within 26 months (2 and a bit years)
You must score at least \(\frac{1}{2}\) pts in the first performance. For example, if you played a tournament 1 with 3 rounds and tournament 2 with 2 rounds, if you win \(\frac{1}{2}\) points in the first tournament you are eligible for a rating. If you instead won 0 points in the first tournament, you're not eligible.
Your rating must be 1000 or more.

Round Robins

A third of players must be rated with a minimum of 4 rounds
Double round event needs at least 6 players
Unrated players who score 0 are ignored

Swiss tournaments

Unrated players must score for their games to count (even if they only play 1 game)
Rated players must play against rated opponents to count for a rating

Matches

When the match is decided (e.g. 5pts - 3pts in a 9 round game), the further games won't count (such as the last 9th round)
Matches against players which are unrated do not count for ratings

How to calculate ratings

You start counting games from the first game where you get a point (1 or \(\frac{1}{2}\)). For example, if a player plays their first game and gets 0, we ignore it.

In a swiss of team tournament, the rating is calculated based on the average of the opponents and the percentage score.

If the score is 50% then their rating is equal to the opponent's average. If more than 50%, then it's the opponent average + 20 for each half point scored above 50%. If less than 50, then table lookup.

Example

Player opponents average is 1800. They won 4/8 games, that means they've won 50%. Therefore their rating for the tournament is 1800. If they won 5/8, rating is 1800 + 2 * 20 = 1840. If scores 2/8, that's 0.25 - look it up in the table, it's -193. Their rating is 1800 - 193

This system punishes you for losing 50% or more of your games.

Players with ratings already

exp is the % that you'll expect to win if you played 100 games

Rating lists

Rating list appears monthly. Deadlines are 3 days before the end of the month.

If an unrated player gets a new rating mid-tournament (during a change of months), you leave the original rating instead of the new one. Always go with the rating the beginning of the tournament

K Factors (AKA Development coefficient)

K = 40 for players who are new to the rating list until they played 30 games.
K = 20 for players with rating < 2400
K = 10 when their rating is 2400. Even if the rating drops below 2400, the K factor remains for life!
K = 40 for all players until their 18th birthday, as long as their rating remains under 2300.

Exceptions to this:

(Number of games for a player (in a month)) * (K factor) should never exceed 700. If so, we reduce your K factor. K factors can only be whole numbers

Titles

The following titles (and the woman variants):

These titles require norms:

GM >= 2600 against players with average rating >= 2380
IM >= 2450 against players with average rating >= 2230
WGM >= 2400 against players with average rating >= 2180
WIM >= 2250 against players with average rating >= 2030

These titles are rating-specific:

FM >= 2300
CM >= 2200
WFM >= 2100
WCM >= 2000

These ratings don't have to be published, they can appears mid-tournament!

SuperGM is not actually a FIDE rating, it's just a thing we made up

Certain tournaments can award titles/norms (e.g. Olympiads)

Getting norms by performance in tournaments

Cannot play more than 2 rounds per day
No more than 12 hours per day
Without increments, min time = 2h for 40 moves with +30 minutes to complete the game
With increments, min time is 90 mins with 30 second increments from the beginning
Arbiter must be a FA and licensed in order to offer a tournament norm
Arbiters cannot play in the tournament (even as a filler)

Title norms

Games decided by forfeit/default, adjudication or otherwise (non-board play) are ignored
Round robin games against unrated players who score 0 are ignored

You need:

A minimum of 9 games. (You can also have 8 games + 1 bye (non-requested bye))
Minimum of 50% of opponents should have titles (excludes CM and WCM)
Minimum of 1/3 of players should have the title you're searching for or above.
Max unrated opponents is 20%
maximum 2/3rds can come from one federation
Maximum of 60% from norm seeking federation
Must meet a minimum of 2 federations other than your own

Federations are so you play a range of people from all over the place effectively:

FID (FIDE) - This counts as "no federation"
ECF - English Chess Federation

Exceptions from normal conditions:

International championships (e.g. Continental, Olympiad)

Exceptions to the above normal conditions (these are exempt from federation requirements) for the norm to count:

National Men's Women's or Open Championships (from the host nation only)
National Team Championships (from the host nation only)
Zonal and sub-zonal tournaments
Swiss system events with a minimum of 20 FIDE rated players from at least 3 federations different from the host and at least 10 who are GM, IM, WGM, WIM

At least 1 norm must be obtained under normal foreigner requirements

Calculating norms

Check all of those requirements above are met
Find the average rating of all opponents
Do the performance (table lookup)
Add that to the performance
Round numbers to whole numbers
Compare to what rating is needed for the norm

For certain cases, you can inflate one player below the floor for the title you're trying to get and raise it to the floor. The floors are as follows:

Floor GM: 2200
Floor IM: 2050
Floor WGM: 2000
Floor WIM: 1850

If there are many rounds (e.g. 11 instead of 9), we can eliminate rounds (which the player has won) which don't match certain conditions to see if the resulting rounds meet the conditions.

Norm forms

If a player gets a norm (typically GM and IM), you have to fill out 3 forms (IT1, IT2, IT3) and these should be presented to the player, and the ratings officer. The arbiter creates them, the federation person sends them to FIDE.

Arbiter Titles

Becoming a FIDE Arbiter

Certificates is how many arbiters they can offer norms to
Norms is how many norms you can get of what kind

Things you need to do to become a FIDE arbiter:

Arbit 3 FIDE rated events (national or international)
Attend (and pass) the FIDE Arbiters' Seminar

To get the FIDE arbiter title, norms must consist of:

At least 7 rounds in a tournament
Only 1 tournament with 5 or 6 rounds shall be accepted

The tournaments must have a minimum number of players:

Round Robin: 10 players
Double Round Robin: 6 players
Swiss System: 20 players
Rapidplay/Blitz play: 30 plays, 9 rounds. Only one of these norms are allowed

Peculiarities:

Arbiting an Olympiad counts as a FIDE norm

If you have only Swiss System tournaments and one of them is an international FIDE event with at least 100 players, at least 30% FIDE rated players and at least 7 rounds.

Forms that you need

FA1, IT3. Need an FA2 form which is the "collate everything together"
The norm for the seminar is valid for 4 years
Other norms must be submitted within a 6-year period

Tip

When awarding arbiter norms, award them during the certificate prize givings - it shows that arbiter's have actually done work and it looks good on the tournament!

Before events start, tell the chief arbiter that you're looking for a norm so they know to look out for what you're doing

Becoming an International Arbiter

Need to know pairing programs, Word, Excel and Email
2 of the norms must be signed by different Chief Arbiters
Need 4 events:
- Final of the national individual championship (up to 2 norms)
- Official FIDE tournaments
- International FIDE tournaments (with at least 3 federations)
- All events must be 9+ rounds (one norm can be 7 or 8 rounds))

Anti Cheating

What is cheating?

Using electronic devices or sources of information/advice during a game
Manipulating the chess competition:
- Match fixing
- Rating fraud
- False identify
- etc.

Reporting Cheating

FPL (Fair Play Commission) will act especially when:

Title norms are involved
Titled players are involved

Complaints

Complaints can be made by anyone with a FIN (FIDE ID Number)
Must be made in writing. Oral complaints are not accepted

When a complaint is made, the chief arbiter must:

Inform the complainant about the penalties for a malicious complaint
Investigate
Apply penalties if necessary
Dismiss the complaint if appropriate
Forward the complaint and CA (Chief Arbiter) report to FPL through the ECF Office

Complaints can be made for up to 8 years after the last round of a tournament

What arbiters should do

Implement security measures
Observe players for potential cheating opportunities
Prevent potential cheating situations
Investigate accusations of cheating
Identify cheating
Report cases

4.0 sd => 1 in 16,00 4.5 sd => 1 in 150,00 5 sd => 1 in 1.74 million

Clocks

Terminology

Chessclock - a chess clock with 2 time displays
Clock - one of the two time displays

Chess clock regulations

The display should be visible from a distance of 3 metres
A player should be able to tell if it's running from 10 metres
The same clock should be used throughout a tournament

Laws revolving around clocks

A player must always be allowed to stop his clock after moving

Note that this rule doesn't say when after moving
A move is only completed when the clock is pressed - this may complete more than 1 move
If the last move of a time control is made but not completed (by pressing the clock), and the flag falls, then the player loses unless the opponent cannot deliver checkmate
Same hand for making the move should be the same hand as pressing the clock
Players shouldn't hit the clock too hard
The arbiter has the right to say where clocks are placed. (Normally placed on Black's right-hand side)
A flag is considered fallen only when the arbiter or a player sees it
Faulty clocks should be replaced
The arbiter has to use their best judgement if the position has to be reset. Clock adjustment is also their judgement

Final sessions:

If both flags have fallen and we dunno which one fell first, the game continues until it is the final session
If the game's moves cannot be established during a time section, the next move will be the first move of the new time control
If the final session, then the game is drawn.

Player interactions with the clock:

A player may stop the clock if they have a valid reason
- Valid reasons:
  - Claiming a draw
  - Dispute is raised
  - Someone stops the clock and asks you how to explain castling when castling is possible and you're probably playing in a junior tournament, probably valid
  - Toilet breaks but if say, the player was an elderly person with a medical condition
- Non-valid reasons:
  - Someone stops the clock and asks you how to explain castling when castling is not possible, that's invalid
  - Toilet breaks
A player who stops the clock without a valid reason may be penalised
If the clocks are stopped, it is the arbiter who decides when a game restarts.

Tip

When restarting the clock, do so behind the clock so it's not distracting (so you're not over the board)

Religious purposes

Some players have religious reasons for not pressing the clock (For example, a Jewish person playing chess on the Sabbath may consider pressing the clock as "doing work"). If they told you this in advance, this can be considered.

Clock recommendations

What to get

DGT 3000
DGT 2010
KK9908 Leap clock (FIDE approved)

What to avoid

DGT Easy
DGT Easy Plus
Saitek

Revision

Example questions

Game without increments. A makes move. B replies before A pressed clock. A then presses the clock. B complains. What do you do?

A player always allowed to press their clock, therefore it's okay
White flag falls. White has K and R and black has K and N. Result?

Black wins.

Name	Title	Fed	Rating	Score
A	CM	USA	2217	1
B	WGM	CAN	2242	1
C		USA	2204	1
D	IM	FRA	2356	1/2
E	IM	USA	2424	0
F	FM	USA	2333	1
G	GM	ENG	2568	0
H		BVI	1997	1
J	FM	USA	2301	1
K		USA	2197	1
L		USA	2199	1

Weird player movement

In general, weird player movement is covered by Article 4: The act of moving the pieces. Note that if an arbiter observes any volation to Article 4, they must intervene immediately.

Handling illegal moves and illegal move claiming

Illegal move claims are dependent on when the move has been made or completed:

If a player picks up a piece and makes a move and releases the piece (and doesn't press the clock), if that move is legal, then that move stands. The player cannot change this move. This is covered by Article 4.7.
If a player picks up a piece and makes a move and releases the piece (and doesn't press the clock), if that move is illegal, then the player can still change the move to any legal move. Touch move still applies (unless of course, the illegally moved piece cannot be moved anywhere legally, then any legal move can be played). This is covered by Article 4.7.
If a player makes an illegal move, the opponent cannot claim it until the player completes the move

Questions

Q: A player picks up a king and moves it two spaces to castle. The player presses the clock without touching the rook. What do you do?

A: Illegal move. Illegal move penalty applies. The king MUST do that castle, they CANNOT do (e.g. a long castle the other way). They CANNOT do a normal king move. For multi-part moves (e.g. a move with two actions, such as castling, capturing, promoting), you MUST do that multi-part move even if you've only done part of it.

As per Article 4.7.2, and Article 4.7: When, as a legal move or part of a legal move, a piece has been released on a square, it cannot be moved to another square on this move.

Weird game result claims

In general, weird game result claims are covered by Article 5: The completion of the game.

Questions

Q: The arbiter is called to the board. The players ask the arbiter "is this checkmate?". You look at the position and the game is indeed checkmate. What do you do?

A: You DO NOT declare the game as checkmate, because this counts as giving advice. You ask the players to come to an agreement on the result, because players have to come to an agreement on the result which is then passed to the arbiter.

Q: Two players play a game and reach a stalemate. None of them notice and continue to play on until they reach a checkmate. Eventually, they realize that the game was a stalemate earlier on. They explain this to the arbiter. What do you do?

A: The stalemate stands, because everything else is irrelevant. This is covered by Article 5.2.1: The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The game is said to end in 'stalemate'. This immediately ends the game, (provided the stalemate move was legal)

ECF Level 2 Norms

To acquire ECF arbiter level 2, an arbiter needs to be a level 1 arbiter (have passed the test) and have three tournament norm passes from two different assessors:

Attaining this level will require three tournament norm passes from a minimum of two different Assessors. At least one of these three tournaments must be from a tournament that is either Rapidplay or Blitz. At least one of these three tournament norm passes must be from a tournament that is Standardplay. Each norm must have been obtained at a tournament that had a minimum of 30 players and five rounds. Level 2 norms can only be acquired by arbiters who are not considered inactive, and after the candidate has attended the ECF Arbiter seminar and passed the examination. The title can then be awarded by a majority vote from a panel consisting of the Director of Home Chess, the Manager of Arbiters (Home) and the Chief Arbiter.

The details about writing and filling out level 2 tournament norms will be outlined in this page.

Paperwork

The arbiter level 2 norm documents can be found at the bottom of the ECF Arbiters website. This comprises of two documents:

Arbiter Regulations – proforma guide for assessors - a "mark scheme" for assessing level 2 norms
Arbiter Regulations – proforma - the form to fill out for a level 2 norm

For writing norms, you want the normal proforma (not the mark scheme).

Things to test candidates on

Take these with a grain of salt. Of course, if a candidate is competent and has already shown some of these points, there's no need to re-test them on that.

Section 2: Decision making

When testing decision making, we're just hoping the player makes the correct decision. If they get a decision wrong, that's fine, but make sure they can at least answer a question correctly.

Weird player movement:
- Player promotes to upside down rook, then tries to move diagonally
- ⚠️ Player moves king two spaces, (as if to castle), but presses the clock before they move the rook
- A simple touch move scenario (they touch a piece, but then move another one)
- A touch move scenario, but the piece they were about to move would be classed as an illegal move, so they touch another piece and move it before pressing the clock

Section 3: Playing conditions

If there's noise near the playing area, give opporunities to allow the candidate to deal with it. If they don't, ask them to deal with it. If they don't, deal with it yourself (and make a note of that for assessing purposes)

Section 4: Pairings and results

Ensure we have a procedure for checking results, and ensuring that results are checked correctly.
Ask them a question about pairings
- Why did so and so play white/black twice in a row?
- Why is so and so playing so and so when they have different points?

Section 5: Anti-cheating measures

Let them use a scanner. If they've never used one before, show them how it's done, let them demo on someone

Things to test new arbiters on

New arbiters have a tough time getting used to the role of an arbiter. As a fellow arbiter as part of a team, as well as an assessor, you're not trying to "catch them out" on anything or "looking for ways to fail them". In general, you want to aim to build their confidence and ensure that they're adhering to the expectations of an arbiter.

Fun things to ask a new arbiter:

Give them a tally counter. Ask them what they'd use it for. (It's for keeping track of moves made for 50 and 75 moves)
Give them a clock (ideally before the tournament). Ask them to add 2 minutes to the clock
If it's a live board clock. Ask them to add 2 minutes to the clock (after some moves have been made and the lever has been placed wrong). Help them out if the lever issue crops up (in which case, lever first, then set the time)
Let a new arbiter enter results into SwissManager
Let a new arbiter generate pairings (Pairings > Computer pairings...)
Let a new arbiter generate ratings (Other > Rtg. admin. file ENG)
Are boards set up correctly? Kings and queens the right way round?

Writing norms

Warning

It is highly recommended to write norms using Microsoft Word - NOT ONLYOFFICE because ONLYOFFICE can mangle formatting (e.g. boxes). Using MS Word online should be sufficient.

The top headings are fairly straight forward:

Candidate Grading Reference can be found on the list of arbiters in the "Reference" column
Candidate Membership Number can be found via ECF Rating or otherwise (do a lookup, that's all)
Tournament Name is trivial, but it's worth noting the year that the tournament took place (if need be)

Fill out the rest of the norm as normal (awarding marks). When it comes to the comment section, the aim here is to provide comments on the marks you've awarded and give feedback on marks that were lost. An example of a comments section could be like this:

1. ...
2. ...
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
Other comments here

When providing feedback on marks that were lost, it's best to write along the lines of "In future, the candidate should ..."

Submitting norms

After your norms have been written for the given tournament, send them off to the manager of arbiters at manager.arbiters@englishchess.org.uk.

Alternatively, fill out the online submission form here

FA Norms

FIDE FA1 norms can be generated by SwissManager. Go to Reports -> FA Norm Report - FA1 to generate a norm.
FA norms can be given out only by the chief arbiter that is:
- A FIDE arbiter (FA)
- An assessor (?) (unsure, this shouldn't apply for FA, but would apply to Level 2 ECF norms)

Chessbase

Three-fold repetition

Chessbase doesn't automatically detect three-fold repetitions. To detect a three-fold repetition (as far as I can tell), identify the move you'd like to claim as being a three-fold, then go to Home, go to the Find Position ribbon, and click In this Game (top right of the Find Position ribbon). If this identifies three positions, this classifies as a three-fold repetition

50-move rule

Chessbase cannot detect the 50-move rule.

chess-claim-tool

chess-claim-tool is a tool used to identify chess claims:

alt text

This can be pointed to a specific .pgn file and it will display and notify of any suitable chess claims that may arise.

Keyboard shortcuts

FIDE Arbiter's Guide