Chess etiquette: how to behave at a tournament

• Arrive on time. Lateness is not only a risk of forfeiting; it is discourtesy to an opponent left sitting and waiting.
• Say hello and shake hands. The standard before the start: a handshake and a brief «good luck».
• Check the board. The setup, the colour of the corner square, the clock - all done before the start, not on move three.
• Put your phone away. Silent and in a pocket, not face-up on the table.
• Do not start before the signal. Clocks start when the arbiter says so, not when it suits you.

A small thing everybody notices: do not colonise the table with your belongings. A coat over your opponent's chair and a bag in the middle of the table is a familiar and irritating feature of amateur events.

• Stay silent. The only permitted words are «I adjust», a draw offer and «I resign». Everything else goes to the arbiter.
• Say «I adjust» before touching the piece. Otherwise the touch-move rule applies.
• Move with one hand. And press the clock with the same one. Two hands is a rule violation, not a style.
• Do not bang pieces or the clock. The excitement of blitz is understandable, but the button is not hit for volume.
• Do not loom over the board. Sit rather than stand over a seated opponent.
• Do not comment on moves. Not your own and not anyone else's - not even with a sigh or a face.
• Do not distract. Drumming fingers, a jiggling leg, a rustling packet - all of it bothers an opponent more than you think.

Separately: do not wander off to watch other games while yours is running. Leaving the table is allowed, but your opponent should be able to see that you have not gone to study the position next door.

Resigning is a normal part of the game, not a failure of character. The correct form: stop the clock, extend your hand and say that you resign. Some people tip the king over, but a handshake is clearer and needs no interpretation.

What not to do:

• Do not walk away in silence. Standing up and leaving the game behind is the worst option: your opponent does not know whether you are coming back, and the clock is running.
• Do not sweep the pieces off. However bitter it feels.
• Do not drag out a hopeless position against a much stronger player. Though formally playing to mate is your right, and nobody is obliged to resign.

And the other side of it: never demand a resignation. «Come on, that's enough» is discourtesy. A player is entitled to play it out.

• Shake hands. Whatever the result and whatever your mood.
• Record the result together. Both confirm it, so there is nothing to argue about later.
• Set the pieces back up. Good manners, and the next round starts sooner.
• Discuss the game quietly and away from the tables. People are still playing in the hall.
• Do not lecture your opponent. A post-mortem happens only if they want one. «You should have played this here» aimed at the loser is the least pleasant genre there is.

Analysing together straight after the game is a tradition and one of the best things chess has. But it begins with the question «shall we look at it?» rather than with ready-made advice - about reviewing games.

• Do not comment. Not aloud and not in a whisper. Even an «oh» at the moment of a blunder is a hint.
• Do not stand too close. Keep your distance from the board and do not block the light.
• Never point at the board. Ever.
• Do not speak to players. Even if it is your friend or your child.
• Phone on silent. In the playing hall that applies to everybody, not only to the players.

At children's events the main offenders are the parents, and it is worth announcing this plainly at the opening: prompting a child from the sidelines spoils the game and can cost them the point - children's events.

In fast formats the adrenaline is higher and the time for courtesy shorter, so the norms blur most here. What remains compulsory:

• One hand. The most commonly broken rule in blitz: moving with one hand and pressing with the other.
• Fix knocked-over pieces on your own time. You knocked it, you set it up, and the clock keeps running.
• Do not smash the button. The clock belongs to the organizer, and clocks break.
• Do not argue at full volume. Stop the clock and call the arbiter.
• Do not celebrate a flag fall out loud. Winning on time in a lost position is not an occasion for triumph.

Some of these norms are courtesy; others are formal requirements an arbiter can penalise you for breaking.

An organizer needs to state the rules at the opening - phones, silence, one hand. The traditions do not need explaining: they pass on by themselves if a club observes them - what to announce before round one.

1. 1. Do not get into an argument - it will only wreck your own game.
2. 2. Stop the clock and call the arbiter.
3. 3. Describe calmly what is happening.
4. 4. Accept the arbiter's decision and play on.

For organizers: respond to such calls quickly and identically for everyone. One player who is allowed things devalues the rules for everybody else.

And the thing that matters most at an amateur event: the atmosphere is set not by the regulations but by how the strongest players and the organizer behave. If they say hello, analyse games with beginners and do not comment on other people's mistakes, everyone else follows.