A family chess tournament: levelling adults and children

• An individual event with a mixed field. Everybody plays everybody in a Swiss regardless of age. Simple to run, but it needs a levelling mechanism - see below.
• Pairs scoring. An adult and a child play as a team: each plays their own games and the points are added. The most genuinely family version - the adults start supporting the children and the children the adults.
• Family teams. Each family is a team of two to four, and families play each other across boards. Right when the entry is large - team scoring.

For a first attempt, pairs scoring is the easiest: it removes the «why is my child playing an adult» question while keeping ordinary pairings.

Four devices, simplest first.

• A time handicap.The adult gets less time - say 5 minutes against the child's 15. It works extremely well and needs no explaining: the stronger player has to play fast, the weaker one gets to think.
• A material handicap. The stronger player starts without a pawn or a piece. Honest, but psychologically unpleasant for adults - better arranged by agreement.
• Separate categories. Everybody plays together, prizes are split between adults and children. Mechanically it changes nothing, but the children get a competition of their own.
• Chess960. A randomized starting position devalues opening knowledge, and the gap between «currently coached» and «remembers it from school» narrows noticeably.

The time handicap is the most practical of the four: it is set on the clock and requires neither an explanation nor a negotiation at the board.

Aim for 10+5 or 15+10 and four or five rounds: children will not manage more, and adults will not get bored. An hour and a half to two hours of play plus a break and the prizes fits inside a family weekend day.

Build in a pause in the middle, with food, drinks and room to walk about. At a family event the break is not a technical necessity - it is part of the point: people came to spend time together.

Working out the timings - the schedule.

• At home. The format for two or three families - a tournament at home.
• Outdoors. The summer version, with a garden and a barbecue - outdoor tournaments.
• At a library or community centre. A free venue for an open family event - tournaments at a library.
• At a school. A parents-and-children event is a classic school fixture - tournaments at school.
• At a café. During the day at a weekend, when the place is quiet - bars and cafés.

The best time is a weekend morning or early afternoon: by the evening the children are tired and the adults are looking at their watches.

Prizes work differently here than at a sporting event: the occasion matters more than the value. What lands well:

• a «family of the tournament» trophy, held until the next one;
• certificates for everybody, with the names printed in advance;
• categories: youngest player, most determined player, best game of the day;
• something sweet for the children - it never fails;
• a group photograph of all the families, which is the real output of the day.

One more thing: decide in advance what happens if somebody in a family does not turn up. The simple rule is that a pair or team may play short, with points counted from the games actually played.