Etiquette is an Important Part of Learning Chess
Written by sports blogger on October 7, 2009 – 2:45 pm -Understanding chess and playing it well can help you in everyday life, because it teaches you how to concentrate, plan, focus and think ahead. The fact that you can experience friendly competition in a venue where the only thing that gets bruised is your ego isn’t bad either. That’s probably why you see such a large variety of chess instruction books online and in stores. People have known the game’s benefits for literally centuries.
Many people don’t realize, though, that it takes more than just learning chess problems to play chess well. Many new chess players are surprised to discover that when they go to a tournament or a chess club. One of these aspects is definite etiquette that should be followed so your opponents will respect you. You would be amazed how many experienced chess players don’t know this etiquette. Information about these rules should have been relayed to them by the people who helped them learn to play chess, but that’s often not the case.
Here are some important chess etiquette tips:
* Cell phones and beepers
Beepers and mobile phone aren’t allowed during tournament play, even if they’re set to only vibrate. It’s also a good idea to keep them turned off when at a chess club, whether or not you’re playing in a tournament.
* Talking During a Game
The Golden Rule applies here: Do onto others as you would like them to do onto you. If it bothers you to have people talking while you play, then don’t talk while they play.
* Moving chess pieces
If you touch a chess piece, you’re obligated to move it. If you move a piece to a new square and keep your fingers on it, however, it’s OK to move it back to the original square. You still have to move it, but you can choose another square. Once you take your hand off it, though, it’s officially considered a move.
* The clock
You must use the same hand to press the clock that you use to move the pieces. Also, once the clock has been pressed, you must move your hand away. If you’re playing in a tournament, you should press the clock to stop it if you need to speak to the tournament director about any aspect of the game.
* Offering a draw
The appropriate method for offering a draw is to move a piece and offer the draw before you stop your clock. Once you have offered the draw, you can press the clock. Do not offer a draw while time is running on your opponent’s clock.
These are just some of the many etiquette rules that should be adhered to when playing chess. If you play the royal game, it’s important that you learn all of them.
Tags: chess books, chess lessons, chess problems, chess puzzles, chess training, learn chess, learn to play chess
Posted in Uncategorized |
