Almost every dispute after a tournament begins with «I didn't know that's how we were doing it». The cure is not a long set of regulations nobody reads but a two-minute announcement before the first round. Below: nine points, a script you can read out almost verbatim, and an explanation of which conflict each point removes.
Tournament regulations protect the organizer formally: it is all written down, and in a dispute you can point at it. The trouble is that only a handful of people read them, and the dispute is with everybody else.
An announcement works differently. It makes the rule common knowledge in one specific room at one specific moment: everybody heard it, nobody can plead ignorance, and the conversation after the event starts with «understood» rather than «why». Two minutes before round one save an evening of arguments.
The key constraint: announced rules cannot be changed mid-event. That is exactly why the whole list goes out before the first game rather than as situations arise - otherwise each decision looks tailored to a particular player.
«We are playing a five-round Swiss. The pairings are made by score, nobody is knocked out».
Half the room arrives without having read the announcement. Someone expecting a knockout will spend the evening asking when exactly they were eliminated.
Swiss or round-robin«Ten minutes plus five seconds a move each. Black starts the clock».
Saying it out loud saves ten identical questions at the boards and settles who presses the clock first.
«We wait fifteen minutes from the start of the round. After that the game is forfeited».
The most underrated point: if the default time is not announced it is formally zero, and the first latecomer is forfeited entirely lawfully.
Late arrival and forfeit«On equal points the places go by Buchholz with the worst result cut, then plain Buchholz, then the direct encounter».
The main source of grievance at the prizegiving. Announced in advance, an argument about second place becomes arithmetic; unannounced, it becomes a conflict.
Tie-break reference«Phones on silent and off the table. You may not use them during your own game».
Under the FIDE Laws, merely having a device on you means losing the game. Club events soften that, but the softening has to be announced too - the strict version is the default.
Fair play over the board«After the game the players mark the result in the app themselves. Disputes are settled by me, and my decision stands».
Without this the round stalls: the games are over but the table is empty, because everyone is waiting for the opponent to record it.
«If you cannot finish the event, tell me before the next pairing. Two no-shows without warning means withdrawal».
A withdrawal processed in time costs the organizer one edit. Processed afterwards, it leaves someone without a game and drags down half the crosstable's tie-breaks.
When a player withdraws«Prizes for first, second and third. If players share a place, the prizes for those places are pooled and divided equally».
Once money is involved, tie-breaks stop being abstract. An announced sharing rule removes half the protests before they arise.
«Any question during the event comes to me, I am the chief arbiter. I decide disputed situations, and a decision can be challenged until the end of the playing day».
A player needs to know the address for a complaint in advance, or the dispute starts in a group chat a day later, when nothing can be fixed.
AppealsSubstitute your own numbers and read it almost word for word. The example is built for a five-round rapid club evening.
«Good evening, we are about to start. Briefly about the rules, two minutes.
We are playing a five-round Swiss. The pairings are made by score, nobody is knocked out - everyone plays all five rounds.
The time control is ten minutes plus five seconds a move each. Black starts the clock.
We wait fifteen minutes for latecomers from the announced start of the round; after that the game is forfeited.
On equal points, places are decided by Buchholz with the worst result cut, then by plain Buchholz, then by the direct encounter.
Phones on silent and off the table, please: you may not use them during your own game.
After each game the players record the result in the app themselves. If there is a dispute, call me - I decide.
If you cannot finish the event, tell me before the next round starts: I will take you out of the pairing so that nobody turns up to an empty board.
Prizes for first, second and third. If several players share a place, the prizes for those places are pooled and split equally.
Any questions? Then let us look at the first-round pairings».
The script and the nine points can be printed and taken with you: in print mode the page switches to a white background and the interface elements are hidden.
Players know how a knight moves and what en passant is. The announcement is about your decisions as organizer, not a beginners' course. The exception is a junior event, where touch-move and scoresheets are worth a separate mention.
«The scheduled opponent's adjusted score» is a fine phrase for a document and useless for a room. Out loud, say what will happen and what to do about it.
Do not promise searches, fines and disqualifications at a friendly evening. A rule announced and then ignored undermines confidence in every other point on the list.
The system and round count, the time control, who plays whom and who has already recorded a result - all of that is visible to every player in the Vibe Chess app, so it needs saying once rather than repeating all evening. The standings with the tie-break column are open as the event runs, so the final order is not a surprise at the prizegiving either.
A minute and a half to two minutes. Nine points go quickly if you do not retell the rulebook: players need your decisions as organizer, not a lecture on regulations. Anything past three minutes and the hall stops listening.
The regulations are the obligatory document, but hardly anybody reads them. Saying it out loud does something else: it makes the rule common knowledge here and now, and afterwards nobody can claim they did not know. Ideally you have both.
Three: the default time for latecomers, the order of tie-breaks and the rule for sharing prizes. Those are the ones that produce disputes impossible to settle afterwards, because any decision then looks like it was made in somebody's favour.
In a shortened form, yes. Even at a corporate evening somebody will be late, somebody will leave after round three, and two people will finish on the same score. The only difference is tone: without prizes the announcement sounds like an agreement rather than a regulation.
After registration closes and before the first-round pairings are shown. While people are still standing together they listen; the moment pairings appear on the screen, attention is gone for good.
Try not to change anything: rules announced before the start cannot be altered afterwards without every decision looking tailored to the situation. If a change is unavoidable - the venue closes early, say - announce it to everyone at once, together with the reason.
Go through the key points with them individually at registration: time control, default time, who records results. Thirty seconds, and the latecomer is not the only person in the room who did not know the rules.
