A Grandmaster's Guide to Over-the-Board Chess | Etiquette and Behavior 

Only thing missing here is how to capture pieces? When I played my brother as a kid I would hold my piece and smash his with it, sending it flying off the board, and often off the table entirely. But I guess that isn't tournament etiquette.

I just went to my first tournament on Saturday and got 5.0/5.0! I went from UNR to 1100p

The main reason why you must move the piece and press the clock using only one hand - is to guarantee you don’t press the clock before the move is finished. And that is a mandatory rule.

"...It starts with you coming, in the morning". Couldn't agree more, stress relief should be an integral part of everyone's chess preparation.

This is the video I've been searching for as I hope to enter my first OTB tournament next year. Thank you!!

Hi, Daniel! I’m a chess player from the Netherlands, started playing a year ago. I’ve been following your channel ever since I’ve started playing, and have read your book on positional chess. I’ve learnt a lot from you, and today I’ve played and won my first tournament game with an opening I know you like (and so do I): The King’s Indian. It took 32 moves and I was playing someone above my rating. I want to thank you for all you’ve done to help me improve at chess and wish you the best. I love your videos! If you want me to share my game, I’ll make a link to an analysis board and put it here.

Wow, these OTB "how to" videos are extremely thorough and informative. Well done and thanks for sharing!

Awesome! Been thinking about maybe trying OTB. This is great, will go check out the first video!

I really appreciate the extra youtube content! Thanks a lot!

The diversity on content lately is of the charts good. LOVING this stuff.

Danya is the best !!! He is so nice that is really a pleasure to watch and learn from his videos.

I have watched tons of youtube chess instructional videos and I am so happy that I found Danya's channel. The quality instruction is far above that of any other channel and he provides it all at no cost. Even his past twitch broadcasts have no paywall. I subscribed to him on twitch just because of the fact that he doesn't force anyone to pay for any of his content

GM Naroditsky, you are by far the most thourough, nice, thoughtful chess youtuber. This video is so lovely, as are all your videos. Thank you for making content!

I have no plans to play OTB tournaments, but I still found this informative. Good to know.

I'm from Sweden and I've never been to a tournament that doesn't provide boards and/or pieces! Even pens are always provided and placed by the score sheet that is at your seat as well! Great video! Surprised to hear you don't have that luxury in America.

Thanks so much for the awesome content Daniel! A small tip: after your focus is auto-adjusted, turn off auto-focus to avoid that in-and-out blurring that sometimes occurs when you move back and forth. Peace and blessings!

Thanks for the content Danya! Taking the jobava to my first OTB tourney at my local club in 2 weeks!

Daniel you are the BEST ! Thanks for info and your time !!

Danya you're a incredible teacher. I love the more “casual content" keep it up mate！

Middle left corner of screen -- Patched up hole following a supersonic mouse smashing through the wall into the other room, after Danya got flagged in hyperbullet.. All jokes aside, you are the best Danya. This content and all your speedruns are among the best chess content on the internet.

hey Danya, great video, I recently played in my first tournament this past weekend, and I was wondering if you could do a short segment on ratings, like what does it mean to be dual rated, how long does it take for you to get your rating, and how the initial rating is calculated / how a rating is calculated with unrated players in the mix. Thanks a lot for this series, it makes me feel a lot less anxious about doing an OTB tournament.

Love these OTB videos. Don't even worry about technical stuff. We don't mind at all 🖤

Thank you Danya for such an awesome content.

One thing that has happened to me in the past that may have been nice to have known a bit about before hand is what to do when your opponent is late/doesnt show up. Also something that players should know is what to do if you or your opponent make an illegal move, like not realizing they are in check or something. Great video, and great idea to get this info out there for newer players looking to try their hand at OTB play.

Great video Daniel, you got some awesome content man!

Playing in my first tournament in less than 10 days. Thank you so much for making this video as well as the preceding part 1 video! These were a great help in getting over the anxiety about the unknown!

Day 51 of saying you're the man Danya. Love your legendary content. This was a great guide to the introductions of in real life over the board chess. Even in your lectures you're masterfully concise. Thank you thank you!

Amazing how lighting can make you look 5 years younger! Great vid man, keep it up.

Pairing sheet: Brady (1500) Sucks (2700) you truly are a Master. 😂

Very impressive how you make a video of half an hour without any edits and are extremely enganging.

I can't wait for the next video where he covers premoving OTB!

The way Danya prepares and explains everything is perfect, I wish he also taught us history of the world sometimes

Time 13:18 - 13:25 adjusting pieces. Make shure to place the piece in the center of the squares. So that you not have to adjust it. If you have to adjust it i will come to that later. Then you push the Pawn by letting it go, then press the clock and adjust it in your opponents time. Made me smile. I think you where not aware of it. Elswise like your videos. English is not my first language, hope it is not to hard to understand. Kind regards.

Very informative Danya!

Thank you for this amazing video!

Keep up the great content danya !!

Thanks Danya! Great video.

This video is amazing for people with anxiety, thanks so much Danya!

Great video. I remember when I was a little boy and couldn't remember how far to move the pieces especially castling, especially long. My father told me the rule: you move your rock to the king, then the king jumps over the rock. It was easy to remember, but it did lead to that bad habit. Had lots of computers beep at me for trying to castle in the wrong order.

Good video. You may also add that if the player needs to leave the tournament before playing his last game or games, he needs to notify the TD so that the TD will not pair him with other players for the remaining games of the tournament. If the player does not notify the TD, the TD will be pair him with other players, and these games will be considered as lost games for him (forfeits).

Thank you so much for sharing!

Thanks! Benn waiting for a Video like this! .., Mike.

Thank you so much for this, I’ve been playing online for 2 years and want to play OTB when Covid is done with.

Hi Danya, really awesome video! Been getting into OTB tourneys lately and have been struggling with mental stamina. Will have a really tough match and be completely mentally drained for the next one. Can you do a video on strategies (even night before, morning of, during, and between games) to maintain stamina?

I just love this dude!

Thank you so much for this content!! Looking to start playing here at the Charlotte center sometime soon. What do you do if your opponent plays an illegal move? Not realizing check, moving a knight to a wrong square, moving a queen off the legal diagonal, castling through check, etc?

Hey Danya, a very minor question I had. At the end of games, chess players place the kings in the center of the board on particular squares. What is the meaning of this and is it necessary?

Good to know not to engage with opponent in dispute, just let TD sort it out. Great video.

My first tournament experience was a blitz tournament and it was very messy, disregarding touch move, my opponent once didnt start the clock and we realized after 10 moves and kept playing on and I once sighed and said "okay" and my opponent thought I'm resigning. But in the end it worked out and was fun :).

Have my first tournament in Vancouver in 2 months, I am super nervous haha thanks for the video

@Daniel Naroditsky Missing : how to write down reflexion time (useful training tool and allowed by the FIDE) how to write down draw proposals (and you MUST, see FIDE 8.1 "Both players must record the offer of a draw on the scoresheet.")

wow...i thought i know the bloody rules.. but the castling rule what to touch first was suprising. I was taught "rook always go to the king, than king jumps over the rook". This way it was somehow easier for me (as a child) to remember how to long castle... (put the king on b file or on c file ?). I even wasnt lazy to check the official rules of fide (well..czech federation translation), because i thought that maybe you Americans have some special customs, like you always do :D Seems like you were right. :) I plan to go to my first ever tournament this month, so you saved me from trouble!

the habit of moving the rook first might come from the castling "tip" that a lot of children (myself included) were or maybe still are taught, especially in the east - "rook to the king, king to the rook", it makes it easy to remember where the king and the rook should end up after either short or long castling, i used to move the rook first for years as well because of it

Thanks Danya! Can you do a quick vid on notations in the future?

Hey Daniel, big fan of your videos, you're such a talented teacher and a great chess player! One situation that I have faced during OTB games was, that my opponent made an illegal move, e.g. put himself in check or didn't get himself out of check. What would happen in a tournament if one made an illegal move? And follow-up question, what happens to the one touch rule if the piece you touched has no legal moves? Thanks for your answer and keep up the great work! best wishes from switzerland!

amazing content !

Love the 'fro, bro.

i met Daniel at a tournament a few months ago. he was very friendly.

Awesome video! The only thing I would add is that you cannot take notes while playing in a tournament. All you are allowed to do is write down your moves, nothing else.

thank u.. really appreciated it

Very helpful brother🙃

18:45 - I usually wait for the opponent to aknowledge that it's checkmate. I also like to wait for the losing player to extend their hand. Not sure if this is considered good or bad etiquette?

Nice video for being ‘off the cuff’. Perhaps explain the 50 move rule as well.

You missed a point about touch move rule. When you touch a opponents piece you have to capture it if legally possible, unless you said adjust. As always great content Danya!

Hi Daniel, thanks a lot for the fantastic guide. One question I've always had, as I'm not so acquainted with keeping a score sheet. What happens if one makes a mistake in the sheet and the moves are not annotated correctly? At least what I've seen on top-tier tournaments, players don't check each others sheets and just sign them, but I wonder what happens in general in such case, as I imagine it's probably not that uncommon for new tournament players. Thanks again!

When's the under-the-board chess guide?

THANK YOU DANYA

I'm sure glad he included that info on claiming prizes....

Amazing video! I just wanted to add that I think there is a way to properly promote a pawn if I am not mistaken. Because one time I saw a video that Nepo did it wrong.

In my country after the handshake player with whitr pieces makes a move and pressed the clock more often than the other way around

Are you allowed to keep your scoresheet after, or are the moves recorded somewhere that I can find after the tournament? I'd love to be able to review my games but don't trust myself to memorize them. Amazing video, thanks Danya! Playing my first tournament this weekend in NY!

Question: I see a lot of people remove their opponent's piece before placing their piece on the square to capture a piece in OTB videos. Is that normally allowed? If so, how does that work with touch move? If not, what's the proper way to capture a piece? Also, when promoting, do you usually move the pawn onto the end square and then put a queen there, or do you just take the pawn off and put a queen at the end square? Thanks!

Nice just started playing otb

Hey Danya, I know only few of your subscribers own Chessbase (and I understand it, as it is expensive), but would you do a video where you create an opening repertoire out of scratch, to prepare against an opponent and the like, how to use chessbase in general, and many more?

I have a question about recording moves on the score sheet while under time pressure. What happens when one or both players have only seconds left - are they required to keep noting the moves under such conditions? Thanks for all your terrific tutorial work. You are perhaps the best on youtube. So articulate and lucid.

Hey Danya I have a question. What if you are in a time scramble do you still have to keep note of the moves?

I’ve been in a chess tournament before when I was younger and the only payment we needed to do in order to participate in the even was do donate can food, do all tournaments do that or do you need to pay with money?

Damnn danya really rocking the G Pro wireless

The greatest chess teacher

thank you sensei

What happens when you unknowingly make an illegal move, e.g. moving the king into check or moving a piece pinned to the king. Does the opponent just call it out and you make a new move, or does the TD get involved in some way?

"It's assumed that your opponents know when they're in check" - HA, that's because you've never played against me, Danya. Checkm8!

much appreciated

3 of the biggest factors that discourage me from entering my first otb chess tournament are 1) Notation - I feel that I might forget to notate, forget the moves that were just played, or that it might distract me in my train of thought during a critical position. 2) Time pressure scrambles - Without pre-moves I feel i will lose a lot on time and having to notate at the same time while remembering to hit the physical clock without making an illegal move, spotting if the opponent makes an illegal move, not to mention the messiness of pieces stumbling all over the board, sounds very daunting and challenging. 3) Much less experience in otb chess and difficulty viewing the board and pieces unlike the birds eye view, evenly spaced 2D layout in online chess. i just seem to play worse otb and miss things i would never miss online. (This one i have the least problem with, just need to practice more)

First ever OTB in 2 days, I'll let you know the results. Tnx Dannya!!!

You’re the best DANJA

I have one more question what happens when my opponent does an illegal move like moving the king into check?

thank you

Nice Vid. How to promote a pawn to any piece? Did i miss it in the video?

Thanks for great educational content, Danya. I have two minor questions: does the procedure for claiming a draw by 50 move rule differ from threefold repetition draw? have you ever seen a person using their smartphone with a chess clock program instead of an actual chess clock?

Let’s say I touch the knight on g1 and move the piece to f3, hand still on piece, but I wanted to go Ne2. Can I move the knight directly from f3 to e2 or do I have to go back to g1 first?

I would also be curious to hear how ratings work for brand new players. If I went my first tournament and lose every game, do I get a rating? Or do I need to eventually win or draw a game to get a rating?

Can you style on your opponents bringing an uber expensive chess set to the table? How do you recognize uber expensive chess sets at the table?

I'm curious about what happens if you or your opponent plays an illegal move? I'm assuming you stop clock and call the TD. Is that an immediate loss? What if you touch a piece that you aren't allowed to move (i.e. you touch a piece when you're in check that can't resolve the check)?

You should link the previous video in the description

Hey Danya, could you explain how to prepare for a game against a certain opponent?

Hello. Thanks for the video, really useful. One question can anyone help. You say call tournament director, but what are the penalties they can give. So someone let go of a piece and then moves it back and moves another piece, or makes an illegal move etc. What sort I’m implication can they give the person making the errors?

Quick question about capturing a piece, do you generally remove the piece first? Or do this exchanging of the pieces with one hand?

Question about capturing pieces: Do I remove the to-be-captured piece first, put it aside and then move my piece onto that square or is it okay to do it in one motion?

You haven't mentioned promotion. What do you do if there is no extra queen/piece? Is there a customary way of doing it?