We have all been there, making one mistake or another. While it is inevitable that you will make mistakes in your career as a tournament chess player, these mistakes can be minimized and that is what this article seeks to do. We will look at ten mistakes that you could fall prey to and how to avoid them, as follows:
Mistake No. 1: Neglecting the Organizer’s Rules and Policies
There is more to the rules than just what is contained in the USCF Rulebook. As explained in my recent article about rule variations, the organizer of the tournament can enact special rules for the tournament that supersede the standard rules. For instance, some organizers might allow you to notate before moving and others will not.
However, in addition to rule variations, organizers often set many policies for how the tournament will be run, such as the time control, who will provide chess sets and clocks (hint: this is often you, especially at smaller events), whether spectators are allowed, the deadline to request 1/2 byes and much more. One important element of organizer policies is their electronic device policy. At some tournaments, the directors are lenient about electronic devices and will give you no trouble unless you are actually using a phone while your game is underway. Other organizers are very strict and will not allow any phones or other electronic devices in the Tournament Hall at all, upon pain of immediate forfeiture of game.
Another common area of variation is how the result is reported and what happens if it is not reported. Sometimes it will suffice to write the result down on the pairings. At more professional tournaments (such as our in-person events), you have to summon a tournament director, fill out a results slip and wait until the director verifies the result to leave the Tournament Hall. You may even be prohibited from resetting the board until the result is verified. If both players neglect to report the result, some directors will simply guess the result or seek out the players to report it. Other directors will immediately forfeit both players and will not reverse this forfeiture even if the result is later reported. Simply put, you need to know the organizer’s regulations and follow them to the letter.
Mistake No. 2: Forgetting the Schedule
It may go without saying, but if the organizer has announced that a round will begin at a certain time, you need to be in the Tournament Hall by that time. Really, you need to plan to be there early, preferably at least ten minutes early, in case you are delayed for some odd reason. You also need to factor in time to check your pairings, locate the board, and if need be, set up your chess equipment. So, always plan to arrive a little early to ensure that you do not miss out on time you could use in the game.
Mistake No. 3: Failing to Notate
Sometimes an organizer will require you to notate, in which case failure to notate could cost you some of your time or worse. However, even if you are not required to notate, you definitely should. Why? Notating empowers you to analyze your games ex post facto and discover how you can improve your gameplay. Absent sufficient notation, you are barred from claiming certain draws, such as the 50-move rule and triple repetition of position. Indeed, if you are playing in a non-sudden death time control, failing to have a complete scoresheet can prevent you from claiming a win by time forfeiture.
For these reasons, you should always be notating your games. If you do not know how to notate, check out my detailed article on how to notate.
Mistake No. 4: Developing Inaccurately
When a chess game begins, it is a common maxim that you have three objectives: (1) Assume control of the center; (2) Develop your non-pawn pieces; and; (3) Secure the king. Anything else in the first seven or so moves that is not absolutely essential should be avoided. You must focus on these objectives.
What does it mean to develop inaccurately? Although you will need to make a few pawn moves at the beginning of the game (ideally one or two), you should not give all of your early moves to pawns. After you have secured the center (if white, e4, maybe followed by d4, will do), you really need to push your larger pieces, especially your knights and bishops. When this has been done, you need to complete your development by castling the king, so that your king is not so much of a target for your opponent (the e file can open up really quickly, which will leave your king exposed if it has not castled). Here is an example of how two players might develop accurately:
Observe what is happening in this example. Both players correctly begin with pawns to control the center (e4, d4). After that is done, do they continue moving more pawns? No! They advance most of their knights and bishops. Finally, they each castle their king immediately after that minimal amount of development has occurred. From this example, we can also understand what not to do: Move the queen too early. Advancing the queen early is unideal primarily because it stunts the development of lessor pieces and could lead to the queen being forced around the board by the opponent’s pieces, which only wastes time while the opponent develops.
Mistake No. 5: Needlessly Weakening the King
I have seen a lot of mistakes in my day over the chessboard, but few probably compare with needlessly weakening the king. Generally, this weakness comes in the form of advancing the pawns that protect your castled king. Until the endgame begins, you should keep these pawns fixed to their initial positions. One possible exception would be to play h3/h6 after castling on the king to protect against a pin of the queen and knight by an opponent’s bishop, but otherwise, you should usually glue those pawns to the board. Whatever you do, always be very careful about exposing the f2/f7 square, as that one square so often is an easy target for your opponent.
Mistake No. 6: Allowing Your Opponent to Obtain Passed Pawns
Arron Nimzowitsch once wrote that “A passed pawn is a criminal which should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient.” What truly matters in a pawn endgame is not how many pawns you have, but how active those pawns are. If I have three more pawns than you that cannot go anywhere while you have just one pawn on the verge of promotion, you are winning unless I can eliminate your pawn.
If a pawn is not blocked by any other pawn, it is deemed a “passed pawn.” What makes passed pawns so dangerous is that, as the material on the board simplifies, it becomes easier and easier to promote that pawn. Absent another pawn to block it, that passed pawn can consume the attention of your remaining pieces. Even if the passed pawn never actually promotes, your opponent will have the time to do other things with his king or whatever, like eat up some of your pawns, while you are busy barricading the eighth rank from that passed pawn. A passed pawn is often a death sentence for this reason.
Whenever it is within your power to deny a passed pawn to your opponent, use it. Allowing a temporary disadvantage may, in certain cases, be better to permitting a passed pawn to exist. Of course, sometimes you will not be able to prevent passed pawns (or the cost to do so might be too great), but whenever it can be done, do it. It could make the difference between winning and losing.
Mistake No. 7: Never Assume Victory
If you have been playing chess long enough, you know the feeling. Your opponent has blundered some material and you are clearly winning by several points. At this point, you feel victory is in your grasp, and with it, you embrace a feeling of security. Security from defeat. As a result, you convert from your previously super-cautious self to a passive mode of looking on, just waiting for the game to end. You cease to be careful. Before you know it, your carelessness is exploited by your opponent (who is now very eager and focused on not losing) as you blunder a whole queen! Errare Humanum Est! By virtue of your carelessness, you have converted your once easy victory into a miserably embarrassing defeat.
In this example, you were so sure that you were going to win, that you forgot about the possibility that you might lose. Your “security” was actually a fraud whereby you deceived yourself of reality. In chess, there is no such thing as a guaranteed win. Until the game is officially over by checkmate or otherwise, you are still liable to defeat and must be completely careful to prevent it at all times. This goes for not just when you have gained the advantage in a game, but also when you are playing someone who is far below your rating. Even a beginner who learned the rules of chess yesterday can defeat a master if he is sufficiently careless. Therefore, you must always be on guard for anything and everything, lest you suffer utter shame and defeat at the hands of your opponent.
That finishes our discussion on these seven mistakes that you absolutely must avoid. Without question, there are many more mistakes that you can make and you will most assuredly make them. However, if you vigorously strive to avoid the mistakes enumerated above, you will faire far better playing chess tournaments than you would otherwise.