Allow me to go back in time for a moment. Chess 960 has its origins in the 18th century, at that time called “Schuffle Chess”. Although this form of chess traditionally fascinated chess players for the idea that one had to play the game without the preparation of a certain opening and thus relied on one’s own chess skills from the start, it remained a niche activity in the chess world for a long time.
The Arbiters’ Council asked Prof. Kenneth W. Regan to write a dissemination article about his system, to let every arbiter to get acquainted with this very important tool. It has been written with the purpose to make the system understandable without any particular mathematical skill, in order to have the concept behind known to every arbiter. The Arbiters’ Council warmly thanks Prof. Regan for his precious job for the Chess community and for his kind cooperation with us!
On this column we have mentioned many times what is needed to be a good arbiter. We have focused on experience, as a key to success. We have spoken about best judgement, as an essential capability to run a smooth tournament. Today, we will focus on education and permanent learning.
The Yakubboev vs. Vaishali Rejected Handshake Furor
A “Handshake Incident” which took place recently (27/01/2025), at the Tata Steel Challengers tournament in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands, created quite a buzz in the chess world and on social media.
Introduction If you ask me to come up with regulations about dress codes, I simply cannot write one, but I can think of how to break wrong dress code regulations! Dress is more than just clothing – it is a form of self-expression, because the way a person dresses very often reflects their views and values, which can… Read More »
Over the last few years, as chess has grown its popularity on social media, especially when important events are happening, I had to notice that we are acquiring some bad habits of the mass sports such as soccer, including starting endless public discussions on the arbiters’ decisions. Generally, the most active people on these discussions, as you’d expect,… Read More »
The Swiss system entered our lives in order to avoid a situation of unpractical number of rounds compared to the Round Robin System. The Swiss pairings concept is actually not that new. It actually started back in 1895 in Zürich (hence the name Swiss System). The Swiss System was adopted by the chess world some time later with… Read More »
An article from the October edition of the ECU E-Magazine: “2024 annual report of ECU AC: Most important items”
An article from the September edition of the ECU E-Magazine: “Annual meeting of the ECU Arbiters’ Council in Budapest”
An article from the August edition of the ECU E-Magazine: “The equation to success” by IA Marco Biagioli