8 min read
What to expect at your first chess club night
Nobody is going to quiz you on the Sicilian. Here’s what actually happens when you walk into a chess club for the first time, and how to get a game.
Prep
Get ready for club night.
Everything to get ready for your next night at the club, in one place: today’s puzzle right here, the Climb, Scramble, the opening lines you’re due, and plain-words guides for the rest. One Prep level keeps track, and nobody sees it but you.
New to chess? Start here
First Moves
Our free beginners’ course: how every piece moves, in short lessons with drills you can play again and again. You’ll be moving pieces in the first minute.
Today’s puzzle
The same one for everyone today. Find the move, then go and find a game.
Your try is kept in this browser, or on your account when you’re signed in. What’s kept
Same puzzle for everyone today.
Its usual XP, plus 5 for turning up today.
More prep
Ten minutes here, five there. Reps in the two days before a club night count as prep.
The Climb
Scramble
As many as you can before the flag falls. Three misses and you're out.
Three minutes, five, or no clock at all. Good for waking up the tactics before the first round.
Play ScrambleOpening trainer
Your Prep level
Only you see it.
Practice, by theme
Pick an idea and work through it, easiest first.
All of PracticeFamous games, move by move
Immortal Games
Play through the games people still talk about, with our notes at the big moments. Where Stockfish would have gone another way, try its line, then come back to the game.
Guides
Club chess, explained: walking in for the first time, the clock, the handshake, keeping score, and what that number next to your name means.
8 min read
Chess club etiquette: the rules nobody tells you
Touch-move, handshakes, draw offers, and why you don’t analyze next to a game that’s still going. The written rules and the unwritten ones.
9 min read
How do chess ratings work? Elo, Glicko and your Social Elo
Why beating a stronger player is worth more, what the question mark after a new rating means, and why your online number and your club number disagree.
8 min read
How does a chess clock work? Time controls explained
What 15+10 means, why you press with the same hand, what happens when the flag falls, and which time control suits a club night.
8 min read
How to write chess notation on a scoresheet
Every square has a name, every piece has a letter, and a whole game fits on one sheet of paper. Algebraic notation in ten minutes.
8 min read
How do chess pairings work? Casual, Swiss and round robin
Who plays whom, and why: how a casual club night matches people as they arrive, how a Swiss tournament pairs by score, and when a round robin or a knockout makes more sense.