My First Hand and Brain Chess Tournament

Hand and brain chess is a chess variants played by two players each color. The player in the role of "Brain" will choose one of the six pieces to move and then player in the role of "Hand" move piece as directed by your Brain to any square, as long as the move is legal. This post is a review of my first hand and brain tournament "The Rooky Monthly Head & Hand" Organized by The Rooky on August 11, 2025, at Tree on 3, Bangkok. My partner in this tournament is Supakrit Wongbenjarat.

Competition Format

This tournament use the swiss system of 6 rounds, all games played on time control of 15 minutes with 10 seconds increment per move. "Hand" and "Brain" roles can be switched when playing a new round, but cannot switched in the same game. The Brain player can communicate with the Hand player by pointing one of six chess pieces printed on the paper.

Hand Strategy

The Hand may play openings as agreed with the Brain before the game begins. The Hand's thinking must be flexible, as the Brain's possible moves may different from those originally calculated, requiring the Hand to find the best possible move for specific type of pieces.

Brain Strategy

Brain players should be accurate in tactics and able to calculate quickly in order to allow the Hand to make timely moves.

Games Record

Note: I brought my own score sheet. If my team has less than a minute, the game recording will be end.

Game 1 (My Role: Brain)

This game starts with reti opening. Black make a mistake in the early game. Then white have an extra pawn and better pawn structure.

Game 2  (My Role: Hand)

This game opening with london system. White made tactical mistakes in early game, which gave black the advantage and led to the win.

Game 3  (My Role: Brain)

This game start with reti opening. White was a disadvantage in the opening and had a Queen exchange early in the game. in the middle game white had equal position and was able to squeeze out to win in the two rooks endgames.

Game 4  (My Role: Brain)

White has a clear advantage in the opening, but cannot convert as well, giving black a change to trade pieces and enter a drawing endgame.

Game 5  (My Role: Hand)

This game opening with scholar. The tactical error make black king heavily attacked and hit by a fork tactic at the end, putting black lose material and position.

Game 6  (My Role: Hand)

This game opening with center game. Black takes a long time to think during the opening and makes mistakes, putting pressure on black position.

Competition results

After tournament finished, My team scored 3.5/6 and ended up in 7th place out of 15 teams. which did not receive any awards. The Hand and Brain chess was a new format for me, and teach to control their emotions when someone on the team makes a mistake. I enjoyed this tournament.