Questions about how tournament chess is played

I recently became a USCF member, but I"m not familiar at all with the ettiquete of play during a rated OTB game.

Here are some quick questions I have (I'm talking strictly about OTB play)...

1.) What are the rules regarding check?

Am I supposed to say "check" when it happens?

2.) What are the rules regarding hitting the clock?

I know this might sound like a trivial question... but I'm curious.  Am I supposed to hit the clock with the same hand I use to move the pieces?  Can I make a move with my right hand, and quickly swat the clock with my left?

3.) How does Sudden Death get calculated on the clock?  Does the clock do it itself, or is one of the players supposed to activate the mode?

Sorry if this all sounds stupid stuff, but I've NEVER played a rated game before... and I don't want to annoy my opponents when I start next week.

Also, is there anything that I should know that a newcomer should know that he would probably not expect in an OTB game?  Thanks in advance for any help you guys offer.

1) I don't know what you want to know about check. Obviously check is where a king us under attack. No you are not required to say check. If a player doesn't know he is in check and doesn't move out of check he must retract his move and get out of check (if the piece he moved can block the check he must move that piece).

2) You are suposed to use the same hand that moved the piece. When setting up the board, Black has the choice as to which side the clock sits.

3) The time controls as set before the game with digital clocks. With analog clocks one of the players will set the next time control. 

Etiquette says that you should be in an approx. equal position to offer a draw, and the draw offer should not be repeated for some time (I generally wait til the draw is so obvious my opponent offers a draw to me). A draw offer is over when the opponent makes his move, he doesn't have to say anything. If he moves after you offer a draw and then offers you a draw you are not required to accept.

It is also considered bad form to distract your opponent with anything but good moves. (ie tapping fingers, humming, eating that anything that makes a noise, etc.)

And as in all things politeness goes far. Shake hands before the game and thank him for the game after.

Most importantly HAVE FUN!!!

Everything kyska here says is true.  :)  About distractions, a few weeks ago I played in a tournament and my opponent was about 13 years old.  He dropped his pen (no exaggerating) about 20 or 30 times during the game.  He was spinning it and kept dropping it.  I don't know the protocol there.  I would probably have been OK to complain, but I had played him last year and could tell that he is just a smart but kind of odd kid.  He is a really good kid, but I think he just has physical ticks.  So it didn't bother me. (BTW he won and won the reserved section.  He is a very strong player.)  I think its better to try to have a thick skin about stuff like that, but if you can't concentrate on the game, however, then you shouldn't suffer because of it.  If that happens I'd try being extremely polite and smile "I'm sorry to ask, but the pen dropping thing is distracting me.  Would it be too much to ask if you'd stop? Its either that or in a few minutes I might jam mine in my forehead.  :)"

Thats what I would do. :)  I'm still kind of new to OTB play though so seasoned guys would probably have a different attitude.

It sounds crazy but OTB play is so much more difficult than online.  It takes practice and experience.  I think it takes time to get past psycological and physical limitations.  Others might not have a problem with it like I do, but I get nervous and tired.  Its hard playing 5 or 6 hours of chess in a single day.  My eyes get tired of looking at the board and my brain gets tired.  Last year I was in a game when I was CLEARLY won.  I knew 100% that I could queen a pawn and that he couldn's stop me.  But the guy offered a draw and I could barely even focus on the board.  He was rated about 900 and I almost accepted the draw because I was REALLY exhausted.  Finally I think I decided I'd rather lose due to a screw up than quit trying.  (I won).

So get lots of sleep.  Get up during the game and walk around a little bit too.  I think that helps.  Sitting in the same chair for 2 hours nonstop is brutal.  Don't worry about your time.  I have a problem with this.  But until you are at the higher ratings, if the game is like 30 moves in 90 minutes, then you have PLENTY of time.  If your opponent is moving quickly don't follow him.  Take your time.  It might throw them off if they are "quick" movers. 

I'm no expert, but this is what I've learned and my bro is a good OTB player and some of this comes from things he has told me.  

Oh about keeping on good terms with the clock. Figure a game to take 50 moves and at move 25 you should be at about half the time alloted. You can also guesstamate where you should be on the clock at moves 12 and 35 and you'll know that you are ok. Do not play too fast because your opponent is playing fast, he may be an expert in blitz and trying to lure you into playing a blitz game, or if he is short on time do not rush your moves trying to run him out of time, if you make good moves he will have to take his time.

 Try to remember USCF tournaments are touch move, so once you touch a piece you must move that piece if you can do so legally. Just be careful and don't move too quickly. I think you will find OTB chess to be a lot of fun once you get a couple of tournaments under your belt Good uck

About a month ago, I asked nearly all of these questions to Reb--he's one of the National Masters who plays chess here.

The best piece of advice he gave me was to practice with somebody, using a clock and notating.  It helped a lot. 

The clock and notation really isn't much of a problem.  The problem is making good moves.

Good luck, I hope you do well!

an article i wrote on the subject a while back.  it isn't rule specific, but there is some good advice, nonetheless.  :)  good luck!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/771849/getting_started_the_new_chess_tournament.html?cat=19

Many years ago, in 1 of my 1st OTB games, my opponent was moving very quickly, so I (naturally) started doing the same thing & soon was way behind in the game. I finally remembered the old saw "sit on your hands." So, I literally sat on my hands between moves & surprise! I was able to catch some of his errors (from fast movement) & I managed to win the game. He was not happy...

I forgot to mention something about clocks.  There are a lot of clocks out there.  If you haven't played OTB, then you will not know what all the time elements mean in programming them.  So a good clock to get is the GameTime clock from the uscf site.  Its cheap and it has a TON of presets in it.  Also there is bound to be several people at a tournament that have them so they can set it up for you.

If you get a nicer clock, like the Saitek then you might not know how to set it up and no one there will know how and you'll end up with a $50 clock that you can't use.  :)

Don't digital clocks still come with an instruction booklet for setting them ?  If so, try reading the instructions !  Whats wrong with y'all ?! 

Concerning the pen spinning ... Was your opponent doing this when it was his move as well as yours ?  I would have told him to stop and if he didnt I would call the TD over.  Such distractions are not allowed , kid or not. 

Well thats easy for you to say because you've obviously played a lot.  But if you have an instruction booklet for how to drive a chinese helicopter, then would you be able to do it?  Here is a book and a helicopter.  You have 10 minutes.  GO!

I went to a tournament a few weeks ago and online it was stated as G/120.  So I read the book and programmed the clock for 120 minutes sudden death.  I guessed at a 5 sec delay.  (And I know about delay because I've been to a couple of other tourneys, but at my first tourney I had no idea what that was).

Then I go to the tournament and the guy says 
"OK the time control is 30 moves in the first 90 minutes and 30 minutes sudden death with a 5 second delay.  Setup your boards and lets start?"

  I've got exactly 2 minutes to read the book and figure out how to do a bunch of crap I've never heard of before.  With the GameTime clock this is preset 30something.  Click click, done, ready.  With other clocks you either need an 11 year old geek around or you need a mechanical brain to figure this out the first time.  Look at the back of the clock and its a bunch of crap you will not understand (Fischer bonus, Bronstein yada yada, sp, ps tt +3.0 -whatthehell). 

:)

edit:  The pen spinning.  He was doing it during my turn.  

I have played a lot alright and mostly with analog clocks. Digitals didnt exist when I began playing tournies in the early 70s and I only started running into them a lot about 15 years ago. Most digitals have preset modes for all the most popular time controls so those are usually easy to set. Anyone with even a HS education can read the instructions and set the clock without much trouble. Ofcourse its not a good idea to buy a new digital and go right away to a tourney without knowing how to set your clock as it might be embarrassing. In Europe its very different because the clocks are usually not yours but furnished by the organizers/sponsors. I have had clocks that I had never used before and didnt know how to set but the arbiter is required to know how to set the clocks so if you dont know you just call the arbiter over to set it. Normally the clocks are already set by the arbiters anyway at the beginning of the round in classical events. I wouldnt dream of taking a clock to a tournament that I dont know how to set. That would be akin to entering a tournament without knowing how the pieces move. Now, in rapid events here it can get very interesting , clocks are furnished but sometimes all the clocks may not be the same and I certainly dont know how to set all the digital clocks in use here so I often do have to ask the arbiter , or a neighboring players, if they know how to set this particular clock. Sometimes they do and sometimes not. The arbiter however always knows ! One of the hardest things, in fact, to become an international arbiter they must know how to set almost every digital clock out there...... sheeesh. I think that would be quite a task ! 

If he was spinning the pen only during your turn and not his he was obviously trying to distract/disturb you. If he were doing it all the time he might be able to excuse it as a nervous habit. 

Speaking of nervous habits... Even the top players have some. I thought it funny to notice Gelfand's habit of twirling a pawn in one hand during his games. I wonder if any of his elite opponents are bothered by this and if they ever complain ? 

If you don't bring a clock to the event, then you might end up at a game where there is no clock to play with.  You guys are masters and I'm surprised you don't know this.  I'm not saying that we aren't responsible for programming our own clocks.  I read the book before hand.  I spent time figuring it out.  There is more to it than knowing how to click in the numbers.  At your first tournament, you have to go through Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, time added, delay and a bunch of stuff you aren't get to understand from reading the book.  (I read the entire book, twice).  Its complicated because there are concepts involved in programming it that you don't understand until you've had experience.  I was at a tournament where 2 guys had no clock to play with because neither brought one.  So saying that you are forbidden from bringing a clock because you don't know how to program it is ridiculous.  This isn't a final exam in college.  There are people there that are willing to help and who can potentially be your friends in the future.  You make it sound like a world championship.  Most of the people there are nice people in the reserved section.  I wouldn't expect a guy at the top table to care about helping someone out, however, who had never been to a tournament before. 

The guy was probably spinning the pen during the entire game, but I only noticed it during my turn.  

@inmaniac 

In a previous post you said the tourney advertised the TC as one thing and changed it when you got there ? Was this a uscf rated event ?  I didnt think they could change things like that once they are advertised in the mag and/or online ?  Am I mistaken ?  What was the event you are referring to ?