When should you call the arbiter?
Before sitting down for your first event
Check where electronic devices must be stored, which time control is used, whether draw offers are restricted and how to call the arbiter. For rapid or blitz, also check which supervision regime the regulations announce. These details are not safe to guess from the time shown on a clock.
If you need an adapted board, help recording moves or an agreed medical arrangement, speak with the organiser and arbiter before play. Article 12.2.6 calls for measures to meet disabled players’ and medical needs. It does not create one automatic time allowance for every situation.
During a dispute, describe what happened: the move, whether the clock was pressed, and the position or record that can be checked. Ask for a rule explanation, not a recommendation for your next move. This gives the arbiter usable facts without turning the board into an argument.
Where may a player go?
The playing venue includes the playing area, toilets, rest and refreshment areas, and other places the arbiter designates. The playing area is where the games are played. Leaving the venue needs permission. A player who has the move also needs permission to leave the playing area. Event regulations may require the other player to report before leaving it. Article 11.2.
After finishing, a player is a spectator. Do not comment on another game, point out a move, or announce an irregularity across the room. Article 12.7 allows reporting it to the arbiter only.
Electronic devices and information
Scroll the table sideways to compare all columns.
| Situation | Rule and boundary |
|---|---|
| Notes, advice, outside information or analysis on another board during play | Forbidden by 11.3.1 |
| Unapproved electronic device in the playing venue | Forbidden by 11.3.2 |
| Such a device is evidently on a player’s person | Player loses; opponent wins, unless event regulations specify a lesser penalty: 11.3.2.2 |
| Switched-off device in a bag | Only if event regulations allow it; place the bag as agreed with the arbiter and do not access it without permission: 11.3.2.1 |
“Silent mode” is not the same as completely switched off. A permitted bag-storage policy is not permission to carry the device in a pocket. Inspections under 11.3.3 must be private and carried out by the arbiter or an authorised person of the same gender; refusal is dealt with under 12.9.
Offer a draw without disturbing play
Check any event restriction first. If offers are allowed, make your move, offer the draw, then press the clock. The offer has no conditions, cannot be withdrawn and remains until acceptance, rejection by words or by touching a piece to move/capture, or another ending. Both record (=). Repeated unreasonable offers can disturb the opponent under 11.5. Article 9.1.
Keep the scoresheet available to the arbiter and use it for authorised game information. Both players must assist reconstruction and verification of draw claims under 11.11–11.12. Article 11.9 allows asking the arbiter to explain a rule; it does not permit asking for chess advice.
From incident to decision
- Incident: identify what happened, whose turn it was, whether the clock was pressed and what evidence remains.
- Applicable rule: distinguish an illegal move, disturbance, clock defect, device offence or draw claim. Check the event’s rapid/blitz supervision regime if relevant.
- Action: the arbiter preserves or reconstructs the position, hears the facts and applies any required clock correction or ruling.
- Penalty: follow the rule’s prescribed consequence; where 12.9 applies, select an authorised response. Explain the decision and the event’s available appeal process.
Powers and limits
Article 12.9 lists warnings, time adjustments, permitted point adjustments, loss, a fine announced in advance, exclusion from rounds and expulsion. These are bounded options, not interchangeable replacements for an explicit mandatory rule. Persistent refusal to comply with the Laws loses under 11.7.
The arbiter observes play, especially time trouble, may appoint assistants and may compensate external disturbance with time. But 12.6 forbids intervening outside the cases described in the Laws: no reminders that a player forgot to press the clock and no routine move-count coaching. Disability and medical needs require appropriate measures under 12.2.6.
Adapt the board, keep the game shared
In a game between a sighted and a visually disabled player, either may require two boards. The sighted player uses a normal board; the adapted board must be at least 20 × 20 cm, with slightly raised dark squares and a securing aperture in each square. Staunton pieces have pegs and Black’s pieces carry a distinguishing mark. D.1 allows organisers, after consulting the arbiter, to adapt the provisions to local circumstances.
Announce, repeat, execute
- Announce the move clearly, including the selected piece when promoting.
- The opponent repeats it and executes it on the other board. D.2.1 suggests spoken file and piece names to reduce ambiguity.
- On the adapted board, lifting a piece from its aperture counts as touching it. A move is made when the capture has been removed if relevant, the piece is secured on the new square, and the move has been announced.
- Only then start the opponent’s clock. The sighted player follows the ordinary touch and move rules. Articles D.2.2–D.2.5.
A slip of the tongue must be corrected immediately, before starting the opponent’s clock. This is not permission to retract a completed move after seeing the reply.
Clocks, records and assistance
D.2.6 admits specially constructed clocks that announce time and move counts, or an adapted analogue clock with the specified tactile features. D.2.7 permits Braille, longhand or an audio recording of moves. The authorised assistant may execute and announce moves, keep the record, operate the clock, provide requested time/move information and perform the listed claiming duties. These are procedural tasks, not chess advice.
An assistant is required when a visually disabled player faces a hearing-impaired player under D.2.11.
When the two boards no longer agree
Suppose a move is announced correctly but is reproduced on the wrong square on the other board. Do not continue with two different games or decide the correction by memory alone. Call the arbiter and compare the scoresheets.
Under D.2.9, matching records allow the incorrectly reproduced position to be corrected. If the records differ, retrace the moves to the last agreed point and let the arbiter readjust the clocks. Repeating an announced move before playing it is a practical safeguard against this problem.
FAQ
May I keep a switched-off phone in my pocket?
Not under the ordinary device rule. Article 11.3.2.2 concerns an unapproved device on the person. An event’s authorised switched-off bag policy is a different, conditional exception.
Can I appeal the arbiter’s decision?
Article 11.10 permits an appeal unless the event regulations specify otherwise, even after signing the scoresheet. Follow the event’s procedure; the Laws do not supply one universal filing deadline for every event.
May an assistant suggest a move to a visually disabled player?
No. The listed duties support communication, recording, clock use and claims. They do not permit outside chess advice forbidden by Article 11.3.1.
Related rules
Sources and scope
FIDE Laws of Chess · 2023 · Articles 11–12; 9.1; Appendix D.
Effective 1 January 2023. These guides explain over-the-board play. The official text and any event regulations permitted by it govern competition; teaching positions are not tournament records.