Tips for Room Supervisors/Board Stewards 
(Notes from EPSCA, Hertfordshire Schools Chess Association, DR)

• There's a lot of writing below but most players know the drill and will do things without being asked -- so you shouldn't have a busy day.
• You’re there to make sure everything runs smoothly as possible.  Help is next door.
• When you are not certain of your answer to a question, you should approach the section controller or the chief arbiter on the matter.
• Officials should never become involved in a query relating to their own child.
• It is my good intention to provide each room with board numbers and pens. (DR)

At the start of the day

• You should be assigned a room and a section or sections e.g. Under-12.
• The room should be allocated an appropriate number of sets, boards, clocks and stationery
• Take a photo of the layout of the classroom as you find it.
• Organise volunteers from among the older players to set out tables for a chess tournament: one chair either side with board, pieces, clock, result slip, pen(s).

Before each round begins

Make sure that:

• each board is correctly set up. That’s Queen on a square of her own colour, knights on the outside of Bishops, and a light square h1 on White’s right, light square a8 on Black’s right.
• each table has a result slip. There should be a box of them in the room.  Different colours for each round are helpful.
• all the clocks are set at the appropriate time. That’s 20m+5s in most sections, 15m+5s in the U8/9.  The clock should remember the right setting(*). 

(*)DGT Clocks can be re-set by turning off-then-on, selecting time control No.18 (walk up or down with [+] and [-] then [tick]), and then clicking the middle button. 

• Players may want a pen, a scoresheet and/or a Queen, so just check where to find those.  You too might need a pen.
  • Modern sets come with a spare Queen so there should be some floating about in the room/venue. 
  • DR has a box of pens, and a box of scoresheets.

At the start of the round

• Check from the pairing board that the players sit at the correct board, opposite the right opponent, with the correct colour.

During the round:

Only step in if requested by one of the players.

• We play all the rules of chess: touch-move, touch-take, castling King first, and en passant. 
• The result agreed by the players is the result; the one recorded on the result slip then becomes the result. 
• Do not show how a player may get out of check, even if asked.
• Do not answer the question “Is this checkmate?” (but see below about stalemate)
• Checkmate ends the game, even if your time runs out before you can press the clock.
• Stalemate ends the game and a player thinking the game lost may be advised that it is a draw.
• Touch-move disputes (groan): If one player accuses the other of touching a piece without intending to move it, unless you saw the offence, give the benefit of the doubt to the player who denies touching a piece.  BUT keep note of the alleged offender in case it happens again.
• A player who is short of time (i.e. in the last two minutes) may ask you to verify repetition or the 50-move rule.

Illegal moves: In FIDE tournament chess, two illegal moves during one game by the same player means that the player forfeits that game. BUT in DJCA we usually allow three, and in the younger sections, especially in the last five minutes, we just treat it as an instance of touch-move.  If either player has less than five minutes left on the clock and an illegal move is made, the arbiter may award the opponent two minutes for the first offence, and two minutes for the second offence.

At the end of the game

• Record the result agreed between the players on the results slip provided (or they can, and you collect) with all boxes complete.
  • Information on slips gets transferred onto pairing cards (or they go to the arbiter doing the pairings, who will do that), then the hall.
• See that the board is set up for the next round.
• Reset the clock. 

At the end of the day

• Ask older players to ‘volunteer’ to help re-pack all the equipment; everything goes back in the storage box, which you can leave by the door.
• Please restore the original room layout as photographed. Without a photo, do something sensible!