Home
	Policy on Competitions

General information

The club encourages both social play and competitive chess in a friendly environment. Competition games are played every Monday night except for public holidays and a few weeks over the Christmas period, when the club is still open for social games. Social games are also played each Monday before and after competition. A competition calendar of the year's events is made available to all members.

Competition structure

Tournaments are varied, with time controls ranging from 90 minutes down to 5-minute "lightning", and may take from one to seven Mondays to complete. Fixed-opening tournaments, where the first few moves are stipulated, are a good way to learn new openings. Recently played fixed openings have included the Kings Gambit, the Scandinavian and the c3 Sicilian. Handicap tournaments provide greater tests for stronger players. In our time handicap events one player may be allotted 25 minutes while his stronger opponent could have as little as 90 seconds. The club also competes in an annual Central Coast Teams Championship, which Mingara currently holds.

Competition rules

Play is controlled according to the Laws of Chess as determined by the international body FIDE. In consideration of those who rise early on Tuesdays, competition games are started promptly at 8pm and late-comers will find their clocks have been started. Where competitions run over more than one Monday night, the draw for the following week will be made at the conclusion of play. Anyone unable to attend may arrange to play their game early and advise the tournament organiser of the result before the draw is due to be done for the following round.