How to prepare for a chess tournament abroad ... language-wise

Let me introduce myself

My name is Martina and when I'm not playing chess, I'm working, studying and researching in the area of linguistics (kinda science for languages, a realm within the so-called Humanities), teach languages and coach some chess groups. Having that out of the way, we can go to the topic of this article now.

Some assumptions for the setting of this article

What do I want to talk about if I’m talking about language preparation for a chess tournament abroad? Let’s start with a setting. Let’s imagine you are living in Germany (as most of my readers of the German articles might do) and you want to go to the Czech Republic for a chess tournament (ever heard about a tournament in Pardubice?). Okay, next step, your language experience. Someone who lives in Germany has a high chance of knowing German. If you are able to read this article without Google Translate help, chances are, that you know English as well, right? Good! Perfect preparation for what I want to talk about. If we check any info we can access about the Czech Republic, we will realize that we are talking about a country that’s not exactly a German speaking country, neither is English their official language. That said, we are talking about a highly international chess tournament. They are prepared for a big bunch of people that don’t speak any Czech. If you check out the website for the Czech Open (that’s the name for the chess tournament in Pardubice that I’m talking about), you’ll see that they have a Czech and an English version of their website. Huh, you are good to go!

Do we need language?

No, but, wait, that’s not why I’m writing this article. Let’s dive deeper into this topic. Based on our assumptions, you don’t speak any Czech, but you want to travel to Pardubice to play at that international tournament where you expect many people to speak English, right? And how much language do you actually need during a chess game? You are supposed to shut up during a match anyways, right? Well, we should talk about two aspects of your trip. The first aspect is the game itself and the second aspect concerns the travel time. You are going to take some kind of transport, and you will have some kind accommodation, no?

During a match – Blind and visually handicapped people

Let’s start with the chess games. During a chess game, it’s a good idea to talk as little as possible. One big exception is chess against blind and visually handicapped people (or when you are blind or visually handicapped yourself and need these conversations to know the move of your opponent). There, you’ve got to spell out your moves and listen to your opponent to know their moves (for more info, you can check out the appendix of the FIDE rules!). The international chess rules by FIDE have a plan for those cases of language complications. Strictly said, you would use German numbers (?!) when mentioning towards which field on the board a piece is moving. For the letters, you would use a name alphabet and for castling, you would again use the German words. But really, please check out the appendix about the chess rules for “play with Blind and Visually Handicapped” (Appendix E, Fide Handbook).

Few words during a match, right?

If you play a game under the Fide rules without needing that appendix, you talk even less. In general, one wishes their opponent a good game before the game and says some kind of “thank you, good game” afterwards. You might want to say “hello” in the beginning, offer a draw during the game and want to be able to understand your opponent offering a draw or giving up. Next level would be being able to discuss issues with a referee. You also might want to be able to understand what organizers and referees are saying before a round. Some extra kind of communication brings the notation form on which you have to note all your moves and your opponent’s moves. At this point, however, the Fide rules have you covered. The Fide rules explicitly state the following:

“For the first letter of the name of the pieces, each player is free to use the first letter of the name which is commonly used in his country. Examples: F=fou (French for bishop), L=loper (Dutch for bishop). In printed periodicals, the use of figurines for the pieces is recommended.” (Appendix C.3 Algebraic Notation; Fide Handbook).

The notation is your best friend for non-spoken communication!

That means, you are fine to use the German notation. During international tournaments like the one we are talking about, there are also people who chose using the English notation to make the job for whoever needs to be able to read the notation (e.g. the referee) a bit easier.

There are ways to offer a draw simply by using written notation. There are ways to show that you are giving up without using spoken language, too. What about the rest? How are your English skills for all the points that I’ve just talked about?

Preparing the match language-wise

If you want to prepare your English skills for a chess match, I recommend having a look into the English version of the Fide rules to be able to discuss issues with the referee or your opponent. You can start by checking out the names of the pieces and you can dive deeper for more advanced chess terms. Reading random blog posts about chess or watching a chess stream or listening to a chess podcast might help as well. Another help is using English chess terms actively. Do you want to guess why this is my first chess article in English on this blog? Yeah, exactly. If you have your English chess base covered, let’s talk about some Czech words. Coming back to the assumption, that you don’t know any Czech, let’s start with simple expressions. You could look up some basic words and phrases for the occasions that I had just mentioned. “Hello!”, “Good game!”, “Draw?”, “Referee?” and “I give up, good game!” might be a good start, right? If you want to go on a more advanced level, you can look up the piece names in Czech (or even check out the Czech notation???).

Preparing for the trip, remember allergies?

Our chess game is covered. Let’s go forward and talk about the travel bit of your trip. I bet you know some language travel guides with lists of transportation and food and useful phrases for emergencies. You can check one of those out, maybe online or at a library or however fits best for you. Then, you can use the content list for ideas for topics you might need language for. Are you travelling by train? By car? By plane? There is specific travel vocabulary for different ways of travelling. It’s also good to remember words for allergies. And while the organizers of an international chess tournament might be prepared for German/English speaking people without any Czech knowledge, not every local knows of their luck having to talk to you. If your English level is good enough to understand this article, I would recommend revising your English knowledge for these travel topics that seem most important to you, if needed. In addition, it might be useful to have a list with the most important expressions and words in Czech with you, too. If there is a sign with a word about ingredients you are allergic to, it’s a good idea to be able to understand that word or to be able to ask a service person if the food has that ingredient. Related to that, knowing the words for “with” and “without” without confusing one for the other can be a live saver!

You want to be able to communicate with the organizers, too?

Another topic that might be of interest for you during your language preparation for a chess tournament abroad, are expressions around the organization of the tournament. If you are done with your preparation for the time during the game and during the travel, you can create a list with expressions that you might hear or need during the tournament. Any idea about the “Karenzzeit” during the tournament you are playing at? Will you be able to understand at which places of the tournament venue a deactivated (or activated) phone would be okay? Are they giving you spoken information about a room for analysis with your opponent. Oh wait, analysis with your opponent. What about that? I went through several game analysis’ in my life with opponents using languages that I didn’t understand (enough). It’s not nice but definitely possible to get through by moving the pieces and showing what you are talking about on the board. But you could also prepare these kinds of conversations beforehand.

You don’t need to learn it all, but you can take some of the ideas

To review all the points mentioned in this article: It’s completely fine to say “naw, I’m going to play chess, not giving a speech in perfect Czech!” and disregard everything mentioned in this article. Still, I would recommend looking up words around allergies or other health related topics important for you! If you are interested in preparing language-wise for chess tournaments abroad, I hope that I gave you some ideas for terms and expressions to look up in either English or another local language depending on where you want to go to and depending on your language level in languages that might be used during the tournament. And please, remember, not everyone at every place on earth speaks perfect English or knows German for tourists...

In case you are up for a tournament abroad, good luck for you! And if you participate in the Czech Open in Pardubice, here is one Czech word for starters: Ahoj!

References:

Czech Open (2024): https://www.czechopen.net/en/. Tournament website.
Deutscher Schachbund (2023): Die Fide-Regeln: Deutsche Übersetzung & Authentic Version. https://www.schachbund.de/srk-news/neue-fide-regeln-ab-01-01-2023.html.
International Chess Federation (2023): “Fide laws of chess” in: Fide Handbook, https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012023.

Interested in more?

If you are interested in more content on chess and language learning, check out my next article: "Using chess as a tool to learn languages: For intermediate and advanced learners" here on Lichess!