Emirates Bughouse Chess Championships
On Thursday 4th December 2025, the Emirates Stadium will play host to a brand new event. Teams of two players will compete in a Swiss tournament for the title of Emirates Bughouse Chess Champions. Entrants to this tournaments are also able to spectate on the main event of the 2025 XTX Markets London Chess Classic or listen to the live grandmaster commentary.
Tournament Rules
Who can enter?
The Emirates Bughouse Chess Championships are open to teams of two players. Both players must be named at the time of entry. No reserves or substitutes are permitted.
Venue
The Emirates Bughouse Chess Championships will take place at the Emirates Stadium.
Schedule/format
The tournament will begin at 5pm. The format will be a Swiss tournament with as many rounds as time allows. The final round will be the first to begin after 7.30pm.
Entry fee
£40 per team
Free entry for
teams with at least one GM or IM
teams with at least one female player (British citizens only)
teams with at least one player U25 (must be born on or after 26/11/2000) (British citizens only)
teams with at least one active CSC tutor.
Please note: to receive a free entry, teams in the categories above must guarantee to play all rounds. Teams will be required to pay the standard entry fee upfront and will have that refunded at the end of the tournament on completion of all the games.
Time Control
1 minute plus a 10-second delay per move.
Prize fund
TBD
Byes
Byes are not permitted in this event and all teams are expected to play every game.
Defaults
A team that defaults a game will not be included in the pairings for the next round of the tournament, or any subsequent round, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise.
Pairings
Pairings for the first round will be published by 4.45pm on the day of the event with subsequent pairings being published as soon as possible.
Late pairings
The Organisers may permit teams to enter (or register) after the pairings have been published for Round 1 of a tournament. In general, these teams will score 0 points in the rounds they have missed. However, the team may be paired against another team in this category, that has entered the same tournament, and that game shall be played as though part of the tournament; and thus, they will count towards the tournament scores, and be ECF and FIDE rated.
Prize Calculation
The place prizes will be awarded to the team scoring the most points. There will be no tie-breaks applied, and in the event of a tie on points, the prize money will be shared equally between all tied teams.
Prize lists
Full prize lists for each tournament will be published online as soon as possible at the end of the tournaments. The event organisers will contact all prize winners as soon as possible to arrange for the payment of prizes
Fair play policy
Please read the London Chess Classic Festival Fair Play Policy for rules governing players’ conduct during games.
Appeals Procedure
Decisions of an arbiter may be appealed to the Appeals Committee provided that
Such an appeal is received in writing within 30 minutes of the arbiter’s decision, and
Such an appeal is accompanied by an appeal fee of £50 which will be returned if the appeal is successful.
The Committee for the Elite Tournament will serve as the Appeals Committee for the Festival.
Bughouse Rules
1. Each team match consists of two games: one for each player against the other team.
2. Each team decides which player is to play white and which player is to play black in each game of the two-game match.
3. The game is clock-move. Players may change their move at any time until they have pressed their clock. This includes moving a different piece, moving the same piece to a different square, or dropping a different piece. A player may not make their move until their opponent has pressed their clock.
4. Each match is concluded as soon as one of the players on a team wins the game.
5. Illegal moves lose if they are properly claimed:
a. If a player makes a move and starts the opponent’s clock, the player forfeits the right to claim that the opponent’s previous move was illegal.
b. Once each side has made a move, any claim to correct either the position of the pieces is null and void.
c. Illegal moves unnoticed by both players cannot be corrected afterwards, nor can they become the basis for later making an illegal move claim. If the King and Queen are set up incorrectly when the game begins, then the player may castle short on the Queen side and long on the King side. Once each side has made a move, incorrect setups must stay as they are.
6. When a piece is captured, it is passed to the Partner only after the move has been completed by the player.
7. A player has the option of either moving one of the pieces on the player’s board, or placing on the board a piece received from the player’s partner.
a. A captured piece may be placed on any unoccupied square on the board, but a pawn may not be placed on the first or last rank.
b. Pieces may be placed to create check (“drop check”) or checkmate (“drop mate”). Pieces may not be placed to capture a piece on the same move (“drop capture”).
c. If a player promotes a pawn, the pawn must be left on the board and the player must clearly indicate to the opponent to what piece the pawn is being promoted. The promoted pawn will be laid on its side to indicate that it is a promoted pawn. After a promoted pawn has been captured, it reverts to a pawn — not to the promoted piece.
8. A player may not attempt to hide pieces captured by either player in the team. The first attempt will result in a warning, and the second attempt will result in forfeiture of the game.
9. Partners may communicate verbally and via hand gestures throughout the game. It is legal to make move suggestions to partners.
10. Players may not touch the clock, pieces or board of their Partner. A player who does so will lose their game.
11. Each player must press the clock button with the same hand used to move the pieces. When capturing, only one hand may be used. The first infraction will result in a warning, unless the arbiter is satisfied that the player’s time would have expired if the player attempted to press the clock with the correct hand. The second infraction results in forfeiture of the current game.
12. A game is won by the player:
a. Who has checkmated the opponent’s king. When on move, a player may wait until their partner supplies a piece that accomplishes checkmate, provided the player’s time has not expired.
b. Whose opponent resigns.
c. Whose opponent’s time expires (“flag falls”). This may be determined by an arbiter or claimed by a player. An illegal move does not negate a player’s right to claim a win on time, provided the player makes the time claim before the opponent makes the illegal move claim. If the claims are simultaneous, the player who made the illegal move loses.
d. Who, after an illegal move by the opponent, captures the king or stops the clock and makes the illegal move claim.
13. A game is a draw:
a. By agreement between the teams only during the game.
b. If both opponents’ time has expired (“flags are down”) and no win-on-time claim has been made, unless either side delivers checkmate before the time expiration (“flag fall”) has been noticed. Announcing an accurate checkmate nullifies any subsequent time-expiration claim.
14. If a player displaces a piece, the player must replace the piece on the player’s time. The first infraction will result in a warning, unless the arbiter is satisfied that the player’s time would have expired if the player had replaced the piece in the proper manner. The second infraction results in forfeiture of the current game.
15. Whilst every effort has been made to cover situations that may arise, including researching the rules of other Bughouse tournaments and running practice games, these rules have not been stress-tested in the way that the FIDE Laws of Chess and rules for other tournaments that are part of the London Chess Classic schedule have been. Players in the tournament are kindly asked to treat the tournament and these rules in that spirit. In the event of unforeseen circumstances not covered by these rules, or other ambiguous situations caused by these rules, the Chief Arbiter is empowered to use his judgement to make a fair decision in light of the circumstances of the dispute.
16. In all disputes, the Chief Arbiter’s decision is final.
FIDE registrations
Players registered to the Russian or Belarusian chess federations remain banned from FIDE events and will not be able to take part in the London Chess Classic.
Parental responsibility
Parents or guardians are responsible for their children during the tournament. The organisers and helpers are not able to act “in loco parentis” and are not able to take responsibility for any child’s actions, or for the actions of anyone that may affect your child. The Emirates Stadium does not allow children under the age of 16 to be unaccompanied. All players under the age of 16 must have a parent or guardian on-site at all times.
Liability
The organisers accept no responsibility for any loss, theft or accident during the tournament.
Right to refuse entry
The Chief Organiser reserves the right to refuse entry without being required to state a reason, and to transfer players between tournaments at any time.
Zero Tolerance to Abuse
The Chief Arbiter is empowered to expel a player from all tournaments entered, either for a number or rounds, a number of days, or in their entirety, who shows dissent by word or action towards an arbiter, or any member of staff connected with the London Chess Classic.
