Shake off those pre-tournament jitters by playing in the blitz tournament Friday afternoon. Check-in by 4:00 at the B-hive. Games begin as soon as possible after that (usually 4:30 or 4:45). Blitz is almost exactly like regular chess except you have to make all your moves in just five minutes and if you catch your opponent making an illegal move, you win! Most games end when a king is captured (an emphatic way of saying, “Illegal move! I win!”) or when a player runs out of time.

Brief summary of rules:
1. G/5 time control with no delay. There’ll be a clock on every board, and players must complete all their moves within five minutes. If you run out of time, you lose (unless your opponent doesn’t have enough fire power left on the board to checkmate).
2. “Release move” is in effect. A move is determined when a player takes his or her fingers off the piece.
3. Penalty for illegal moves is loss of game. For example, if your opponent moves into check, you can win by capturing his or her king.

With one exception (“release move” instead of “touch move”), USCF rules governing G/5 blitz are in effect.