The tournament is open to all 9 provinces within South Africa. Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, and Western Cape.

Although the tournament is for high school teams for now, our objective is to include primary school teams in the future.

The purpose of Battle Boards is to help grow Chess in schools, and to encourage support of this sport within schools not just for individuals but for a team.

Unfortunately, as this is a school team championship, only teams and players from registered schools can compete.

Battle Boards has been created to make the sport of Chess and the ability to compete against players across the country as accessible as possible. The vision for the championships is to grow the number of schools and players competing as quickly as interest grows. For all these objectives, an online competition is ideal.

Confirmation will be given before 10 January 2024 about the platform and the process used for the competitions. This will be an internationally recognised and approved platform.

The championship format requires that 7 players and 1 reserve are fielded from each school, which means if any school cannot field the 8 players, they will not be able to compete.

Although it is not compulsory for individuals to register with Chess SA to participate in Battle Boards, we encourage registration.

All team members and their coach/teacher will sign a Code of Conduct committing to rules of fair play and honesty. All schools require a camera overseeing all players for the duration of all games. Arbiters will also monitor all games.

Yes! Battle Boards was created in close collaboration with the Schools Chess fraternities in the four provinces for the inaugural championship.

No. Schools can only register one team to compete in Battle Boards

Teams will be distributed to have even-strength pools throughout as far as possible. Team strength is based on individual rankings.

Unfortunately, no, Battle Boards is not able to provide devices to schools.

If your school is a no-fee state school your school will receive data from Battle Boards

All schools will need to have their own plans in place and prepare for any power interruptions.