A list of 107 chess tournament names written by Wheel of Teams on 2026-10-14 and filed in five groups. They are our own suggestions. Every name carries a word of the game (a gambit, a fork, a castle, a pawn, a knight, a rook, check and mate, zugzwang, the clock, blitz, a simul) and names the event, not a team. The terms were looked up on 2026-10-14 in the English Wikipedia's Glossary of chess (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_chess) and its article Chess tournament, text under CC BY-SA 4.0. No name was taken from a real tournament, a federation, a club, a website or a player, and no opening named after a person is in one. Each name was also looked up in the English Wikipedia on 2026-10-14, as an article title and as an exact phrase in the text of its articles, and every name that stood there as an event, a trophy, a programme or a title was dropped; that look-up does not find a local event. Compared by script the same day with every other list on this site: no name is repeated. Nothing was checked against a trademark register, so a local tournament may share a name by coincidence. Licence: own work
How it works
Pick from 107 chess tournament names made of the game's own words: a gambit, a knight, zugzwang, the clock. They fit a school, a club or a fundraiser, and none uses a player's name or a federation's.
Read the full guide
Five sets, from puns to fundraisers
Gambit and knight puns is the first set in the menu: Opening Knight Open, By Hook or by Rook Open. School and scholastic events has Scholar's Mate Scholastic and Promotion Day Scholastic. Club opens and ladders has Rusty Rooks Open, Blitz, rapid and simul events has Beat the Coach Simul, and Charity and fundraiser events has Checkmate and Donate Open.
The chess in the names
A gambit gives up a pawn, usually, for an early edge. Zugzwang is having to move when every move hurts. Blitz is usually three or five minutes a player, rapid thirty. In a simul one player meets many at once; a quad is four players who all play each other.
Questions and answers
What is a good name for a chess tournament?
Opening Gambit Open and Castled King Classic are plain and say chess at once. For a club try Rusty Rooks Open or Snowed In Swiss; for fast games, Breakfast Blitz or Whitewater Rapid Open.
What are funny chess tournament names?
Zugzwang Weekend Invitational, Blunder Free Open, Rook of the Year Open and The Underrated Open are in Gambit and knight puns, a set of 35. J'adoube Classic is named for the French words, I adjust, said before straightening a piece.
What are names for a school chess tournament?
Classmate Checkmate Classic, Pawns to Queens Scholastic, Recess Rapid and Staff vs. Students Simul are in School and scholastic events, a set of 19. Scholar's mate is a four-move checkmate common among beginners.
What are chess tournaments called by format?
A Swiss pairs each player with someone on the same or a similar score every round, a round robin has everyone meet, and a knockout sends each loser out. The Swiss tournament calculator works out the rounds and the bye.