Return to Game Collection: CG Style Guide

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Matches

Any one vs. one series of games, be they formal or informal, should be named with the participants names separated by a hyphen. Traditionally the names appear with the winner appearing first or alphabetically in the event of the match ends without a victor.

Examples:
Staunton - Saint-Amant (1843)
Steinitz - Zukertort (1872)

If the same participants played more than one match, especially within the same year, the matches can be named with an ordinal modification added to the end of the pairing:

Examples:
Chigorin - Schiffers, 1st Match (1878)
Chigorin - Schiffers, 2nd Match (1878)

For less formal contests, the text "casual series" can be added to the event name.

Examples:

Staunton - Saint-Amant Casual Series (1843)
Staunton - von der Lasa Casual Series (1853)

Other formats exist:
Steinitz - Mackenzie Exhibition Match (1883)
Steinitz - Chigorin Telegraph Match (1890)

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Tournaments

Usually, large master level events are named for the city in which they took place. See also Game Collection: Event Name Abbreviations

Examples:
Paris (1867)
Hastings (1895)

Large events that occur with some frequency will often be named using a sequential ordinal system, usually indicating the sponsoring organization followed by the city in which the event was held:

Examples:
1st DSB Congress, Leipzig (1879)
2nd DSB Congress, Berlin (1881)
1st American Chess Congress, New York (1857)
2nd American Chess Congress, Cleveland (1871)

More modern tournaments tend to just be the name used in advertising the event:

Isle of Man Grand Swiss (2019)
London Chess Classic (2023)
SuperUnited Rapid Croatia (2024)

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Exhibitions

A less formal set of rules exists for naming other events, such as simultaneous exhibitions. I prefer giving the surname of the single player followed by the exhibition type, for example "Simul" or "Blindfold Simul", the number of boards (which isn't necessarily the number of games played) followed by the venue or city where the event took place (this helps in identifying things in the ChessGames.com listings without having to look at every game and checking the site-tag).

Examples:
Philidor Blindfold Simul 3b, London (1783)
Morphy Blindfold Simul 8b, Birmingham (1858)
Lasker Simul 39b, Moscow (1899)
Janowski Exhibition Series, Manhattan CC (1899)

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Individual Games

<Casual Game>
The Chessgames.com catch-all event name. This event name is used for offhand/informal games as well as games where the circumstances surrounding it's occurrence cannot be ascertained, i.e. the default event name for games of unknown provenance.

<Correspondence Game>
A generic event name used for any informal correspondence play or for any correspondence game when it's provenance cannot be determined.

<Match Game>
A single game played under some formal rules governing the play similar to a match. If more than one game is played then the event name should be constructed as any formal match (see above).

<Consultation Game>
A formal game involving consulting partners. This should be reserved for consultation games played outside of simultaneous, or blindfold simultaneous, exhibitions.

<Tandem Game>
A game with one or more multi-player parties that make moves in an alternating fashion without consultation.

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Given four players: AA, BB, CC, and DD.

These seem to be obvious and are in common use here at <CG>:

AA vs BB in a casual game: <Casual Game>
AA vs BB in a formal game: <Match Game>
AA vs BB in a 20 board simul given by AA: <AA Simul 20b>
AA (sans voir) vs BB in a single blindfold game: <AA Blindfold Game>
AA (sans voir) vs BB in a double blindfold game: <Double Blindfold Game>
AA (sans voir) vs BB in a 20 boards given by A: <AA Blindfold Simul 20b>
AA/BB vs CC/DD in a formal game: <Consultation Game>
AA/BB vs CC with AA and BB alternating moves but not consulting: <Tandem Game>

Now it starts to get tricky, bizarre, and even ridiculous if we try to keep all these adjectives in play:

AA vs BB/CC in a casual game?
AA (sans voir) vs BB/CC in a solo blindfold game?
AA (sans voir) vs BB/CC in a blindfold simul of 10b but only one board has a consulting pair?
AA (sans voir) vs BB/CC in a simul of 10b where every board has consulting partners?
AA/BB vs CC/DD with AA and BB alternating moves but CC and DD are consulting?
AA/BB vs CC/DD with AA and BB alternating moves in a simul of 10b where every board has consulting partners?

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