What on time means

You find your seat, sit down, and wait calmly for the start. Being on time means you are in your seat before the start, not at the start. Then nobody has to wait for you.

Where it counts

It counts at lessons at home, at school chess, at club nights and at tournaments.

• At a lesson, you sit ready before it begins, so you hear the plan from the first word.
• At a club night, your board is set up before the first game.

When you start calm, you play better chess.

The late limit

Each tournament can set a late limit, which is how late you may come and still play. Grown-ups call it the default time, and it is written in the tournament's rules. If nobody set a limit, the limit is zero, because that is the world rule of chess. Zero means you must be at your board when the round starts.

The world championship for kids under 8, 10 and 12 has a 30-minute limit. In 1972, one world title match even gave players a whole hour.

So ask what the limit is at your tournament.

What if I am going to be late?

Sometimes you will be late anyway, because a bus is late or a shoe goes missing. When that happens, tell a grown-up right away. At a tournament, your grown-up tells the person running it. Your clock starts at the set time, whether you are there or not. So come as fast as you safely can. The best fix happens the day before: add ten minutes to your plan for shoes and stairs.

How you get the sticker

This sticker takes more than one early morning, because your grown-up or coach watches you for 3 months. Your 3 months start with your next lesson. If you were there before the start every time, they hand you the sticker without you asking. If you have no club, your grown-up at home or your teacher at school watches. Have you been on time for years already? That counts too.