Buffalo Chess Association Presents
Secret Santa Bughouse Tournament
A team chess tournament for players of all ages, where everyone will get a gift!
When
Sunday, December 21st, 2025
Sign-In: 4:00pm
Rounds: 4:15pm — 7:15pm
Where
Buffalo Chess Association
6043 Transit Rd, #101b, East Amherst, NY 14051
Entry
Pre-Registered BEFORE 12/21: $20
On-Site: $25
Time Control
5m; 0s/d
(5 minutes, with no delay.)
Prizes
Trophies for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place Teams
Additional prizes for Sportsmanship, age-based prizes, and more
Be ready to bring your A-game!
Secret Santa Gifts
Players must bring a gift to be eligible to receive one!
Gifts will be sorted based on the ages of the players who brought them.
Gift Rules
Cost $20 or less.
Be safe and appropriate for an event that is being attended by children.
Be something that you could be happy to receive.
How it Works
Buy (or make) a gift.
Wrap it, then label it: “From: Your Secret Santa”
Bring it to the tournament on 12/21.
Play your games.
Pick another gift before you leave!
Players face off at BCA.
What is Bughouse?
Chess is frequently associated with silence, solitude, and intense thought. Bughouse has one of those things - you still need to think! In Bughouse you are playing with a teammate against two opponents. You and your teammate both play on separate boards, and as opposite colors.
Rules of Bughouse
If your game ends, so does your teammate’s - and vice versa! Whether you win, get checkmated, draw, or your clock runs out you’re dragging your teammate along with you.
Games will be played with a 5 minute timer. This gives each player 5 minutes of thinking time. If you run out of time you lose, so keep an eye on it!
When you capture a piece, you hand it to your teammate.
On your turn, you can place a piece on the board instead of moving.
Pieces CANNOT be dropped on top of another piece to instantly capture it. (As this would allow you to instantly capture the King and win.)
Pawns CANNOT be dropped on the 1st or 8th ranks of the board. In other words, you cannot drop a Pawn onto the end of the board to instantly promote. You also can’t drop them on your very first line, as they cannot normally get there.
Pieces and Pawns CAN be dropped to make check or checkmate, and to block check! You can even drop pawns a step away from promotion.
If your opponent claims checkmate, you can only use pieces that you already had available to block it. Any pieces handed to you after the checkmate claim cannot be used.
Illegal Moves: If your opponent makes an illegal move (such as ignoring or moving into a check), and hits their clock: Pause it and call for a tournament director! If the TD agrees that their move broke the rules, you and your teammate win. This must be done before making your move, on the turn directly after the mistake, or it will not count!
Players are NOT allowed to hide pieces from their opponents. The first attempt will be a warning, and the second attempt will result in forfeiture of the game.
For more information, check out this excellent write-up on Bughouse on Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/terms/bughouse-chess