Adjournment

Some boardgames such as chess use an adjournment mechanism to suspend the game in progress so it can be continued at another time, typically the following day. The rationale is that games often extend in duration beyond what is reasonable for a single session of play. As in chess, there is sometimes a sealed move, where the next move that would be made is sealed in an envelope, to be played out (usually by an independent third party, normally the director or arbiter). In chess, the practice of adjournment is far less common today than it was a few decades ago, due to a trend towards shorter time controls and the advent of strong chess computers.

When an adjournment is made, the player whose move it is secretly writes his next move on his scoresheet but does not make the move on the chessboard. He places both his and his opponent's scoresheets in the sealed-move envelope and seals it. The names of the players, the colors, the position, the time on the clocks, and other data are recorded on the envelope. The arbiter keeps possession of the envelope until it is time to restart the game. The arbiter opens the envelope, makes the sealed move on the board, and starts the opponent's clock. If the sealed move is ambiguous and subject to more than one interpretation, the opponent of the player making the sealed move may choose among the reasonable interpretations (Just & Burg 2003:72–78). If the sealed move is illegal and there is no reasonable interpretation, the player making the sealed move loses the game (Just & Burg 2003:38).

The envelope above is used for the adjournment of a match game Efim Geller vs. Bent Larsen, Copenhagen 1966.