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Edition 2026Active Merit Badge
Chess
Official Requirements & Fillable Workbook · 2026 Edition
Chess is among the oldest board games in the world, combining deep calculation, pattern recognition, and long-range strategy. In this badge you will master the rules, notation, and tactics that govern the board, teach another person using the EDGE method, solve checkmate puzzles, and test your skills in tournament play or across the board with your counselor.
Key Requirements Covered:
- Chess Rules & Board Setup
- Tactical Motifs: Pins, Forks & Skewers
- Opening Principles & Endgame Strategy
- Tournament Notation & Match Play
12Printable Pages
7Requirements
2026Reqs Revised
What is on the worksheet: Chess Requirements
Every requirement for the Chess merit badge, word for word as published, with room to write under each one on the printed worksheet.
1History and Famous Players
Do the following:
- a Discuss with your counselor the history of the game of chess.
- b Research a famous chess player and what accomplishments made him or her famous. Discuss with your counselor.
2Strategy, Benefits, and Etiquette
Discuss with your counselor the following:
- a Why chess is considered a game of planning and strategy.
- b The benefits of playing chess, including developing critical thinking skills, concentration skills, and decision-making skills, and how these skills can help you in other areas of your life.
- c Sportsmanship and chess etiquette
3Board Setup, Rules, and Teaching with EDGE
Demonstrate to your counselor that you know each of the following. Then, using Scouting EDGE to teach someone who does not know how to play chess:
- a The name of each chess piece
- b How to set up a chessboard
- c How each chess piece moves and captures, including: four rules of castling, en passant captures, pawn promotion, check, ways to get out of check, and checkmate
- d The five ways a game can end in a draw
4Notation, Phases, Openings, and Mates
Do the following:
- a Demonstrate scorekeeping using the algebraic system of chess notation.
- b Discuss the differences between the opening, the middle game, and the endgame.
- c Explain four opening principles. Demonstrate for your counselor the first five moves of the following openings: Ruy Lopez, French Defense, Queen's Gambit Declined, Sicilian Defense.
- d On a chessboard, demonstrate Scholar's Mate, Fool's Mate, Légal Mate, Fried Liver Attack, and Noah's Ark Trap.
5Strategy, Tactics, Checkmate, and Endgames
Do the following:
- a Explain four of the following elements of chess strategy: exploiting weaknesses, force, king safety, pawn structure, space, tempo, and clock management.
- b Explain any five of these chess tactics: clearance sacrifice, decoy, discovered attack, double check, double attack, fork, interposing, overloading, overprotecting, pin, skewer, remove the defender, zwischenzug, and zugzwang.
- c Set up a chessboard as follows and with White to move first, demonstrate how to force checkmate on the Black king:
- d With White king on d4, White pawn on e3, and Black king on e6:
- e Set up and solve five direct-mate problems provided by your counselor.
6Chess Tournaments and Ratings
Explain to your counselor how chess tournaments are run, including the Swiss system tournament format, the round robin tournament format, pairings for each round, time controls, touch move, scoring, and chess ratings.
7Competitive Play or Tournament Organization
Do ONE of the following:
- a Play at least three games of chess with other Scouts and/or your counselor. Replay the games from your score sheets and discuss with your counselor how you might have played each game differently.
- b Play in a scholastic (youth) chess tournament and use your score sheets from that tournament to replay your games with your counselor. Discuss with your counselor how you might have played each game differently.
- c Organize and run a chess tournament with at least four players, plus you. Have each competitor play at least two games.
Two dates, two different things
Requirements Revision vs. Worksheet Date
Scouting America last revised the Chess requirements in 2026. That is the badge, not this sheet — an older year does not mean the worksheet is out of date.
Verbatim Fidelity & Verification
This worksheet was checked against https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/chess/ in Aug 2026 and reproduces the requirements word for word. Both dates are printed on the sheet, so a copy in a binder can always be placed in time.
Requirement text is © Scouting America, reproduced verbatim. The worksheet layout and design are original to this project.
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