Matches are held on Tuesdays from 3:00 - 5:30 pm. Coaches may agree to reschedule a match at time that is mutually agreeable due to weather or unforeseen circumstances. Each team is represented by 5 boards but additional exhibition matches may take place. USCF tournament rules apply including touch move. Games are G/60, which means each player must make all his or her moves in 60 minutes. Team match record determines the county champion. If only two teams are tie, the tiebreaker is the result of the head-to-head matchup. If multiple teams are tie, game points is the tiebreaker is total season game points. The winning school keeps the traveling trophy for the year. It has been traveling the county since 1975.

The visiting team must arrive at the match location by 3:30 pm when the home team has the right to start all of the visiting players' clocks with home's choice of white or black on Board #1. If a team does not have five players, then it must forfeit games on Boards #5, 4, 3, and 2 in that order. All electronics including iPods, mp3 players, & cellphones must be turned off during match play. If a player uses a device or if the device makes a sound or distraction that player will be penalized by losing 10 minutes or half of his remaining time whichever is less.