Simultaneous exhibition
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A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display (often abbreviated to "simul") is an event where one player (commonly a chess master or grandmaster) plays multiple chess games at a time with selected players (usually below master strength).
In a regular simul, no chess clocks are used. The exhibitor walks from board to board in a fixed order. Usually the boards are arranged in a large circle or square. The opponents are expected to make a move when the exhibitor arrives at the board. The exhibitor may pause a little before responding, but too many long pauses will drag the exhibition out for too long. Regular simuls are often played with several games, often twenty or more. As games are finished off, they are usually not replaced, meaning that towards the end only a few games remain. At this point clocks are sometimes introduced with each side getting a fixed amount of time. In most, but not all simuls, the exhibitor plays white in all the games.
In clock simuls all the games are played as normal tournament games, timed by a clock, apart from the fact that the exhibitor is playing on all boards. Since time pressure can become quite severe in such simuls, they usually have fewer players than a regular simul.
Occasionally, grandmasters have given blindfold simultaneous displays. In such displays, the exhibitor does not look at any of the boards, but retains all the moves of the games in his or her head. The opponents are supplied with board and pieces in the usual way, but their moves are communicated verbally to the exhibitor by an arbiter or intermediary.
