A Grandmaster's Guide to Over-the-Board Chess | Etiquette and Behavior
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- In this second part of my OTB guide, I take you through the process of playing your first over-the-board tournament. I talk about how to find your board, what a tournament looks like, and I cover all aspects of over-the-board etiquette, including how to make moves, touch-move rules, how to offer draws and resign, how to settle disputes, and much, much more!
Make sure to check out part I: • All About Over-the-Boa...
Link to weighted tournament set: www.amazon.com...
Link to DGT North America Clock: www.amazon.com...
Follow Daniel on Twitter at / gmnaroditsky
Daniel streams regularly on Twitch at / gmnaroditsky
Daniels Discord / discord
#Overtheboard #grandmaster #chess
Only thing missing here is how to capture pieces? When I played my brother as a kid I would hold my piece and smash his with it, sending it flying off the board, and often off the table entirely. But I guess that isn't tournament etiquette.
I think you should do that anyways, it’s their fault for letting you capture their piece
This isn’t tournament etiquette but it should be imo. Also it should be required that you move knights using a galloping motion
I think you don't have to guess
@@johnlawton3503 I believe that's allowed, but you have to bring your own coconuts for the sound effects.
@@drunkenhobo8020 migratory coconuts?
Hi, Daniel! I’m a chess player from the Netherlands, started playing a year ago. I’ve been following your channel ever since I’ve started playing, and have read your book on positional chess. I’ve learnt a lot from you, and today I’ve played and won my first tournament game with an opening I know you like (and so do I): The King’s Indian. It took 32 moves and I was playing someone above my rating. I want to thank you for all you’ve done to help me improve at chess and wish you the best. I love your videos! If you want me to share my game, I’ll make a link to an analysis board and put it here.
I just went to my first tournament on Saturday and got 5.0/5.0! I went from UNR to 1100p
Good stuff bro!
Nice!
Congrats!
😃
Only 1100? What division were you in I’m about to play my first as an unrated but I’m playing in the open
"...It starts with you coming, in the morning".
Couldn't agree more, stress relief should be an integral part of everyone's chess preparation.
🤣🤣lmao . Mad underrated comment
69 likes(don't anyone change it >: l)
The main reason why you must move the piece and press the clock using only one hand - is to guarantee you don’t press the clock before the move is finished. And that is a mandatory rule.
Wow, that actually makes a lot of sense. Me and my mate sometimes play OTB games against each other and he does this sometimes during time trouble
Ya you can keep your left hand on the clock and instantly press or even before. Makes sense
How can peace be moved? 🤣🤣
@@erzs.bathory Thank you, my phone thinks he is smarter than me sometimes. I’ve corrected the spelling.
Me (genius): presses clock, then plays move (with same hand)
I'm from Sweden and I've never been to a tournament that doesn't provide boards and/or pieces! Even pens are always provided and placed by the score sheet that is at your seat as well!
Great video! Surprised to hear you don't have that luxury in America.
Right? Same here from the Netherlands. Never heard about a byob tournament
Wasnt even the case when i played in tournaments in America lmao
We don't have many things here. Many common sense things.
I believe this is quite common throughout whole Europe tbh.
Germany as well
Wow, these OTB "how to" videos are extremely thorough and informative. Well done and thanks for sharing!
The way Danya prepares and explains everything is perfect, I wish he also taught us history of the world sometimes
I wouldn’t be surprised if he does history content at some point in his career, he has a History degree
@@DivinePlant yeah, that's why I said it
@@lp4969 Even if he wasn’t qualified as fuck it would still be fantastic
@@DivinePlant hahaha you have a point
GM Naroditsky, you are by far the most thourough, nice, thoughtful chess youtuber. This video is so lovely, as are all your videos. Thank you for making content!
Pairing sheet: Brady (1500) Sucks (2700) you truly are a Master. 😂
Amen
I didn’t know Danya fucked with football
Thanks so much for the awesome content Daniel! A small tip: after your focus is auto-adjusted, turn off auto-focus to avoid that in-and-out blurring that sometimes occurs when you move back and forth. Peace and blessings!
Middle left corner of screen -- Patched up hole following a supersonic mouse smashing through the wall into the other room, after Danya got flagged in hyperbullet..
All jokes aside, you are the best Danya. This content and all your speedruns are among the best chess content on the internet.
The diversity on content lately is of the charts good. LOVING this stuff.
I have watched tons of youtube chess instructional videos and I am so happy that I found Danya's channel. The quality instruction is far above that of any other channel and he provides it all at no cost. Even his past twitch broadcasts have no paywall. I subscribed to him on twitch just because of the fact that he doesn't force anyone to pay for any of his content
I really appreciate the extra youtube content!
Thanks a lot!
Playing in my first tournament in less than 10 days. Thank you so much for making this video as well as the preceding part 1 video! These were a great help in getting over the anxiety about the unknown!
How’s your tournament going?
@@HexaeX So far I'm 1.0/2, so hanging in there! It's a month long tourney played on Tuesday evenings. G90,d5! Thanks for asking!
@@z51racer That’s nice! Hope you’re having fun, and good luck for the next rounds!
One thing that has happened to me in the past that may have been nice to have known a bit about before hand is what to do when your opponent is late/doesnt show up.
Also something that players should know is what to do if you or your opponent make an illegal move, like not realizing they are in check or something.
Great video, and great idea to get this info out there for newer players looking to try their hand at OTB play.
On a illegal move stop the clock raise your hand! That will do good.
Very impressive how you make a video of half an hour without any edits and are extremely enganging.
the habit of moving the rook first might come from the castling "tip" that a lot of children (myself included) were or maybe still are taught, especially in the east - "rook to the king, king to the rook", it makes it easy to remember where the king and the rook should end up after either short or long castling, i used to move the rook first for years as well because of it
I feel that isn't easier to remember than moving the king first. You just have to remember that the king takes two steps and the rook swings around.
@@BRNRDNCK well we're talking about 4 and 5 year olds here, they play the game mostly using pure visualization so it's just more intuitive to teach that rule instead of making them count squares and either way this was simply never an issue in those places as it was completely fine to move the rook first before the rules were fully unified and globally enforced, i learned it from my grandfather who probably never heard about fide when he was young, so no wonder a lot of older players tend to do that
hey Danya, great video, I recently played in my first tournament this past weekend, and I was wondering if you could do a short segment on ratings, like what does it mean to be dual rated, how long does it take for you to get your rating, and how the initial rating is calculated / how a rating is calculated with unrated players in the mix. Thanks a lot for this series, it makes me feel a lot less anxious about doing an OTB tournament.
Time 13:18 - 13:25 adjusting pieces. Make shure to place the piece in the center of the squares. So that you not have to adjust it. If you have to adjust it i will come to that later. Then you push the Pawn by letting it go, then press the clock and adjust it in your opponents time. Made me smile. I think you where not aware of it. Elswise like your videos. English is not my first language, hope it is not to hard to understand. Kind regards.
Great video.
I remember when I was a little boy and couldn't remember how far to move the pieces especially castling, especially long. My father told me the rule: you move your rock to the king, then the king jumps over the rock.
It was easy to remember, but it did lead to that bad habit. Had lots of computers beep at me for trying to castle in the wrong order.
It's maybe a lot easier to just remember that the king moves 2 spaces (instead of thr standard 1) to the left/right. And then put the rook next to your king.
I have no plans to play OTB tournaments, but I still found this informative. Good to know.
Day 51 of saying you're the man Danya. Love your legendary content. This was a great guide to the introductions of in real life over the board chess. Even in your lectures you're masterfully concise. Thank you thank you!
Good to know not to engage with opponent in dispute, just let TD sort it out. Great video.
Danya is the best !!! He is so nice that is really a pleasure to watch and learn from his videos.
My first tournament experience was a blitz tournament and it was very messy, disregarding touch move, my opponent once didnt start the clock and we realized after 10 moves and kept playing on and I once sighed and said "okay" and my opponent thought I'm resigning. But in the end it worked out and was fun :).
Awesome! Been thinking about maybe trying OTB. This is great, will go check out the first video!
This is the video I've been searching for as I hope to enter my first OTB tournament next year. Thank you!!
Thanks for the content Danya! Taking the jobava to my first OTB tourney at my local club in 2 weeks!
You missed a point about touch move rule. When you touch a opponents piece you have to capture it if legally possible, unless you said adjust.
As always great content Danya!
Does that go the other way too? That if you touch one of your pieces but no legal move is possible you can just move another piece instead? For instance you go to move a piece but as you do you realise you'll leave your king in check, is that a forfiet, a time to call over the director or can you just make a legal move with a different piece?
Danya you're a incredible teacher. I love the more “casual content" keep it up mate！
Great video Daniel, you got some awesome content man!
Love these OTB videos. Don't even worry about technical stuff. We don't mind at all 🖤
Amazing how lighting can make you look 5 years younger! Great vid man, keep it up.
Thank you Danya for such an awesome content.
Hey Danya, a very minor question I had. At the end of games, chess players place the kings in the center of the board on particular squares. What is the meaning of this and is it necessary?
This is usually done on DGT boards (i.e. boards that auto-transmit moves to a website with live game feeds) to signal the result. White's king on e4, Black's on d5 means White has won, Black's king on e5, White's on d4 means Black has won, and both kings on d4/d5 or e4/e5 mean that game has ended in a draw. This is "DGT language" and is done only to indicate the result to the website; it is not necessary on normal boards and is usually done by arbiters/TD's when there is a live feed.
Okay, I’ve seen this a lot in otb chess broadcasts and I was wondering. Thanks for taking the time to reply and keep up the wonderful content.
@@DanielNaroditskyGM I'm guessing the idea is "the king that won is on it's own color square"?
@@pablodv87 yes. And if its draw both on their respective square matching colour
@@DanielNaroditskyGM so, simply
If both Kings at white square, WHITE win
If both Kings at Black square, BLACK win
23:55 as a 161660 rated grandmaster who has been playing chess for 40+ years, I advise you to prepare for that situation and do PIPI in pampers, it's very convenient
AnarchyChess represent! 😂
I’m surprised pipi in pampers isn’t meme’d on more 😆
Daniel you are the BEST ! Thanks for info and your time !!
Good video. You may also add that if the player needs to leave the tournament before playing his last game or games, he needs to notify the TD so that the TD will not pair him with other players for the remaining games of the tournament. If the player does not notify the TD, the TD will be pair him with other players, and these games will be considered as lost games for him (forfeits).
"It's assumed that your opponents know when they're in check" - HA, that's because you've never played against me, Danya. Checkm8!
When's the under-the-board chess guide?
When chess players are under the board they probably too drunk to proceed with the game.
You're not allowed to untie player's shoelaces
@@evyunov When food and drink was mentioned earlier in the video along with alcohol, I immediately wondered if there has ever been a case of a tournament playing GM who was struggling with alcohol. I wouldn't think those two activities would ever go together, but as a nicotine addict, I have to wonder.
@@snickle1980 Alexander Alekhine was probably the strongest player of the 20's and 30's but got so drunk he pissed himself once during a game. His drinking caused him to lose his world title in 1935. He reportedly quit drinking after the loss and gained his title back a couple years later which he held until his assasination in 1946.
@@snickle1980 i know of a guy who i believe was an fm (i say was because he unfortunately died a couple years ago). He was playing in a tournament that lasted 4 or 5 days. Before the last tournament day, the players all had a party. He got so drunk and stayed up for so long that the next day he came almost 50 mins left to the game. He won tho, which is weird
This video is amazing for people with anxiety, thanks so much Danya!
I was anxious about going to my first tournament. I was even worrying about things like how to start the clock. When I went it was very chill and I had a great time. Good luck with yours.
Amazing video! I just wanted to add that I think there is a way to properly promote a pawn if I am not mistaken. Because one time I saw a video that Nepo did it wrong.
I was waiting for him to explain this. I actually asked my coach (IM from Europe) a while back. What he said was this: You typically move your pawn to the 8th rank, and you may pause the clock if you're in time trouble. Then you say "queen" or "I need a queen", pick one up and replace your pawn with the queen (or another piece if applicable). Then you press the clock. A few weeks back I watched a player promote a pawn incorrectly in an OTB tournament (u1500 category). He removed his pawn from the 7th rank and just put a queen to the 8th, the pawn never touching the 8th rank. The TD saw this, chuckled and ignored it. So it doesn't seem to be the end of the world if you do it wrong.
P.S. Rated European local tournament, not USCF
wow...i thought i know the bloody rules.. but the castling rule what to touch first was suprising. I was taught "rook always go to the king, than king jumps over the rook". This way it was somehow easier for me (as a child) to remember how to long castle... (put the king on b file or on c file ?). I even wasnt lazy to check the official rules of fide (well..czech federation translation), because i thought that maybe you Americans have some special customs, like you always do :D Seems like you were right. :) I plan to go to my first ever tournament this month, so you saved me from trouble!
Thanks Danya! Great video.
i met Daniel at a tournament a few months ago. he was very friendly.
3 of the biggest factors that discourage me from entering my first otb chess tournament are
1) Notation - I feel that I might forget to notate, forget the moves that were just played, or that it might distract me in my train of thought during a critical position.
2) Time pressure scrambles - Without pre-moves I feel i will lose a lot on time and having to notate at the same time while remembering to hit the physical clock without making an illegal move, spotting if the opponent makes an illegal move, not to mention the messiness of pieces stumbling all over the board, sounds very daunting and challenging.
3) Much less experience in otb chess and difficulty viewing the board and pieces unlike the birds eye view, evenly spaced 2D layout in online chess. i just seem to play worse otb and miss things i would never miss online. (This one i have the least problem with, just need to practice more)
First ever OTB in 2 days, I'll let you know the results. Tnx Dannya!!!
Results?
how was it?
Thanks! Benn waiting for a Video like this! .., Mike.
I just love this dude!
What happens when you unknowingly make an illegal move, e.g. moving the king into check or moving a piece pinned to the king. Does the opponent just call it out and you make a new move, or does the TD get involved in some way?
nevermind this was answered in another comment
@@tmbhbnt8281 cant find the comment, what's the procedure?
@@mikadire1378 see comment by "Vesa Kleemola", it has a reply from Danya himself.
I'll just copy it here in case it's hard to find:
[Daniel Naroditsky] Good question, and I should have covered it. Generally the newer rules state that the opponent gets a few minutes added to their clock; in the vast majority of tournaments an illegal move does not lose the first time around. If your opponent makes an illegal move, you should stop the clock and call over the TD, but it's generally good practice to let it go (provided your opponent retracts the move :)
One additional possiblity here, it's possible for an illegal move to be played and neither player to realize. I believe that if either player realizes within 10 moves you call the TD over and you will have to return to the last legal position. However after 10 moves I believe you are supposed to accept the position as is and play on. This also includes circumstances where the board was initially set up incorrectly for example (I've seen people accidentally swap the knights and bishops).
I was told this by a TD so I assume it's true for UCSF, but I haven't ever verified it in the rulebook. Very rare to ever occur though except for very young kids.
18:45 - I usually wait for the opponent to aknowledge that it's checkmate. I also like to wait for the losing player to extend their hand. Not sure if this is considered good or bad etiquette?
Very informative Danya!
Awesome video! The only thing I would add is that you cannot take notes while playing in a tournament. All you are allowed to do is write down your moves, nothing else.
Love the 'fro, bro.
I'm sure glad he included that info on claiming prizes....
Thank you so much for this, I’ve been playing online for 2 years and want to play OTB when Covid is done with.
Thank you for this amazing video!
Hi Danya, really awesome video! Been getting into OTB tourneys lately and have been struggling with mental stamina. Will have a really tough match and be completely mentally drained for the next one. Can you do a video on strategies (even night before, morning of, during, and between games) to maintain stamina?
Have my first tournament in Vancouver in 2 months, I am super nervous haha thanks for the video
Keep up the great content danya !!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Nice video for being ‘off the cuff’. Perhaps explain the 50 move rule as well.
@Daniel Naroditsky
Missing :
how to write down reflexion time (useful training tool and allowed by the FIDE)
how to write down draw proposals (and you MUST, see FIDE 8.1 "Both players must record the offer of a draw on the scoresheet.")
Quick question about capturing a piece, do you generally remove the piece first? Or do this exchanging of the pieces with one hand?
Either one is fine, but if you touch the piece you want to capture that counts as touch move and you must go through with the capture even before touching your own piece.
@@morganl8192 that’s right, when I was playing a tournament I think my opponent intentionally misplaced his pawn on its square and I was about to fix it until I realized my Queen could legally capture it! Luckily I was fast enough with the “J’ adoube”
@@morganl8192 thanks, I was wondering about this too
Hey Danya, great video! One question, are you still obliged to write the moves on the sheet if you are in time pressure and have to make quick moves?
I believe the rule is that when you're down to 5 min you no longer have to take moves down.
@@kamilklimowicz6160 i think the 5 min rule is only when there is no increment. If there is 30 seconds bonus time you have to notate the whole game
If the game have 30s increment you need to keep writing the moves.
Daniel Naroditsky is a pure being of light
Danya, your English is phenomenal!
He was born in California haha!
@@Ninterd2 That makes it even more impressive
@@Ninterd2 His english is pretty good for someone from Cali
19:58 Offering a draw
21:56 Resigning
Thanks Danya! Can you do a quick vid on notations in the future?
Hey Daniel, big fan of your videos, you're such a talented teacher and a great chess player!
One situation that I have faced during OTB games was, that my opponent made an illegal move, e.g. put himself in check or didn't get himself out of check. What would happen in a tournament if one made an illegal move? And follow-up question, what happens to the one touch rule if the piece you touched has no legal moves?
Thanks for your answer and keep up the great work!
best wishes from switzerland!
The greatest chess teacher
Danya, how often should you play positions out? Is it obnoxious to try to battle back or stalemate trap from a lost position? Thanks for the great video!
Never resign
Is your right to keep playing until check mate if you want.
@@luizfernandotesck144 But is it obnoxious and/or frowned upon if the position is totally lost? Let's say king vs king & queen
@@nickd5422 I would say it's fine.
No, it is totally fine to play until mate, especially for lower rated players and/or rapid/blitz time control
Even Kasparov stalemated his opponent being up a Queen and a Rook ;) so play on until mate and if they get upset about it, THEY are showing bad sportsmanship, not you
THANK YOU DANYA
Very helpful brother🙃
Awesome video, as usual.
1. Does touch move still apply if you aren't legally allowed to move the piece?
2. Do you claim the 50 move rule the same way as a threefold repetition?
1. No, you would be allowed to move another piece.
2. Yes, a draw must be claimed for the 50 move rule under FIDE and USCF rules.
1. You won’t be forced to make an illegal move, but the illegal move penalty (usually 2 minutes added to opponent’s clock) will apply.
I have one more question - despite having played otb tournaments, I‘ve hardly ever seen grandmasters do it: how exactly does one promote a pawn? Place the new piece first, then remove the pawn? Or remove the pawn and put down the new piece? Thank you! You are an amazing teacher Danya!
Promoting is simple you have to place the piece in the 8 th square the not the pawn
Step is remove the pawn from 7 th place and then put the piece you desires maybe a queen , knight etc. On the 8 th square
Hope it was helpful!!!!
Here are just some general comments as an 1800 USCF noob myself:
Honestly, I didn't even know the three-fold repetition guideline (of not making a move and "claiming" the draw). From my experience, it seems like the players implicitly agree that it's gonna be drawn anyway, but it's probably good to think about. It can be pretty complicated for beginners.
If someone played an illegal move, they have to move that piece if possible (due to touch move)
I'm pretty sure if you accidentally brush over a piece (like reach for your Queen but your wrist accidentally touches the Knight), that shouldn't count as touch move since it wasn't intentional.
If either side goes below five minutes on the clock (and the increment/delay value is less than 30 seconds), you're excused from notation. If you have the increment, you have to notate :/
If a player thinks there's a mistake with the clock (like it was set wrong), it's their responsibility to point that out before their time runs out.
I'm pretty sure "same hand" for the move and clock is enforced, especially in time pressure. It prevents any confusion, like hitting the clock before you move, which should never happen.
Speaking of which... promotion... I think the only cold-hard rule is never hit the clock if you haven't properly replaced your pawn with a queen. Most people move the pawn up, then trade it for the Queen. I generally put the Queen on the square, remove my pawn, then hit the clock... I hope that's legal! :O
If someone makes an illegal move in time pressure (5 min or less I think), I'm pretty sure there's a penalty, like the other side gets additional time. Not sure what it is.
OK, honestly, I think this is a stupid rule unless they updated it since I read it. But I think if the position is set up wrong (like King and Queen switched), you have to restart the game if someone notices it before 6 moves had passed -_- Honestly, I've never seen that happen, most people simply switch it around.
Oh, and NEVER let your phone ring during the games. I think you get forfeited if it happens like twice! :O
Honestly, brilliant video. I was just explaining this to someone about 1000 on Chess.com, so this was good timing! :)
Thank you so much for this content!! Looking to start playing here at the Charlotte center sometime soon. What do you do if your opponent plays an illegal move? Not realizing check, moving a knight to a wrong square, moving a queen off the legal diagonal, castling through check, etc?
25:40 I believe the actual rule is that you must hit the clock with the same hand that moved the piece.
There's an anecdote in our family. When my mother was a university student, she played chess with her friend once. After the game, they have approached their professor with a question: "If one player has checkmated another, but none of them has noticed the event, and the game continued, who has won?"
I think a lot of DGT clocks (mine does) add the increment BEFORE each move, so if the time control is 15+10, on that clock the players will start with 15:10 and not 15:00. Do I have to set 14:50 so that it will show 15:00?
No, according to the rules increment also gets added to the first move (at least, according to DGT).
In the just played world blitz championship, you can see that the clocks start with a reading of 3.02 for a 3+2 time control.
Are you allowed to keep your scoresheet after, or are the moves recorded somewhere that I can find after the tournament? I'd love to be able to review my games but don't trust myself to memorize them. Amazing video, thanks Danya! Playing my first tournament this weekend in NY!
Idk what part three would be, but i know i require it.
Nice just started playing otb
Damnn danya really rocking the G Pro wireless
In my country after the handshake player with whitr pieces makes a move and pressed the clock more often than the other way around
Thanks for great educational content, Danya.
I have two minor questions:
does the procedure for claiming a draw by 50 move rule differ from threefold repetition draw?
have you ever seen a person using their smartphone with a chess clock program instead of an actual chess clock?
According to the FIDE laws of Chess at www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf , the procedure for the 50-move rule is indeed identical to threefold repetition (Article 9.3)
See Article 12.3 for your second question: "Without the permission of the arbiter a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue, unless they are completely switched off. If any such device produces a sound, the player shall lose the game."
thank u.. really appreciated it
Regarding touch move rule, if I touch a piece of mine, and then touch my opponents piece, do I have to capture the piece I touched? Also what happens if I touch his piece first and I can capture it with multiple pieces, can the opponent claim touch move?
4:15 very sneaky Steph Curry diss on the pairings sheet😂😂
Good one
If you get up from the board and your opponent makes a move, and you’re not actually sure what move they made, are you allowed to ask them?
You kept notation so you should be able to figure out what was played
You are allowed to ask to look at your opponent’s scoresheet during your turn so you can ask for their scoresheet to see what they played (if you can’t figure it out from your own scoresheet)
In addition to what the others have said, it's also perfectly fine to quietly ask your opponent what move they made as you return to the board.
amazing content !
I've wondered, if black isn't at the board, who starts the clock for a forfeit to occur?
I would guess by common sense that White would.
Pretty sure you can get the arbiter to start the time
I've always just started the clock for myself made the move and clicked the clock. It's important to do that especially if you have a clock that counts the moves.
Question about capturing pieces:
Do I remove the to-be-captured piece first, put it aside and then move my piece onto that square or is it okay to do it in one motion?
Both are allowed, but whatever piece you touch first must be moved. If you touch the opponent’s piece first you have to capture it.
Nice Vid. How to promote a pawn to any piece? Did i miss it in the video?
I have a question about recording moves on the score sheet while under time pressure. What happens when one or both players have only seconds left - are they required to keep noting the moves under such conditions?
Thanks for all your terrific tutorial work. You are perhaps the best on youtube. So articulate and lucid.
I think if there's a 30 sec increment for each move, recording is mandatory. If it's a delay or no increment, I think recording is only mandatory until you have a certain time (e.g. 5 min) left. Would like confirmation tho.
thank you sensei
If the person is being annoying- surping drinks, chatting/ humming/ they absolutely stink of BO - Can you raise it wtih them and if they don't do anything rasie it with the td? Congrats on finishing another superb speedrun ;)
i also am curious
you are allowed to complain to the arbiter but you arent allowed to let ur opponent know first.
@@denisvah3424 Thank you.