The first regional tournament will take place on April 19 in Vaterstetten, Bavaria, followed by tourneys in Dortmund (April 26), Arnstadt (Thuringia, Mai 3) and Hamburg and Leipzig on June 14. Each partner school can only nominate one team, whereas students up to grade 5 can participate. The registration has to be submitted to the tournament host together with the school certification at least one week prior to the tournaments. The playing mode is seven rounds Swiss system.

Participating in the activity „Partner schools for the Chess Olympiad“ are about 60 000 students from 179 schools from all over Germany and even Austria. All schools was assigned one FIDE member nation that is allowed to take part in the Chess Olympiad from 12 to 25 November 2008 by random draw. Part of the various activities under the patronage of former chess world champion Wladimir Kramnik are, for instance, active preoccupation with the game of chess as well as conceptual project work concerning the respective partner nation.

Further information related to the regional tournaments and additional activities around the partner schools project may be obtained online at www.schachpartnerschule.de.