What does this form do? DA Form 4878 is titled ARMY CHESS TOURNAMENT APPLICATION, and its job is to army chess tournament application. Anyone sent to find "the 4878" is being sent here. Everything below expands on that one function.
Which edition is on this page? The one dated 01/01/2026, status ACTIVE. On army forms the edition date is the version, printed on the page itself so any copy can be checked. Be aware that a more recent edition has since been issued. This version is superseded and stays here for reference and for records already filled out on it.
Do I fill this in myself? Usually yes, unless an administrative office keeps the record for you, in which case they enter what you supply. The form itself belongs to G-1 and is prescribed by AR 215-1. It runs to 1 page(s) and about 113 fields.
What the form asks for
- ADDRESS
- CHESS_RATE
- ContentArea1
- DATE_A
- DATE_B
- DATE_LOC
- DATE_RATE
- DIDNOT_A
- DIDNOT_B
- DID_A
- DID_B
- DUTY_ASSGN
- EVENT
- INSTALL_ID
- MACOM
- MACOM_ID
- NAME
- PLACE
- Page1
- R105
- R106
- R111
- R112
- R113
Download the form
Which formats can I download? These: PDF, XFDL. All of them carry the same published page — the difference is not what the form says but how you get words onto it.
What is the difference between fillable and printable? A fillable pdf has live fields that accept typing and can be saved with your entries in place. A printable pdf is the same blank page with no live fields, meant to come out of a printer and be completed with a pen. Both print identically once filled.
Do I need special software? Not for reading — a pdf opens in the browser you already have. For filling, install a full pdf reader rather than trusting the in-browser viewer, which sometimes displays fields it cannot save. Type into one field, save, reopen and confirm the text survived. Why will my xfdl file not open? Because it is IBM Lotus Forms, not pdf. The Lotus Forms Viewer is the only application that reads it.
Does the download cost anything? No. There is no charge, no account and no email address to surrender, and the file you receive is the published document with nothing added to it.
Where do you start? At the top of the page, with the identifying entries: name as your official records spell it, identification number, unit or organisation, date of preparation. Why first? Because those entries are what the form is filed and searched under later, and a record indexed on a misspelled name is a record nobody retrieves.
How do you move through the fields? By tab, not by mouse. The tab order was fixed when the form was built and generally follows the reading order of the page, so following it is the simplest way to avoid skipping a box. What about check boxes? Click them. If a group is exclusive, your new selection clears the old one — that is the design, not a malfunction.
What happens if your answer is too long for the field? It prints cut off. A single-line field does not wrap, so text running past the edge stays readable on screen and then disappears at the margin on paper. What do you do instead? Move it to the remarks area or onto a continuation sheet. And a field that does not apply to you? Mark it as not applicable rather than leaving it blank — an empty box tells the reviewer nothing about whether you read the question.
When do you sign? Last, after every other entry is settled. Until the signature is applied the document is a draft, however complete it looks. What if more than one signature is required? Reviewing official, approving authority and witness sign in the order the blocks print, and each dates the form on the day of signing rather than the day it was prepared. What goes wrong most often? Mandatory fields left empty, transposed digits in identification numbers, dates with day and month reversed, and old entries surviving in a working copy that was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
What does the Privacy Act notice tell you? The legal authority behind the collection, what the information is for, the routine uses it may be put to, and whether disclosure is compulsory. When is the right moment to read it? Before completing the personal entries, at the point the statement appears. What follows from it? Your finished copy contains personal data, so store and send it the way your office handles that category.
What happens after signing? The form is routed as the prescribing directive requires: to a named office, through the unit administrative channel, or into the personal file. Do you get the original back? No, so make a copy first. Who sets the retention period? The applicable records schedule, not the office holding the document.
What if this form is not the only one you need? Search by series and number. Within the DA series, forms under the same proponent or the same prescribing directive tend to be required as a set, and anything named on the face of one normally accompanies it. Are continuations part of that? They are, along with covers and transmittals, and all of them are collected in advance rather than after a query.
When is an edition replaced? When the proponent revises the form and publishes a new edition date. What should you do with a copy kept on your own machine? Check its date against the edition in force before reusing it. Does the change reach backwards? It does not; work already completed on an earlier edition remains valid as filed.
Who publishes these files? This site does, as copies of published Department of the Army forms offered for download. Is there any official connection? None — the site is independent of the Department of the Army and issues nothing itself. Will a given office accept your document? That is not something anyone here can state, and none of this page is legal advice. Where do you take a specific question? To G-1, or to the administrative office that services your unit.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 4878?
- ARMY CHESS TOURNAMENT APPLICATION
- Which edition is current?
- 01/01/2026
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT