A legal dispute that had riveted the chess world and hobbled the United States Chess Federation, the game’s governing body, has been settled  mostly.

Papers filed on Friday in Federal District Court in Lubbock, Tex., stipulate that two former federation board members, the federation and some of its other members are dismissing almost all of their claims and counterclaims. The dispute began with accusations over Internet postings and evolved into a series of lawsuits in several states.

Randy Bauer, a federation board member, said the federation settled “to stop the bleeding.” He said the dispute had “hurt the federation,” adding: “We have had to lay off staff. We have had to reduce services.”

Bill Hall, the organization’s executive director, said the federation, which has annual revenues of about $3 million, had spent nearly $750,000 in legal fees on the cases.