I have a question regarding scholastic chess. Please forgive the long lead-in to the question but the analogy is important. Many years ago I coached my son in competitive Judo. Although he was only 10, we ran into a problem . At the time there was a power struggle between the AAU, the Judo National Governing Body and other “amateur sports federations” regarding judo tournaments. I was told, in writing, that if my son played in an event not sanctioned by any or all of these federations the “non-sanctioning” federation would revoke his amateur status, and that he could not accept a trophy from any event sanctioned by “the other guys” because that “prize” would end his amateur status. The federations eventually settled, but for athletes there were disputes over amateur standing that followed them in their scholastic careers.
Has anything been done to protect scholastic players and their “amateur” status? I see kids getting cash awards, and I hope this does not have any unexpected legal consequences.
Just curious.
I’m guessing this should be in “all things chess” instead of “running chess tournaments”.
There is no other chess federation in the US that questions the scholastic kids’ status, and FIDE doesn’t care about monetary awards. That said there are scholastic organizations such as the US High School Association that cover a broad range of activities and the various state associations can have different rules. It seems like they need to be worked out on a state by state basis or even city by city basis.
As an example, in IL there used to be the rule that a kid who merely played in an event with a cash prize, regardless of whether or not the kid actually won money, would be ineligible for representing the school in any sport. At the state level the IL Chess Association and the high-school based IL Chess Coaches Association were eventually able to get chess classified as an team activity instead of as a sport, with the result that kids are allowed to play in any event as long as they only represented their school in IL High School Association approved events (i.e. events directly associated with the IHSA and some other events like the USChess scholastic nationals). Allowing school representation at USChess scholastic nationals has not always been true for every state and there have been times some schools from some states have had to accept the national team trophies under a team name not specifically associated with the school.
Some cities are more rigid than their state’s association. If a school district considers chess a sport instead of an activity they may require things like athletic physicals for players to represent the school, and they may limit the period of the year that students can play in open events (maybe only during the non-chess season in the district’s calendar).
In your particular situation you would need to know what your state and local scholastic associations’ rules are.
I’ve moved this topic from Running Chess Tournaments to All Things Chess.
To further expound on Jeff’s point - there is a general realization that amateur chess per se does not actually exist. Many tournaments have cash or gift prizes, and the trophies in some scholastic tournaments are often too expensive to meet the strictest standards of amateurism. Simply the ability to win such a prize makes one a non-amateur.
Agreeing with Jeff’s point that this is primarily a state by state issue.
The NCAA has not weighed in on whether receiving tournament prizes would affect scholarship opportunities in chess or other sports. They probably would have difficult doing so as they allow players to sign professional baseball contracts while playing in other collegiate sports. In the meantime, the NCAA makes money from the athletes participation in the sports, sells merchandise with player names, and uses their faces to market their sports product. The athletes are the most amateur entities in the whole sports setup.
Is chess a game or a sport? The answer to that question has ramifications for how it will be treated. Can chess be regulated by state commissions on gambling? I am not sure a definitive case has been made which determines whether this is so. So far, the states and sports associations have pretty much left chess alone. There are far too few chess players for them to make money. As Dick Vitale would say,“it is always the Benjamins, baby.” Chess does not generate enough money for the states, the federal government, or other organizations to exploit.