Chess League

Running Chess Tournaments
1

I am starting a Houston chess league and it will likely run two Fridays a month from September to February 2012. Two questions:

  1. What is the common protocol for using rating supplements in a rated league in a which the events span months? Do you use the rating supplement in the month in which the event starts, or do you update ratings during each month?

  2. What is the proper or best way to submit rating reports? Monthly or at the end of the league season? I could not find specific guidance in the USCF rules for either approach.

Thanks.

2

“Common” is to use a near-past rating list and have teams “lock” their rosters at the beginning of the season.

The US Chess League rules and the UK’s Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) would be good resources.

Monthly is best practice, as established by many clubs who hold multi-month “game a week” tournaments.

3

We’re starting a new chess league in Columbus, and based our rules loosely on those used by the Pittsburgh Chess League which has been around for a long, long time. If you want to look at the details, ours are posted at http://www.neilley.com/chess, and Pittsburgh’s at http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/ChessPA/ChessLeague/wpapcl.htm

We’re setting player ratings based on the rating supplement as of the month of entry deadline, and leaving them fixed for the duration of the league season.

We plan to submit games monthly for rating, and provide cumulative team standings on our website.

4

You guys are more diligent in submitting results monthly than our local league, which submits results at mid-season and at the end of the season.
Be careful to ensure that players keep their membership status valid through the league season, as the USCF only cares if players are members at the time results are submitted for rating (i.e. player may have been a member at the time that they played their game, but if membership has elapsed before the game is submitted for rating, USCF does not consider the player to be a member) although if you are submitting results monthly, this should have less of an impact on your league.