This is helpful…as all of the replies have been. So, if I have too few clocks, do I put my house clocks (those I’m providing) at my top boards of each section first? The rationale is that my higher numbered boards will likely be filled by students who are rushing their games and time will not be an issue?
This may or may not be your issue, but it will definitely prevent other possible crashes. Make sure you have a preference file loaded. A brand new installation of WinTD does not have one loaded by default. There is one that comes with it and you can use that to start with. I believe you can find it in your documents folder within Estima\WinTD 4.20. It is called wintd.prf.
Under the file menu select “Manage Preference Sets” and then click on “Get From File”. Find the default preference file. Once loaded click on “Make this the Default Set”.
Alternatively you can create your own profile. Just make sure to set it as the default.
Without this step you are likely to have crashes running various reports.
If you’re doing random pairings, then it won’t be until probably round 3 or 4 before the “top” boards are necessarily the better players.
This is a little nit picky, but you should make sure to indicate the delay whenever you specify the time control in all your publicity. Instead of G/30, say G/30;d5 (5 second delay) or G/30;d0 if no delay. That way there isn’t any confusion from the participants. It is also a requirement for rated tournaments.
Another simple tip is to make sure you write down the actual starting times for a round. I don’t mean the suggested round times. I mean the real time the round started. Do this for each section if they start at different times. This way you will know when to start putting clocks out. When I run scholastic tournaments I always write down the round start time and the clock time on the score sheet.
For example for a G/30;d5 (or d0 it is the same) round that started at 1:20 pm, I will write down 1:20 and 2:10. At 2:10 pm (50 minutes into the round) I start putting out 5 minutes clocks on remaining games without clocks. If you have enough clocks, you can put 10 minutes clocks out at 2:00 pm and they will finish even faster.
Even though most of the kids in our tournaments do not have ratings, I still double check the advance entry lists from the schools to see if they do have a rating. It still might make pairings seem random as many low rated players cannot hold their own against their age peer unrated players. Over time, you might find more of the players earn ratings after they get a taste of your event.
Make sure to put enough time in between your stated round times so that you have time to deal with the few long games that finish at the one hour mark, time to do pairings, and anything else that crops up. It always takes more time than you think to verify and enter data results and make pairings and get the next round result sheets ready. While it may not take much time to print, it still takes time to print the pairings for three separate sections. Make sure you have enough ink cartridges, paper, and tape (I like blue painters’ tape). You will always be amazed how much paper and ink you end up using. If you can, have an extra computer available and loaded with backup data just in case your computer crashes. Stuff happens and a backup of your data may save you. Try as much as possible to stay close to your round times. We sometimes fall behind even with a streamlined system of doing things, so I insert extra time around the lunch break so that we can catch up and pair the last two rounds exactly on time. You will also need time to figure out tiebreaks and determine prizes at the end of the event. Kids and parents or coaches get antsy while you are doing this, so there should be something for the kids to do. One of our administrators usually asks kids questions or have them take the microphone to tell what she liked most about the day. That gives us time to get the medals and trophies ready. We often do a sort of raffle to give books to the schools. It is not entirely random (shhh, don’t tell anybody!) to make sure newbie schools, and different schools every year get books.
At the beginning of the event, we ask if the players understand what proper chess etiquette is. Each school had received handouts on how the kids should behave and what they should expect from their opponents. Before and after the games the players are expected to shake hands. It is interesting to see how much the kids like to do this. We take pictures of the 80 hands simultaneously going across the table to shake before the game starts. We make a point to do this every round. It makes a good impression on all of the teachers, sponsors, donors, and other spectators who are present. We emphasize sportsmanship as one of our key learning experience goals. As a result we have had no instances of cheating. Kids often call themselves out for a touch move violation. By the end of the competition, they have learned so much about chess etiquette that I wish all players would see and emulate the kids. There is no crying. No trash talk like you see with other sports. Another goal is that they make friends with kids from other schools. We have the coaches network with each other to share information on how their kids are learning, what resources are good to use, and how to help each other out.
The kids absorb quite a bit about chess across the day. Some of the school administrators are amazed that when the games start it is absolutely quiet for the entire hour as the kids make their moves. They wonder how such intensity of purpose can be harnessed as the kids play. When this happens, the kids have demonstrated that the have achieved one of our other goals, to get them to focus as long and as hard as possible. While they are doing that, the tournament staff is filling in wallcharts and preparing for the next round. We also deal with teacher questions and any problems that arise, too. As quietly as possilble, the IU staff takes pictures and videos of each round. At the end, they run a montage of what was photographed for the kids and teachers to see. They can access it later at the IU website when the video has been polished and prepared for the public to see. As a TD, I am only one part of the operation of providing services to the kids and schools.
You seem to have covered most of the bases. Do one school event with your own players to test everything out “for reals”, as the kids say. Theory and simulations are okay until crunch time smacks you in the face and you find how much time everything really takes. Just when you think you have it down pat, something happens and makes you humble once again. Have fun, too. You will learn something new every year you run your chess tournament.
One additional time sink is the time it takes (after pairings are posted) for the players to get to the tournament floor and the coaches/parents get off the tournament floor. If you run an ASAP schedule for each section then there will be some noise as players from newly-paired sections enter the tournament room while games are still going on in the other sections. A lot of scholastic players are not perturbed by that noise but some parents/coaches get bothered.
With an ASAP schedule (and a separate room for doing some of the awards) you can finish everything for some of the younger kids while the older ones are still playing.
Thanks…I didn’t try this last night to see if it prevents the program from crashing, but I will this weekend.
Once again, great input.
What do you think is the right amount of time between rounds? I have 30 minutes between the 1st and 2nd rounds and 20 minutes between the others. I have told the other schools that these times are fully tentative. If we are entering games as they are completed, then I’m thinking it take long to enter the last remaining game (or couple of games) and pair the round. Some sections will likely be complete before others, so I can have those pairings already posted. (I’m planning on beginning rounds for all sections at the same time.)
I’ll be using a laser printer, but will make sure that the toner is good to go. Great reminder about tape. Phenomenal tip about having a back-up computer. I’ll make sure I have one. When I read that tip, I shuddered at the prospect of going into the 4th round and my computer going belly up. I don’t know what I would do. However, if I have a spare computer and am saving the tournament each section/round and hanging that file onto Google Drive, I think I can get ahead of that calamity.
Great idea about an “opening act” to the awards ceremony. We are already planning a welcome orientation at 8:40 to go over where bathrooms are, how they can find their standings & pairings, what to expect, and re-emphasize good sportsmanship. Love your idea of the handshake photo-op! I am planning to provide a Chess Tournament Tips sheet for students, parents, and club sponsors. There are several I’ve seen on-line that I can use as a model.
Everyone has provided such great, patient advice. It is all greatly appreciated.
I’m assuming this is a challenge. This is why I have student volunteers that will help guide younger players to find their boards.
My apologies…you mention an ASAP schedule. I didn’t see this in the rulebook, do you mean ASAP as in “As soon as possible”? I assume this means that as soon as the pairings of one section is ready, you start that section even if another section is still playing? If so, I’m planning on starting all of the section’s rounds at the same time. I know that that means that I can have some students waiting an hour in-between rounds, but from an administrative management stand-point, it simplifies things for me.
If that is not what ASAP is, please help me out.
Thanks!
I’m make sure to clarify the time-control on our flyers/entry forms. Thanks.
I had actually already thought that the start times should be logged. I like the idea of a reminder time to begin looking at games without clocks.
Is there any requirement or at least good practice that if the TD needs to intervene, then that is logged somewhere? For an example, if a time penalty is assessed, is it required/good practice for the TD to write down the board, player, violation and penalty so that a record is made. This way when Bobby tells his coach/parent that the big, bad TD took 2 minutes away from him, the TD can clearly remember what the circumstances were?
An ASAP schedule means that only the first round has a specified starting time, the other rounds are paired as soon as the previous round ends.
So if the first round is at 9 AM and you have a G/30 time control, you will probably have the second round start no later than 10AM, possibly earlier. (Without ratings the pairings are essentially random for the first several rounds, normally the first few rounds go quite fast because the upper half of the field is being paired against the lower half so most of the games are over quickly.)
You might want to deliberately build in a lunch break between two rounds, though.
If you’re using a computer to do pairings, it should only takes a few minutes to enter all the results from a round and pair the next round. I do it by entering the results as white going down the pairing sheet then double checking it by making sure the results as black look correct.
Assuming you’ve got reasonable settings in the program, the pairings will be fine, but give them a quick look anyway. (After the event you can study them in greater detail and try to see if you understand why it paired the way it did.) Things like not pairing siblings against each other or not pairing teammates against each other are usually done during setup but you might want to check for that anyway.
That is a good idea you have to log any TD intervention and issue with notes detailing what occurred and what the ruling was in that case. This is what is done at national scholastic tournaments. Being overly detail oriented (paranoid?) is helpful in planning. It appears that you have really have thought this out. With luck you will achieve the goal of every TD: if no one notices you are there while the tournament is going on, then you did everything well.
ASAP, as you figured, is As Soon As Possible. You can either do ASAP by section or en masse. Doing it by section gets the younger kids finished earlier (often much earlier). Doing it en masse gets everybody out (usually) a little earlier and has a larger crowd during the awards ceremony while having actual breaks available for the volunteers working the tournament room.
I admit that a sectional ASAP schedule works better with TDs that have done a lot of experience with fast running tournaments.
OK… I currently have our second round tentatively scheduled for 10:30–60 minutes for the game and 30 minutes for this first-time tournament director to figure out what he is doing and get the second round paired and started (1st round at 9:00). However, I’ve told the other schools I’m working with that it is my intent to start earlier if possible. However, I said that the next round will not start any sooner than 10 minutes after the pairings sheets are posted. Is this reasonable?
I am planning on using the “avoid pairings of teammates if possible”. I assume that this means that it will pair teammates if there isn’t another suitable pairing. For an example, I assume that this would still mean that if I have only two 4.0 players going into the fifth round, the computer will pair them even if they are from the same team. Right?
Thanks.
I’m a retired Army officer who is used to having as much planned in advance as possible. Not because I don’t think things will change–they will, but a good plan and identified contingencies makes it easier to shift on the fly without undue stress. Again, I apologize everyone who has contributed so thoughtfully to my plethora of questions. This has greatly helped me settle into what I’m about to do.
I do want to give a shout out to Wintdoan, whose organizer’s guide for large scholastic tournaments in the sticky thread has been incredibly helpful.
Many thanks!
The whole point to ASAP scheduling is that only the first round has a scheduled time, the rest are run as soon as possible after the conclusion of the first round, with the possible exception of having a lunch break between two rounds.
A very great majority of the time that is true. In some tricky situations that won’t quite work. The only one I’ve seen where there was a problem is when the only two 5-0 players were from the same team and the only two 4.5-0.5 players were from other teams and had already played each other. WinTD with teammate pairing only if necessary split the two 5-0 players and put them against the two 4.5-0.5 players. That required a manual correction.
It seems to me that perhaps that “correction” should not have been made. It gave at least one of the 5-0 players a lock on at least a tie for first place. The way WinTD did it, those who appeared to be still in contention actually were still in contention.
Bill Smythe
It sort of depends on how strict the prohibition on pairing team members is. An absolutist position is ‘only if no other valid pairings exist’. That is seldom the case unless the number of players is fairly small, so it comes down to weighing the advantages and disadvantages.
I once had to help manually pair a high school event with about 100 players, but around 50 of them from the same school. We did not take team considerations into account much in the latter half of the tournament.