Errors in MSA Crosstable for SuperNationals

Running Chess Tournaments
1

I was compiling a summary of results for Alabama players when I happened on a pair of irregularities.

The final standings for the K12Unrated section (reached through uschess.org/tournaments/2005 … ionalsIII/ → Results → Standings → K12 Unrated) show this:

110 Wuek, John 12 ALBAYS AL 2.5 14.5 19.5 L71 D105 L72 L79 L106 W137 W130

Although his school code is a legitimate one (Bayside Academy), this player does not appear in the list of entries for the section, either under the section link or the AL link. When I look at the MSA section crosstable, his name doesn’t appear there either. When I compare his list of opponents in the Standings page crosstable against those same opponents in the MSA crosstable, I’m pointed to this:

109 | [Error-unknown] |2.5 |L 70|D 108|L 69|L 75|L 110|W 136|W 130|
LA | 13163331 / R: Unrated-> 651P7

The total points match (2.5), but note that the state code given is for Louisiana, not Alabama (could someone have keyed this in backwards?) Searching MSA for either Wuek or 13163331 fails. But wait, there’s more.

According to the Standings crosstable, John Wuek played in the 6th round against Locha Jabourn, a Florida player (school code FLMESE) who finished with 1.0. Here’s the complete line:

137 Jabourn, Locha FLMESE FL 1.0 10.0 13.0 -H- L93 L108 L127 L124 L110 D131

The corresponding entry in the MSA crosstable points to player 136. Here’s the line for #136:

136 | [Error-unknown] |1.0 |H 0|L 87|L 107|L 126|L 121|L 109|D 140|
AL | 13162798 / R: Unrated-> 289P6

The plot thickens. Again, the point total matches, now note that the state code is AL instead of FL. Locha Jabourn does appear in the tournament entry lists, albeit without ID, both for the section and for FL. Once again, though, searching the MSA member database for this player either by name or by ID #13162798 fails.

2

I’ll give a quick, possible answer to some of this. I stress “possible” because this is based upon my own observations.

First, I woudn’t expect the Entries section to show all players who did play, since there were some who entered the day of the tournament. I’d be surprised if it was the goal of the USCF to post every single entry there, even those who entered that day.

Second, I’ve found the Standing crosstable isn’t the same as the MSA crosstable, and I think I know why. The Standings crosstable was posted the Monday following the tournament, and I suspect the tiebreaks weren’t figured in with that one. The MSA table, after the sections were rated, does put them in order by tiebreaks. But this is just a guess, since I’d think they’d have the tiebreaks worked out for awarding prizes.

But the expert is Mike, and I do defer to him. until then, take mine, and your mileage may vary! :slight_smile:

Radishes

3

I don’t think so. I believe the MSA table is in the order that the players were submitted. If a TD wanted to list the results in alphabetical order by first name, that’s the order in which they would appear. The MSA tables aren’t sorted or reordered.

Mike can and will correct me if I’m wrong.

4

They must have changed the MSA at some point. I send in my team event sorted by USCF ID # and that was changed to what looks like the old system - score tiebreaked by pre-event rating. The one difference is that the new system looks to be sorting the unrateds by their default initial rating instead of having them all at the bottom.

5

Either that or I was just plain wrong :blush:

There was a crosstable in MSA not too long ago that wasn’t even in order of final points standing. I just looked at it again and it’s been re-ordered and I know the TD didn’t submit any changes.

6

I believe Mike Nolan recently stated, in another thread, that he has revised the MSA sort criteria to once again sort by final standing, just as under the old rating system. For some reason, however, he tie-breaks final standing not by rating, but by some other criterion which I don’t recall for sure (maybe ID number or something like that).

Bill Smythe

7

Without checking the source code, I believe the sort order for MSA crosstables is:

  1. Final score (descending order)

  2. Post-event rating (descending order) It’s possible I’m using the pre-event rating. It probably uses the regular rating if one is applicable, otherwise the quick rating.

  3. USCF ID

As to the missing names, we’re still cleaning up the list of new players, that’s probably the cause. I need to go through the crosstable and make sure that they’re all assigned to a valid non-member status rather than a pending membership status. (Pending memberships are not posted to MSA until they’re paid for.)