I’m a newly certified Club Tournament Director, and I plan to run my very first US Chess Federation rated club tournament shortly with students I’ve been coaching on how to play chess from scratch. They’re all unrated beginners and this will be their first US Chess rated tournament. I’d like to double-check that I have all my bases covered.
Here’s my plan:
Section: 6 players (all US Chess Federation members), Swiss system.
How many rounds? With 6 players and a fast time control, it might be easier to run a hexagonal RR. Otherwise pairing for rounds 4 and 5 can be challenging. And it is always a good idea for first-time players to get in 4 ratable games, because a rating based on less than 4 games cannot be published.
I don’t know when your tournament is, but we’re getting close to the changeover to the new Leago system, which will completely change how tournaments are submitted.
As I recall, these days the office will not issue club certification until you’ve passed SafeSport, and yes, she is listed as having taken the course in July.
Yes. SafeSport training is complete, AND 1 year SafeSport requirement also complete. Otherwise I do not believe I would have qualified for the certified club TD requirement, but I’m literally learning everything here from scratch, so thanks for asking because if I’d missed it I’d want to be made aware. Please keep em coming. I need this!
I’ve recently explored this site, but I haven’t attempted to do anything tournament related in there yet.
I haven’t even been able to figure out how to run the first club tournament following all the rules I’ve been reading about. Much less figure out how to report info from a tournament using the current system. I got lost there long ago. Sent my students to other people’s tournaments, which they’ll need to do anyway.
Anyway, I’d love to do this first thing next week!
Running a Hex would mean 5 rounds instead of 4. The Crenshaw-Berger pairing tables in the rulebook can be used to generate pairings, showing which players have white and which have black.
The challenge with 6 players and 4 rounds is that you might wind up with pairing a 3.0 against a 1.0 or lower score to avoid pairing someone against the same player twice. It’s also possible to box yourself in for the last round.
This is the sort of thing you can practice by hand using 3x5 pieces of paper and just randomly assigning results to a round then seeing how that affects pairing subsequent rounds. You can do it with a pairing program like WinTD or SwissSys, too, but I think it is very instructive for a new TD to do some pairings by hand so they know when not to just use the computer’s pairings.
This has come up in the forums a few times, here’s one thread that discusses it:
I’m curious about the idea of having three or four rounds over two days, with a time control of G/15 d/0. Do you only have the facility for a very short period of time? A single game at this time control would not exceed 30 minutes, and with only 6 players, pairings wouldn’t take much time.
If you are contemplating six players without doing a round robin, you need to familarize yourself the potential pairing pitfalls. Jeff Wiewel often speaks of this, and I reckon he’ll chime in when he sees this thread. Essentially, if you aren’t careful you will find it impossible to pair round four without a duplicate pairing. I leave it to someone more competent than I to explain that. But if you have six players and only four rounds, you still might find it wise to use the round-robin template for pairings and simply drop one round, possibly flipping colors in one game if necessary to equalize colors. That way you can’t walk into any pairing traps.
Ok. That’s not it, but good points. Maybe 4 kids play all 4 kids for the first one and the other two wait till we get 2 more kids if I can’t get them before, because I’m trying to keep the 1st one simple.
I guess I wait for Jeff. Tried tagging him, but couldn’t find his tag.
More delays!
So what happens if I just have the kids play and then go to enter it? Does it tell me then everything I did wrong so I learn and know next time? Does it reject what I submit?
I’m committed and don’t plan to give up, therefore this process might as well reveal itself one way or another.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Give it a try. Have your tournament. As was mentioned, do at least 4 rounds so your kids get ratings. Don’t worry about pairing traps. If you have to have somebody play the same opponent twice, go ahead and do that. It will be okay. Your tournament will be accepted. If you can’t figure out how to rate your tournament, come back and ask for help. Someone will talk you through it, me if nobody else. The only thing I would change about your plan is notation. Unless your kids are a lot smarter than the ones I coach, I would not ask them to notate in a G/15;d0 tournament. Good luck.
It’s worth noting that the TD tip for 5C points out that scorekeeping (notation) is not required for Quick chess, which G/15;d0 is. I’m not sure why this rule is not more obvious elsewhere in the rulebook.
Thanks for bringing this up. I’ll provide the sheets, but make sure they’re aware it’s not required.
The rule book is clear. I remember reading it, but I’ve been working so hard with them on notation so we can analyze their games, and I figured notation would help if we have to look back at previous moves if someone claims something, but this reminder helps me better prioritize.
I’ve been searching high and low to find out what the charges were.
After getting lost in a web of reading what seems like thousands of pages (old versions that are still up, then new versions of same pages with slight changes) and going down different rabbit holes and learning about tons of other things.
I figured I’d find out once I try to do my first one, so thanks!
All this helps me understand why tournaments are not FREE. The work behind the scenes is astounding!
If you played 6 players with 4 rounds that would equal 12 games. And 12 games times 0.25 cents equals $3. So, if you have 4 rounds you would end up paying just $3.00. Even if you play 3 rounds, you would still pay $3.00. Perhaps, you know this already. If you send in the filing by postal mail, it is an $8 minimum charge.
about. Much less figure out how to report info from a tournament using the current system. I got lost there long ago. Sent my students to other people’s tournaments, which they’ll need to do anyway.
holes and learning about tons of other things.