To get the experience credit for the senior TD certification, what is the minimum time control needed for an online substitution tournament (substitution b9)?
Does anyone know?
e.g. Can we use G/3+2? Or is there a minimum time control needed for online substitution tournament to get credit?
I see nothing in the TD Certification rules that refers to the time control used in an online event when used instead of an OTB event for certification purposes, though in several places it refers to the type of event (eg, swiss), the number of rounds or the number of players.
That is correct. Number of rounds, number of players and the type of event are specified. However, there is no mention of the time control.
Where there are any TD certification rules that do not refer to a specific type of tournament, e.g. dual-rated or regular rated, then a tournament of any time control will suffice, but it must still meet any other requirements that may be listed in terms of number of players, number of rounds and tournament type.
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This interpretation renders 30.b5 of the TD Certification Rules a nullity and seems unlikely as a result.
a3. Satisfactory performance as Chief TD or chief assistant TD at four Category C tournaments; substitutions for each of the four TD experience credits is allowed as outlined in (b) below.
b. Any of the following may be substituted for the tournaments in requirement a3 as per the limitations imposed by sections b1 –b9:
…
b5. Satisfactory performance as a Chief TD or chief assistant TD at any combination of four Quick/Blitz Chess Category C, C1 or C2 tournaments. The four Quick/Blitz Chess Category C, C1 or C2 tournaments combined count as only one single TD credit. This type of TD credit can be used as a substitute only twice replacing only two of the four requirement a3 category C tournaments.
30.a3 does not refer to a specific type of tournament other than “Category C”. Category C, defined in Section 18, also does not refer to a specific type of tournament:
- Category C.
A US Chess rated over-the-board Swiss system tournament or section of a tournament, except Category I or N, drawing 50 to 99 entrants and having at least four rounds. Such tournaments or sections of tournaments may be directed by local TDs. For more information see 28, Limitations.
The 30.b5 substitution to swap 4 Quick/Blitz Category C tournament for a single “Category C tournament” in a3 doesn’t make any sense if a “Category C tournament” could be Quick/Blitz.
As a matter of policy, I see no reason to privilege a regular time control here over a quick/blitz time control, but as a matter of interpretation of the TD Certification Rules it seems more convincing that “not stated” means “regular / dual”.
The first paragraph of the Senior TD experience requirements, 30a reads
“A total of ten Regular rated or Dual rated Category C tournament experience credits, as listed below in a1 – a3, are required with the total number of players for all ten tournaments summed together being 400 or greater:”
So these ten tournaments in a1 through a3 have to be Regular rated or Dual rated Category C tournaments.
Thanks. God, it’s even more dense than I remembered.
The Quick and Blitz substitutions explicitly state the time control variation from the initial requirement for 10 regular/dual tournaments. No such time control variance is given in b9. So use a time control that affects the (on-line) regular rating.
PS the on-line exception was added during the Covid lockdown when almost no OTB tournaments were being held, and most of the ones being held had a single-digit number of players to stay within the gathering size limits mandated by the states they were held in. That is when “over-the-board” was added to the definition of the various categories.
PPS At roughly the same time TDCC clarified the regular/dual requirement needed for such events, and added the number of rounds needed to the category definitions. Note that Local does not have a regular/dual rated requirement and that category D is defined as three or more rounds while the other categories are defined as four or more rounds. Those differences for Local are a continuation of the prior differences that were repeatedly listed under the certification levels before being moved to the category definitions.