I had a discussion with some other well known TDs about what the official ending date should be for a tournament in which games end after midnight. Here are 3 options.
Any tournament that ends after midnight should have an ending date of the new day
Any tournament that ends after midnight should have an ending date of the previous day
Any tournament that ends after midnight should have the ending date be equal to the date on which the last round started.
I favor #3. One argument I’ve heard in favor of #2 is that it makes it appear that late night blitz tournaments take 2 days and any advertisement of such could deter entries by those who perceive the event as a 2 day event even though it may only last 3 hours. When a TD submits an event online, he/she is required to check a box that the information submitted is accurate. It isn’t accurate to say that 1 AM belongs to the previous day yet the USCF accepts TLAs that do exactly this. One potential problem is that this mis-information could affect the order events are rated.
How do the other TDs feel? What is the USCF’s official position on this?
When I submit a tournament, I mark the last day as being the day on which the last round started. So, I would agree with you that #3 is right. I don’t think there is an official position on this, though.
Technically, all that matters is the end date, since that determines the order of rating of sections. Since I happen to know which tournament is being discussed, my answer for that particular section is that it makes no sense to list it (a blitz section) as a two day tournament.
Further proof that there no rule or situation that cannot be subject to multiple intepretations.
I suspect most TDs use the starting time of the last round. There aren’t very many tournaments where the last round starts after midnight.
I don’t think using the ending time of the round would have much impact unless someone is already playing
in multiple events with overlapping dates.
The ending date and the starting date both affect the order the event is rated in. As a reminder, that ordering is:
SECTION ending date
SECTION starting date
12 digit USCF Event ID
Section number (assigned by TD/pairing program.)
#4 gives TDs some control over the order in which sections in their events are rated when those sections have the same starting and ending dates. For example, someone running a morning event and an afternoon event (not unheard of at some chess camps) could use the section number to ensure that the morning event is rated prior to the afternoon event.
If the ending TIME determines the ending date, then an event that starts on Saturday and ends at 1AM Monday would still be rated prior to one that starts on Monday and ends on Monday, but it would be rated after one that started and ended on Sunday.
Further complications:
What if some sections end before midnight and others do not?
What if a game in one section is adjourned just before midnight (because the site is closing) and completed on Tuesday?
Probably best to stick with the ‘round starting time’ concept. Does this really need to be codified in USCF rules and procedures??
It is very easy to list different end dates for different sections.
It has been my practice to list the end date as the date that the last round begins. I think it’s petty to change the end date of a tournament to the next day because one game lasted until 12:01 AM.
Several of the side events at some of the larger events have rounds scheduled to start after midnight. In some of those cases, the majority of rounds start after midnight (sometimes all but round 1). I consider this to be a different situation. While true that it may only be a blitz event, it is not logical to me that a tournament in which most of the games start after midnight be listed as having taken place the day before.
If it is permitted to list this event on the earlier day, then where is the line drawn (what time?) at which point the games are considered to be on the next day? There are some “insanity” events that seem to literally go all night.
Perhaps. When I run a side event for a certain affiliate I am told by the president of the affiliate to list the ending date as the date the first round started and it seems counter to the accuracy statement I must affirm when submitting. I’m a little uncomfortable doing this. Both of us are NTDs but cannot find common ground on this issue.
I think that rounds that end after midnight is a much different case than an event where the first round and the last round do not begin on the same day. I don’t think the ‘after midnight’ situation needs clarification, but I think any interpretation of what the ‘ending date’ of a section means that is other than the date the last round starts is improper if not outright dishonest.
Using the starting date rather than the ending date could easily affect the order in which events are rated.
However, the only thing I can find in the rulebook about this is the statement about ‘Order of Rating’ at the top of page 261, which is incomplete these days, although it may have been sufficiently correct in 2003 under the old ratings programming.
Jeez, just use common sense. Most people think of 1 a.m. Sunday morning as still being Saturday night. Probably even 2 a.m. too. Even 3 a.m. But 4 a.m.? Now that’s tomorrow (I guess).
Keep in mind:
When we switch between standard and daylight time twice a year (“spring ahead” and “fall back”), it’s done officially at 2:01 a.m.
Local morning newscasts on major TV stations (at least in Chicago) generally begin at 4, 4:30, or 5 a.m.
Saturday Night Live technically ends on Sunday morning. Likewise, the late night talk shows (Letterman, Leno) technically end the next day.
When you stay up all night, when does it begin to “feel” like the next day?
No, no clarification of procedures is necessary. We’ve got too many fussbudgety rules already.
In college, we referred to anything before midnight as “today,” anything after 4 AM the next day as “tomorrow” and anything between midnight and 4 AM as “Bert.”
Of course we all realize the real concern here; i.e., a round starts before Midnight…some players finish before midnight…some players after…and not let us forget the time control which may/may not end after Midnight. Traditionally we TDs have handed in the event as ended before Midnight. Now with this new concern the rule givers have to make up new definitions and increase the wordiness of chess law. —sigh?!
Not sure how JJ Cale’s cultural heritage was watered down by Clapton, but he was dirt poor and not making any money until after Clapton recorded his song “After Midnight”. The Tulsa sound got a shot in the arm by Clapton, I think.
