I am working with a USCF affiliate that has multiple locations throughout the metroplex area, and a few out of state. The objective is to
have a central location for pairing and tournament submission, so that we can hire basically a TD Floor administrator at each location.
Any idea how we can have remote operations using SwissSys, so that pairings run in Plano automatically are sent to Virginia, for example??
Chief TD.
The Chief TD has the ultimate authority and responsibility for the tournament. The Chief TD of an event is expected to be physically present during tournament play. If the Chief TD must be absent for short periods of time, another certified TD shall be present on-site. The Chief TD should not himself be a player in the tournament. See also 21E, The playing director.)
One TD was suspended by the TDCC for running remote events in different locations on the same day at the same time and claiming to be the Chief TD. Yes there was a TD on-site but they did not qualify to be the chief for the number of entrants.
There are multiple tournaments where the pairings are posted on the web and on site. As far as I know, the pairer has to take an extra step to push the pairings to the web.
Depending on the laptop and printer, you may be able to have a printer assigned to an IP address and then do an IP address send of the report (not my area of expertise, so this might be easy and might be extremely difficult depending on your setup).
Getting the game results entered is another issue. The same route used to get the game results from the on-site TD team to the pairer might be usable for getting the pairings back to the on-site TD team. The playing site may be able to copy/scan the results sheet to a file that could be placed in the dropbox mentioned above.
What’s your objective in doing this? Saving on equipment and software for the multiple sites? Or some other reason?
Seems you’d need a computer and printer to post pairings at each remote site, so all you’d save on is an extra software license, so $100. Or am I missing something?
You could potentially use GoToMyPC, a program which allows you to remotely access the desktop of one computer from another computer via internet connection. Thus, a remote TD could enter results on SwissSys at the home office, but you would only want one TD signed in to the home office computer at a time. Then again, GoToMyPC costs…about $100 a year. So you’re back where you started cost-wise.
Looks like an interesting run around to avoid paying affiliate fees and certification rules. Instead of having a local affiliate responsible for each site, this allows a superaffiliate to be the central locus. This goes beyond for profits like CCA, who has certified TDs, software, etc. on site with authority to make rulings, payments, and submission of reports. Are any of the events FIDE rated?
Avoiding affiliate fees? Maybe. If the TDs are working for a single multi-state entity then I can understand that multi-state entity having one affiliate ID. For that matter, a number of affiliate IDs are associated to specific TDs who can use their associated affiliate when directing for multiple organizers that do not have their own affiliate. Odds are that the rating fees generated in a single event often exceed what the annual affiliate fee would be.
Avoiding certification rules? Not without getting in trouble. Tim already said that the on-site TD needs to be certified at a level high enough to handle the tournament (including being an NA if it is FIDE rated). The off-site person cannot be the chief TD. The off-site person doing the pairings can be listed as a pairing TD, but that person needs to be at least an NA if the tournament is FIDE rated.
this certainly appears to be an area where USCF needs to evolve its thinking perhaps, to new technology. Certainly other industries are doing this sort of networking all the time. I get the TD on site thing, that should not be a difficult issue to deal with, as to tournament size.
I would hope that there was a LOT more to the story than simply a hard working TD doing what was necessary to promote and build our
federation, and then getting suspended by an perhaps overzealous TDCC.
the fact is, Tim, there is an ACUTE shortage of computer able tds in many areas, including DFW. Now, USCF can continue to not do much in
help of this situation, or to applaud those who are finding workable solutions.
Quite frankly Tim, which is a higher calling?? Appeasing TDCC or serving USCF??
it deals with the issue of a lack of computer capable tournament directors. It is called better marketing our product for growth. It seems like
far too often ideas are discouraged simply because we have not done them before. Time for a new age of thinking.
Now this is the kind of useful information I was looking for. It is not a cost issue, but one rather of central quality control, and availability
of computer tournament directors. And lets face it, most regular weekly events after the award of prizes are lucky to be much better than
break even. This is not at all sufficient for the for profit service industry. With such a system in place, it would be possible to have local
or club tournament directors running events for say, up to 40 or so players, (which means college and mature HS kids could be hired) to run
remote locations.
Personally, i think looking for ways to expand our services, and in being more creative in doing so is a good thing for our federation.
The under-certified on-site TDs were supporting evidence for other events with no certified on-site TDs.
Many players know most of the rules but I’ve done a number of non-rated events using experienced adult players (but non-TDs) as floor proctors and they were surprised at how often they would have confidently made rulings that were incorrect (it was only because I was there that they checked them with me first).
An unintentional undercertified TD is one thing. As an example, when I was a Local TD I ended up being the chief of a scholastic state all-grade when the scheduled chief (who I would be floor chief to) was hospitalized from a car accident and nobody else was available at the last second. Another example would be a tournament that regularly draws 60 and then one year drew 200.
An intentional undercertified TD is something else. If you advertise prizes based on 500 players and have a staff of only Club level TDs then the organizer and chief TD are blatantly not following the rules. Having a Local TD or Senior TD as chief of a tournament like the World Open would be another example. Not hiring a certified on-site TD would be another example.
I’ve trained at least four people to use WinTD. Tim Just has a great set of instructional videos on both WinTD and SwissSys. Given technology like Skype and screen casting, one could train computer TDs in remote locations. These can be the onsite TDs who run the small, break-even events. It will always go better if the computer TD is on site, if for no other reason than you need last minute changes.
And if your angle is growing chess, you’ve just created a whole bunch of new computer-assisted TDs in areas where there weren’t any.
When I train people, I do so knowing they’re going to work all over the place and run more events.
If you advertise prizes based on 500 players and have a staff of only Club level TD’s then you are in violation of the rules only if this is a category I or N tournament or a US Chess Grand Prix tournament, the only types of tournaments for which a Club TD is expressly forbidden to be the Chief TD. The limitations on a Club TD listed in the rules say that such a TD should not be the Chief TD for a category A, B or C tournament, but specifically do not say that a Club TD cannot be Chief TD of one of these unless it is a Grand Prix tournament.
I’m not saying that I endorse a Club TD being Chief TD for a category A, B, or C tournament that is not a Grand Prix event. I’m just saying there is no actual prohibition against it.
It seems to me that, if a club chief TD is limited to 100 players, and you are expecting 500, then you’d better have somebody higher than a club TD as your chief. Or, if you’re really expecting only 100 players, then advertising prizes based on 500 is, at best, a moral violation.
The Rules committee says that “should not” is the same as “must not unless there is a very good reason”. A chief TD getting into a car accident on the way to the tournament and getting hospitalized is a very good reason. A tournament that has consistently drawn 30-40 players and unexpectedly draws 300 is a very good reason.
An organizer not wanting to bother getting a qualified chief TD is a very poor reason.
Actually, a club TD is restricted to being the chief TD of an event with no more than 50 players (or 60 if there is an assistant and pairings are done by computer).
Rules aside, while I would agree that it would be near insanity for an inexperienced club td to attempt to run a C or higher level tournament, esp one with limited computer and pairing skills, the fact is there are quite a few VERY competent club tournament directors across our federation that for whatever reason simply have not “got around” to taking the local test, that have according to the rules directed and
submitted tournaments FAR larger in attendance than they were “qualified” for, and for the most part, with little incident. I remember for
example, seeing quite a few examples of this in California. And, several years ago now, we had a few very competent club TDs that directed
100+ events on a somewhat regular basis in the DFW area. Look, the fact is, USCF as a whole, and we in the local area simply must use
that which we have available. And there are MANY areas in our federation hurting for senior or even local computer capable tournament
directors with events that simply lack the budget to “bring” a TD superstar in. Frankly, USCF has a choice – either be nitpicky, and unnecessarily difficult for local organizers to deal with, which could very result in flight to alternatives, or to work with what is readily available.
Seems to me that the latter approach makes a whole lot more sense.
A heck of a lot easier said than done. First you have to find those volunteers. It is Quite a step from being a “parent td” to running the computer at a tournament. Quite a step, and a step very few are willing to take. Very few.