In another thread, there has been some discussion about whether the TD or the organizer is liable in the event of improperly paid prize funds.
I’m curious as to what exactly the TD is responsible for, and what exactly the organizer is responsible for.
For example, it is pretty clear that the organizer is responsible for the prize fund getting paid, but how about the tournament getting rated? Also, what are you supposed to do if you direct a tournament for an organizer who doesn’t pay the prize fund, or doesn’t pay it properly?
I agreed to TD a scholastic tournament with about 30 players for a fixed amount. 170 showed up. During that time, i would get updated registrations from the organizer, which a few of them were incorrect and misspelled. Almost all of them didn’t have a USCF ID attached.
During the tournament, there were parents telling kids to play other kids, but I was too busy to do anything about it, and the organizer just tried to make the parents happy.
After the tournament, the organizer and I got together and got all the new memberships and stuff together. I offered to submit online, he declined and asked to send it in through snail mail.
There were over 100 errors with the memberships. As a TD, it’s impossible to get something done right with limited information, and a poorly organized tournament. Any missing membership / player information, and the TD is helpless since the organizer has all that information.
Most organizers that want a director, understand the limits of the skills they have as a director. Do not have major problems with organizers that are USCF members. The older and stronger in rating the organizer is, the less problems I have. When the organizer has never been in any over-the-board tournament. When the organizer is a group of people without any firm leader of the group. Will see a number of red flags going up just on the first meeting.
The director has to understand the organizer. Just because the organizer wants you to be the director, some times it would be best to decline the work. If the organizer is a non-USCF member, for better or worse, it could be best just to have it as a non-USCF tournament. If the organizer is a non-USCF member, what the organizer thinks and feels are correct, never happens in any USCF tournament.
The problem with the organizer and the director, they are not on the same page. Some organizers get the director, the director only feels they only have to come to the site (one time) and perform the duties and go home with the paperwork. That is going to be a huge problem! The organizer and the director have to have communication before the tournament to settle any problem, or know will happen before the start of the tournament. If the director and organizer are going to have a fight about simple problems after the tournament, like membership, tournament reporting, rating fees, prize awards. Well its both the problems of the director and organizer, as they never settle the problem before the tournament.
This is a very important and timely thread that raises several important issues.
IMO, the organizer is without question responsible for prizes, memberships, etc. However, what the exact breakdown in responsibilities is determined by the communication between TD and organizer.
I had a nearly identical experience to ThunderChicken’s a few weeks ago. I finished the event thoroughly disgusted and felt that I would have been taken advantage of at triple the TD fee. As was the case of TC’s post, it was with a rookie organizer.
Which brings me to the all important question: As TD’s we are required to meet qualifications, and take tests to verify that we are competent to direct. Why then aren’t there equally stringent regulations for organizing USCF events?
At this point, a chimp can (and sometimes has) organized events. Organizers also have a series of rules they must follow, and ignorance of these rules is not an excuse for disregarding them. FIDE has an Organizer title, shouldn’t USCF?
Another try might be for the TD and the Organizer to draw up a contract and define what each of them will or will not do, even if the TD is working for free. Dan Burg (the other guy with his name on the rulebook cover) tried that a couple of times as a TD; however, the organizer did not want to sign the contract. A contract would be useful when questions come up later. As Judge Wappner has always said–“get it in writing”.
The problem with an organizer … anyone can be an organizer. Most organizers, have some common understanding of a USCF tournament. Organizers that want a small and local tournament, will become a club director.
In central Ohio scholastic events, new organizers or organizing teams tend to spring from the pool of parents at existing events. Events here use a double-team: Chief TD – to oversee playing operations and supervision of monitors on the floor – and an ATD exclusively for pairings. It works very smoothly. The organizer (and/or committee) can then focus on logistical and financial issues. Unless the TD is really inexperienced (rare around here), there are seldom any problems. Because the organizers aren’t concerned with the playing area, they can concentrate on keeping the multitude of kibitzers/parents/coaches/family members happy and fed. And if the TD needs a few minutes of relief or an additional hand during a round, the ATD (also a certified TD) can step up.
Bottom line: A novice organizer (or committee) is counseled very early in the process by experienced organizers, knows what to expect, has a realistic timeline, recruits the TD/ATD pair well ahead of time, and has resource people to tap as needed (locally and through the state scholastic chess organization).
Unfortunately most of us don’t have that support network to build upon. I’m trying to bring some rated events to my neck of the woods. I have only done 1 event before that was big enough to put a TLA in, and I’m also directing because: a) I don’t know anyone around here that I could get to TD and b) I wouldn’t have the budget to pay them anyways!!
I guess that I’ll just have to do the trial by fire for a few events.
It’s not exactly paradise, but it IS one heck of a lot nicer than being both organizer and director.
If you are primarily concerned with adult tournaments then you will often see the organizer and director being the same person, especially with the smaller tournaments. Scholastics can be a very different story.
About 20 years ago K-8 tournaments in the Chicago suburbs moved to the method mentioned by tdpairings. The rated tournaments started growing by word of mouth from 40-60 kids each at 2-3 tournaments to 200-500 kids each at 6-12 tournaments. Occasionally an organizer might put in a TLA, but most of the rated tournaments are simply on the local scholastic calendar. Organizers come and go, but the number of tournaments from year to year seems to be fluctuating in a slowly increasing trend.
During the initial growth phase the tournaments were small enough for the chief TD at that time (Erv Sedlock, who retired to Florida and still directs there) to assist the organizers in how things should run. As time went on there were a number of experienced organizers that could advise a new organizer on how to do an inaugural event.
Not every organizer listens to them though. I’ve been lucky in that the organizers I’ve worked with so far have been among those that listened, and that’s probably because new organizers contact me after having been to events I’ve directed for those experienced organizers.
With organizers taking care of everything but the tournament room/pairing/prize allocation issues, it is possible for a comparatively small number of TDs to direct multiple tournaments without getting burnt out.
Rob, if you are in a position to create a couple of scholastic tournaments (or know somebody in that position that you can work with) then you may find organizers-to-be contacting you to direct events that they organize.
They may actually want you to also organize them at their site, but that would be a good time to start a split of responsibilities and start training the first of what may become an experienced pool of organizers.
As the number of tournaments starts to increase, the number of opportunities to train new TDs also increases and you can start working on building a solid staff that can carry on after you retire.
To jwiewel: We should get in touch sometime (aman@sxu.edu). I live in central Ohio but teach in Chicago so split my time between the cities. I didn’t think Columbus could be unique in this approach to scholastic events, and I’m glad to hear that Chicago has adopted it.
Robgetty: When I read your response, my first thought (after locating your city on a map) was that there might be another tournament-experienced chess player (perhaps even the parent of one of your local players) who could be interested in learning pairings software (WinTD or SwissSys). We can pursue this by email, if you’d rather not tie up the thread.
Actually, I’ m not trying to do scholastic tournaments; I’m trying to do a regular open tournament since almost every tournament in Virginia is in either Springfield (next to DC) or down in Virginia Beach. There is one tournament in Charlottesville each year, and it drew 50+ players, so I am hopeful that there is enough of a demand in our part of the state.
There is actually a well developed scholastic tournament system that plays around here; however, they actually import a director from another part of the state when they play around here. (I’ve actually made contact with the organizer of the state scholastic tournament to ask if they would like an extra volunteer TD so I could get some scholastic experience since I have never directed a scholastic.)