I semi-recently played in a one game/week club event and performed well, winning the tournament. However, the event concluded back in November and still has not been submitted for rating (nor have I been able to obtain my prize, but that is a separate issue) despite my repeated attempts to contact the organizer. Normally this would not be a big issue for me but I anticipate breaking (or coming very close to) an important rating barrier from this event, and I assume that the tournament won’t be accepted for rating forever. Is there any way to speed up this process?
(I should mention that I have no desire to get the organizer into trouble here, and I have no reason to believe the delay is attributable to anything other than forgetfulness)
That’s one of those situations where, in order to get something reasonable to happen, you may have to do something you’re not quite comfortable doing.
Maybe offer to help the organizer prepare his rating report. Maybe even submit the report yourself, if you can get ahold of the results. Maybe even pay the rating fee?
Is the chief TD the same as the organizer? As we now rerate tournaments going back several years, I think your (implicit) concern that you won’t reach the rating barrier is unfounded. Mr. Smythe is right, though, that you may need to file a complaint.
The office has to approve an event being submitted more than 6 months after it ended, but otherwise it can still be rated and will be put into its proper chronological order when it is rerated.
If it is a club event you can contact the other officers (if any) and see if you can help them with the submission. Submitting the event using paper cross-tables is possible (more expensive, but possible). If the results are on a club website they can be pulled from that. US Chess does not require color information for submitted tournaments (it’s very nice to do but not actually required). The most problematic reason for the delay would be lost results (but if the pairing sheets with the entered results are still available everything can be recreated). An easier possibility would be missing memberships/erroneous IDs.
I think Smythe Dakota is on to something here. Several times, when tournament reports have not been submitted in the North Texas area have been due to issues either with the tournament itself, in regard to software issues, or to computer issues.
One of the most common issues is that newer tds forget to create unique files to place tournament reports into, and then have difficulty finding them, or the computer
crashes, causing data loss, or the inability to access data until laptop is repaired. I think the proper course of action is to first kindly approach the tournament organizer/td and ask if there is anything you can do to assist in helping with the tournament getting rated.
Also, if memberships need be purchased, and this was overlooked, and expenses not collected, then td/organizer may be unable/unwilling to eat the costs of these memberships.
US Chess has very recently been made aware of this situation. We have made contact with the affiliate, and are working to resolve the issue expeditiously.
As one who has directed 32 tournaments, I don’t see this as a valid excuse. One of the responsibilities of the TD is to make sure all participants have a current USCF membership, and every TD should know that. If I, as a TD, didn’t do that for some participants, I’d regard that as my error and I’d expect to have to make good on it.
“I don’t blame people for their mistakes, but I do ask that they pay for them.” - John Hammond, in Jurassic Park
TDs can pay a $10 correction fee when submitting their events if they find during the validation process that a non-member slipped through the cracks. We do monitor the usage of this fee, and have not seen any signs of abuse.
Unlike the $20 three-month membership, which organizers can offer at their events, the $10 correction fee does not include any membership benefits.