ABOUT SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENTS

• Scholastic events are for players K through K12 grades (ages 5 to 17)

• The scholastic events don't take place every Sunday. Please, consult our calendar.

• New players, returning players, all chess levels are welcome to join

• Scholastic tournaments are  one day events lasting 3-4 hours, 3 or 4 rounds. Sometimes scholastic tournaments can be a multi-week event. Please,  read the description of  each event

• The time control is either Game in 30 min with 5 seconds delay (G30d5) or Game in 45 min with 5 seconds delay (G45d5)

• Requires United States Chess Federation (USCF) membership to play. You can sign up on  uschess.org ($20/per year for youth membership)

BYES

• BYE means a "round skip".  Usually we allow 1 bye per 4 rounds events, 2 byes for 6 rounds events.  Byes are not allowed during 3 round events.  Players request a bye  if they cannot make it to the first round on time or if they need to take a break in the middle of the tournament. Byes are  1/2 points (same score as a draw). Those points are counted towards the tournament total score.

• If the section has an odd number of players, the player with the lowest score and rating is forced to seat out and receives a free 1 point bye. The player can only be asked to seat one 1 round, never more than 1 round.

• If the tournament allows unlimited number of byes, only 2 byes are 1/2 points, the rest are 0 points byes.

RATING

• https://chessklub.com/what-is-a-chess-rating/

UNRATED PLAYERS

• "UNRATED" player (listed as UNR) is a brand new player in USCF system with no prevoius chess  record in USCF system.  When the new player joins USCF they are considered to be an UNRATED player. 

• Unrated player gets their "provisional rating" after they play their first 4 USCF rated games. After playing 25 USCF rated games the player's provisional rating becomes their USCF rating.  

• The UNRATED player is usually placed in the lowest scholastic section (U300) but can request to be placed in any other section if they wish (Open, U800, U500 etc).

CHESS EQUIPMENT

• Try to bring a set including a clock if possible

• We will also have sets and clocks at the club for borrowing or purchasing ($15 - set, $20 - clock)

TYPES OF SCHOLASTIC EVENTS

• Our  large scholastic tournaments  are ran in 4 sections (OPEN, U800, U500 and U300) using Swiss pairing system.  Example: the tournament with 120 participants will have about 30 players in each section.  Usually top 5 in each section get awarded. 

• Our Quads tournaments are the events ran in small groups of 4-6 playres in each group, round robin type of event where everyone plays everyone in the group (except for groups with 6 players).  Top player of each such group gets awarded.

• Occassionally we run specialized events such as team matches, free introductory tourneys, other free events. In those cases, we might use hybrid pairings to pair participants closest in ratings.

AGENDA

Example of 3 round tournament (G30d2)

• 12:00 - First Round

• 1:00 pm - Second Round

• 2:00 pm - Third Round

• Around 3:15 - award ceremony

REGISTRATION,  FEES AND PRIZES

• One  day events are $30. Multi-day events are $40. Late registration is usually $10 more. We also run some completely free of chrage USCF rated events.  

• Registration for scholastic in-person events is online via CaissaChess.net, payments are processed  with Stripe payment processor.   All registration links will be  posted on our front page.

• All participants and their USCF profiles can be found on the registration as well as sections/groups they are playing in. Tentative pairings (board number, opponent's name, color of pieces) are done a night before the tournament and can be changed the morning of as some players can cancel their participation the last minute.

• We usually do not give any refunds but keep credit with us for any future scholastic event. In that case, families who have credit with us should send us email if they are interested in any future scholastic  event, and we will include them. 

• Prizes are trophies or medals, Amazon gift cards, Venmo, chess gifts / t shirts (prizes differ from tournament to tournament).  For example, for Quads tournaments we give either medal or small trophy,  gift card.  Prizes are usually announced in the event registration.

CaissaChess Tournament Site

• All participants can follow the tournament live via CaissaChess..  The page link can be found on registration site, on our scholastic site, and will be emailed to all participants before the event.

• CaissaChess Tournament page will display pairings, standings, bye requests, team performance. In addition, families and friends can sign up for text message notifications (board number, opponent's name and color of pieces) or email updates (the whole section performance: standings/pairings are emailed).