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2005 HANDBOOK FOR PLAYERS AND PARENTS |
Thank you for entering MCC’s Summer Scholastic Chess Program. If you participated in the Program in previous years, we offer you a hearty welcome back! We are very gratified to have repeat customers. If this is your first experience with the Summer Program — maybe even with tournament chess — we want you to feel comfortable and have a great time.
To help make the Program as successful and fun as possible, we want to make sure that everyone knows and understands the rules and policies under which the Program is conducted. For that purpose we have put together this Handbook for you, which significantly expands on the information in the tournament announcement (flyer). We thought you might find it convenient to have your own copy for reference. (You veterans will be familiar with this document from earlier years, but you should look through this new edition anyway since it has been revised in many places to reflect changes that we made to the Program for this year.)
There is a lot of material here because we don’t want any player to be disadvantaged by misunderstanding or not knowing the rules. The Summer Program attracts players with a wide range of experience and knowledge of tournament chess. Accordingly this Handbook not only covers the basics but also provides a more detailed explanation of some topics. Veteran tournament players, who already know the basics, will be interested in learning more of the detail, whereas players new to tournament chess will need to learn the basics and might not want to be concerned about all the details. Make use of the information as it best suits your experience level.
This handbook is available for download on the club site at www.MetroWestChess.org. The full version of this handbook is also available at the same location.
If you have any questions, please email us at Scholastics@MetroWestChess.org or see the tournament director.
See you at the Club!
Table of Contents
Program Staff
The club and its programs including the Summer Scholastics is run as a volunteer organization with no paid positions. Club members donate their time and effort to support and assist in the running of the club and its activities.
The Senior Center Facility
The MetroWest Chess Club meets at the
The MCC is only one of many groups that use this facility. While we are privileged to enjoy such a fine venue for our tournaments, our continued use of the site depends on our “good behavior” and respect for the other user groups and the staff that manages the facility. Accordingly we ask all Summer Program participants to be careful of the building and its furnishings, and we make two requests in particular:
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Please help clean up from each night’s play
so that we leave the building as clean and neat as it was when we arrived.
·
Please do not play pool in the lounge.
We solicit the assistance of players, parents and other adults
in helping us maintain our good relationship with the
To get you oriented, here is a diagram of the facility:
There is no public telephone at the
Some vending machines (sodas and meager snacks) and drinking water are located in the hall near the lounge. You may also bring items to eat or drink into the building, but please be mindful of your trash and clean up after yourself. Be careful to take all your belongings with you when you leave.
Beginning and Ending Times
Please see the description of the current year’s Summer Program for details of tournaments, round dates, and beginning times. Also, please note carefully that the tournament directors will do everything possible to ensure that tournament nights do not run inappropriately late. In particular, the tournament directors will adhere strictly to the start time each night. We appreciate your cooperation in helping us ensure games begin in a timely manner.
Pairings
Once you have registered
in a tournament, you will be paired for each round that you are present to
play. Because the tournament director will do the pairings for the next round
based on who is present, players should check in at the Club no later than
If for some reason you have played the first of two games in the evening and you do not wish to play the second game, please clearly notify the tournament director so you will not be paired against someone and have the child waiting with no one to play.
If you have not yet entered the current tournament when you arrive at the Club to play, see the tournament director immediately to register. If you have already registered, find your name on the wall chart that is posted for your section and put a check mark beside your name to indicate that you are present. (If you don’t see your name on the wall chart, see the tournament director immediately.) A few minutes before the next round is scheduled to start, the tournament director (TD) will collect the wall charts for all sections and give half-point (if eligible) or zero-point byes to all players who have not checked in (see “Byes”). The TD will then pair the remaining players for the next round (see “Pairings”). In order to ensure that you are included in the pairings for the next round, remember to check in!
Note: If you play in tournaments other than the MetroWest Chess Club Summer Scholastic program, remember that checking in before rounds is not standard tournament practice. Normally, once you enter a tournament, you are assumed to be present and are paired in all rounds unless you notify the tournament director in advance. (This is the case, for example, in the regular Tuesday night MetroWest Chess Club tournaments.)
Spectators
While we try to create a more relaxed chess environment in the Summer Program, it is nevertheless a USCF-sanctioned event, and that requires that we conduct it in accordance with certain standards. Moreover, we respect and will protect the principle that chess is a game between two players, and only those two players have the right of determining their game’s outcome within the rules of the game. Balancing these concerns, we have adopted a policy of not permitting spectators to watch games in progress in the tournament room(s).
For this purpose spectators include other players who have completed their game. The reasons for this policy are to minimize the noise and level of distraction in the tournament room for the benefit of all players whose games are in progress, and to avoid any possibility of spectator interference, whether intended or not. (For example, some players might feel uncomfortable or intimidated to have an adult watching their game — especially if that adult is their opponent’s parent!) In addition, we encourage parents to help their children become accustomed to being on their own in the playing room because in almost any other venue, and particularly in most scholastic tournaments that your child might participate in, parents are not allowed in the playing room.
Who Plays Whom
The Pairing Sheet
In a tournament, a pairing sheet is used to let each player know (1) who her or his opponent is, (2) what color to play, and (3) at what board number to play. Boards (or, to be more precise, places on the tables in the tournament room) are numbered so that players can find their assigned places to play. The first player listed (in the left player column) is always the person playing White; the person playing Black is always listed in the second (right) player column.
A pairing sheet sometimes shows other information as well, such as ratings and pairing numbers. The ratings are as of the start of the tournament and remain the same throughout the tournament. “Unr” stands for “unrated” and indicates a player for whom the USCF has not yet calculated a rating. The pairing number simply indicates the player’s place in a list of all players in the tournament (or section) based on rating, with number 1 being the highest-rated player. The pairing sheet is also where the players record the results of their games when they have finished playing (see “Recording Game Results”).
Below is an example of a pairing sheet when it is posted at the beginning of a round. This example also shows the players’ ratings but not their pairing numbers. Note also that because there was an odd number of players, someone had to be paired out and received a full-point bye for the round. (Alternative messages show up for a player who gets paired out. “See T.D.” and “Please Wait” are common ones.)
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Getting Started Open — Pairings for Rnd 2 |
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Bd |
Res |
White Player |
Res |
Black Player |
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1 |
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Michael Chessplayer (1855) |
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John Pawnpusher (2295) |
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2 |
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Ross Knight (2000) |
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Benjamin Bishop (1937) |
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3 |
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Carrie Careful (1375) |
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Donna Queen (1735) |
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4 |
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Tinker Thinker (1602) |
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5 |
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Froggy Forfeiter (unr) |
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Jill Jilted (1575) |
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1 |
Pierre d’Out (1125) — See T.D. |
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Getting Paired Out
If your section has an odd number of players for a given round, you might be “paired out” for that round (it’s got to happen to someone), meaning that there is no one in the section to pair you against. The player paired out is usually the lowest-rated player in the lowest score group, but an unrated player could also be paired out. If you are paired out, you will receive a full-point bye for that round, which counts just like winning a game for purposes of scoring. No one will be paired out more than once during any single tournament. If possible, we’ll give a player who is paired out the option of playing a side game (see “Side Games”).
Side Games
Side games are games that do not count as part of a tournament but may count for rating. Players who may be paired in side games are those who have been paired out of a tournament round, whose opponents have not shown up, or who have completed both tournament game early (that is, before 8:30 pm). Players interested in playing a side game should notify the tournament director, who will pair them if possible. Because side games depend entirely on who happens to be available, however, rating disparities between potential opponents often must be disregarded.
The following conditions apply to side games:
· Both players must have the permission of their accompanying adult to play a side game after playing two tournament games. This is to ensure that the players are not staying out later than the adult is comfortable with.
· Both players must agree to play. Either player may decline the side game for any reason, including a disparity in ratings.
· Both players must agree, before starting play, that the game will be rated, and notify the tournament director accordingly. If either player does not want to play for rating, the players may choose to play a non-rated game (“just for fun”).
· If the game is to be rated, the side game will be added to a tournament pairing sheet, where the players record the result. The game will be included in the tournament report to USCF and will be factored into the players’ rating calculations.
· The players use some method such as flipping a coin or choosing hidden pawns to determine who plays which color. In a rated side game colors must be determined randomly, by the tournament director, so it is not acceptable for either player to “volunteer” to play White or Black, even if the other player agrees.
Byes
In tournament chess, a bye is given for any round that a player does not play, forfeits excepted. There are full-point, half-point and zero-point byes that correspond in scoring to a win (1 point), a draw (½ point), and a loss (0 point) respectively.
· Full-point byes are given only in the case of a player being paired out.
· Half-point byes are given in many tournaments (a) for rounds already played by the time a player enters a tournament, and (b) when a player requests a bye in advance. Players are usually permitted to take only a small number of half-point byes (one or two typically) in any tournament. In some tournaments no half-point byes at all are allowed.
· Zero-point byes are given in the following circumstances:
o A player is given a zero-point bye for any round for which he or she requests a bye and is not permitted to take a half-point bye, either because half-point byes were not allowed at all or because the player has already taken the maximum number allowed.
o A player who withdraws from a tournament or forfeits a game is given zero-point byes for all remaining rounds in that tournament (see “Forfeits”).
Requesting Byes
In most tournaments a procedure is in place for players to request byes in advance. We have found this to be both cumbersome and ineffective in past Summer Programs. For that reason, we run the Summer Program differently in that we take a “roll call” each night and pair only players who are present (or have left a message as described under “Pairings (Basics)”). Byes are given to all players who are not present. But there is one situation where a player should request a bye: if you decide to leave after playing only the early game on a Thursday, please let the tournament director know that you are leaving and that he should not pair you for the late round that night.
Forfeits
A player forfeits when he or she does not show up to play a game for which he or she was paired. A player who forfeits is given a zero for a forfeit loss and is not paired in future rounds unless reinstated by the tournament director. The opponent of a player who forfeits is given one point for a forfeit win. Forfeits are rude because they leave one and sometimes two players without an opponent for a round. (If there is an odd number of players and you forfeit, then not only does your opponent not have a game but the player who was paired out also does not have a game.) Please be conscientious: don’t forfeit!
Please note that a forfeit is different from a resignation (see “Resignation”). A forfeit is when the game is not played because one or both players do not show up. A resignation is when the game is played and one player decides to resign — to “give up” or quit — before either player achieves checkmate. Forfeits do not factor into a player’s rating calculation (see “Ratings”); resignations do. (See also “Recording Game Results.”)
Resignations
A player resigns when he chooses to stop playing any time after he has made at least one move in a game. Players usually resign because they come to the conclusion (rightly or wrongly) that they have little or no chance of winning or drawing the game, and they choose not to continue playing in a “lost cause”; but a player may choose to resign for any reason, regardless of what the position on the board is. To resign simply means, “I give up, you win.” Once a player has resigned, that conclusively ends the game. The opponent does not have a choice whether to accept the resignation or not, and the player who resigns may not take back his resignation if he suddenly sees a potentially saving move. When a player resigns, the score to be recorded on the pairing sheet is a “0” for the player who resigned and a “1” for his opponent, just as if the winner had checkmated the loser (see “Recording Game Results”).
A common way to indicate that you resign is to tip over your king intentionally. (It is not a resignation if you knock your king over accidentally.) In adult tournaments, resigning players often do not tip their king over, they simply stop both clocks without making a move. In any case, once you have resigned, it is customary and good sportsmanship to shake hands with your opponent.
Please note that a resignation is different from a forfeit (see “Forfeits”). A forfeit is when the game is not played because one or both players do not show up. A resignation is when the game is played and one player decides to resign before either player achieves checkmate. Forfeits do not factor into a player’s rating calculation (see “Ratings”); resignations do.
Scoring
In chess, points are awarded for game results as follows (see also “Recording Game Results”):
· 1 for each win, forfeit win, and full-point bye for being paired out
· ½ for each draw (and each half-point bye for rounds not played, as applicable)
· 0 for each loss or forfeit, and each zero-point bye for rounds not played
Recording Game Results
The pairing sheet includes result columns where the players record the result of their games when they have finished playing (see “Pairing Sheet”). In a tournament both players are responsible for making sure that their result is recorded. Results are recorded as shown in the following example:
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Getting
Started Open -- Pairings for Rnd 2 |
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Bd |
Res |
White Player |
Res |
Black Player |
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1 |
0 |
Michael Chessplayer (1855) |
1 |
John Pawnpusher (2295) |
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2 |
1/2 |
Ross Knight (2000) |
1/2 |
Benjamin Bishop (1937) |
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3 |
1 |
Carrie Careful (1375) |
0 |
Donna Queen (1735) |
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4 |
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Tinker Thinker (1602) |
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5 |
F |
Froggy Forfeiter (unr) |
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