Welcome!  Whether this is your first tournament or you’ve been here before, we hope that you may find the following information helpful…

Scholastic chess tournaments can be a lot of things—exciting, fun, stressful, challenging, a great way to meet new friends—are just some of what a tournament can be.  If you are new to scholastic chess, understanding how things work will help you enjoy the event rather than wandering about, wondering if you’re doing the right thing.

The Gilbert Parents Chess Association (GPCA) is a group of “chess parents” who’ve gotten together to help support, promote, and grow scholastic chess in Gilbert and surrounding areas.  We’re an all volunteer, non-profit organization (by the way, we could always use more volunteers…).  A big part of what we do is sponsor six scholastic chess tournaments during each school year.    What follows is some information on how scholastic chess tournaments work:

RATINGS
The GPCA tournaments are all “rated” tournaments.  Rated means that all games played will be submitted to the United States Chess Federation (USCF) for rating.  The rating system is a statistical and probability theory based method for establishing the strength of chess players.  Ratings can range from 100 (for someone who knows how pieces move, but moves them randomly) to over 2700.  A rating above 2000 is considered “expert”, over 2200 “master”. The basic theory of the USCF's rating system is that the difference between the ratings of players is a guide to predicting the outcome of a contest between those two players. Ratings are useful for organizing tournament sections, and for comparing player strengths.  The greater the difference between two player’s ratings, the greater the odds are that the higher rated player will win.  It takes 25 rated games to establish a rating, although a “provisional” rating will be calculated after just four tournament games.  In the 25 game provisional period, a player’s rating can fluctuate greatly.  Once they establish a rating, the amount of change tends to slow.  Ratings are published every other month by the USCF in what is called a “rating supplement”.  The rating from the most recent rating supplement is used in the tournament to rank the player, and establish the first round matches.  In addition, the USCF calculates new ratings weekly or bi-monthly and publishes these ratings on their web site at www.uschess.org.  Weekly updates however, are not used in tournament pairings.

PAIRINGS
All of the GPCA tournaments use what is called the Swiss System for establishing the games.  In a Swiss tournament, each player will play in every round—there is no “elimination”. (An exception would be if there were an odd number of people entered in a section.  Since it takes two people to play a chess game, with an odd number of players, one person in the section will receive a full point “bye”—they will get a point without playing anyone.).  Players will also not play anyone from the same team (school) or play the same player twice in the same tournament.
All of the pairings—or deciding who plays whom—is decided by chess pairing software.  It’s complicated to explain, but the pairing software considers the player’s rating, whether they need to play black or white, if they’ve played an individual already in the tournament, and how many points they have in the tournament.  Using these considerations (and more!) the software pairs players for each round.  These pairings are then posted on a wall, so the players will know who they are playing, what color they are, and which board to play at (designated by a board number).  Often times you will hear an announcement “PAIRINGS ARE UP!” and there will be a mad rush of kids to the postings.  Everyone just needs to be patient in getting their pairing, the round can’t start until every player is at their board.
There are other pairing methods in addition to the Swiss system—round robin (everyone plays everyone else) and quads (groups of four playing a round robin)—are the most common.

POINTS
Points are awarded based on how the players do in each round.  A win gets one point, a draw (tie) gets a half a point, and a loss gets zero points.  In a four round tournament like the GPCA runs, a maximum score would be 4 points, a minimum score would be zero points.  Points are what determine how the players place in the tournament, and what awards are received.  In GPCA tournaments, we give trophies to 5th place.  Medals are awarded to anyone getting three points (if they don’t get a trophy).  If a player does not win a trophy or medal, they will receive a participation ribbon.  Other tournaments have different award structures (including cash to some places), but they all use the point system.  Where more than one person has the same number of points (very common), then statistical tiebreakers are used to determine places.  Again, it is rather complicated to explain, but basically tiebreakers are determined based on the “strength of schedule”, and how the player’s opponents faired in the tournament.  If more than one player has a “perfect score” (4 points), then a “Blitz playoff” will decide final placement.  Blitz is a version of chess where each player only has five minutes to complete their game.   It is exciting to both play and watch!

REPORTING RESULTS
At the end of each game, both players must set the chess board back up.  Then both players have to report their results.  They should go to the reporting table (which will be pointed out at the beginning of the tournament) and tell the score keeper which board they were playing on, and who won.  Both players must agree on the results.

TIME CONTROLS
All chess tournaments use a time control—a limit on how long games can last.  In the GPCA tournaments, the time control is “Game in 40”, often abbreviated G40.  This means that each player gets 40 minutes to complete their game—which results in a maximum total game time of 80 minutes (if each player uses all of their 40 minutes).  Time controls in other tournaments range from G5 (a blitz tournament) to such time controls as 40/2, G60 (meaning a player has 2 hours to make 40 moves and then must finish the game in 60 minutes—if both players use all their time, a game in this time control would last six hours!).  Chess clocks are special two-faced clocks that are stopped and started as players make moves.  Clocks allow the players to monitor and control their time in a tournament.  Clocks are not required in GPCA tournaments, but their use is encouraged so that players can get used to managing their time.  There are some rules on the use of clocks, the most important being that the player with black gets to decide on which side of the board to place the clock, and that the white player gets to pick which clock to use (unless one of the clocks is a digital clock and the other isn’t.  Digital clocks are “preferred equipment” and must be used if available.).  Chess clocks are not difficult to operate, and if your opponent provides a clock you are not familiar with, just ask him/her how to use it.

A player can “lose on time” if they run out of time on their clock before the game is over.  Occasionally, you will see a Tournament Director (TD) place a clock on a board where a game is in progress.  This is because there was no clock at the beginning of the game, and it is getting close to the time for the round to end.  In this case, each player will get equal time on the clock, and then must play as if the clock had been there since the first move.

Time delays – some digital clocks have a time delay feature.  This is a short amount of time (five seconds) at the beginning of each move.  After the time delay, the clock begins deducting the player’s actual game time.  Time delay is helpful when players run very low on time, as they’ll always have at least five seconds to move.  If time delay is used in a G40 round, the clock will be set at 35 minutes instead of 40.

GENERAL RULES

TOUCH MOVE:  Perhaps one of the most difficult rules for the beginning chess player is the “touch move” rule.  In most casual games, players (particularly young ones) have a “rule” that as long as you don’t let go of a piece, you can take back your move.  Tournament chess is played under “touch move” rules—if you touch a piece, you must move it if it can be legally moved.  Also, if you touch an opponent’s piece, you must take it if you legally can. A move is considered complete when the hand is removed from the piece.  Here are some examples:

Joey picks up his queen, and moves it right next to Suzie’s rook.  Joey lets go of the queen, then realizes that Suzie can capture his queen.  He tries to take back his move.  Suzie can claim “touch move” and Joey MUST leave his queen there.

Suzie reaches for her Queen, and touches it.  But she realizes that if she moves her queen, it will leave some other piece undefended.  So Suzie moves another piece instead.  Joey can claim “touch move” and Suzie MUST move her queen to any legal square.

Joey touches his king, and then decides to move something else.  Suzie claims “touch move”.  But moving Joey’s king to any other square results in the king being in check (which is an illegal move).  Joey does NOT have to move his king, because he has no legal move for it.

So it is important for a player to study their move BEFORE they touch the piece!  It helps if ALL games, even casual or friendly games are played with touch move rules.

PLAYER CONDUCT:  Players must be quiet in the playing area at all times.  They can not distract their opponent or others around them.  Also, under no circumstances, are players allowed to discuss a game, gesture, or write notes to any player around them.  This is called “kibitzing” (I have no idea why) and is a serious rule violation.  Imagine a player leaning over to another one and whispering “you have mate in two moves.”  That would be completely unfair to that player’s opponent.   Penalty up to forfeit of the game or even removal from the tournament could be imposed.  Sportsmanship is an important part of chess, and it’s important that we all be gracious winners, and good losers.  Players should shake hands before each match, and at the end of each match.  Please be aware that shaking hands formalizes the end of the game.  If players agree on a result, and shake on it, the result stands—even if they later realize that it really wasn’t checkmate.  So encourage your participant to make sure that the game is really over before they shake.

If at any time during a tournament game, a player has a disagreement with their opponent, a problem with the game, or a question; they must raise their hand and wait for a tournament director to come over to their board.  The tournament director is not allowed to intervene in a tournament game unless one of the players asks for assistance by raising their hand.

SPECTATOR CONDUCT:  Spectators (including the player’s chess coach) also must remain quiet and not “kibitz”.  Even if a spectator witnesses an illegal move, they can not say anything to the players.  For that reason, it is usually best to not even watch. Not only will you not be tempted to say something, most players find spectators (especially their own parents) distracting.  If you have concerns about a game, please contact a tournament director.

BYES
As already mentioned, if there are an odd number of players in a section, one player will not be matched up for a round.  This is called a “full point bye”.  The player will receive a point, just like they had played and won a game.   In addition, a player may ask for a bye in advance, for any round they’d like to.  This is called a “half point bye”.   In the case of a requested bye, the player is awarded a half point, just like they played and drew (tied) a game.  Multiple byes may be requested.  Taking byes allows players and families to do other things on tournament day such as attend/play a soccer game (or maybe sleep in late?).


This sounds like a lot of rules, but the kids adapt quickly!  Chess tournaments are fun for the entire family—the players, non-playing siblings, and the parents.  Be aware that chess tournaments can be “all day affairs”.  There will be waiting time in between rounds, because not all games finish at the same time, and the next round can not be paired until all games are complete.  Be sure to bring something to keep the kids entertained (though they usually do a good job of entertaining each other).  Concessions including food, snacks, and drinks are available, but you are free to bring whatever you’d like.  Many people also bring folding chairs, tables, and even portable shade!

Standings will be posted after each round.  They can be a little confusing to interpret at first.  If you have any questions, just ask someone!  In fact, if at any time during the tournament you have a question, feel free to ask one of the volunteers, or anyone else who just looks like they have a clue.  All the chess parents were first timers at one point, and you’ll find them a very friendly, helpful bunch of people!  Thanks, and remember the most important tournament rule…..HAVE FUN!