Transcontinental Scholastic Chess Super-Tournament

Transcontinental Scholastic Chess Super-Tournament

The first of a series of monthly tournaments, organized and sponsored by Innovative Chess Solutions. In addition to enjoying a first-class scholastic event from the safety and comfort of your own home, players will have the advantage of a respectable time control (G/45;+10) rather than the very brief ones typically offered by online chess tournaments. Additionally, they will have the potential of competing against players from all over the country (our last online tournament drew players from 11 states) for a truly transcontinental tournament.

Date: May 8, 2021

Online Platform: The tournament will be conducted using Chess.com’s online platform. Facilitating its operations will be our Chess.com club, entitled Innovative Chess Solutions Tournament Hall; each registrant will be invited thereto and encouraged to join. Unlike many other online events, we will not, except for the blitz, conduct a single unified Chess.com tournament that players join. Instead, at the appointed times, for each pair of players, the player assigned the color white shall transmit a game challenge to their opponent, compliant with the official time control and assigned colors. When their game has concluded, both are responsible for promptly reporting the result during the Goggle-meet call to a director.

Sections: Two, Open and Reserve (U700)

Rounds and Time Control: Four Rounds. Swiss system (no elimination). G/45+10.

Qualifications: Players who desire to participate in this tournament must be members in good standing of the United States of America Chess Federation (USCF) on the day of the tournament. Players may play up (i.e., an 500 rated player may play in the Open or Reserve section). Admission is limited to scholastic players (12th grade or under), along with those who completed high school during the present calendar year, regardless of geographic location.

Entry fee: $10 by 5/1; and $15 thereafter.

Registration: Online registration may be processed at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/transcontinental-scholastic-chess-super-tournament-1-registration-149086444569. All entry fees are refundable if requested within seven days of tournament commencement, but Eventbrite’s commission, which is in addition to the entry fee, is non-refundable. No entries will be accepted subsequent to noon on May 7.

Fair Play: In accordance with the recommendations of the USCF Executive Board and Chess.com, during game-play, players will be monitored by being on a Google-meet call; players will be required to maintain their cameras active and visible while playing games. Only the players and our tournament directors/staff will be admitted to the call. Additionally, players are bound by honor not to discuss the game with other persons (save their opponent and our tournament directors) until their game has concluded. For the avoidance of doubt, players are only required to be on the call when actually playing their games and reporting the result.

Blitz: There will be offered as an optional side-event, a five-round blitz tournament, wherein each round will begin as soon as practicable after the last one; its time control is G/5;d0. Additionally, the blitz fee is $5, which is processed upon online registration by selecting the appropriate add-on.

Schedule: Following the conclusion of each round, pairings will be released as soon as practicable. The first round shall commence at 10:00am, the second at 12:00pm, the third at 2:00pm and the fourth at 4:00pm. The blitz begins at 7:00pm. Around 8:15pm there will be a brief closing ceremony to announce the awardees of prizes and issue necessary announcements. However, attendance at the closing ceremony is optional and the final standings will be emailed to all registrants shortly thereafter. All stated times are Central Time (CST).

Byes: Each player will be entitled to a maximum of one ½ bye, but not for the final round; such byes must be requested no later than ten o’ clock antemedian on May 7. If in any round, for a section, there is an odd number of players, the player with the lowest rating (but not an unrated player) that has not been assigned or has requested a bye, will be assigned a one point bye. All bye requests are irrevocable for prize purposes and, if not allowed a ½ point bye, will be for zero points.

Notation: Notation is not required. Instead, Chess.com will automatically record moves of each game.

Technical Provisions: During every round, players will be advised to mute their computers, as during the call, if necessary, players will be allowed to ask rules and technical questions as may be necessary, and report results. In order to join the call you (or a parent) will need a Google account (which you will already have if you have an account for another Google service, such as Gmail, Google+, YouTube, etc.); we will provide you with a link to join the call. No game-play will be permitted to occur via I-pad, phone or like device, but rather through some form of computer, provided that waivers may be granted, if requested with sufficient notice, in cases of multi-children households without sufficient computers for all their players to participate.

Ratings: For section/prize qualification and pairing purposes, we be using the greater of players’ regular, over-the-board or online, USCF rating. Accordingly, your performance in this event will affect your rapid Chess.com rating and your USCF regular online rating.

USCF Rules: The entirety of the Official Rules of Chess complied by the United States Chess Federation as of May 8 will apply in all sections of the tournament, except as noted here or otherwise announced. Accessible at: https://new.uschess.org/news/7th-edition-rule-book-chapters-now-available-download-2/

Results: In every instance, if neither player reports the result in a timely manner, the game shall be declared double forfeit. When reporting, it shall be sufficient for the loser (or if drawn, both players) to signify the result during the Google-Meet call to a director.

Consumption of Food: There is no prohibition on consuming food/drink during the tournament, but players are advised that eating during game-play could negatively impact their performance.

Prizes: In the Open section, there will be awarded $100 in Amazon gift cards (b/20), with $50 to first place, $30 to second place and $20 to the highest placing player whose rating is below 1,000 (not receiving first or second place); if less than twenty paid entries are received, we may reduce these amounts proportionally by the percentage thereof not received. There will be awarded, in the Reserve section, 50% of entry fees thereof as Amazon gift cards, whose method of division shall be announced shortly following the close of registration. In like manner, for the blitz side-event, 40% of entry fees thereof will be awarded as Amazon gift cards. If two or more players are tied for any prize, the same will be divided between them equally. Certificates of participation will be mailed to those not receiving gift cards.

Affiliate: The affiliate submitting the rating report for this tournament is Innovative Chess Solutions.

Other Notes: In all games played, once you drop a piece on a legal square, it constitutes your move and cannot be reversed. Sections are subject to merger in the unlikely event of low turnout.

Contact: If you would like to receive more information or ask questions, please email csbrown.entrepreneur@gmail.com. Hopefully, this has been helpful for you and we will see you on May 8!