2025 Midwest Collegiate Chess Tournament
4 round team Swiss event with each team coming from a different college in the Midwest.
USCF Regular rated G/60;d/5
Rules and more info at the bottom.
Where: University of Northern Iowa, Maucker Union, University Room
1015 Maucker Rd, Cedar Falls, IA 50614
When: March 29th, 2025
Onsite Registration:
9:00AM-10:00AM
Rounds:
Round 1: 10:00 AM
Round 2: 1:00 PM
Round 3: 3:30 PM
Round 4: ASAP
Tiebreaker blitz for prizes immediately after round 4 if needed, USCF Blitz rated.
Entry Fee:
$60 per team.
$5 each for current UNI Students. Bring your UNI ID to verify for the discounted price if paying in person.
Prize Info:
Plaques for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams.
Parking Info:
Lang Hall (2401 Wisconsin St, Cedar Falls, IA 50614) has a convenient parking lot very close to Maucker Union that may be used.
If more parking is needed, many metered parking spaces are available at 1215 W 23rd St, Cedar Falls, IA 50613, which is a small parking garage on campus.
Team Event Rules:
The tournament will be structured like a normal Swiss Tournament, but with teams getting paired against each other rather than individual players.
Each team will consist of 4 players. Any college is welcome to bring as many teams as they would like, and each team may also have up to 2 reserve players that can be subbed in before the start of any round.
Board numbers within teams will be based on USCF Regular rating, with Unrated players playing the bottom boards.
In each round, each team's board 1 will always play the other's board 1, board 2 will play board 2, and so on. The team with the higher total score wins the match. If the scores are even, the match is a draw. Individual game scores are also kept for rating purposes.
If, at the end of the 4 rounds, there is a tie for first, second, or third, then a Blitz tiebreaker will be used to settle the tie.
Tiebreak Rules (if needed):
The following tiebreak procedure will only be used to settle any ties between places that can win plaques. This may include ties for first, second, or third. Ties for any other placements do not need to be broken, as they do not affect prizes. Normal blitz games that happen within tiebreaks will be USCF rated.
For ties involving more than 2 teams:
Each tiebreak blitz match described in this section is a match where boards 1 through 4 of each team play a game of G/5;d/3 Blitz chess against each other.
A single elimination bracket seeded by tiebreak points will be created. If 3 teams are tied, the 2nd and 3rd seeds play a tiebreak blitz match and the winner moves on along with the 1st seed. If 4 teams are tied, the 1st and 4th seeds play a tiebreak blitz match, and the 2nd and 3rd seeds play a tiebreak blitz match. The winners of each match move on. If more than 4 teams are tied, only the top 4 teams seeded by tiebreak points are included, and then it is handled as though only 4 teams are tied. The lower seed must outscore the higher seed in their tiebreak blitz match to win. 2-2 ties are given as a win to the higher seed. With two teams remaining at that point, proceed to the section below that deals with ties between two teams.
If the tie between 4 teams was a tie for first place, then a third place match must also be played between the losers to decide who gets the 3rd place plaque. The section below handles how the third place match will work as well. In every other case, a third place match is not played for a tiebreaker, since it would not change anything about prizes.
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For ties between only two teams, or when 2 teams remain after starting with more tied teams:
One tiebreak blitz match is played to decide the order between the teams. The blitz tiebreak match will consist of boards 1 through 4 of each team playing a G/5;d/3 Blitz game against each other. The team that scores the most total points will win the match.
Unlike the section above, if this blitz tiebreak match ends with an even score, an Armageddon game will be played between the board 1 of each team. In armageddon, the player with the black pieces wins in the event of a draw, but gets less time for the game. White begins the game with 5 minutes and must win. The winner of this armageddon game wins the tiebreak match.
If armageddon is required, the colors for the game will be decided by a bid. Both players will write down an amount of time greater than 0 seconds and less than 5 minutes on a sheet of paper without seeing what the other wrote. Players may consult with their teammates to decide what to write. This time should indicate the lowest amount of time they would be willing to play black with and should not include fractions of a second. The player with the lower bid receives the black pieces for the armageddon game. If both players wrote the same amount of time, a coin flip will decide which team plays as which color.
The armageddon game will have 1 second increment for each player. Armageddon games are not rated. Armageddon is played by the players that played board 1 during the classical portion, and their teammates may not assist them in any way. All USCF rules will still apply in armageddon with the exception of a draw being a win for black.
Other Information:
US Chess Federation (USCF) Membership required. Available onsite if needed.
Pizza and drinks will be provided by the UNI Chess club between rounds 1 and 2.
You may pay onsite with cash or pay online through kingregistration.
Bring your own boards and clocks if possible. Limited boards and clocks are provided.
The University Room is downstairs in Maucker Union. There will be signs on the main floor directing you to the room.
Tiebreak points used in this tournament (for the purposes of tiebreak seeding) are Modified Median, Solkoff, Cumulative, Cumulative of Opposition, Coin Flip.
Do you have players from your college who want to play, but not enough for a full team? Contact us (info below) and we'll see if we can get something figured out for you.
Questions? Contact the UNI Chess Club email unortherniowachess@gmail.com or Ryan Mitchell (319)-550-1610.