2022Texas State Scholastic Chess Championships Online

April 16, 2022

6 Round Swiss System, Game 20 + 5-Second Increment

Open to Texas Residents only!

This is a US CHESS ONLINE RATED EVENT

TO REPORT ANY PROBLEMS DURING THE TOURNAMENT, PLEASE GO TO THE SLACK CHANNEL

***Today, Friday, April 15, we have sent an email with important reminders, links, and what to do tomorrow morning.  If you do not see the email, please check your spam folder.  If it is not there either, please email flguadalupe@aol.com and judit.sztaray@gmail.com *** 

• presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PqFRKAUVepcQ13rEXc8HolEjJ34PPhgH/view?usp=sharing
• recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OzREU8_SD2cK5rbV-ZCkA0hD1bWEgny3/view?usp=sharing 

***IN ADDITION TO THE PRIZES LISTED BELOW, $3,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS WILL BE AWARDED IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION!!***

 Winners of Championship Sections, including ties, will be declared 2022 Texas State Champions. 

This event will also qualify participants for a Round Robin playoff (date to be determined) for the following US Chess Invitational events:

Denker National Tournament of HS State Champions - Top 6 players in 9-12 Championship

Barber National Tournament of MS State Champions - Top 6 players in 6-8 Championship

Rockefeller National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions - Top 6 players in K-5 Championship

Haring National Tournament of Girls State Championship - Top 2 girls in each of the 9-12, 6-8 & K-5 Championship Sections

ENTRY FEE

$35 by midnight (Central), April 5 

$50 by midnight (Central), April 13

**No entries accepted after midnight April 13**

Withdrawals are subject to a $5 processing fee per player.  No refunds will be given for withdrawals after April 13.

School chess team officials may submit team entries using a spreadsheet.  All information for players registered is required, including Name, Address, US Chess ID, Grade, Section, Email Address (if different from person submitting registrations), and the Chess.com username.  THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A CHESS.COM USERNAME WILL NEED TO GET ONE (COMPLIMENTARY) THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE.  THIS IS A DIFFERENT USERNAME FROM WHAT A PLAYER MAY HAVE AT CHESSKID.COM.  THAT USERNAME FROM CHESSKID.COM IS NOT THE SAME AND CANNOT BE USED AT THIS EVENT. 

 

Submit team spreadsheet, with school information, to:  Barbara Swafford, TCA Treasurer, barbrounds@gmail.com.

US CHESS MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED!

The Texas Chess Association (TCA) has a limited number of US Chess membership vouchers which would save participants of this event needing a membership a significant amount of money (for the US Chess membership only, not the tournament entry fee).  Please go to http://www.dallaschess.com/getuscfgrpmem.htm to request a US Chess membership for $9.83.  Or you may obtain a membership directly from US Chess, https://new.uschess.org/become-member, for $20.  These vouchers are only available for participants of this event on a first-come, first-served basis. 

SCHEDULE AND SECTIONS

All sections, Pre-K to 12th Grade, play starting at 9AM Central (8AM Mountain) on Saturday, April 16th. See starting round times below. 

High School (9 - 12) Championship

High School (9 - 12) JV (Under 1000)

Middle School (6 - 8) Championship

Middle School (6 - 8) JV (Under 900)

Middle School (6 - 8) Novice (Under 600)

Elementary School (K - 5) Championship

Elementary School (K - 5) JV (Under 800)

Elementary School (K - 5) Novice (Under 500)

Primary School (K - 3) Championship

Primary School (K - 3) JV (Under 600)

K - 1 Championship

Students can only play in the section for their specific current grade (2022 Spring semester).  Students in the sections beginning with "K" may play in any section up to that section's upper limit, in grade or rating.  Students who qualify for the Under sections may play up in the Championship Section of the same grades section.  Unrated players may play in any section (Under or Championship) allowed for their grades.

A student attending 6th Grade in an Elementary School may enter a Middle School section.  Alternatively, after registration, the student may request to be moved to an Elementary Section by emailing Barbara Swafford, info@dallaschess.com, or Franc Guadalupe, flguadalupe@aol.com.  Once the organizers verify that the student attends an Elementary School, he or she will be moved as requested.  If a player in 6th Grade is moved to the Elementary Championship section, he or she will not qualify for the Barber or Rockefeller playoff.  The same applies to a student in 9th grade requesting to be moved to a Middle School section.  That player will not qualify for the Denker or Barber playoff. 

 TCA MEMBERSHIPS

While the event does not require having to be a TCA member, we highly encourage you to join and support our official state affiliate.  Memberships start at just $5.00 ($10 for family) and can be purchased here: 

 https://texaschess.org/memberships/

  Players will use their Chess.com username.  Those who do not have one will need to obtain one from Chess.com (no charge). 

FORMAT

All sections will play under the same format, which is a six-round Swiss, with time control of 20+5 (20 minutes + 5-second increment per move).

The maximum time for each round is therefore approximately 50 minutes.  The Schedule for the starting time of each round is as follows:

Round 1 - 9:00 AM

Round 2 - 10:30 AM

Round 3 - 12:00 Noon

Round 4 - 1:30 PM

Round 5 - 3:00 PM

Round 6 - 4:30 PM

The tournament will be US Chess Online Quick-Chess Rated, but the highest US Chess Regular, Quick, Regular Online or Quick Online will be used to determine section eligibility.

PAIRINGS

  - This tournament is not an automatically run tournament on chess.com.
  - Tournament Directors will pair players based on their USCF ratings, and post pairings on a google sheet.        - Link to the google sheet will be posted as we get closer to the event. 
  - Games will be manually started by Tournament Directors at the announced round times.
  - Players must be on chess.com/live and wait for their game to appear on their screen.

Bye Policy:
Max 2 half-point byes. Round 1 byes must be requested by 8AM CT, byes for Round 2-6 must be requested by the start of Round 1 (9AM CT). Any bye requested after Round 1 start time will be zero point byes. All byes are irrevocable.
To request bye, please use Change Request Form: https://forms.gle/4Ua7LvdiAzGffZ8a6

*** ZOOM VIEW WILL ONLY BE REQUIRED IN THREE SECTIONS (LEADING TO THE US CHESS INVITATIONAL PLAY-OFFS):  9-12 CHAMPIONSHIP, 6-8 CHAMPIONSHIP AND K-5 CHAMPIONSHIP.  IT WILL NOT BE REQUIRED FOR ALL OTHER SECTIONS.***

PRIZES

The top three players (on tie-breaks, if needed) and top girl (on tie-breaks, if needed) in the HS (9 - 12) Championship Section will be awarded college scholarships as follows:

1st Place - $1,000 scholarship

1st Place Girl - $1,000 scholarship

2nd Place - $600

3rd Place - $400

TCA will provide scholarship winners with Award Certificate and instructions on how to claim the award upon enrollment to a postsecondary university program.

If the top girl finishes in one of the top three positions, the 4th place finisher will receive a scholarship, and the entire $3,000 will be awarded, accordingly.

ALSO...

The top 10 finishers in each section, after tiebreaks, will receive a custom plaque via mail. The number of awards will be increased if the number of entries in the section exceeds 100 players, at the rate of one additional award for each additional 10 players.  For example, if a section has 150 players, there will be 15 individual awards, etc.  Please note: the exact value of tiebreaks shown on Chess.com at the immediate conclusion of the event may be different from the official results.  All results - including tiebreaks - are tentative, pending the Fair Play review, until the 3- week review period has been completed. 

TIE-BREAKS

When individual scores are equal, the following order of tie-break systems will be used to designate individual awards:  1) Modified Median, 2) Median, 3) Solkoff, 4) Sonneborn-Berger 5) Cumulative

When school team scores are equal, the following order of tie-break systems will be used to designate team awards:  1) Total Individual Median, 2) Total Solkoff, 3) Total Sonneborn-Berger, 4) Total Cumulative

TEAM PRIZES FOR THE TOP THREE SCHOOL TEAMS IN EACH OF THE 11 SECTIONS WILL ALSO BE AWARDED!! 

Up to four team members from the same school in the same section, will be awarded plaques!  In addition, the 1st Place school team in each section will receive a team plaque for display at the school! A school team will consist of at least two players in the same section.  There is no limit on the number of players who can participate from one school, but only the top four players from a school will be used for the team standings.  Team changes may not be made after the start of the event.  Schools are not allowed to designate more than one team in one section.

 Chess.com and TCA reserve the right to ask for proof of identity for all prize winners.

SPECIAL RULES AND ANSWERS TO FAQs

• "Championship" sections are open to all players, including Unrated, with the grades specified.  JV and Novice sections are only open to those with established or provisional US Chess ratings below that threshold, including Unrated.
• Ratings for pairings and section purposes are according to US Chess higher of Regular or Quick over the board ratings, or US Chess Online Regular or Quick ratings, using the US Chess April 2022 Rating Supplement. This event will be US Chess online rated after it concludes.
• All players must be current members of the US Chess Federation before registration and membership must be current through April 30, 2021.
• Students may play only in a Championship or Under section allowed by their grade and rating.  That means that a K or 1st grade student, for example, may play in K-1, K-3 or K-5 sections.  Students in 5th grade or below cannot play in sections higher than a K-5. Students in 6th through 8th grade can only play in 6-8 Section and, likewise, students in 9th through 12 grade can only play in 9-12 sections.  See exception noted above for students in 6th Grade attending an Elementary School or students in 9th Grade attending a Middle School.
• If a player does not have an established US Chess rating (over-the-board or online) in the April Rating Supplement (and is therefore "unrated"), then he/she may play in any section allowed for his/her grade.
• The tournament staff will have discretion over determining if a child's multiple ratings qualify him/her for an "Under" section.   
• Additional instructions about Town Hall Meeting, Slack Room and Zoom Meeting will be provided at a later date.

Texas State and Chess.com take Fair Play very seriously!

Fair Play monitoring will be in effect during and after the tournament. 

 Crosstable results on Chess.com are NOT final until the Fair Play Analysis is completed, normally up to three weeks after completion of event.

Score adjustment:

Organizers reserve the right to remove from the tournament any player whose play is indicative of fair-play violations.

When a player is removed, scores will be adjusted as follows:

If two or more rounds remain, all opponents of the disqualified player will receive a win by forfeit, unless they defeated the disqualified player, in which case they will retain a rated win.

If the tournament has concluded, or if there is only one round remaining:

     The last opponent of the disqualified player will receive a win by forfeit.

     Other opponents who lost to the disqualified player will receive a half-point bye.

     Other opponents who drew with the disqualified player will receive a win by forfeit.

     Anyone who defeated the disqualified player will retain a rated win, instead of a forfeit win.

 TCA Queries:  flguadalupe@aol.com, (713) 530-7820, info@dallaschess.com (214) 632-9000, or renategarcia1@gmail.com, (915) 256-7783.