Running Your First Tournament

Step 1

Your Club must be a USCF Affiliate!

Only officially registered affiliates may run USCF-rated tournaments. Becoming an affiliate is easy - your club may join USCF for an annual fee of $40. In return, your club receives the following benefits:

• The right to hold USCF-rated tournaments
• Volume discounts on chess merchandise
• Commissions on USCF memberships
• A one-year subscription to the USCF rating supplement
• A one-year subscription to Chess Life

Step 2

Become A Tournament Director!

In order to run a tournament that can be rated by the USCF office, you must first register with USCF as an official tournament director. The first level of director is known as a Club Director.

It is easy to become a Club Director:

1. You must be a USCF member in good standing.
2. Complete an application stating that you have read the Official Rules of Chess - 5th Edition. (To purchase a copy, call 1-800-388-KING (388-5464). Once you send in the application form, you will become an official Club Director, and may run tournaments of up to 50 players.

USCF recognizes other advanced tournament director levels. For more information, please contact the USCF office at 931-787-1234, ext. 144.

Step 3

Make Sure Your Players Are USCF Members!

In order to play in a USCF-rated tournament, a player must be a current USCF member. If someone who is not a USCF member wishes to play, he or she must first join USCF. As an official USCF affiliate, your club can collect membership fees and submit them along with your tournament report. As a bonus, your club earns a commission on each USCF membership.

Call 931-787-1234, ext. 127 if you need a supply of membership forms.

Step 4

Running The Tournament

The easiest type of tournament to run is called a QUAD (short for quadrangular). A QUAD is simply a group of four players arranged by rating. Each player in a particular QUAD plays one game against each of the other three players. The winner is the player with the best score.

For example, suppose the following four players enter your first QUAD tournament:

The first thing to do is to arrange the players in order of their USCF ratings. If they do not have a rating, arrange them alphabetically, or ask them for an estimated playing strength. The players are already in rating order, so the pairings are as follows:

*Colors in the third round are determined by toss.

The result of each game is scored in the following manner:

Suppose that after all the games are over, the players scored the following number of points:

Paula wins the tournament because she scored the highest number of points.

Paula also wins any prize that may have been advertised for the tournament.

If two or more players tie (i.e., score the same number of points), there are procedures for breaking the tie in order to award any prizes (see the Official Rules of Chess). In general, ties are resolved only for non-cash prizes (i.e., trophies). Cash awards are divided equally among all tied players.

If more than four players enter your first QUAD tournament, simply arrange the players by rating order and divide them into groups of four. (If there are an odd number of players, treat the bottom section as a Swiss.) Treat each 4-player section as a separate event for pairing and prize purposes.

Step 5

Entry fees

Scholastic Tournament: At in-house school tournaments held during the school day, organizers will probably not charge an entry fee.

Non-scholastic Tournament: In general, the organizer is free to charge whatever entry fees and offer whatever prizes he or she wishes. Here are some sample entry fees and prize structures for QUAD tournaments:

Step 6

Make Your Tournament Appealing

If you advertise your tournament, you may find that your event attracts several experienced players (i.e., players that have played in other USCF events). In general, your players will expect the organizer to provide:

A quiet, well-lit, clean place to play. A supply of scoresheets (for recording the players' moves during the game). A separate area for skittles and game analysis. A fair and impartial tournament director. Award all advertised prizes. In general, the players are responsible for bringing their own sets, boards, clocks, and writing instruments.

Step 7

On The Use of Chess Clocks

With scholastic beginners: Clocks are not necessary, since the games usually finish quickly. You also may not have a sufficient number of clocks on hand.

With all others: There are several advantages to using chess clocks at your tournaments. First, it allows the organizer to guarantee that the games will finish in a timely manner, so as to allow the next round to start on time. Second, most players expect the organizers to set the rules on things such as the amount of time a particular game may last. Finally, for any new players, using a chess clock will prepare them for other tournaments they may wish to enter.

Some common time controls are Game/30, Game/60, and Game/90. At these time controls, each player must complete all their moves in the time allotted - 30, 60, or 90 minutes, respectively. If a player's time expires before the game is over, that player is said to "lose on time."

Some tournaments will feature time controls that require a player to make a certain number of moves in a given unit of time - for example, 40 moves in 80 minutes, followed by 15 moves in 30 minutes. In this time control, each player must make 40 moves before their initial 80 minutes expires. Failure to make at least 40 moves results in a time forfeit. Assuming each player does reach move 40 with time remaining on his or her clock, the players are given an additional 30 minutes apiece (plus any unused time from the first time control) to make 15 more moves.

In general, the organizer is free to set the time control. To obtain regular USCF ratings, the time control must be 30 minutes or greater. Games with time controls between 5 - 29 minutes inclusive are considered to be "QuickChess," and are treated as a separate entity by USCF. They are rated under a different system. Games with time controls from 30-60 minutes are dual rated. They are rated as both a regular and a quick rating.

Step 8

Your Results

Once your first QUAD tournament is over, you have seven days to submit the results to USCF in order for the event to be rated. To obtain copies of the Official Tournament Report Form, call 931-787-1234, ext. 144 or print them from our website: http://www.uschess.org/about/forms/.

Be sure to include all the required information for each player (full name, membership number, rating, results each round), as well as the tournament information requested on the form. Send the completed form, any completed USCF membership applications and your payment back to the USCF office.

In general, the following rating fees apply: For events submitted on paper (using the Official Tournament Report Form), the cost is $.40 per game/minimum $8.00. For events submitted on disk (using USCF's free Tournament Administrator software), the cost is $.20 per game/minimum $5.00. You can enter your tournament online for $.18 per game. Details.

An Official Tournament Report Form and a paper copy of the crosstable with the complete name of every player must be included with all rating reports submitted on disk.

For more information about rating fees, see USCF's Official Tournament Report Form.

Last but Not Least: Step 9!

Call USCF If You Have Any Questions on Running a Rated Tournament!

You can call or write to:

U.S. Chess Federation
P.O. Box 3967
Crossville, TN 38557
931-787-1234
Fax: 931-787-1200
www.uschess.org