Tuesday, March 09, 2010

OTB in Houston

I'll actually be able to attend this month's meetup in my feeble attempt to include OTB in my chess diet.  If you're in town on March 15th, stop on by.  Looks like Glenn is on the list but not attending.  And I'm not sure if Donnie knows about this meetup or not.

On a related note, I just saw on the TCA blog that the 2010 US Class Championships will be in Houston October 1-3.  I'm seriously considering signing up.

Perhaps those of you who have gone to one of these tournaments can answer me a few questions about this tournament.  On the site it says "3-Day Schedule: Registration Fri (10/1) 5-7pm. Rds. Fri 8pm, Sat 1pm & 6:30pm, Sun 9:30am & 2:30pm. 2-Day Schedule: Registration Sat (10/2) 8-9am. Rds. Sat 10am, 1pm (merges with 3-Day Schedule) & 6:30pm, Sun 9:30am & 2:30pm. Byes for all rounds, must commit before end of Rd 2."  So if I were to sign up for the 3-day schedule, I would play 5 rounds?  And when it says "byes for all rounds", what does that mean?  I wouldn't be able to play Sunday, but I'd be able to play Friday and Saturday.  So could I use byes for the two rounds on Sunday?  And one last question ... could I replace a Sunday round with a Saturday morning round?  Maybe I'll just email the organizer.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:59 AM

    Arrrghh. Unfortunately, I had just come back from a business trip and could not attend...

    ReplyDelete
  2. With regard to 2010 Class Championships (http://www.uschess.org/tlas/4878.ctla), I have a few questions. I've never played in a OTB tournament before.

    Do I have to be a member of USCF to play in this tournament? I would assume I'd play in the unrated section. Is that correct?

    On the site it says "3-Day Schedule: Registration Fri (10/1) 5-7pm. Rds. Fri 8pm, Sat 1pm & 6:30pm, Sun 9:30am & 2:30pm. 2-Day Schedule: Registration Sat (10/2) 8-9am. Rds. Sat 10am, 1pm (merges with 3-Day Schedule) & 6:30pm, Sun 9:30am & 2:30pm. Byes for all rounds, must commit before end of Rd 2."

    So if I were to sign up for the 3-day schedule, I would play 5 rounds?

    And when it says "byes for all rounds", what does that mean?

    I wouldn't be able to play Sunday, but I'd be able to play Friday and Saturday. So could I use byes for the two rounds on Sunday?

    And one last question ... could I replace a Sunday round with a Saturday morning round (which is part of the 2-day schedule)?

    response

    Thanks for asking about the 2010 US Class Championships. I will try to answer all your questions...

    1) Yes, you have to be a member of the USCF in order to play at this National event. Although we do have an Unrated Section, that section will be rated and all players will have a rating after the event. You may get your membership prior to the event, through the USCF website, or you can do so at the tournament site during registration.

    2) Unrated players may play in the Unrated Division only, unless they have a master-equivalent rating from FIDE or another country. In that case, we can assign the player an appropriate rating and he or she may play in the Master Division.

    3) Yes, you play five games in either schedule. As the TLA mentions, the schedules merge in Round Two.

    4) If players have to miss a round, or rounds, for any reason, they may request 1/2-point byes for any rounds missed. Also, players in sections where there is an odd number of players may be assigned one full-point bye, but no player will be assigned more than one such bye, nor will a player who has already committed to a half-point bye receive a full-point bye unless everyone else in the section already has one.

    5) If you cannot play on Sunday, you can still participate and take two half-point byes on Sunday.

    6) You cannot really replace a Sunday round with the first round of the 2-Day schedule, but players will be able to re-enter from the 3-Day schedule to the 2-Day schedule. Those players basically start all over again, after playing their first game on Friday. This is normally done by players who may have lost their first round on the 3-Day schedule and would like a fresh start. There is a re-entry fee of $25 for those who elect that option (announced before Round One), and again, they start fresh. Inasmuch as you would play an extra game, both games do not count towards the standings, but they do count towards ratings.

    Please let me know if you have any other questions. We hope to see you at this event.

    Franc
    Francisco L. Guadalupe
    USCF National Tournament Director
    Chief TD, 2010 U.S. Class Chess Championships

    ReplyDelete