Scholastic Tournament FAQ’s
Instead of reading through the technical rules, we offer some of the most frequently asked questions.
1- If my child loses their game are they eliminated from the tournament?
2- My daughter is only 7 years old, why is she playing a 12 year old?
3- My son’s opponent called checkmate and my son just realized after the game ended that it was not really checkmate. Can we get them to continue the game?
Players are responsible to raise their hand and tell a tournament director about any claim while the game is still being played. Once the game is over, no change can be made. No exceptions.
4- We cannot play all the games because we have to leave early/arrive late. What can we do?
5- What if my child’s opponent doesn’t show up for the round?
6- It says “SEE T.D.” after my child’s name on the pairing sheet. What does this mean?
a. If there are an odd number of players in the section, the computer will give a full point bye to the player with the lowest amount of points. In this case, the player who receives the bye should wait by the computer desk while the round begins to see if there are any players who have not shown up and could then get into the round by playing the opponent of the player who did not show up.
b. You have not yet paid your USCF membership dues.
7- What is USCF membership dues and why do I have to pay for it?
If a player does not have a current membership, the muist purchase one by the end of the tournament, otherwise the entire event cannot be rated. If any players have not paid, the organizer of the tournament has to pay for the memberships to the USCF and try to collect from the players after the fact.
8- My son is only 5 years old and we aren’t even sure he wants to play again. Do we still have to pay for USCF membership?
9- My daughter finished the tournament with 2 points and got the 14th place trophy. I saw one kid get 2 points and he finished in 8th place AND my daughter beat him in the 3rd round. How can this be?
10- Is there a break for lunch?
11- What time will the tournament be over?
However, this is for the older sections with stronger players. In order to expedite the tournament rounds as quickly as possible, we pair the next round as soon as the previous round has finished. It takes a few minutes to enter the results into the computer and print out the pairings for the next round, but it usually goes much quicker than the aforementioned schedule. The Beginner and Novice sections usually end by 2pm, often earlier. Elementary and Reserve sections usually finish by about 2-2:30 and the Advanced and Championship Sections usually finish about 2:30-3pm.
12- How do we know where to go each round to find our opponent?
13- Do I need to bring chess equipment to the tournament?
In all sections (except Beginner), when there are 14 minutes left in the round, any game not already using a clock will be put on the clock by our tournament directors. Each player will receive 7 minutes to complete the game.
14- Does my child need to write down the moves?
15- Will my child get rated after this tournament?
16- How does the rating system work?
While provisionally rated, winning games against players rated higher than you can cause your rating to jump hundreds of points. Likewise, losing to lower rated players can cause your rating to plummet. However, once you have played 25 rated tournament games you will become an officially rated player in the USCF and the most you can win or lose in one game is 32 points.
Your USCF rating will stay with you for the rest of your life. Average scholastic ratings of players in K-6 are 400-800. If you are over 1000, you are on your way to becoming a serious chessplayer! The average rating of all chessplayers in America including all adult tournament players is about 1270. An Expert is rated 2000 and a Master is 2200. Grandmaster is an international title and is the highest title one can achieve in chess.