OK, I’m running an Octet this weekend, of course, where if you have 16 people, you divide them into two sections.
Here’s something I don’t know exactly how to do. I have a player who has been playing for years, however, has never played in a USCF tournament, thus, unrated with no provisional.
So say I have 24 people that show up, easily 3 sections. This player claims to be around 1400-1500, if the sections are broken up into
1: 1600 - 2400
2: 1100 - 1600
3: 400 - 1100
Can I place this player in Section 2, thus bumping people down? I know in classes, Unrateds can play up, but not sure about Octets.
I believe you’re allowed to use any reasonable method to come up with an approximate rating for seeding into sections, since the prizes aren’t really class prizes.
One method I’ve used in similar circumstances is to ask the person who would be the highest-rated player in the section to play a 5 minute game against the unrated player.
I don’t know that I’d want to seed him as either the top or bottom player in a section, but if he reasonably seems to fit into the middle of the pack, I think everyone will be comfortable with that.
Ascertaining the player’s relative strength, as nolan suggested, is a very apppropriate method, if there’s time to do that. However, you may not have the time available for that, and the results of a speed game may not be indicative of the player’s true strength at a slower control.
Do you have any indication of this player’s true strength, as provided for by 28D5 and 28E2a? Do you believe this player’s claim of his strength? If so, you can use 28E to assign a rating, and place him in section 2.
It isn’t absolutely true that in class tournaments (or multi section Open tournaments), unrated players (those for whom no information is available as to their strength) may play up. These unrateds should not play in any class section below the top class or section. The relevant rule is 28D. An example is an unknown unrated player entering a multi section tournament (such as the Indiana State Class Championship). That player must be placed in the Master/Expert section, not the Class A, B,C,D/E, for example. Another example, this same person enters the State Championship (a 2 section tournament). He must play in the Open section and not the Reserve. The reason is that you have no idea of his strength, and “unrated” does not necessarily mean “weak”.
Of course, in this latter point, if you are able to determine his relative strength, then you may place him in the appropriate section, but still following 28D as your guideline.
I’m not sure why you section off in ratings. You have an Octagional - just place them by rating in Octo 1, 2, 3, with the unrated player getting an assigned 1400 rating, for example.
In summary, if you know that he is of Class C strength, then place him in section 2, and bump the others down.
BTW: if this is not an ISCA policy for the state championship, it should be!!
Yea, I guess this being an Octet, it’s different from a class tournament. He just claimed he was somewhere between 1400-1500. I guess a big thing has to do with the total number of players and going from there, but will be a last minute decision where I put him.
I’ll probably ask him where he wants to be at before I do the parings and I suppose if he wants to play in the top section, he could do that, but then again, just depends on the total number of players.
