Can an organizer allow a half point bye request for the final round after the start of the player’s 2nd game?
It depends on what was advertised. The danger of allowing late tournament half-pointers is that a player can look at the X-table – request that last round bye, and then win a prize with that request.
Restating the question: In the absence of advertising on the subject, can the TD allow a half-point bye in the last round?
I don’t think the rules prohibit it. The length of the tournament can influence the answer to whether it is a wise practice. If it’s a 7 round event, I don’t see a problem. If the tournament is running two hours late and the player can no longer stay for the duration of the even, it’s probably OK, though the TD has bigger problems. If the A/C fails and the player says he won’t be able to hang on through that many games in the hot room, yeah, I’d cut him some slack. (I was that player once - and I did end up winning a prize by virtue of the bye, though a look at the crosstable when I requested the bye would have suggested I was hurting my chances, not helping them).
I wouldn’t allow it in a three or four round event. Five rounds, end of round 2 would be the latest I’d consider allowing it. But I’m not a TD, so we’ll see what the pros have to say.
The main thing is to decide on a policy well in advance, mention it in pre-event publicity, and stick to it religiously and without exception.
For the small 4-round plus-score tournaments we ran at the Lunt Avenue club, our policy was something like this:
- Round 1: Request with entry, or may be assigned to players arriving late.
- Rounds 2-3: Request at least 15 minutes before the posted starting time for the round, or before all previous-round games finish, whichever occurs first.
- Round 4: Request before the start of round 3.
- Deadline for rescinding a previously requested bye: Same as above in each case.
For an event with significant prizes, you might want to be more restrictive, especially regarding last-round byes. For example, in a 5-round event, you could have a deadline of before the start of round 3 for a 5th-round bye.
Bill Smythe
In the rulebook is the following.
22C1. Availability.
Half-point byes may be offered during the first half of a tournament or the middle round of a tournament with an odd number of rounds, with or without advance notice. If pre-tournament publicity does not address this subject, players may contact the organizer to inquire about availability.
If half-point byes are allowed for any rounds during the second half of a tournament, they should be mentioned in pre-tournament publicity. An exception may be made in the event of emergency.
22C4. Irrevocable byes.
If half-point byes are allowed for the final round, players must give irrevocable notice of such byes before beginning their first game, or if the organizer so announces, their second game. The deadline for claiming such byes should appear in pre-tournament publicity. It is recommended that other byes in the second half of the tournament be treated similarly and that notice of all scheduled irrevocable byes be posted on or near the wall charts
For the New Hampshire Quick Chess Championship I used to have a policy of two byes any round, must be requested by round 4. Some people took byes in rounds 7 & 8, and I hated that, but I had been convinced that it was unfair to force people to play more than 6 games in a day. Finally this year I made a small change to allow two byes in rounds 1-7.
Alex Relyea
The NHCA board passed a motion which I think would have required this anyway: no half point byes in the last round in the top section of state championship events. This was passed after the 2014 New Hampshire Open, a five round tournament which allowed two half point byes in any round if requested before round two. One of the top NH players took a half point bye in round 4 and considered taking one in round 5 as well. If he’d done that he would have become the sole state champion without having played either of the two masters in the tournament (Massachusetts players who weren’t eligible for the NH championship title).
Although the MACA board hasn’t passed a motion like that I’ve been using the same rule for the Massachusetts Open and New England Open. This was originally a compromise with tournament committee members who were opposed to last round byes in any section.
Another rule I’ve started to use in four round tournaments is “No half point byes for players receiving full point byes.” This is the result of the 2015 New Hampshire Open, a four round tournament which allowed a single half point bye if requested before round two. In two sections, players who were given full point byes in the first round requested half point byes and ended up winning prize money, having played only two games out of four. If I’d known about the half point byes I wouldn’t have assigned full point byes to those players. I considered forcing players to request byes before round one instead of round two, but that would impact all of the players instead of just the bottom players in each section. I’ll have to see how many complaints I get when this new policy kicks in starting with the Greater Boston Open next month.
You can tinker with the bye rules based on something that happened in previous years’ tournaments all you want, but invariably something else is going to happen in a future year that will also seem worth prohibiting. You’ll never catch up.
Having said that, let me suggest still another idea. Allow a last-round bye, but count it as half a point only if the player had either a rated win in the previous round, or a rated draw in the previous round and a rated non-loss in the round before that. Otherwise count the bye as zero. “Rated” means a played game, not a forfeit win/draw nor a bye.
Coupled with requiring last-round bye requests two full rounds ahead of time, the above oughtta fix the wagons of those attempting strategic byes.
Bill Smythe
Just want to say I love the restating of this question… the part that changes “organizer” to “TD.” A lot of so-called organizers have no clue what the rules allow regarding byes. This is a TD decision in the absence of advertising on the subject. Of course, the organizer might influence him, but it’s his job to stay within the rules.
My answer for what it’s worth is: No, an organizer cannot do that because it’s a director decision unless he happens to be both organizer and TD. If he is the TD also, he can do it by discretion for emergency or circumstances like Mulfish described. I’d be very careful what I consider an emergency. That said, he probably “can” get away with anything because the rules do not strictly “forbid” it.
To me it depends on what kind of TD you want to be.
I had one instance where I had to take a last round bye, because of a religious holiday starting that night. I did run this by the organizer and the tournament director, and they did not allow last round byes, but once I explained my circumstance, they were perfectly okay with that. This was a
5 round event, and that bye actually hurt my chances of winning prize money from that tournament since I basically had to try and win every game.
Respectfully Submitted,
David A. Cole, USCF Life Member, Franklin, NJ
Sorry, I cannot agree.
It is the organizer’s responsibility to establish the bye policy, and to state it in pre-event publicity. Any bye policy is OK if announced in pre-event publicity.
It is the TD’s responsibility to enforce the organizer’s stated policy, whatever it is, uniformly and without exception.
If the organizer fails in his responsibility to state the bye policy in pre-event publicity, then I guess it might fall on the TD to decide, but in that case the decision ought to be within USCF’s recommendations, one of which is that last-round byes not be permitted.
Bill Smythe
I agree with this. There are two questions; what can the organizer do (Jeff quoted the appropriate rules; which basically permit it if publicized in advance) and what can the TD do if the organizer doesn’t specify. In that case, I agree the TD ought to follow the rules as Jeff cited them. Whether they really require an absolute ban in the last half of the tournament absent advance publicity to the contrary is open to discussion.
Bye policy in a tournament is a question that really should be dealt with by the organizer. If the organizer fails to do this, it becomes a TD decision. Rule 22C1 states, “If half point byes are allowed for any rounds during the second half of a tournament, they should be mentioned in pre-tournament publicity.” Note that the rule says “should be mentioned…”, not “must be mentioned…” It’s a recommendation, not a commandment. A TD could then allow a half point bye in the final round, if he or she chooses, but in order to accord with rule 22C4 (If half point byes are allowed for the final round, players must give irrevocable notice of such byes before beginning their first game…") such a bye could not be requested by a player who has begun his or her first game.
This is one of a few rules that has an exception written into it.
What was the purpose of adding this specific exception if any exception is allowed?
If an organizer allows last-round byes, it makes sense to give the players at least until the start of round 2 to ask for them. Usually, with last-minute registrations and all, things are hectic and confused at the start of round 1, and the players may forget to ask for the byes they intended, and/or the organizer may overlook entering such requests into the pairing program.
Bill Smythe
I can see why you would say it’s the organizer responsibility to set bye policy. However, it is my experience that those who organize tournaments don’t always understand rules about byes so it’s hard for them to figure out how to correctly advertise what they intend the policy to be. I suppose it’s best if they work with TD that’s directing for them. Otherwise, the TD has to try and follow whatever odd bye policy they might put in print.
If the organizer and TD are different people, the two of them should get together at the planning stage. A good TD will likely not agree to be the TD until all details, including bye rules, are worked out to the TD’s satisfaction. The wording in the pre-event publicity should also be agreed upon ahead of time. So should the wording of any written announcements that are to be posted at the event during registration and throughout the event.
Bill Smythe
ABSOLUTELY Correct!! There have been many times over the last decade++ that I have told organizers that a particular idea is not best for their tournament, or would
violate USCF rules or procedures. Part of the learning process for tournament directors is developing the fortitude to say NO.
Rob Jones
Once in a blood red supermoon, Mr. Jones and I agree on something. Above post endorsed in its entirety.
Just remain flexible enough to say “yes” if the circumstances are okay for it (usually in things like team definition or how long pairing qualifiers like avoiding club pairings are left on).
When an organizer knows you are willing to bend on things where such bending is allowable then they are more willing to accept it when you simply say NO.