Any idea how a player rated 1609 can be entered in the K-12 Under 1600 section? His current rating is under 1600, but the rules state April supplement will be used.
I suppose it depends on the timing of the Supplement?
How is it possible? A variety of ways. Someone who registered for the event before the April Ratings List was available, for example.
The TDs get a ‘hot list’ of players with issues to check on (missing team codes, membership issues, ratings issues, etc) before pairing the first round.
The player held a rating of >1600 from November 2009 to April 2010 so I think it unlikely he preregistered when his rating was <1600. I tested another case and got the following error message: “Player is not eligible for that section in event 1: wrong rating.” The system correctly looked up and used the April rating.
It sounds like the problem will be resolved at the tournament. Thanks Mike!
But the April list is available now, it wasn’t prior to early March, and we’ve been taking registrations for these events since some time in December, I believe.
Besides, you asked how it might be possible. That’s one way, there are others.
As to how THIS specific situation arose, I don’t know, but it should be on the hot list when Phil pulls it.
My apologies for being a bit dense, but I still don’t understand how the April list not being available until March would have any effect on this particular case. The player in question has held a rating of over 1600 since the December 2009 list came out in early November. Were players with current published USCF ratings >1600 allowed to register for the section prior to puplication of the April 2010 list? If so, what rating would they have been listed under? Until this week, no player with a rating >1600 appeared in the <1600 section. I would have thought that if they were allowed to register before the April list came out, this case would have appeared with a >1600 rating.
I understand there are other ways this could have happened. For example, perhaps the player called in to change his section when his rating went under 1600 for May and was (mistakenly, I believe) allowed to change from the Open to the <1600 section. My example is not intended to put the blame on the USCF office personnel. It’s just the only one I could think of. I’m sure there are many other possibilities but this was the only one that came to mind for me.
I can’t speak for the USCF, but only with regards to my own tournaments. If someone wants to register for an U1600 section before the rating supplement to be used is available, then I allow them to do that. (What is the alternative - turn down their entry when their rating may well fall to the appropriate level?) After the rating supplement becomes available, I then mark any players ineligible for their requested section and try to contact them to find out which section they would want to enter, or if they want a refund.
If you published a list of the players registered, what rating would you list? I would think the most recent. As I mentioned above, the players official rating has been over 1600 since December list came out and he wasn’t listed with a rating over 1600 on the preregistration list. No player was listed as having a rating over 1600 until this week. Therefore, I don’t see how this can be a case where the player registered in advance for the U1600 section with the anticipation of his April rating dropping under 1600.
There are many other ways he could have added recently while still outside the range for the section. Again, using my own practices as an example. If he sent in a registration for an incorrect section, then I would process that registration for that section, flag it, and try to contact him/coach/school about whether he wants to be in another section or a refund. You wouldn’t want to switch his section without an OK and the section requested is the most natural place to put him - as that is where he is going to be looking for his name. School districts often send in a check with their entries (rather than doing things on-line) and the office would need some way to process such entries - even if they don’t allow on-line entries to enter an incorrect section.
There are always going to be problems like this. The key is for on-site people to have a list of problems and then handle them before pairing. There really isn’t need to be concerned about such problems - unless they start slipping through to pairings.
Thanks for the input, Tom. Your last explanation makes a lot of sense. I didn’t even think about someone registering by any way other than online. My thanks to you and Mike for taking the time to answer my questions.
In a team event it sometimes isn’t as simple as just moving one player into another section based on rating, the coach may want to move other players so that they have full teams. That’s something that the TD staff is used to dealing with on site at national scholastics.
As I recall, we usually get something like 75% of the entries online for the nationals, the percentage is highest at the elementary and lowest at the HS.
I am surprised that there is this much discussion about this. As to how it happened, I do not know. I do know this: The student will play in the correct section. We do make necessary corrections on site…
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A typo.
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A vast conspiracy.
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A matter/anti-matter explosion.
Actually, I think No. 3 would result in mass withdrawals.