House Players and Rating Submission online

[wzim]

…House players are covered in the current (6th edition) US Chess rulebook under rule 28M1:

28M1. The house player: Sometimes a spectator will agree to play a game against a player who would otherwise expect a bye. It is desirable that this spectator has a rating approximately within the range of the lowest score group, but this is not required. The player is voluntarily giving up a free point to play; so no one can legitimately claim the opponent is too weak.
Except for membership-exempt events, all players in an event other than house players are covered under Rule 23C:

23C USCF Membership Requirement. For the inclusive dates of the tournament, each player must be a member in good standing of the USCF, unless USCF regulations waive this requirement.
Guidelines
US Chess Rule 28M1 applies for all house players. In order for a non-member to be eligible for a membership exception as a house player under the Delegate rule from 1990, all of the following should be true:
The house player should not be someone who paid an entry fee, was given a complimentary entry or in any other way registered to play in the event.
The house player, if rated, should have a rating similar to the other players in the bottom score group. As a practical measure, this means that the house player should probably be in the bottom third of the field.
The house player is not eligible for any prizes. (The TD Tip for Rule 28M1 specifically requires this for a ‘permanent’ house player, i.e., a house player who is paired normally for all rounds in which there are an odd number of players.)
There should be only one house player in a section in any round. (A different house player may be used for each round if a permanent house player is not being used.)
The membership exception request for a house player who does not meet one or more of the above conditions will need to be reviewed by the US Chess office. Please use the ‘comments’ field to explain why this non-member met the conditions for being a house player.
When requesting a membership exception for a house player, if that house player competed in the majority of the rounds and scored 75% or higher in the event, this membership exception will require office review and approval.

Remember, a non-member cannot be declared a ‘house player’ simply to get around the membership requirement in Rule 23C…

The above comes from secure2.uschess.org/TD_Affil/houseplayer.php

This question is mostly geared towards one night a week tournaments that run over 4 nights or so.
One of the issues that we constantly have to deal with is the odd number of players showing up. We have dealt with in the past in many ways. Once we had a regular that wasn’t US Chess but was willing to play to even things out when necessary and the club purchased a yearly membership for him with the understanding that he would only play to make the field even. At times I step aside to make it even, but that isn’t always possible or even desirable. (If others have solutions I would love to hear them.)

So now to the actual question. Occasionally we will have a parent or a drop in that isn’t US Chess. If we played him or her as a nonmember how complicated does it make the online rating submission? Will it slow down the rating of the event? Currently we usually get it rated pretty much right after the last round so the ratings are done the next morning.

If we did this is there any other special details we should know?

Thanks

[nolan]

Well, obviously every player has to have a membership ID, but you should know how to generate an ID for a non-member.

You can request house player exceptions online.

However, if you wind up with more than one house player in any round, you will need to request an override from the US Chess office staff, which generally means waiting until the next business day to be able to submit the rating report.

[wzim]

@nolan

Well, obviously every player has to have a membership ID, but you should know how to generate an ID for a non-member.

You can request house player exceptions online.

However, if you wind up with more than one house player in any round, you will need to request an override from the US Chess office staff, which generally means waiting until the next business day to be able to submit the rating report.

We would never end up with more than one house player per round, so that shouldn’t be a problem. We would only do this when necessary to give everyone a game.

[nolan]

You could also wind up needing an override if a house player finishes towards the top of the standings. Doesn’t happen very often, but I’ve seen it a few times.