hi everyone,
how do I re-new my club td status? my club td certification has expired and I have not run any tournaments yet. I intend on running some small tournaments in the near future, so I would like to re-gain my club TD status. I have remained active in playing in rated tournaments. 
thanks,
Lee
Contact jnash@uschess.org
You will need to pass the club TD test in order to be renewed.
Mike, I realize that this is a rule now, but is it good policy? One could argue that, yes, he did have three years to gain experience, but, what
is the main issue?? True, the open-book club requirements are not very difficult, but who is the beneficiary in the TD not being recertified??
esp, in areas where there is little interest in hosting/running events.?? The question is, is it better to have no USCF tournaments at all,
or one run and organized by the less knowledgeable/experienced??
Rob Jones
A few years back a CTD had to retest every three years until becoming a LocalTD and being able to renew automatically through directing activity. That has been changed so that a CTD only has to pass the test once to simply continue as a CTD.
The other side of your question is: is it better for players to have to travel a bit to find a tournament run by a qualified TD or is it better for players to have an unqualified TD poorly direct tournaments for a long time and dishearten and drive away new players for decades.
If a person cannot pass the open-book club TD test with even a 70% score then should that person be able to simply continue on forever as a club TD? Iâve known multiple TDs that have had players say that a bad experience with an incompetent TD had forever turned them away from tournament chess until a friend convinced them to try again. How many players didnât have that friend?
Three years gives somebody time to gain experience and then take the test. You can make a case that a person should have to pass the CTD test before doing any directing at all, but that overlooks that many CTDs are essentially similar to apprentices being taught the ropes by more experienced TDs (many of them moving up to LocalTD within a year of so), so currently the first three years are test-free to allow that.
I have noticed that the apprentice-like CTDs often have more confidence because they know that if they find themselves out of their depth they can then ask for assistance (Iâve likened it to being tossed into the pool to sink or swim, but having a lifeguard available if you find yourself sinking).
If an area doesnât have the opportunity to start out with a mentor then the CTD has three years to gain experience. It is a bit of a gamble to have an untested CTD direct for three years with no oversight, but at least itâs a gamble of limited duration.
If you want an option for a CTD that has never directed to be allowed to continue, then remember a recent thread where a CTD (lapsed) gave inferior advice to another TD, resulting in a poor ruling, and realize that an incompetent CTD that never officially directed could give such advice for years (with the status of active TD) if you allow such a non-directing, non-tested CTD to continue on.
And before that, club TD certification was not renewable at all.
So I would say we have made it easier for people to be certified at the Club TD level in recent years.
There are a number of well-known experienced TDs who believe we should not allow ANYONE to be certified without first passing an exam.
I can easily understand such an attitude (shared by a number of TDs I respect immensely). I have heard of or personally suffered from bad rulings but I am still of the opinion that a limited-duration risk is justifiable, particularly since many starting CTDs are either an apprentice-equivalent or are dealing with a small, semi-closed community that is less likely to get disheartened by inferior rulings.
Good point and applies to our chess clubâs Tuesday night meetings where we do Quads or Hexes and the players enjoy both the new Blitz @G8 d2 and Quick @G/15 d3. We try to have one rated event a month and the rest are unrated to try to attract players to become rated and play in our events as well as another TDâs Saturday G/70 events. We have 8 to 12 players; 3 are expired Club TDs, but do help. I am the only certified TD= a Local. I have asked the others to renew, but the open book exam is onerous to them or too much trouble for the limited TDing they might do. I believe the Limitations placed upon Club TDs at section 24 on page 247 could be restrictive enough to allow recertification without the book exam if that Club TD has some experience. I note that serving as a Quick chess TD is allowed for experience for a Local, so wonder if Blitz will also be included?
Section 24 on page 247, like all the TD certification rules, are not the current set of rules, and have not been for many years now. See: http://www.uschess.org/docs/gov/reports/RulebookChanges.pdf for the up-to-date TD Certification rules. That set of rules also spells out what credits a TD can claim for Blitz tournaments, and has been posted since 1-1-13.
I have never been in the âyou must take a test to become a certified TDâ camp, but statements like the above could push me in that direction.
[quote=âTim Just
Section 24 on page 247, like all the TD certification rules, are not the current set of rules, and have not been for many years now. See:
http://www.uschess.org/docs/gov/reports/RulebookChanges.pdf for the up-to-date TD Certification rules. That set of rules also spells out what credits a TD can claim for Blitz tournaments, and has been posted since 1-1-13.
[/quote]
Sorry Tim; I should have looked that up myself.
I do wish to make a point about the Form to become a Certified Club TD which is posted in the Forms slot dated 01-DEC-2008. It states âthoroughly familiar with the Rulesâ as well as " I have read the USCF Official Rules of Chessâ. My quibble is for the new CLUB TD to read 370 pages of that book plus the update you mention with sections on Swiss System with Pairing cards, Correspondence and Internet chess and FIDE Laws is overwhelming. Would it be possible to specify which sections the new applicant should read so the new Club TD might just be required to read that specific information?
Jerry Nash in the office would probably be the person to contact about the form. It has been so long since it was revised that I canât recall who did that job. Which chapters do you suggest we eliminate from the reading list?
My take:
- Require all of chapter 1 (rules 1-25). These are essential. (We could skip rules 18 (adjourned game) and 19 (resumption of adjourned game) as these are all but gone these days.)
- From chapter 2, require rules 32 and 33 (prizes) and 34 (tiebreaks). Skip all the Swiss pairing rules (26-29), the round robin chapter (30), team chess (31), rules for disabled and assisted players (35), and computer participants (36). (Justification: I certainly donât mean to suggest that the Swiss pairing rules are unimportant. However, todayâs reality is that a club TD will almost certainly be using pairing software. Also, I think an honest evaluation has to recognize that the text of the Swiss pairing rules is a hard slog. Thereâs time to read that while gaining practical experience settling disputes over the board.)
- Completely ignore chapter 3 (chess notation). I would assume the club TD would already know algebraic notation.
- Require chapter 4 (equipment standards). Disputes can and do arise here, and the club TD should be prepared to handle these.
- Require chapter 5 (playersâ rights and responsibilities). Itâs all of two pages.
- Ignore chapter 6 (USCF code of ethics), chapter 7 (tournament director certification), chapter 8 (the USCF rating system), chapter 9 (correspondence chess), chapter 10 (internet chess), chapter 12 (round robin pairing tables), chapter 13 (the Scheveningen system), chapter 14 (about the USCF), and chapter 15 (FIDE laws of chess, which actually has been deleted from the rule book and replaced with a pointer to the FIDE web site). (I omit the chapter about TD certification simply because that doesnât seem essential for getting the club TD started settling disputes and running small tournaments. Of course, that will be of interest later, but not reading it should not prevent certification as a club TD.)
- Require chapter 11 (blitz), although that has been completely replaced in the rules update. (I would point that out in the list of required reading.)
Interestingly, this would also be my answer to the question of what every player should read in the rule book, except that I might be tempted to include chapter 6 (code of ethics) in that list.
Ken, your take is as perfect as it gets. I copied it and Timâs and my comment to Jerry via email and pointed him to this Forum Topic. I hope he will have time to address this subject with the Committees involved as well as you both and participate in this subject on this Forum.
So,now download the form and rewrite it to include this extra wording AND keep the form and new wording all on one page.
A better approach might be to list the required reading that Ken has indicated above.
Considering that many new CTDs become such primarily to assist in tournaments, what are the odds that all of them actually did first read the rulebook?
It seems to me that the Code of Ethics should be required reading.
I agree, insofar as I see the Code of Ethics as the most under-utilized tool in the TD toolbox.
Not only that, but I think people get confused between the Standards of Conduct contained in the Code of Ethics, and the Executive Board Standards of Conduct. Iâve literally had long time USCFâers tell me that the Standards of Conduct ONLY apply to the Executive Board.