Here we go for March’s 2024 column - The Bye Zone:
Just like I thought, one can still be a champion based on byes. 
Wow! That is crazy!
Of course no one could have known his opponent would not show for round 4 and give him a forfeiture.
But still!
It is also odd to me to have two half point buys when the next leader in his score group has 2.0 points…
In my view two half point byes is incompatible with class prizes.
I’m not sure whether this is the correct forum for a question, but I recently observed a G30+0 sec increment “dual rated” (regular and Quick) quad event in Richmond, CA where the tournament director told participants in the rated section that writing the moves on the scoresheet was not required. I was aware that writing moves on the scoresheet was not required if one of the players has less than 5 minutes remaining on the clock, so called “time pressure in sudden death,” but I was surprised that the “regular” rating part of “dual rated” game can be played without players being required to write the moves on a scoresheet when they have more than 5 minutes on their clocks. My understanding is that “Quickplay” rated games can be played without a score sheet, but if “dual” rated, the “regular” rating requires that players record their moves on a scoresheet. Because the games were sudden death in 30 minutes with no delay and no increment, not being required to write moves on the score sheet gave the players who wanted a scoresheet a significant time disadvantage, in my opinion. Did the T.D. make a mistake in allowing players not to record their moves?
This is at the director’s discretion and fairly common in a scholastic event. If several players were not going to record, I as a director would give additional time to those taking notation or reduce time from those not.
15A1. Players unable to keep score.
…
c. Beginners who have not learned to keep score may be excused from scorekeeping, at the director’s discretion.
TD TIP: Directors often deduct time from the clocks of players at the start of the game whom they excuse from keeping score (the most common example would be that of a player excused from keeping score for genuine religious reasons). Their opponents will need to give up thinking time in order to keep score, which the excused player need not do. A good rule of thumb is to deduct 5% of the total game time allotted for each individual player, up to 10 minutes, from the player’s clock that is excused from keeping score.
We actually had this come up with a tournament this weekend, where we had a 2 day schedule and a player decide they would play 3 games on Saturday and then 0/2 on Sunday. They ended up in a 3-way tie for the 2nd place lower class prize in the upper section.
IMHO, bye policies are the organizer’s responsibility, not the TD’s.
I’ve seen events that don’t allow a last round bye unless it is requested before the 2nd round of the event.
I used to run five round two day events where players coming from out of town would often request a half-point bye for the first round on Sunday, purportedly to go to church. It was not unusual for them to ask for another bye in the last round, or just not show up. Sometimes a 30 player section would have less than 20 players for the last round.
I finally instituted a rule saying that byes on Sunday must be requested by noon on Saturday, and players cannot request byes in both Sunday rounds, they would be treated as if they withdrew from the tournament, including being ineligible for prizes.
You are correct that the standard rule for “dual” rated tournaments is that the players must notate unless one of the players is in time pressure. Sometimes the notating requirement is waived (but still encouraged) in sections of scholastic events for just very young and low rated players (for example, see the scholastic regulations for the scholastic nationals) but if this was an Open tournament, I would say the TD make a mistake in not requiring notation.
2 Likes
A “dual rated” section should be thought of as a regular rated section where, as a side effect, the quick ratings are updated. Thus, by default, the rules for regular rated sections apply. So if the explanation was that it was quick rated, so quick rules apply, that’s just wrong.
2 Likes
As anyone who has ever been to a Continental Chess event knows, US Chess provides organizers/directors great latitude in using “House Rules”. There are three types of rules, inviolate rules, major rules, and minor rules, or rather variations. The first are those which can’t be changed and still have the games rated, such as changing how the Bishop moves, or using a 10 × 10 board, or fairy pieces, or playing checkers. Those, obviously, can’t be used. A major variation is one which would likely cause some players to stay away. Perhaps a rule that the higher rated player must always play Black or that 1 vs. 2 pairings would be used, or that cash prizes would use tiebreaks. These variations must be posted at the site and announced in all pre-event publicity. You wouldn’t want to drive 500 miles t a tournament to have this sort of thing sprung on you. Finally, minor variations are those that aren’t listed in the main rulebook, though of course they can be listed as variations, but variations that wouldn’t cause players to stay away, for example having the director not correct illegal moves outside of time pressure, or that players may start certain rounds in advance of the posted times if the pairings are ready and the opponents agree, or that players will be allowed to use both hands when capturing or castling. These rules, where it can reasonably be assumed that no one would stay away if they knew these rules would be in force only need to be announced on site.
IMO, no one would stay away from a G/30;d0 tournament if he knew that his opponents might not keep score, so it counts as a minor variation. The TD announced it at the site at the beginning of the tournament, so there is nothing wrong here.
I’m perfectly happy with this if I know about it…the fewer the players in the last round, the faster the cleanup is.