One of the USCF’s rules for Grand Prix touranments is that the total prize fund which counts towards a tournament’s Grand Prix Points must be at least $300.
There was another rule, as well, which stipulated that every prize which counts towards a tournament’s Grand Prix Points must be at least $100. This second rule was discarded, back when Bill Goichberg was Executive Director, I recall.
As a result, you now see tournaments, like the one on August 27th in North Carolina, which state:
I think the idea of having a Grand Prix was to have a tournament with a reasonably large prize fund, particularly to attract higher rated players and players who might want to travel to the event, as opposed to awarding Grand Prix points to tournaments with smaller prizes, which are much less likely to attract players who have to travel to the event. Perhaps it’s time for the “$100 minimum prize for Grand Prix tournaments” to make a return?
It use to be that the rules (and points scale) were listed at the beggining of the Grand Prix section of the TLAs. I do not see that in the June issue, and I don’t recall the last time this information was printed in Chess Life. Also, I would like to point out that I have never seen [although it could be or could have been published without my seeing it] the exact rules as to how an event gets to be a Junior Grand Prix event. Must it be a Grand Prix event to also be a Junior Grand Prix event? Does anyone know the precise rules regarding the Junior Grand Prix?
The Junior Grand Prix is completely separate from the Grand Prix, with a separate set of rules. An event can be a GP event without being a JGP event and vice-versa.
I have always interpreted the GP criteria differently… the chart indicates that in order to have a GP event the top prize must be at least $300. The event you are showing has a top prize of only $150 so does not qualify as a GP event.
Of course this contradicts the criteria that says “The prize fund for which masters are eligible must equal or exceed $300 guaranteed”, but if nobody can win any GP points in an event, how can it be a GP event?
To which chart are you referring? The one that I saw says “top prizes” - note the plural which would indicate that you add up all of the place prizes and is consistent with the other requirements/specifications.
The North Carolina event shows a GP=6, but has a top prize of $150.
This contradicts the GP Prize Chart (1st line in this case) which shows that the Top Prize[s] [for GP, I assume] must be between $300 and $499 and the top prize[s] winners get 6 GP points. There is no need to change that chart. But the bullet statement that says $300 for [all master eligible] should be rewirded to agree with the chart. No need to change the chart.
Harvey, the place prizes plus any class prizes for U/2300 (or a higher rating cutoff) are what make up the Grand Prix prize fund, which is then used to determine how many points are awarded.
Also, if the event is an Enhanced Grand Prix event, meaning that there is a $1 contribution to the Professional Players Health and Benefit Fund (PPHBF) for each player in the Grand Prix section, then the total number of Grand Prix points is one step higher. For example, a tournament with a $6000 Grand Prix prize fund is a 100 point event, but if it is an Enhanced Grand Prix event then is a 120 point event.
If the table read ‘Total Top Prizes’ there would be no ambiguity. (Better would be ‘Total Grand Prix Prizes’ or ‘Grand Prix Prize Fund’, I suppose, because under the Board’s change to the rules there could be some top (eg, place) prizes that are not eligible, and there can still be class prizes that affect the number of Grand Prix points available.)