How do I submit a tournament to Online TLA section? (not the normal TLA, I already contacted Joan DuBois for that). A link to a webpage would be great.
Michael Langer
Go to the TD/Affiliate Support Area. Only affiliates that have signed up for access to TD/A may submit online TLAs. They have to be reviewed by the USCF office before they will show up.
I believe that once your TLA for Chess Life is approved and paid that it will create a copy of that TLA that will be listed online. Double check with Joan DuBois about it. TLAs that are submitted online for an ‘online TLA’ are often listed at the end of the state listings for online TLAs.
Larry S. Cohen
Apples and oranges. The “Online TLAs” exported from the magazine TLAs are not the same thing as the ones from the self-entered “Online TLA service.” There are links for the latter at the bottom of the “state” pages for those that have any. The idea has never really caught on, but it makes some sense for small local events where an extra twenty bucks might put you in the red.
Yes, we end up looking like poor cousins…if you can even see us. I know: it’s free, I shouldn’t complain, and, oh yeah, we are poor cousins!.
I’m not talking “apples and oranges” here. What I was pointing out was that if a TLA had already been submitted [i.e the comment about already talking to Joan DuBois about that], then there was and is no need to submit a seperate ‘online’ TLA. I actually made this mistake once and submitted an online TLA even though had submitted a regular TLA. I will admit that it did not look as good as the regular TLA, but it was up a day or two before the online version of the regular TLA was posted.
Larry S. Cohen
At current, the PRINT TLAs will only show when the issue which carries that TLA comes out, but online TLAs will show as soon as they are approved by the office.
In other words, if you purchase a TLA in the January 2010 issue of Chess Life, your TLA won’t show up until around the 1st of January. But if you do an online TLA, it can show up ahead of then.
Integrating the print and online TLAs has turned out to be a significant challenge.
Mike Nolan has guessed my motives here correctly.
My tournament is Jan 9-10 and, unfortunately, I missed the Oct 10th deadline to get it into the December Chess Life issue (and online). So, I it’s not really an issue of saving a few bucks (I will still submit the TLA for January issue, even though it will provide little benefit), but rather casting around for alternative methods to advertise the tournament. Online TLAs is one of them if, admittedly, with limited penetration.
Thanks also for answering my “technical” question about the location of the link to post Online TLA’s. My problem was that I was looking for it at the correct page: TD/Affiliate Support Area, but was logged in as a TD and not as an affiliate, and so that specific link didn’t show up.
Michael Langer
Austin Chess Club
P.S. My TLA is for a team event: Texas Team Championship. Online TLA system is currently not really a good fit for that. I am not complaining though. Beggars are not choosers.
Note that online-only TLAs do NOT meet the requirement for either the Grand Prix or Junior Grand Prix that those events must have a TLA.
The separation between TDs and Affiliates is a long-standing USCF ‘feature’. For those situations where the chief TD is also the sole owner of the affiliate, it’s a bit cumbersome.