I like upset prizes based on rounds/section but I would not award one unless there is at least 300 point difference.
Your take if any?
What kind of prize? I am thinking something like certificates.
Again you take? Bourbon is fine but probably illegal in scholastic tournaments (presumably)
I don’t know about a lower limit (of 300 pts) for an upset award. I do like your idea of giving an award for an upset. Some tournaments offer monetary prizes for biggest upset, but even if there is 1 award a round it won’t always award all upsets. A result is that players with less than the “Biggest” upset get no reward, award, or even recognition. A certificate for an upset (maybe with the rating difference) I think is a nice touch. 300 points does not seem unreasonable, as 200 points is a rating class difference.
Larry Cohen
I know the Pittsburgh Chess Club likes to award one upset prize per tournament. The prize in question is a free entry to a future tournament. It’s given to the player with the biggest upset win of at least 300 points. This seems like a good system to me, as it encourages lower-rated but improving players to play more often.
Thanks for mentioning that, Dan. I just want to clarify that its standard in our Tuesday weeknight events, but not the weekend ones. (Even though the prize can be applied to a weekend tournament, just not awarded in one)
-Mike Holsinger
I included an upset prize in our club championship. I made no provision for whether ratings had to be established or not. We have a player with an 1813 rating based on 11 games. His first rating of 2078 was based on 5 games played sometime pre-MSA. In the first 4 rounds he has 1 draw and 3 losses, including one to a player rated 1218. That’s by far the biggest upset. I hate having to award the upset prize on taht result, but I don’t think I have any other choice. However it will make the kid happy since he’s probably not going to win any other prize.
I hadn’t thought about established rating requirement.