It is Saturday morning, May 20, 2023. The COVID-19 virus is a thing of the past, an unpleasant memory for most of us. Over-the-board (OTB) chess tournaments are thriving, and online (ONL) tournaments are doing well also. Quite a few chess players have become fans of both, playing OTB one weekend, online the next.
Mollie and Ted, a married couple from a small city in the Midwest, have pre-registered for a two-day OTB tournament in a mid-scale hotel in their city’s downtown area. The first round is due to start at 10 o’clock today. The couple is now arriving at the tournament site an hour early, giving them time for a leisurely walkthrough to check out the playing facilities ahead of time.
The tournament publicity had listed the event as a 5-round Swiss with three rounds Saturday and two Sunday. It had also stated that players “need not bring sets, boards, or clocks to the tournament. All equipment will be provided by the organizer. Only the latest high-tech equipment will be used.”
Now Ted and Mollie walk into one of the tournament rooms, expecting to see rows upon rows of tables, with vinyl chess boards at every table, pieces meticulously set up at each board, and clocks all facing towards the center aisle.
Instead, they see a setup that resembles a university computer lab. There are computer monitors around all the edges of the room, facing into the room, with a chair at each monitor. Apparently the players will sit facing the wall, watching their monitors. Attached to each monitor is a rubber-tipped stylus, presumably for move entry on the touch screens. Above each monitor is a large sign saying “Station 1”, “Station 2”, “Station 3”, etc. In this room, the stations are numbered 1 through 20.
On each screen a chessboard is displayed, along with a message, “This software is running on a closed intranet. It cannot be accessed by persons or software outside the tournament area at any time during the tournament.” The message goes on to say “Pairings will appear at each station at approximately 9:40 am. You may look up your pairing at any station, then proceed to your assigned station by 10 am. Open section games will be played at stations 1-20, Under-2000 section at stations 21-40, Under-1600 section at stations 41-60. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Upon further exploration of the tournament area, Mollie and Ted find two more rooms set up the same way, one with stations numbered 21-40 and another numbered 41-60. There is also a skittles room, with the same setup but no station numbers, and a smaller room labeled “TD Office” with some additional equipment and a master computer.
Both Ted and Mollie are playing in the Under-2000 section, so they sit down in the room where the stations are numbered 21-40, and await their pairings, along with other players in the various sections.
Around 9:40, the chessboards disappear from all the screens, and the pairings appear. The players take note, and instantly leap out of their seats and run to the various stations. There is no crowding around the pairing sheets, because the pairing sheets are on all the stations, and the players-to-stations ratio is approximately 1:1.
The screens closely resemble OTB pairing sheets, except that instead of table numbers, each player is assigned a station number. In one corner of the screen are three touch buttons labeled “Open”, “Under-2000”, and “Under-1600”. Thus, players may look up pairings in any section, not just their assigned sections.
Mollie quickly finds her pairing, and sees that she is playing the black pieces at station 33 against Joseph Kingfish at station 24. She also notices that Ted is playing the white pieces at station 36 against Linda Queensmash at station 27. It appears that stations 21-29 are assigned to the higher-rated players in each pairing, and 30-38 to the lower. Stations 39-40 are left over (for now).
Mollie gravitates to station 33, and looks across the room to see her apparent opponent starting to sit down at station 24. Mollie waves at her opponent, and he waves back. Some players, however, are actually getting out of their seats to greet their opponents in person in the middle of the room, and then returning to their assigned stations.
At 9:59, the pairings disappear from the screens, replaced with a chessboard display and countdown notice. “Games will start in 60 seconds”, then 59,58,57 etc. Clock times (e.g. 1:30:30) are also displayed, but are not yet counting down. At each station, the player’s time is shown at the bottom of the screen, and the opponent’s time at the top. The pairings remain displayed at unused stations 39-40 for the benefit of late arrivers.
At 10:00, a “Please begin” notice appears and white’s clock starts counting down. All the players begin their games. A few minutes later, the TD walks into the room to check for missing players. Seeing that everybody is present and playing, the TD leaves the room and returns to the TD Office.
The games continue. Throughout play, a “Draw” button (claim, offer, or accept), a “Resign” button, and a “Summon TD” button are available on each player’s screen. As each game finishes, its result is automatically and immediately transmitted to, and recorded on, the Tournament Central station in the TD Office. Partially and fully completed pairing sheets and wall charts are available for viewing at any time at the skittles room stations.
After the tournament is over, Ted and Mollie approach the organizers to thank them for a wonderful tournament. Mollie says, “I’m really glad this tournament is OTB-rated.” Ted responds, “Wait a minute, I thought it would be online-rated, with all the techno bells and whistles.” The organizer ponders, “Hmm, let me think about that. I had assumed it was going to be OTB-rated, but now I’m not so sure.”
Opinions, please. Should this event, as described, be OTB-rated or online-rated?
Bill Smythe
