A while back a friend told me about a player who had participated on two teams at the USATE, effectively playing a 2-game simul each round. The ratings report for that tournament backs this up, with the player in question being listed twice with different results, though on different boards (as the story continues, the teams he was on played against each other, though this appears to be embellishment).
Hence the question: Is it possible to enter the same tournament twice if there is no possibility of playing against oneself, or was the above an oversight? For example, is it legal to enter both the Open and the U2400 sections of the same tournament (assuming one is eligible for both), if the player were willing to be playing multiple games at a time?
For most events there is no rule (other than sanity) against playing in multiple sections of an event, if someone is eligible for those sections. (There is such a rule in several National events, like national scholastics.)
I haven’t checked the rulebook but there probably should be a rule prohibiting multiple entries into the same section of an event unless an event specifically permits it. It will be interesting to see if the USATE changes its rules for 2014 as a result of this incident.
I once had a player enter three sections of an event I was running, with overlapping schedules so that part of the day he was playing three games–in three different rooms–at the same time. As I recall, he finished in the top three in two of those sections.
In events with multiple schedules that merge together (like the US Open or numerous CCA events), organizers generally have a rule limiting players from entering any schedule more than once.
Been there, done that. Not with teams, but 2 different sections of a class tournament. I also once played in 2 different tournaments over the same weekend in 2 cities about 100 miles apart. Had to take a rd 2 bye in one in order to play the 5 G/30 games in the other.
I played in a Bill Smythe directed tournament at Northwestern University (in the Norris Center) circa 1973. The event had Hex round robin sections on Sat and Sun, and Quad round robin sections each on Sat and also on Sunday. A player named Barry Bouton played in a Quad section each day, as well as the Hex tournament, getting in 11 games in 2 days.
As the rules stand, I think it’s up to the TD to decide whether to allow a player to enter multiple sections of the same tournament, possibly on a case by case basis. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. I generally allow it unless a player has abused the privilege in the past, as has happened a couple of times in tournaments that I’ve directed. Problems arise when the player pays too much attention to one of his games and not enough to the other.
Multiple entries into the same section of a tournament shouldn’t be allowed except as a re-entry (withdrawing from the original entry), although again I think it should be up to the TD whether to allow it or not. It might be acceptable in a team tournament, e.g. with a player being the alternate for more than one team, although personally I wouldn’t allow it.
Bob brings up a situation that really needs improvement.
While it is usually up to the TD to enforce the specific rules of an event, things like section eligibility, re-entries, etc., it should be the event organizer’s responsibility to define those rules, not the TD’s.
In cases when the organizer (on behalf of an affiliate) and the TD are the same person, the potential for dissonance between those roles is present.
I would say, though, that if the organizer hasn’t said anything about whether a player can enter multiple sections of a tournament the TD should be free to make any reasonable ruling, under rule 1A (problem not specifically treated by the rules), keeping in mind rule 5h in the USCF Code of Ethics (unethical to bar someone from a USCF-sanctioned event for personal reasons).
For the tournaments I was thinking of, like the Massachusetts Open, when I’ve been the chief TD I’ve also been in effect the chief organizer. If I were directing a tournament where somebody else was the chief organizer, I’d probably try to talk to the organizer before making a ruling on whether to allow someone to enter multiple sections of a tournament. If the organizer weren’t available I’d use my best judgment.