Prize Example

Running Chess Tournaments
1

I just directed a tournament with the following prizes & scores:

1st place: $250
2nd place: $150
3rd place: $100
U2200: $100

Player A (GM) 4.0
Player B (expert) 3.5
Player C (expert) 3.5
Player D (NM) 3.0
Player E (expert) 2.5

Obviously the GM gets 1st place & its $250 prize. I thought the solution regarding the other 3 prizes was:
[i]- Players B & C split 2nd place and the U2200, receive $125.

  • Player D gets the 3rd place prize of $100.[/i]

However, the sponsor (a more experienced TD) decided the correct split was:
[i]- Players B & C split 2nd and 3rd places, receive $125.

  • Player E gets the U2200 prize of $100.
    [/i]

Rule 32B4 seems to confirm that I was wrong but I would still appreciate some comments and helpful advice.

2

You were mistaken. Although 3rd and U2200 are the same amount, the place prize is “higher ranked” and should be pooled first. So, A gets $250, B and C split 2nd and 3rd ($125 each), E gets U2200 ($100), and D is left out in the cold. As you noted, this is explicitly stated in 32B4.

3

Yes, the default is to consider a place prize “better” than a class prize of equal amount. I’ve always found it best to make all of the prizes slightly different amounts. For example, in an upcoming tournament, I’m using the distribution: “200-100, U2000 $90, U1800 $80, U1600 $70, U1400 $60, U1200 $50, U1000 $40”. In that way, for each player there is no question which is the best prize. In your example, if the U2200 prize was either $110 or $90 the distribution would be obvious and the players will understand the situation without having to be shown a rulebook.

4

Things get fun when you have

1st place: $250
2nd place: $150
3rd place: $100
Expert: $100
Class A: $100

Player A (GM) 4.0
Player B (expert) 3.5
Player C (expert) 3.5
Player D (A) 3.5
Player E (expert) 3.0
Player F (A) 2.5

B, C and D get three prizes ($116.57 each), but which three? If they were U2200 and U2000 then U2200 would be the the higher ranked prize (available to all U2000 players plus the experts). With class prizes instead there are three ways of looking at it:

  1. expert is higher ranked than A and player F gets the $100 class prize
  2. whichever class had more players is higher ranked and either E or F gets the $100 class prize
  3. place prizes rank higher than class prizes but you should treat all equal class prizes as equal. In this case 1/2 of the expert prize and 1/2 of the A prize would be taken leaving $50 each for E and F (if A was $100.50 and expert was $99.50 then the A prize would be taken and E would get $99.50).

You avoid deciding between 1, 2 and 3 if you use under prizes.