I have an old version of the USCF rules. Would someone be kind enough to copy/paste Rule 23A from the most current version which I believe is number 5?
Thankyou.
Since there is no electronic version of the Rulebook, no one except maybe Tim Just can copy/paste it. 23A runs almost two pages, so retyping it would be tedious. Can you be more specific in your question?
I was on the discussion committee for the 5th edition, so I do have an electronic copy. Though it is not the final version which went to print, I think 23A is accurate. Here it is:
23A. Responsibilities of organizer.
Tournaments rated by the USCF must be organized by a USCF affiliate or by the USCF itself. This organizer is responsible for all financial matters related to the tournament, and may select an individual or a committee to handle the physical and financial arrangements. These include finding a playing site, setting a date and the times of the rounds, determining the entry fees and prizes, hiring tournament directors, and advertising the event.
The organizing affiliate must select a chief tournament director (also referred to as director, TD, or arbiter) whose USCF certification level is appropriate for the type of tournament anticipated. The tournament director is responsible for all decisions in the tournament regarding rules.
23A1. Obligation to pay guaranteed prizes.
An affiliate that guarantees prize money but fails to pay it in full may have its USCF affiliation revoked, and the individual(s) responsible for that affiliate may be denied the right to affiliate under a different name. See also 32, Prizes.
If extraordinary circumstances such as extreme weather conditions or civil unrest prevent most potential entrants from playing in a tournament, the organizer may appeal to the USCF executive director for permission to limit the prizes to 100 percent of entry fees collected.
23A2. Tournament cancellations.
Tournaments announced in Chess Life may be canceled only if one of the following conditions exists:
a. A timely cancellation notice appears in an appropriate issue of Chess Life.
b. Physical conditions, such as closure of site or extremely inclement weather, render the site unusable.
A disappointing number of advance entries is never a valid reason for cancellation. Organizers who cancel a tournament in a non-emergency situation without proper notice will be prohibited from announcing tournaments in Tournament Life or elsewhere in Chess Life for three years. (Additional penalties are also possible.)
23A3. Advance entry refunds.
Unless otherwise stated in all advance publicity, advance entry fees are refundable to players who give notice of withdrawal before the close of registration for round one.
23A4. No refunds once event starts.
A player who begins play in the first round is not entitled to a refund of the entry fee or any portion of it, even if forced to miss most games due to a medical or other emergency. Variations of this policy are at the discretion of the organizer.
– Hal Terrie
Is it a violation of Rule 23A for a TD to be organizer, sponsor as well as director? The way I understand Rule 23A, tournaments rated by the USCF must be organized by a USCF affiliate. TD takes all potential profits and accepts any losses. Tournament is rated using the affiliate’s USCF number. TD on approved list of TD’s for affiliate.
No. In fact, it’s probably more common than not. It just means that one person has to carry out the responsibilities of organizer, affiliate and TD.
I think it is usually the case that the ‘sponsoring affiliate’ and the ‘organizer’ are the same entity. The TD does not have to be the ‘organizer’, though in many cases, especially smaller events, the TD is also the owner of the affiliate and the organizer of the event.
A 'hired gun ’ TD is not responsible for the prizes and depending on how the event is run may not handle any money at all, neither registrations nor prize funds payouts.
No. And, you missed one - he can PLAY, too!
Yes.
That’s up to the Affiliate and the TD. Some Affiliates allow TDs to organize tournaments under their umbrella. Other Affiliates organize the events and pay a TD a fee for his services. In this case, the TD always gets paid and the profit/loss are the responsibility of the Affiliate.
Yes.
Not necessarily. The “approved list” is for TDs who are authorized to submit the event online for the Affiliate. This doesn’t necessarily relate to the TD who actually ran the event.
Both the Chief TD and the TD who submits the event online must be approved by the affiliate to submit an event online. (Most of the time the Chief TD is also the person submitting the event online.)
Thanks for your comments.
Perhaps Rule 23A is adequately worded to defend this practice and maybe not.
It seems to me, and I don’t claim to be an authority on the rules, that the wording of this rule does not allow a practice such as this. I agree that it might be open to a personal interpretation, however. So far, everyone has agreed that it is allowable.
And I also agree that it is up to the affiliate and the TD if Rule 23A does not specifically disallow this practice. In the best of situations, I would agree that it would be okay.
However, in situations where the affiliate membership is not aware of the arrangement, I would say that the practice is not a good thing for the affiliate or the players. And if the affiliate membership is not aware then one might be confident in saying that players from outside the area are also not aware of sponsorship or ownership of the tournament. If advertisements do not specifically spell out that the affiliate is not the sponsor or organizer of the event then I believe that some would even say that it amounts to false advertising.
On the advertising question, if the event is advertised in Chess Life using the authority of the affiliate and the event has to be canceled for reasons that are clearly unacceptable to the USCF then the affiliate might lose this advertising option for its own sponsored and organized events. So in that sense, it would have been shown that the arrangement was not good for the affiliate. Perhaps legal but not a smart thing to do.
Problems are compounded in the event that a state federation with sanctioning rights to their state title event awards rights to sponsor and run the event to the affiliate with the clear understanding that it will be the affiliate that it assuming all sponsoring and organizing responsibilities. No questions regarding this arrangement between the affiliate and sponsor/organizer/TD are posed and the state fed assumes that their sanctioning is going to the affiliate when in reality it isn’t.
It seems that the Rule 23A should be amended in some way or the affiliate and/or state fed should address this in their rules.
Thanks again for your comments.
I assume you are thinking of the case where somebody (presumably on the affiliate’s official TD list) announces or runs a tournament using the affiliate’s ID, without the permission (or perhaps even the knowledge) of the affiliate. Is that correct?
Bill Smythe
Hypothetically, if the general membership of the affiliate and the playing public have not been made aware that some or all of the affiliate’s tournaments are not actually affiliate sponsored and organized events then is this a violation of Rule 23A which limits the affiliate to be the organizer and sponsor?
No. That’s an internal matter for the affiliate to deal with. Now, if the affiliate were to disown the tournament publicly, the USCF might have a problem deciding whether to rate it. This might also be grounds for filing a complaint against the TD and getting him suspended or decertified. (I say “might,” because the TD could have been acting in good faith.)
The USCF can’t (and won’t) micromanage the affairs of individual chess clubs or state chapters. If there’s dissension between officers and members, you’re going to have to resolve it at the local level.
Yes, I agree with you that this would be an internal matter for the affiliate. Let the club or affiliate put some rule in place that will make it harder for something like that to happen in the future. Live and learn.
I would entertain the possibility that where the rule doesn’t expressly forbid it then there is room for this to occur without violating the rule.
Thanks for your comments.
The idea of having a list of authorized TDs was added to the online submission process because of some abuses by TDs in the past.
When an affiliate puts a TD on the list of TDs authorized to submit events on behalf of that affiliate, there is a level of trust involved. If that trust is violated, it is the affiliate’s responsibility to deal with it however they decide to do so. One of their options is to remove that TD from the list of authorized TDs for their affiliate. (The USCF office cannot update or edit the list of TDs authorized by an affiliate, only the affiliate can.)
Usually when someone asks a question like this, they’ve got a specific situation in mind.
I’m curious as to when this list of an affiliate’s approved TD’s was added.
Yes – and inquiring minds want to know. GoldenBoy2?
Bill Smythe
The list of approved TDs for an affiliate was added as part of the development of the TD/Affiliate Support Area (which was initially designed in 2004), and has been in effect for events submitted online since early 2005.
Over 85% of the events rated so far in 2007 were submitted online.