All the Scholastic tournaments I have been involved with have broken sections down according to grade. K-1 2-3 4-5 6-8 etc
From another thread "… the section structure we’ve evolved to in Oklahoma for rated scholastic tournaments which are now routinely over 200 players is:
K-4 Under 500
K-6 under 700
K-12 Under 900
K-12 Under 1100
K-12 Premier
Note that the top section is not Open and we do not allow players to play up more than 100 points. So the floor in the Premier section is a 1000 rating."
I have seen under 600 rating trophys etc.
But the above idea intriques me. And at the same time makes me wonder if there are even other Scholastic setups for the sections that I am unaware of.
There aren’t an infinite number of varieties for how to organize scholastic (or non-scholastic) events, but the number of combinations is mighty high.
You can segment them by age, by grade, by rating, by experience (ie, beginners-only sections), and probably a few other ways.
Within each of those methods, there are a number of logical places to draw separation lines, and depending on the local population base possibly a few non-obvious ones. (I have seen tournaments with an Under 850 section, for example. Presumably the organizer knows the distribution of his player base when drawing that line.)
I’m not sure I like the idea of a 100 point cap on playing up, because I’ve seen far too many players have 300 point or larger gains from one event to the next. Also, ratings are at best accurate to +/- 50 points, and probably more like +/- 100 points below 1000.
In Columbus we have migrated from grade based rated sections to rating based sections with the unrated sections remaining grade based. Since switching to rating based sections our attendance has been declining. While there are possibly other reasons contributing to the decline, areas close to us that use grade based sections are seeing steady or growing attendance numbers.
A recent thread has been going on at our discussion forum and based on some of the feedback there as well as other discussions, I am now inclinded to think that a grade based approach is better for attracting and keeping players.
Based on our local discussions, and the thread here, I am considering recommending/using the following format in our local events:
Wayne, Hey Neighbor, In just a couple of weeks, I’ll be running the 20th Annual MLK Day Celebration Tournament at Bone Student Center at Illinios State University.
We are running it this year with 6 sections:
Lower Primary (K-1)
Upper Primary U300 (2-3)
Upper Primary Open
Elementary U500 (4-5)
Elementary Open
Jr. High
We chose to have the Under sections based on the large range of ratings and large anticipated number in UP and EL sections to be over 100.
Based on a prior tournament (Prairieland), the U300 and U500 breaks should give us about a 50/50 split of the sections and a chance at a clear winner (w/o tiebreaks)
Almost all of the scholastic tournaments here are unrated by USCF and by grade. We do have a State Scholastic rating system, however. A couple of years ago, a school did sponsor a tournament based on scholastic rating. The reaction was very interesting. Kids who had never won anything more than a participation award, finally found out what it was like to win a section (including my son who went 4 out of 5 and took 2nd). Kids who were used to beating up on everyone in the section until the last round finally found themselves having to play 5 tough games. The lower rated kids loved it, the higher-rated kids didn’t. I think maybe a good mix of both of these types would be good.
I am running a RBO in March, that will not be primarily scholastic, but probably heavily so. I am running it in 3 sections - U1200 (and unrated &th grade-adult), U800 (and unrated 4-6 grade), and U400 (and unrated K-3). I will make adjustments if needed based on registrations. The idea is to keep it fun and hopefully pick up some new USCF members.
Three to four years ago in Oklahoma we had sections for monthly events during most of the school year that were typically:
K-3 Open with 5 rounds of G/45
K-6 U750 with 5 rounds of G/45
K-6 Open with 5 rounds of G/45
7-12 U1000 with 5 rounds of G/45
7-12 Open with 4 rounds of G/60
The K-3 Open section had the same few winners each time that rolled over the beginners. These sections tended to be rather small with about 10-15% of the participants.
The K-6 U750 section grew to be huge with over half of the participants in some events.
The K-6 Open section was also small at about 10-15%, with a few of the same players always winning.
The 7-12 U1000 section was about 20% of the players and probably worked out best of all the sections.
The 7-12 Open section was generally small with less than 10% of the players, but very competitive.
The change to K-4 U500, K-6 U700 and K-12 U900 was an attempt to do two things. First of all, it kept the size of these sections more balanced. Also, the players can gradually move up to more appropriate levels of competition and insulate the beginners from the stronger players. We now have some 3rd graders playing in the top rated sections with all grade levels and doing very well there. Also, the bottom 3 sections have 25%, 35% and 25% of the players. The balance of the remaining 15% are split about evenly between the K-12 U1100 section and Premier sections. The competition is excellent in these top sections with players of all ages.
The only problem with this arrangement is the top 2 sections being too small for viable teams. We’re experimenting with combining these sections for team score purposes only.
We have a yearly Grade Championship, which this year set a new OK rated tournament record with 248 players. There were awards for each individual grade level, except for K which was combined with 1st grade. For pairing purposes, we combined K-2, 9-10 and 11-12. The few top players in each grade level roll over the others and battle it out in the last rounds for all of the awards.
Our State Scholastic Championship used to be K-3 Open, K-6 U750, K-6 Open, 7-9 Open and 10-12 Open. However, there were a lot of problems with teams being split up at the 6/7 and 9/10 grade limits. Also, the K-6 U750 section was simply enormous. Our Scholastic State Championship with 236 players last year now has the following sections:
K-4 U500 with 5SS G/45 and 28% of the players
K-4 Premier with 5SS G/45 and 9% of the players
K-6 U700 with 5SS G/45 and 26% of the players
K-6 Premier with 5SS G/45 and 8% of the players
6-9 Open with 5SS G/45 and 16% of the players
9-12 Open with 4SS G/60 and 13% of the players
In the two Premier sections, players can only play up 100 points.
This year the 9-12 champion will receive $1000 for Denker Championship expenses and the top girl, aside from the state champion, will receive $1000 for Polgar Championship expenses. With so much on the line, we give grades 9-12 a longer time control.
Another very important thing we’ve done is stopped allowing parents and coaches to view the games after the first 5 minutes. The kids do better and we have far fewer parent/coach problems.
Since the beginning of 2003, our monthly rated scholastic tournament participation has nearly doubled to about 200 players. The state championship in 2003 was 175 players and this year is expected to be about 275. Part of this is promotion to school administrators and teachers. But enjoyable, well-run tournaments by the growing number of Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization volunteers keep them coming back in larger numbers.
Scholastic chess is doing great in Oklahoma
Happy holidays,
Mike Swatek
Secretary, Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization okschess.org
Speaking of that, I wonder who the poor person in NY is that has a 1959 rating and is being excluded from class prizes in the Chessaholics Anonymous Tournament Dec 31st?
BTW - I assume that is Steve Immitt’s ad. I got a laugh out of it. Congrats on putting together a great TLA!
I think my favorite TLA gimmick of all time was the Columbus Day Open in which any player with a published rating of 1492 could play for free.
That event may have been run by the Houston Chess Club, which was at the time also running a lot of Insanities.
An insanity, for those who don’t remember those days, is an 18 or 24 hour tournament, usually starting around 9PM Friday night with rounds continuously until some time Saturday afternoon or evening. As the event ground on, there were usually some interesting upsets.
For a short time in the 1970s, Bill Goichberg was running sections “open to all rated over 500 or unrated”. This was at a time when there were virtually no ratings below 500.
I asked him why he did this, and he responded that Chess Life would always remove the phrase “open to all” from TLAs. He wanted the entry requirements explicitly stated, even in sections open to all.
It’s not Sam Sloan. I can’t imagine who’s rated 1959 that Steve would want to stiff. Maybe I’ll ask him that question so I can qualify for the stupidest TD question prize.
My other stupid TD question for Steve is, "What is “proper attire”? Does that mean I can’t show up in my PJs for when I want a bye to take a nap at 3:00 am?
Personally I think he should have had a 1699 - 1701 prize, then I might enter.
I can’t imagine who’s rated 1959 that Steve would want to stiff. Maybe I’ll ask him that question so I can qualify for the stupidest TD question prize. 