I was recently at a scholastic event and the TD announced that “in scholastic tournaments notation is not required, in open tournaments it is.”
I was surprised to here this, there was no mention of removing 5% of the game time for not notating.
Is this a TD discretion issue, is the TD correct?
I have been to many other scholastic tournaments where the TD said if you know how to notate you must notate.
So what is the rule here? 
Was it a USCF rated event, or was it just a local scholastic tournament? Back when I was in school I played a few chess tournaments organized by the school district, or the county. They were not rated, and no one kept score. (I didn’t even know how to back then).
Maybe when the TD referred to open tournaments, he meant rated tournaments. 
No, these were ALL USCF-rated events, and the TD is a National TD.
With K-3, it is common not to use scoresheets for a rated tournament. If it was a open, all the players are in the same section. If the tournament was K-5, do not see a major problem. As you point out, notation is not required.
There could have been other problems the director did not know about till the day of the tournament. It could have been a simple problem, there were no scoresheets in the first place. The players did not know notation, you child monsoon did know but the bulk of the players did not.
When it comes to scholastic tournaments, the director is limited to the level of the use of the clock or the scoresheet.
I ran my first scholastic tournament about a month ago and I had this issue come up. There were about 160 total kids, 4 round, G/30. I had a parent come up and ask me about it and I was under the assumption due to the USCF rules that scholastic players did not have to take notation since they didn’t know how.
One parent complained that it wasn’t fair that their child took notation and the other kid got more time because of this. A few other parents got in on this discussion and apparently, the same rule applies for scholastic tournaments.
Even when I played as a kid, this was never enforced. It would be extremely difficult to worry about it when the tournament goes on.
I’m guessing it’s up to the TD, but I never did get an official answer regarding it.
This is up to the director under rule 1B1.
The director does have this discretion under rule 1B1. Since it is about not having scoresheets, it does not warrent rule 1B2. The director did give notification before the start of the tournament. The director did follow the rule under rule 1B1.
Under the USCF’s rules for scholastic tournaments, players are not required to take notation in a K-3 event (section 19.3). Strictly, these rules only apply to National events, but I would think other events should follow the same rules. For tournaments other than National scholastics, the correct rule to consider is 15A1-c (1B1 needn’t be invoked).
With very young players, I would claim that it is unfair to penalize them for not taking notation. With a 4 or 5 year old player (for example) the inability to take notation is qualitatively different from an adult that doesn’t want to bother to take the 5 minutes to learn how. Players at this age don’t have the skill needed to write on a scoresheet. You could even claim that their inability reaches the level of a physical disability (watch a 5-year-old learning to write and you’ll know what I mean), in which case a penalty would not be appropriate.
By the way, those scholastic rules mandate special scoresheets for elementary events, but I noticed they weren’t provided for the youngest section at the US Junior Open. I’m guessing that these rules are not widely followed.
Personal peeve: Under the circumstances, I felt that one TD quite improperly penalized my Kindergarden-aged daughter for not taking notation. The amount of time penalized (which was in excess of the recommendations in the rules) was really insignificant. She was very upset that she was being “punished” for her “rules violation” (she never came close to using the all of her time).
This chess notation rules are a particular sore spot with me. According to the rules it is up to the director whether to allow a player to play without keeping notation. Theoretically, a TD could impose even more strict penalties (including forfeiting their game) on a young player for their “refusal to follow the rules”. Most directors are reasonable people, but there are enough exceptions to worry me.
The director can use rule 15A1c: “Beginners who have not learned to keep score may be excused from scorekeeping, at the director’s discretion.” But to use the rule as a total blanket over every player in the tournament, would be abuse of the rule if it was to stand alone. If the director is going to use the discretion of the rules of 15A1, the director needs some evidence before the start of the tournament. Talk with the parent first, talk with the player, before making the discretion. The rule 15A1 is about one player at a time, not the total amount of the players.
Rule 15A1c is the best rule out of the bunch to use it in a blanket rule for everyone. Even with this rule, the director has to make an announcement before the start of the tournament rule 15A1c is going to be used. The director has to use rule 1B1 to make the notification understood by all the players and parents before the start of the first round. Since the director can use rule 15A1c as a variation used on all the players. The director has to make this notification and oral announcement prior to there use before the first round.
First, 15A1c is not a variation of the rules – it IS the rule.
Secondly, the rule specifically gives the TD the discretion. It places no limits on how the TD uses the discretion (though you could argue that the TD had abused the power if the players were not treated equally). It does not say that the TD is restricted from making the decisions wholesale – “Everybody here’s a beginner, so you don’t have to keep score if you don’t know how” could be his ruling. This is not a rules variation, simply the TD exercising the power explicitly granted him in the rules. As long as all players are treated fairly, I don’t see any room for questioning the TD’s use of his discretion. It’s not as if he’s telling any player that he can’t keep score.
The difference between “if you know how to notate, then you must notate” and “nobody has to keep score” is simply that with the first statement everyone would be on the “honor system”. There would be no effective difference in the enforcement of the rules.
How the director use the rule 15A1c, to use it for one player or for all the players is a variation. Since the director before the tournament was going to used rule 15A1c for all the players. It is a question how the director would use the rule, use the rule for all the players, or case by case, that is the variation.
The discretion is on the term and understanding of the word ‘beginners.’ If I let a child not use a scoresheet, so I also not let the opponent not use a scoresheet also. Had a scholastic player in my last tournament, he was paired with player with the ratings of 1784, 1452, 1443, 1568. His rating was 658, but he did understand notation. If he did not understand notation, would it be equal to tell the other players they do not need to use notation? If you have a 6 year old paired with a master, would be be fair to be equal to tell the master he/she does not need to use notation?
Unless there’s a formal definition of “beginner”, this rule seems to give the TD broad discretion over the scorekeeping requirement.
I’m a newborn club TD, so my opinion doesn’t count for much, but it seems to me that it’s in the player’s own best interest to keep score. Without a scoresheet he can’t claim various types of draws, and opens himself up to inaccuracies in the oponent’s scoresheet, which is consequently the only record of the game.
If all the above is true, and if this is only an issue in lower-rated sections (which I assume is the case), why would I as a TD choose to make an issue of it?
You as the director have to settle the definition.
Even adults have huge gaps with inaccuracies in the scoresheets. It is not fun going over the games after the tournament. Going over the scoresheets, just to play the games out, with players in the tournament – you will find inaccuracies.
If it is just with young scholastic players, with scholastic players that do not understand. Let them play without scoresheets.