Submitting a free TLA for National Chess Day

Running Chess Tournaments
1

Just a quick question about the “free” national chess day TLA’s.

Background:

A club in Soldotna, Alaska is going to fly me in from Fairbanks to hold a rated chess tournament for National Chess Day, October, 12th.

Question:

I understand it is free to submit a TLA for national chess day, but when should I submit it for entry? Is it free just online or in the magazine, and which dates do I ask it to be run? Should I submit it now, and ask it to run now until NCD, or just for the october magazine, or September?

Thanks, never ran a TLA before.

3

Online only TLAs are always free (even if it is not national chess day). The national chess day free TLA promotion is about the print TLAs featured in Chess Life. There is no need to wait on submitting the TLA. You can do it today.

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4

The latest website link is for 2023. Celebrate National Chess Day! | US Chess.org

Are NCD rating fees free in 2024?

5

I can’t find the announcement (past news items and announcements always seem difficult to search through) but I believe the EB authorized expanding National Chess Day to National Chess Week for 2024, because October 11-12 is Yom Kippur.

Ratings fees for qualified events–a TLA and ‘NCD’, ‘NCW’, ‘National Chess Day’ or ‘National Chess Week’ in the event title and any pre-tournament publicity are required. I believe a waiver code will be sent out to qualifying events in the next few weeks. This covers ratings fees only, not FIDE or Grand Prix fees, TD Correction fees or any membership fees.

6

Here’s the information for this year’s National Chess Week!

The 2024 National Chess Day falls on Saturday, October 12, which this year is also Yom Kippur, one of the most solemn holidays on the Jewish calendar.

For this reason, the Executive Board has decided to extend our National Chess Day into a National Chess Week, running from October 5-12.

For any event that includes “National Chess Day” (or “National Chess Week”) in the event title and is held October 5-12, US Chess is offering:

  • A free email blast. Make sure that “National Chess Day” is part of your subject line. On the payment screen, select “No charge.” Also, make sure the demographic you are sending this to is reasonable; generally, this will be local or regional. Do not send to the entire membership.
  • Free ratings fees. Use the payment code NCW2024FREE. This is case-sensitive, and can only be used for one event.
    • Each affiliate will be allowed one tournament using this waiver code.
    • The waiver code covers ratings fees only, not $10 correction fees, FIDE fees or Grand Prix fees. (Two-month trial memberships can no longer be submitted through the tournament submission process, so they are paid for separately.)
  • Free online TLA. Online TLAs are always free, of course, not just for National Chess Day. But we want to make sure you are aware of this option too as you promote your event. See “How to Create a TLA” at Information for New Members | US Chess.org

Note that there are some restrictions to be aware of:

  • The tournament must have “NCD,” “NCW,” “National Chess Day” or “National Chess Week” in the event name. (Upper/lower case should not matter.)
  • The event must start no earlier than Saturday, October 5, 2024, and start no later than Saturday, October 12, 2024.
  • The event must end no earlier than Saturday, October 5, 2024, and end no later than Sunday, October 13, 2024. (That’s to cover a Saturday-Sunday event that would end on the 13th.)

Please feel free to send your best photos to our Communications team through John Hartmann john.hartmann@uschess.org for possible use in Chess Life, Chess Life Kids, and Chess Life Online . On social media, use the hashtag #NationalChessDay.

Please direct any questions to John Hartmann john.hartmann@uschess.org. Here’s to a successful National Chess Week for all!

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One (not-so-minor) change, the waiver code is NCW2024FREE. I’ll update John’s note.

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After all, 25 “National Chess Day” and “NCD” events were run last week, including two large scholastic events in Texas on October 5. Were many free TLAs submitted? There were 35 events in 2023, including three over 100 players.

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I don’t have access to the TLA records, and the tournament reports from the NCD/NCW events may not all be rated yet.

Looking at events that had some variant of National Chess Day/Week in the tournament name field:

I currently see 42 events in 27 states and 40 cities involving 2561 participants.

Using the same search criteria for 2023, there were 35 events in 23 states and 30 cities involving 1778 participants.

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There may be some confusion / the numbers may not be final; we just had to update to get “NCW” in the tournament name to pick up the free rating, for example.

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Fair enough. I didn’t include NCW or “Week.” There are 3 new events rated with “Day” since I looked plus 12 for “Week” so I just got 40. There might be more all week. Let’s not worry about that. I’m more curious if free TLAs helped increase participation this year.

12

We’re now up to 48 events in 30 states and 45 cities, with 2950 participants. (I did find one event that apparently had ‘Chess Day’ in the event name but not ‘National’.) Having either ‘NCD’ or "NCW’ in the event title also fulfilled that requirement.

At least 15 events did not utilize the waiver code and several did not fully comply with the rules (like not including ‘National’ in the event title.) A few events used the wrong waiver code.

17 events self-reported as not having had a TLA, 6 reported having an online TLA only and 25 said they had a TLA (but without access to the TLA system, the tournament system can’t verify that.)

I have suggested to the Chess Life editor that next year we need to publicize National Chess Day starting in mid-spring, so that organizers have time to plan ahead and get their TLA’s submitted.