I’ve not actually handled a tournament membership yet. Do I understand correctly that this is done as part of the rating submission process, when you have non-members showing up in the report? As opposed to going in ahead of time and purchasing a tournament membership just like you would any other normal membership? I don’t see the tournament membership showing up as an option in the “Select Membership Type” box.
Grant Neilley
That’s correct, since a tournament membership applies only to ONE section of a specific tournament, it is handled as part of the online submission process for that event, not as a separate membership transaction. (Among other things, the event ID and section number aren’t necessarily known in advance, so tying a TM entered separately to the section to which it applies is a non-trivial exercise.)
This process is explained in greater detail in the FAQ for the TD/Affiliate Support Area, secure.uschess.org/TD_Affil/faq.php
I’ve seen no mention of this but could have missed it: it appears there is no limit on the time span of a tournament to which a TM could apply, for example if it runs over some number of weeks or months (but still as one tournament). Is this correct?
Thanks,
Grant Neilley
Yes, a TM applies to one section of a tournament regardless of the duration of that event.
However, the USCF recommends that if an event lasts longer than about 2 months that it be submitted as multiple events for ratings purposes. That’s so that players don’t have to wait several months to have those games update their ratings. (I remember seeing one event that was one game every month or two for the better part of a year. I can see how a player who won a game against a much higher rated player in January could get frustrated if it still hadn’t shown up in his rating in October.)
Well…he could play speculatively in other events, knowing that the big win would earn back some of the points he might lose. Kinda like buying insurance.
But he’d have to pay another membership. It might be awkward if he tried to use his “conversion credit.”
Until the first event is submitted, there would be no tournament membership on file to use a conversion credit from, John, so it’s more than just awkward.
I would hope that a TD running an event that runs more than 2 months submits reports every 2 months as recommended in the rule book. If there is a TM from that event, I’d probably recommend it be used for the first such partial report and that the TD request a membership exception for any other reports from that event. Perhaps there should be a cap on the number of games that a TM can be used for?
Or a per-game membership fee rather than a per-tournament membership fee.
Or a combination, such as X dollars per tournament, plus Y dollars per game for each game over N.
Bill Smythe
How about $X per tournament, $Y per game as Black, $Z per game as White, plus $M per move. But only on alternate Thursdays?
Are wins worth more than losses or should we charge more for a loss as an incentive for players to win? 
This is clearly a decision for the EB.