I thought about this when I posted to another thread. My rule: When a entrant reaches 1300 I offer/cajole. Unless it is a
junior championship.
The big issue I see is so many juniors do not transition
I don’t understand. Are you saying that at a certain rating the junior should voluntarily begin paying adult US Chess dues? Or that they should start playing in “adult” tournaments (more properly called “open” tournaments)? If the latter, certainly by 1300, if not sooner, they should begin doing so.
What difference should it make if it happens at a junior championship? All the more reason to jump into the adult field, I would think.
At tournaments in Chicago about half of my opponents are under 18. The kids mix well with the adults. The kids usually gain rating points, too.
Bill Smythe
Bay Area Chess restricts 1-day scholastic tournaments to U1400 (and some to U1200), but recommends that juniors rated over 1000 play up into open tournaments. Many local “adult” tournaments are glorified scholastics with a few “kids” of legal age sprinkled in. Even as a master, it is more common to be paired with only opponents under age 16 than to play half of the rounds against adults.
Michael Aigner
That is a fine idea; I’ll put it up for discussion.
As I said the issue here: Most juniors do not transition. I see it
here, the same group of adult players plays in the larger tourneys…even CCA. Rarely do I see new blood. I’ve seen
clubs disappear because the members age.
If you want to run open tournaments, be prepared for whatever happens. Depending on the culture in your area, about half of the players in open tournaments may be under 18 years of age. Or maybe not, depending on what the scholastic organizers in your area are doing. If they’re running scholastic events all the way up to the 2000 level and encouraging even strong juniors to play in them, then the junior participation in open events may be disappointing.
In open tournaments in the Chicago area, participation tends to be about 50-50 between 18-and-over and under-18. Within each of these two groups, ratings tend to run the gamut too, from master to 3-digit. It also doesn’t seem to matter much what the entry fee is. All of the statements in this paragraph seem true both in the $7 tournaments with no prizes, and in the $50-$100 events with cash prizes.
By encouraging junior players to also play in open events, perhaps you can (eventually) tip the balance in your area, too.
Bill Smythe
There are precious few “adult” tournaments. There are:
*Scholastic
*Open
*Senior
Anyone who characterizes Open events as “adult” is both scaring away Junior players, and setting up
adults who only want to play adults for disappointment.
Stop that.
The problem starts with the use of the word “adult chess” - what nonsense !!
Except for senior oriented events, all chess tournaments should be open to minors who qualify according to their rating levels.
From the very beginning, minors should have the opportunity to play in club tournaments, at least that offer “booster” or " novice" sections open to beginners regardless
of age. Thus, it should not be a transition from one to the other, scholastic to regular adults invited as well events, but rather a movement back and forth. The reason
that many juniors never really “transition” into regular chess is this perception of a divide between the two, and that they either are in fact, or feel unwelcome in tournaments
generally played by adults. This is not good for the growth of our junior players, and certainly for the most part, not good for USCF.
Rob Jones
++++++ Great post!! Quite a few of my students during school breaks and summer vacation travel to various areas across our federation, and as they have time, seek
local clubs and tournaments in which to play. And all too often they are disappointed to fined, at best, a lukewarm attitude for their youthful presence at these events. More than once, have I heard members of those clubs that tend to be old and gray that they wish to remain so. And, really, is this good for the growth of our younger
generation and the future of USCF??
Rob Jones
The Hampton Roads Chess Association holds open quads with our scholastic tournaments. We require our kids rated over 1200 to play in the open events. This Saturday we had over 100 kids in the scholastic sections [rated and not rated] and 18 in the open quads. This section mix gets the adults out so the >1200 rated kids have good opponents and provides chess for players of all ages.
A personal note! I encourage our young players of all ages to keep score. I feel it is important for their chess development and also to avoid the age break where they fear having to keep score and don’t have that skill set down when starting to play opponents of greater strength.
This all seems so strange to me. In open tournaments in the Chicago area, there is always about a 50-50 mix of adults and kids, in all sections. The kids have good opponents in the adults, and vice versa. Nobody gives it a second thought. My record vs kids, in recent years, is probably below break-even.
Bill Smythe