2020 USCF Online rated Scholastic tournaments via chesskid.com - Archived

USCF Online Rated Scholastic Tournaments

for K - Grade 12 scholastic players

via ChessKid.com

First time playing in our tournaments?
All players MUST be a part of Mechanics' Chess on chesskid.com.
Please scroll down for step-by-step instructions on how to join us! If you still have problems, please email or message us and we'll help you!
Chesskid.com is a safe, secure and fun platform for kids to learn and play chess, and participate in a wide variety of activities, including listening to lectures, doing puzzles, playing with their friends, and participating in online tournaments.
 

Event Schedule:

List of regsitered players for 1/24

Eligibility - Players must have:

- current US Chess Federation membership
- chesskid.com account that is part of Mechanics' Chess Group (free account is perfectly sufficient) -- Don't have one yet? Easy to make, just follow the instructions below.
 

Format:

- 4, 5, 6 or 8 rounds of G/5+2, G/10+2, G/15+2 or G/20+10: rounds are done consecutively after every game is finished in the previous rounds. - more details on tournament details here.
- paired based on swiss tournament rules: pairing done via automatic by chesskid.com based on the players' online chesskid.com rapid rating.
- games will be US Chess Online quick rated - tournament will be submitted 5-7 days after the tournament to allow all games to be screened for fair play.
 

Prizes - Trophies or Medals:

Top 5 overall player
Top 3 under800*
Top 3 under400*
Top Girl
* based on USCF Online (ONL) or regular (OTB rating, whichever is the higher! **
this is new since more and more kids starting to have online rating, and it reflects their true strenght better.
We reserve the right to use TD discretion.

Testimonial from parents:
" We received a medal in mail from Mechanics Institute, which is absolutely a surprise to my son! His first reaction was it can’t be real! Then he said what is a good hiding spot, I want to hide it! :D  This is absolutely an amazing encouragement for him as this is literally the first ever rated game that he attends! "
"I appreciate your efforts in conducting these online scholastics tournaments. It has encouraged my daughter to learn and play more chess."
"We received her medal in the mail today. It is so pretty and she loved it! A motivation for her to participate in more games!"
"Just received the trophy! It is such a nice feeling for my son to hold these beautiful trophies from MI. Thank you again!" 

Entry Fee

Special Mechanics' member / non-member pricing for the recurring weekly tournaments:

Mechanics' Intitute members: $15
Non-member registration fee: $25

It's worth getting the Mechanics' Institute Student membership: Only cost $65 - about 6 tournaments and the membership pays for itself!
Join here: https://www.milibrary.org/join 
Please make sure to put Chess as a referred byinterest.

Registration deadline: 2 hours before the tournament - in order to give time for the organizers to forward Welcome email, and make sure that the ChessKid user name is in the correct online club.
 

Fair Play

US Chess online rated tournament - most USCF rules and consequences apply.
Players should not use any outside assistance: not have other browsers open and not be talking to other people during their games
Parents are strongly encouraged to monitor their kids' activity during the tournament to ensure fair play.
All games will be carefully reviewed by chesskid.com and Mechanics' Institute Chess club staff during and after the event.
Players found or believed to be violating fair play are not eligible for a prize and their account will be removed from Mechanics' group.
Players who are confirmed to be using outside assistance will be reported to US Chess and restricted from future Mechanics' online and over-the-board events.

Parents - Please help us educate your child that IT'S SIMPLY NOT WORTH THE RISK!

For some helpful links regarding fair play, please check these out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KHWnA9snAQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2UAZBQvHRyTlc1f7t9UtcwEJW43YmPOgb22fXeP_imQ4Nga07Knx2Dyws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knvySXCNfd8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7PI9Q9uoSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5KaxBW7rlU
 

Tournament Information

What are the time controls mean?
Time controls are telling you how much time you have for each game.
G15+2 for example: Game in 15 minutes with 2 second increment. This means you get 15 minutes, your opponent gets 15 minutes and with each move every player gets 2 second added to the clock. So one game can last up to 30-34 minutes.

How many games/rounds?
The 5SS before the time control means how many rounds, i.e. how many games can a player play in the tournament. The tournaments are never elimination, so win or lose you can stay in the tournament.

Late joins: if you joining late, you'll get zero(0) points for each missed rounds.

Withdrawal: you can always leave a tournament if you wish. Once you leave the tournament, you can't rejoin unfortunately, so make sure you decide accordingly.

Sections: currently we don't have sections to separate players according to their rating. We tried it but it wasn't efficient for many of the players, and most of you gave us the feedback they prefer tournaments where all players can play together.

Start time: we decided to start at 3PM so players can finish their tournament before dinner-time.

Pre-requested byes: online tournament run on chesskid.com can't have pre-requested byes. Full point byes are assigned when there are odd number of players in a tournament.

How to join us?

Mechanics' Institute Chess Club on chesskid.com:

GROUP:  https://www.chesskid.com/groups/sub/mechanics-institute

How to join our group & club?

If you are new: click on this link: https://www.chesskid.com/register/kid/group/QCJJNH

If you already have an account: registration key:  QCJJNH

• Log in to your own (kids) account & click the grey Settings icon next to the profile picture. **This needs to be done from a browser for access to this page.**
• Scroll down on the right side, and just above the Save button Click “Do you have a Group Registration Key”displayed with yellow letters
• Enter the 6 digit Registration Key: QCJJNH & click Save. You will be added to our Group.

If you already have an account - and you don't have a place to put the registration - need to make Mechanics' as secondary guardian

• From your Parent account Home screen:
• Click the "Kids" tab.
• Select the "Edit Kid" option from the menu next to the kid account to which you'd like to add a guardian.
• Click the "Edit Guardianship" option on the right side of the screen.
• Enter '[email protected]' & select "Add Guardian." This adds them as an additional Guardian; you remain the Primary Guardian of the account.