Frequently Asked Questions

A. The Team Practice Tournament is a scholastic, fixed-roster, four-board team tournament taking place at Chandler Elementary on Saturday, February 21, 2009. Doors will open at 8:00am and all players and coaches should be present by 8:30. We should be done by 4:00pm.

A. No. There will be three divisions: Grades 3 & Under, Grades 6 & Under, and Grades 12 & Under.

A. All students K-12 can play. This includes home school students, public school students, private school students, religious school students, etc.

A. If you are part of a school chess club, enter through your club. If there is no club at your school, try to find at least 3 schoolmates and enter as a team. If you can, find a teacher or parent who will act as your coach and enter for you. You can get more information and download a team entry form at http://mysite.verizon.net/joepye1/misc/2009CoachTP.pdf

A. Certainly, as long as the coach is a K-12 student. If you have a group of schoolmates or clubmates who would like to play as a team, but you have no adult coach or sponsor, you can still enter a team. Just fill out the correct form and put your name down as coach.

Q. If you cannot find teammates, you can enter as an individual. You can get more information at http://mysite.verizon.net/joepye1/misc/2009IndividualTP.pdf

A. You will either fill in a spot for a school which doesn't have enough players, or we will make up a team for you and others in your position.

A. Your club can join as a team provided none of its members is eligible to play with a school team. If your school has a team, you must play with them.

A. No.

A. From three to six players. If you have only three, you will have to forfeit one game each round.

A. Certainly. But you cannot try to balance your teams. Your best players MUST be on the A team, your next best players MUST be on the B team, the next best on the C team, etc.

A. There is no certainty in life, but you can check advance entries at http://mysite.verizon.net/joepye1/xtables/l090221.htm

A. Some team tournaments are run as individual tournaments, with team scores being determined by adding up the best individual scores from each school. But a fixed-roster team tournament consists of head-to-head, school-against-school matches. Four-board just means that each match consists of four boards--four players from one school playing four players from another school.

A. Each player gets 1 game point for a win, 0 game points for a loss, and 1/2 game point for a draw. After each match, the team's players' game points are added. The team with the most game points gets 1 match point. If both teams have the same number of game points, they each get 1/2 match point.

A. Both, actually. Standings are first determined by match points, but ties are broken by total game points.

A. When you sign in at the tournament site, your team will be asked for a list of players in order of strength. You must list your players in order of strength. This is not like baseball where you can juggle the lineup. Coaches or teams who do not list their players in the proper order are cheating! At each match site, there will be boards numbered 1 through 4. The strongest player for each team will play on Board 1, the next strongest on Board 2, etc.

A. No, you may substitute freely, but players must stay in the same order. Suppose your team consisted of Arnie, Betty, Chucky, Della, and Ernie, with Arnie being the strongest, Betty the next strongest, and so on. In the first round, you want to play your strongest team, so Arnie is on Board 1, Betty on Board 2, Chucky on Board 3, and Della on Board 4. After the first round, Chucky has to leave for basketball practice, so Ernie gets to play. However, Ernie does not move into Chucky's old spot on Board 3. Rather, Della moves up to Board 3 and Ernie plays on Board 4. For the third round, Arnie has a headache and wants to sit out. Now, Betty moves up to Board 1, Della to Board 2, Ernie to Board 3, and the team has to forfeit on Board 4. For the next round, Arnie still is too sick to play, but Chucky is back from basketball practice, so now the lineup would be Betty on Board 1, Chucky on Board 2, Della on Board 3, and Ernie on Board 4.

A. You forfeit the games of anybody playing out of order.

A. Yes.

A. No. The same rules of not interfering with other games and not getting advice from outside sources applies.

A. Yes. Each team needs a captain.

A. The captain's main jobs are to fill out the match scoresheet, to record the results of each of his teammate's games on that scoresheet, and to turn it in to the scorekeeper.

A. Not necessarily. The captain's job requires no chess skill. It is more important that the captain be patient and responsible.

A. The captain has to hang around until all of his teammates are finished. A youngster who is not comfortable sitting around is not a good captain.

A. If the captain makes mistakes on the scoresheet, by listing his teammates incorrectly or recording scores incorrectly, it can result in forfeit losses for his team.

A. No. The captain has absolutely no right to interfere in his teammates' games.

A. No. It is hard enough to find one good captain on a team. Pick one and let him/her do the job.

A. It is not a good idea. Many of the problems in team tournaments come from irresponsible captains. Coaches, this is a place where an adult's guidance can pay dividends. Do not choose your captain based on playing skill. Do not offer the captain's position as a reward. Try very hard to pick a captain who will do the job well, who can be trusted to patiently wait for his teammates' games to finish, and who will not interfere with ongoing games. Everybody involved in the tournament will appreciate it.