The 2004 National Junior High School Chess Championship is sanctioned by the United States Chess Federation and conducted by its rules.
The 2004 National Scholastic Chess Championships are sanctioned by the United States Chess Federation and conducted by its rules. The following rules are included here to answer frequently-asked questions and to remind players of useful information. They are not intended to supersede or modify anything in the USCF Rulebook.
1.Tournament Directors (TD) – Tournament Directors will be on the tournament floor at all times to assist you in the event of any problem or question. To summon a director raise your hand and keep it in the air until a TD comes to assist you. Remember that a TD will generally not interfere with your game. It is up to you to make a claim. If you think that a TD has ruled incorrectly concerning your game, you should ask for an appeal immediately.
2.Clocks and Time Controls – Except in the K-1 section the time control is game in 2 hours-. Clocks should be set initially at 4:00. The game must be either won or drawn before the flag falls at 6:00. If both flags have fallen the game is a draw. The TD will tell you which way to face your clock. A digital clock with time delay set is preferable to any other clock. Therefore, if white has such a clock available and black does not, white’s clock should be used. If a time delay clock is used, it must be set with the time delay in force from move one. When using the time delay feature, set the clocks at 115 minutes, or 1 hour and 55 minutes with a five-second “delay”, or “Bronstein”. (Game 90 for the K-1 section)
3.Recording Moves – Each player is required to record the moves. Neither player is required to keep score if either player has less than five minutes at the end of the game.
4.Touch Move – If you intentionally touch a piece when it is your turn to move, that piece must be moved if you can do so legally. If you intentionally touch an enemy piece when it is your turn to move, the enemy piece must be captured if you can do so legally. You must clearly say “I adjust” before touching a piece if you want to adjust that piece on the board. You may do so only when it is your turn. If you accidentally release a piece on an unintended but legal square, you must leave it on that square.
5.Illegal Moves – If it is discovered that one of either player’s last 10 moves was illegal, the position will be reinstated to what it was before the illegal move, and the game shall continue by applying the touch-move rule to the move replacing the illegal move. Clocks will not be reset. Two minutes will be added to the remaining time of the opponent of the player who made the illegal move. The player must call an illegal move. The TD will not do so, neither may parents, coaches, or other spectators.
6.Check – Announcing check is not required. It is the responsibility of the opponent to notice the check. A player who does not notice the check may suffer serious consequences (see the touch-move rule).
7.Time Forfeits – Only a player may claim a time forfeit. No parent, coach, spectator, or TD may make such a claim or bring the fall of a flag to the attention of the players.
8.Late Arrivals – A player who is more than one hour late for a scheduled round loses the game by forfeit and will normally be dropped from the tournament. The hour is measured from the scheduled starting time of the round. To prevent as many unplayed games as possible the TD will try to repair players on the floor in round one. A player should start his opponent’s clock once the TD announces that the round has begun. If a player with the white pieces is present and black is absent, white must start his/her own clock, make a move and then start black’s clock. Black’s clock may not be started before white has made a move. If a clock is not available at the start of a round, any elapsed time before one becomes available will be split between players. If both players are late for the start of a round, the first to arrive must split the elapsed time before starting the opponent’s clock. For K-1 section, the forfeit for no-show is after ½ hour.
9.Draws – If you want to offer a draw to your opponent, you should do so after you make a move but before you start your opponent’s clock. Your opponent may decline the draw by saying so or by moving a piece. A draw offer is valid until it is turned down by the opponent. If both players agree to a draw, then the game is over. A reasonably complete and accurate score sheet is required to claim a draw by triple occurrence of position or under the 50-move rule. If such a claim is found to be incorrect, two minutes will be added to the opponent’s remaining time.
10.Sudden Death Rules – A player may claim a time forfeit in sudden death only if he stops the clock before both flags fall. If both flags are down, the game is a draw. The player on move, who has no more than 2 minutes left, may stop the clock and ask the TD to declare the game a draw on the grounds that the player has insufficient losing chances. Such a claim is also a draw offer. The TD may, at his discretion, place a digital clock, set with time-delay at 5 seconds, on the game. If this is done, the claimant gets half of his remaining time up to but not exceeding one minute while the opponent’s time is not adjusted and the game continues until a result is achieved. If the claim is obviously correct the TD should grant the draw. If the claim is obviously incorrect the TD may deduct up to 1 minute from the claimant’s time and the game should continue. If the claim in unclear, but no time-delay clock is available to insert on the game, the TD may reserve a decision while he watches the continuation of the game or may ask the players to reclaim after restarting the game.
11.Analysis of Games – Do not analyze your games in the tournament room. Analyze your games in the skittles area or elsewhere.
12.Reporting Results – Immediately upon completion of the game the players should carefully complete and sign the results sheet at their board and hold the reporting sheet up in the air until a TD comes to get it. Both players must remain at their board until a TD takes the results sheet. After the TD has done so both players should set up the pieces and leave the playing area.
13.Pairings – The WinTD Pairing Program will be used for this tournament. Players will generally be paired with other players who have the same score each round. Players should not be assigned the same color three times in a row unless there is no other way to pair the score group or unless necessary to equalize colors. Every reasonable effort will be made to avoid pairing together players from the same school. One exception is the last round when all players in the top group are from the same school. In this case, they will be paired together. If you believe there is a pairing error, report it to a TD immediately! Once the round starts, it will probably be too late to make any changes. Parents and coaches should check the correctness of the wall charts every round. Errors in scores reported after 2 more rounds will most likely not be corrected.
14.Conduct of Players – Please try to keep as quiet as possible on the tournament floor so that you do not disturb other players. You may not speak to anyone while your game is in progress unless a TD is present. If there is a problem of any kind during your game, call a TD immediately. If you wait until after your game is over, the TD will probably be unable to change the result, even if your claim was correct. Be careful what you sign—once you have signed your result sheet, and agreed to the result on it, it cannot be adjudicated later on. You may not consult notes, chess books, computers, or other materials during the game. If you need to go to the bathroom while your game is in progress, you must use the bathrooms designated for tournament players. You do not need to ask permission from the TD to go to the bathroom. You may not leave the tournament room during your game for any reason, other than to go to the restroom, without getting permission from a TD. If you do get permission you must not speak with anyone outside the room.
15.Half-Point Byes –“Half-point byes will be available for the first round, if requested with an advance entry. 0-point byes shall be available for all rounds. The Chief TD shall have the ability to grant a ½-point bye for any round on unusual circumstances, except the last round.”
16.Interference – No interference in any game by spectators, other players, coaches, or parents will be tolerated. Penalties include expulsion from the tournament. Only the player involved should point out irregularities to a TD. This should be done by raising your hand to summon a TD.
Other Rules – This is a team and an individual event. A team may have as many players as desired, but only the top four scores count for team results and tiebreaks. A school must have at least two players in a section in order to be eligible for team awards in that section.
Tiebreak – Individual ties for trophies will be broken by Modified Median, Solkhoff, Sonnenborn-Berger, Kashdan, head-to-head, most blacks, and then a coin toss, in that order. Players can win only one individual trophy. Place trophies take precedence over all other trophy awards.
All other rules decisions will be based upon the 5th Edition of the Official Rules of Chess as published by the United States Chess Federation. Penalties for rules violations are at the discretion of the TD and may vary from warnings and time penalties to forfeitures and expulsion from the tournament.
|
[What's New] [Join/Renew] [Shop] [News] [Contact Us] [Members Only] [Ratings] [MSA] [Tournaments] [Top Players] [Clubs] [Scholastic] [Correspondence Chess] [Links] [Governance] |