5th Annual Mid-Atlantic Bughouse Scholastic Chess Championship
Saturday 02 June 2018, 02:00pm - 04:30pm
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Contact tournaments@mdchess.com

Open to all K - 12 players from anywhere & their parents/guardians. Partners may be in different grades & attend different schools.

Roland Park Elementary-Middle School
5207 Roland Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21210

Skittles Rooms: Auditorium & Gym
Tournament Room: Cafeteria

Recent History of the Tournament, Site, and/or Date

MD Chess WILL PROVIDE PRE-SET CLOCKS FOR ALL PLAYERS. (Nonetheless, MD Chess recommends that all players who own digital clocks bring them as backups.)

SECTION DETAILS
Section US-Chess
Regular Rating **
(not Blitz Rating)
Grades Rounds Time
Control
Team Prizes
(2 individual trophies per team)
Championship 1000+ K-12 5DSS G3 +2 *
Under 2000 100-1999 or unrated K-12 5DSS G3 +2 *
Parents any rating or unrated 13+ 5DSS G3 +2  

 

SCHEDULE
12:45 - 1:30 Parents, coaches, & players settle in the Skittles Room(s).
1:30 - 1:40 Pairing notification (texted, emailed, & posted).
1:40 - 1:50 Parents & coaches walk with players to their board in the Tournament Room(s).
1:50 - 2:00 Tournament announcements. (Parents & coaches are welcome to listen.)
2:00 Round 1 begins for all sections. (Parents & coaches return to a Skittles Room.)
Scheduled Rounds
Section
Round
1
Round
2
Round
3
Round
4
Round
5
Awards Ceremony
All Sections 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30

 

LEGEND
#DSS # of double (D) rounds in which each player plays 2 games (1 as White, 1 as Black) against an opponent determined by Swiss-system pairings (SS)
G# Base time: # of minutes per game (G) each player has to complete all of the player's moves
+# Added time: # of seconds of increment (+) added to a player's base time for each move
* Trophies: top ≈ 25% of teams or teams with ≈ ≥70% of available points (7+/10)
** A team's players' combined Regular rating (rather than combined Blitz rating) determines the section for which the team qualifies. Because the vast majority of scholastic players compete in at most 1 US-Chess-rated Blitz tournament per year, if a scholastic player has a Blitz rating, then that Blitz rating is frequently unrepresentative of the player's current general skill level. Moreover, scholastic players who do not have a Blitz rating are much more likely to vary widely in their general skill levels than are scholastic players who do not have a Regular rating. So, where many players with a Regular rating of 1000+ do not yet have a Blitz rating (and thus are unrated Blitz players), extremely few players have a 1000+ Blitz rating but do not yet have a Regular rating (and thus are unrated Regular players).

 

The team winner (or co-winners) of the Championship section will be the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Bughouse Scholastic Chess Champion.

Tournament-Registration Fee (per 2-player team; current US-Chess membership NOT required)

      • Register at the bottom of this page, starting at least 1 month before the tournament
      • $20—Tuesday, 2018.05.29, if completed by 11:59 PM (Early)
      • $40—Thursday, 2018.05.31, if completed by 11:59 PM (Regular)
      • $60—Saturday, 2018.06.02, if completed by 8 AM (Last-Minute: ½-point bye possible in Round 1)
      • $80—Saturday, 2018.06.02, 8 - 9 AM & 1 - 1:30 PM (At-the-Door: if space is available; ½-point bye likely in Round 1)

Registered Players & Wallcharts

      • Individuals (Attendees)includes players registered currently (updated automatically)
        After clicking on the link above, click on Attendees beneath a specific scholastic tournament. At the top of the page, enter into the Search bar the player's first or last name (but not both), or the purchaser's first or last name (but not both). Or, at the bottom of the page, change the # of players displayed to All ; sort by clicking on Player's Name, Purchaser's Name, etc.
      • Teams (alphabetically)includes teams registered by 2018.05.31 12:00—13 teams
      • Teams (by section)includes players registered by the date & time above

Which Section is Right for Your Player?

      • A team’s rating is the combination of its players’ Regular ratings. (Blitz ratings will not be considered.) An unrated player will be assigned a rating of 0. If only 1 player on a team is rated, then the team’s rating is that player’s rating. If both players are unrated, then the team’s rating is 0. A team comprised of players who have never competed in a US-Chess-rated tournament (the vast majority of unrated players) is not eligible for the stronger section.
      • A team's eligibility by rating for a section is determined primarily by its players' combined official/published US-Chess ratings during the month in which a tournament will be held. A player's official rating remains the same number throughout a month, because US-Chess calculates a player's official rating only once per month. That is, a player's official rating does not change during a month, because a player's official rating throughout a month is what the player’s unofficial/unpublished rating was on the 3rd Wednesday of the previous month. Conversely, a player's unofficial rating can change an unlimited number of times per month, because US Chess calculates a player's new unofficial rating after every tournament in which the player competes—usually only 2 hours after the completed tournament has been submitted for ratings’ calculations. When registering a player for a tournament in month X, apply the player's official rating in month X. When registering a player for a tournament in month X+1, apply the player's unofficial rating on the 3rd Wednesday of month X. Click here for a player's official & unofficial US-Chess ratings.
      • With regard to a team's official rating, sections have a hard, inflexible ceiling at all US-Chess-rated tournaments, but a marginally flexible floor at MD Chess's scholastic tournaments. So, on the 1 hand, whenever a player's official rating is > a section's ceiling, the player may not play down in the section—even if the player's unofficial rating is ≤ the section's ceiling. So, for example, if a player wants to play in an Under 400 section (which has a ceiling of 399), but the player's official rating is 400+, then the player may not play in the section—even if the player's unofficial rating is 399-. But, on the other hand, if a player's official rating is ≤ 50 points (100 points for Bughouse) below a section's floor and/or the player's unofficial rating is ≤ 50 points (100 points for Bughouse) below or ≥ the section's floor, then the player may play up in the section—unless the Chief Tournament Director and/or MD Chess's Scholastic Director decides it's not in the tournament's best interests. So, for example, a player may play up in a 400-799 section, even if the player's official rating is below the section's floor of 400, as long as the player's official rating is 355-399 and/or the player's unofficial rating is 355-799. In short, then, a player's unofficial rating may be used only to play up in a higher section—not to play down in a lower section. (Note that if a player uses the player's unofficial rating to qualify to play up in a section, then that unofficial rating will likely be assigned to the player for pairing order—without notification.)
      • If an unrated player (that is, a player without an official rating) has an unofficial rating (because the player competed for the first time or completed only 3- games before ratings became official for the month in which the tournament will be run), then the player's most recent unofficial rating might be assigned to the player to determine section eligibility and pairing order—without notification. That is, the unrated player might have to play up in a higher section or down in a lower section, based on the player's unofficial rating.
      • If a team is registered for a section for which the team is ineligible by rating, then the team will be moved to the lowest section for which the team is eligible—without notification.

Do Players Need to Bring Anything?

      • MD Chess will provide all boards & pieces.
      • MD Chess WILL PROVIDE PRE-SET CLOCKS FOR ALL PLAYERS. (Nonetheless, MD Chess recommends that all players who own digital clocks bring them as backups.)
      • Food (pizza, candy, soda, etc.) should be available for purchase at the tournament.

Registering for the Tournament—with or without a Partner

      • This is an UNRATED TOURNAMENT. Players' Regular, Quick, and/or Blitz ratings will not be affected.
      • A player does NOT need a current US-Chess membership to compete in this tournament, because it is not US-Chess rated.
      • However, if a player has ever been a US-Chess member, then the player's permanent US-Chess ID # must be included with registration for today's tournament.
      • Bughouse is different from the vast majority of scholastic tournaments in that it requires a partner. So, a player needs to be registered as part of a team of 2 players. MD Chess's registration system is tailored to handle the unique nature of a Bughouse tournament, in that we ask for both players' registration information. However, we don't revamp our entire registration system just for Bughouse. So, at the beginning of online registration, if you are registering 1 team of 2 players, then select the 1st option: "I am registering an individual" or "I am registering 1 player". Only if you are registering 2 teams of 4 players, 3 teams of 6 players, etc., should you select the 2nd option: "I am registering as part of a group" or "I am registering 2+ players". We know it seems counterintuitive to have to select the 1st option to register a team of 2 players, but that's the simplest way for us to handle online registration for Bughouse. We hope you'll understand that we don't want to revamp our entire online registration system just for Bughouse.
      • Partners may be in different grades & attend different schools.
      • If your player does not yet have a Bughouse partner, but you want to register your player online in order to secure a lower price, then select the 1st option and list To Be Determined as your player's partner. MD Chess will partner your player with another player who registers online or onsite Saturday. After you list To Be Determined as your player's partner, contact MD Chess at tournaments@mdchess.com to request a 50% refund of the registration fee for a team of 2 players.
  • How to Register Online for a MD Chess Scholastic Tournament
  • Which US-Chess Rating Determines the Section(s) in which a Player May or Must Play?—and/or see above the section entitled Which Section is Right for Your Player?
  • MD Chess's Scholastic Team Policy
  • MD Chess's Scholastic Bye Policy
  • MD Chess's Refund Policy & Fees for Registration Changes

Playing at the Tournament

Results of the Tournament

MD Chess's PROVISIONAL Scholastic-Tournament Calendar 2017-2018

      • The tournament-announcement page of a tournament listed in MD Chess's PROVISIONAL Scholastic Tournament Calendar 2017-2018 might not yet appear at the top of MD Chess's home page, because that tournament is so many months in the future.
      • Nonetheless, one can access that tournament-announcement page by alternate means:
            • On the lower, left side of MD Chess's home page, click on MD Chess's calendar.
            • Click on By Month (at the top of the page) to display all tournaments within a month.
            • Click on All Categories (at the bottom of the page) to display all types of tournaments (major & local scholastic tournaments, major & local open tournaments)—as well as chess camps.
            • Navigate to specific tournaments.

MD Chess's Social-Media Profiles

If the tournament were to be rescheduled or cancelled, then MD Chess would contact you (by email and/or text) and post an announcement at the top of this tournament-announcement page. The tournament will proceed as planned, if MD Chess neither contacts you, nor posts an announcement about a rescheduling or cancellation. Please do not contact MD Chess about a site's hypothetical closing because of dangerous weather, etc. A site closing would be announced separately by the public school's city or county administration, the private school, etc. If the tournament were to be rescheduled, then MD Chess would issue a refund, if a player were to withdraw from the rescheduled tournament. If the tournament were to be cancelled, then MD Chess would automatically issue a refund to all players within 1-2 weeks; there would be no need to inform MD Chess of a player's withdrawal from a cancelled tournament.

For more tournament information, contact Maryland Chess at tournaments@mdchess.com.

Location Roland Park EMS