How do you do tiebreaks when there are 4 players in a section.

Originally posted January 1, 2013.

Tiebreaks: 

Parents often ask how tie-breaks work, and the explanation is very technical. As a player, I never spent too much time reading about how the process works. I just trusted that the tournament directors (actually their tournament directing software) does things fairly.

The United States Chess Federation Rulebook (5th edition) dedicates a large and detailed chapter explaining tie-breaks (and it is a very boring read). It is even harder to explain it to others, because it is very technical, and requires examples with numbers in it. 

What are tiebreaks? They are an automated process that determines who wins a trophy when more than one person has the same score. 

Tiebreaks are usually done automatically using the Swiss Sys Chess or WINTD Tournament software. Tournament directors have the discretion to use tiebreaks that are supported by the United States Chess Federation. Furthermore, we announce them ahead of time to avoid confusion.

There are NO perfect tiebreaks (the rulebook even says that). The only thing a tournament organizer can do is use tiebreaks consistently (and even then, changes sometimes have to be made depending on the size of the tournament and structure).

Here is a little guide to help understand the tiebreaks we've used at Panda Chess Academy for the first 275 tournaments (at the time of writing this). These examples all show 3 round tournaments.  

3 points: This is a perfect score. This guarantees first place. No questions asked. 

2.5 out of 3: This is often the highest score. Sometimes it ties for 1st place. 

If two players end up with 2.5 because they drew each other in the last round, they are required to do a play-off game to see who receives the trophy.  This is to discourage players from "agreeing to a draw" without playing a hard fought 3rd round game. The downside of having a play-off game is that it makes the tournament run longer. Also the play-off game is usually a faster time control. At Panda Chess Academy we have the players who took a last round draw first switch colors, then play a 5 minute plus 5 second delay playoff game. This is only to determine who wins the 1st place trophy. 

We use this tie-break system here only because we noticed that many players were agreeing to "quick"  draws in round 3 with the logic that both would win 1st place trophies. An example of a quick draw is where both players play a few moves, then agree to a draw very early in the opening or middle game. 

Agreeing to draws is very bad for kids, but it is sometimes done in a way that is illegal. If someone says: "If we take a draw, we both get a trophy" that is actually considered cheating. But overall, we use this play-off tie-break just to help kids avoid taking short draws and learning bad habits.

If two players end up with 2.5, but they did not draw each other in the last round (like they had a draw in the first round but beat other players and both arrived at 2.5 points in round 3) then they will both receive 1st place trophies. The logic is that both players, when they drew in round 1, had no idea that it would get them 1st place with 2.5 by the end of round 3. 

2 points: If two players tie for first place with 2 out of 3, the trophy goes to the winner between the two that tie. If Bob has 2 points and Joe has 2 points, and Bob beat Joe, then Bob wins the trophy.  The logic is: "When the two players that tied played each other, the player that won the game deserves to be the champion." 

2 points is sometimes the highest score also.  

3 way tie with 2 points: If 3 players have 2 points, we have a 3-way tie. Whoever wins round 1 and 2 is the champion and receives the trophy. There are not many good options for 3-way ties in a 4 person tournament.

When there are 4 people in a section, and 3 of them tie for first place, every tie-break option is imperfect. The method we use, of awarding the "early round winners" is known as the "Cumulative" method according to the USCF rulebook. 

4 way ties for 1st place (!?): This has only happened once out of about 270 tournament, but if there s a 4-way tie then no one receives a trophy. This can happen if everyone draws every round. As a "rookie" tournament director, it never occurred to me that this is a possibility. Now I know! 

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Losing on tiebreaks is never fun. When I was a young player, I've had tiebreaks go in my favor and against me many times. One time, tiebreaks made me the state champions and I got to travel to a big tournament in Hawaii because of it. And I felt that the person I beat on tiebreaks was a much better player than me… and I didn't feel good winning this way. But the system was announced ahead of time, and my opponent, Andrei Zaremba, who is a good friend of mine now, was very gracious about it. I never asked why I won on tiebreaks.. I just know that the computer said I won. 

Overall, the only thing a tournament organizer can do is keep the system consistent, and share the rules with the participants ahead of time. 

Sometimes parents seem to question the tiebreak system or they seem suspicious that we are just making it up. Perhaps they assume that we are giving it to the kid who has the nicest smile, or the youngest kid because we want to encourage them. No, we have no problem saying "sorry, you did not win the trophy." It is always awkward when parents ask us to explain to them why their kid did not win a trophy, but we try our best to communicate this extremely technical topic. Tiebreaks are a consistent method that directors use. It's just incredibly boring and complicated to explain it. And again, different tournaments with different structures have to use different tie-breaks. 

I do not think it is necessary for people to understand the tiebreaks to be a successful chess player. When I won on tiebreaks and lost on them, I never really thought: "I wonder if they did them correctly." I've always understood that it's complicated, automated, and if I really want to ask questions, the tournament directors will be there to provide boring answers.

If you are a parent who has questions about tiebreaks, please ask a tournament director privately. It's a bit awkward explaining to the parent, with kids present, why their kid did not win tiebreaks. I've had to do this a few times.. and it just feels bad having this type of "open discussion" involving very technical rules, just to explain to a young child why he didn't receive the trophy. 

Also I can guarantee that if I ever make a mistake in tiebreaks (it's basically impossible to make this type of mistake) I will make sure the proper recipient receives the trophy plus an apology. 

 Jeff

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What are your hours of operation?

On Fridays we open the doors for players at 5:45pm.

On Saturdays our doors open at 3:45pm. 

Almost all of our players show up only a couple minutes before round time (6:30pm on Friday and 4:30pm on Saturday). First time players show up a bit earlier if they have questions.

Please note that we have a staff that usually includes 1 tournament director and 1 or 2 assistants. We are usually extremely busy until after the first round starts. So if you have any questions for staff, please hold them until about 6:40pm on Friday and 4:40pm. One of our biggest goals is to start precisely on time to give the kids a consistent experience. 

If you are running late to a tournament, please give us a call, send a quick email or text message, just so we know that your child is actually coming. 

It helps us out greatly if you email your questions ahead of time. We just can't talk at great length during the tournament, because our primary focus is to monitor the games of the players. 

The best phone number to call is (281) 940-8199. 

The best email address to contact is info@chessspanda.com

 

 

More on the Thursday 10pm deadline.

This is just MORE on entering on time by the deadline. 

This is from an email I sent to the mailing list on January 22, 2013. 


Why should a player notate?

To prove when cheating or illegal moves occur.

 To avoid "misunderstandings" that feel like cheating where an opponent "conveniently" benefits from the misunderstanding (basically cheating but not as clear).

If a result is marked incorrectly, and then submitted to the United States Chess Federation, it is easy to overturn the result if the player has a notation sheet of the game. There were 3 incorrect results posted in January 2013!

Notation is most important for improving. It makes you play better while you are notating. Of course there is a learning curve. First it is distracting because it is a new thing. With practice it becomes automatic like signing your own name. Notating being "distracting" is not a very good excuse for anyone unless that player has problems with writing in general.

Notating gives players a nice routine during the game and helps the player stay calm and focused.

After the game is over the player can review the game and find "leaks" in his game while learning new ideas.

Sent from my iPhone.

Can my child miss part of the tournament?

Yes. At any USCF tournament you can request a "bye" for any round. Usually players do this for scheduling reasons like if a player has a piano recital at 7pm and the tournament begins at 4:30pm, they can schedule it so they don't have to play the last round. Just make sure to let the tournament director know before the tournament starts. Also once you request the bye and the tournament has started you can't change your mind.

When are Panda Chess Academy tournaments rated? Are ratings important? Why are kids underrated?

I usually submit the tournaments to the USCF for rating immediately after the tournament is finished, and the ratings are almost always published in under 24 hours.

Sometimes there are delays. They are usually caused when there is a tournament with several people joining the USCF (and this usually happens at the beginning of semesters only).

This also happens when players forget to renew their membership but I try hard to prevent these players from playing.

If the tournament is rated a few days late, it is no big deal at all (except in the one case I list below). USCF always rates the tournament once to provide a "Weekly Updated Rating" and then at the end of the month they rerate all of the tournaments just to make sure there are no errors and that everything is rated in order. 

If you ever think there is an incorrect result published, notify the tournament director or organizer. They will then forward the required information to the USCF. They USCF makes corrections very quickly. 

The USCF does an excellent job of rating tournaments and adjusting them properly. So even if there is a mistake made, they will add the points later. 

Ratings are rarely important. They are only important for kids who are the top players in the country for their age group and they are trying to qualify for a special event and there is a deadline involved.

Also note that kids are usually very underrated. One reason this happens is because so many young players join the USCF. For example, a Kindergartner joins the USCF and gets a rating of 100. He stays around 100 for 20 tournaments. Then when he is in 1st grade, he is MUCH better at chess because he is so much more mature. And his rating is still 100. This is just an example of how kids can be very underrated and you should not treat ratings too seriously.

The USCF has a FAQ section about ratings: http://www.uschess.org/msa/FAQ.php 

How do I look up ratings, tournament results, and USCF membership information?

For information about how to look up a player's rating or USCF information, we have a Tournament Results link at the bottom of the www.chesspanda.com website that explains how to look up ratings and USCF information.

USCF members should be aware of their expiration date and not wait until the last minute to renew. You can check the expiration dates at http://www.uschess.org/msa.

If you wish to renew your USCF membership, please do so at Jim Liptrap's website. Use this link: http://chess.jliptrap.us/enter.htm and use the membership only options. 

If you wish to refer a friend to any USCF tournament, it is very helpful if you ask them to purchase their USCF membership ahead of time using Jim Liptrap's website. Jim Liptrap gets a group discount rate of $11 per year instead of having to pay the usual $17 (but also he gets things processed very efficiently). 

If I enter after the tournament after the deadline, can I still play?

No. The entry deadlines are very important so we can make sure to have space for all of the players. Sometimes our tournaments fill. Also we try to do all preparation days in advance before the tournament. This involves moving chairs, sending emails to parents who are interested in visiting once, and doing pairings. After the Thursday 10pm deadline, we then start to work on the pairings. The only changes we will make to the pairings are for when children have to withdraw from an event.

We try NOT to be lenient with this policy so we can be fair to all members. 

Deadlines: To enter a Friday tournament, do so using the online entry form before Thursday 10pm. For Saturday tournaments the deadline is Friday 10pm.