my tournament rules and how I set up my tournaments now

Rules:

 I ask three things in my tourney's and if I do not get them I do not invite you back.

 Have Fun, Play Fair, and be competitive.  Making Friends should be just as important as the game.  Be polite, GL, GG, Good move, Etc...  I have a good following now, but I did have to weed quite a few to get here.

 Start dates:

 The Tournament start dates are not correct.  I have hosted many tournaments and have learned from them.  Poachers are the biggest problem and hardest to avoid. By setting a start date way out in the future I can avoid Chess.com from starting the tournament, thus keeping poachers from slipping in at the last few spots to fill the tournament and make it auto start. This also gives me time to check out all the stats on players I do not know. When the tournament is full, and full of the kind of people I want, I then start it myself.  By doing this I can eliminate anyone I feel unworthy, or a poacher.  I can also eliminate anyone who is over the maximum rating allowed limit.

 Cheating:

 I hold a lot of tournaments,  in only one case has it been brought to my attention that there may be unfair play involved.  As a Tournament Director it is my responsibility to look into this to protect the players in my tournament. 

 Cheating comes in many forms, poaching being the biggest in my rating level.   They could plain be cheating, using a chess program, GETTING HELP ON THE INTERNET, FRIENDSor they are poachers. Poachers, lose or forfeit a bunch of games to get a low rating, they then join all the low rated tournaments, so they can win them all. What fun that could possibly be is beyond me, but it happens. the most cheaters on Chess.com are in the 1100 - 1300 rating range.  I can remove any player from my tournament before it starts, but once started it is out of my hands.  This type of cheating is not a Chess.com problem.  It is my problem.

 That said, if a player is playing well above their rating, or I start getting complaints I have to research it. I will research all complaints using the rules on Chess.com about cheating before I report it. I have to put some trust in the system, no one wants to play a cheater, you may as well just play the computer.  Chess.com has been around a long time, when looking at a game for cheating they are not looking for one good move you learned in a book, they are looking for patterns that only chess engines use.

 In the rules it tells you what the punishment is for cheating.  It is very clear. 

 I do not know if there is a way to clear your name once labeled a cheater,   In all my Tournaments, I have had to send in one game for analysis.  You do not know the outcome, but any tournament's Director has a responsibility to protect his players as I have said.  The Director must look at all the stats, listen to the complaints, check the games, and then make a decision Whether he or she feels it should be looked into further.  In all cases, I am sure, Everyone hopes they are wrong.  It is a necessary evil that comes with the job, but please know I take this very seriously and I will report it.

 Vacation allowed:

I allow vacations in my tournaments as a benefit to my players. I, like many other regular players, have health issues.  I am always one step away from a hospital visit or jail.  With vacation time there is a safety cushion and I feel it is needed for emergencies.  Yes it can be abused but EVENTIALLYthey will run out of vacation time and forfeit.  I always have tournaments starting so you can always play while you wait.  I feel the benefits of having it are greater than the time drag it puts on the tournament.

 Please leave comments or suggestions on how I can make my tournaments better or any changes you would like to see.

 look forward to playing you'

Sincerely;


Keven   T.D.

Doing my best, but some are pretty trickey

Just got one!!! Ya baby, tried to get in a 1350 tournament with a 1297 rating.  When I reviewed him his glicko rating was 53, and his highest rating was 1641 with a 12 game losing streak.  And the kicker, his most frequent opponent is the biggest poacher on Chess.com I have run across yet in two years.  I like my new system.

I like this system, thanks Kev!

Hello,
I wanted to let as many people know as I can.  I am moving away from the open tournaments that we are so used to.  I am now working with several other Tournamnent Directors in building a group system that represents our high standard of chess players. I have created a group called  Fun, Fair, and competetive, please come check it out and see if you fit that criteria.  If you have been playing in my tournaments for awhile then you do because I have been weeding out those that do not fit since the begining.

I am only allowed to invite up to 30 people a day to the group, but you may request to join at any time.  I would appreciate it if you would help speed things up for me by requsting to join the group.  Thanks  Keven  Oh, also, there is another group that I control that is being used when I start getting to many people of the same rating range you may be asked to join it to speed things up. These groups can battle eachother.

Keven  T.D.

Thanks Kevin!  Keep up the good work.

Keven, Your tournaments are a joy to play in. I'm not very good but I want to learn.  I can not tolerate cheaters in any form.  There is no place in chess or any where else for cheaters. We all lose some and we all win some but we do it pride and honor with out cheating.  If I play a cheat I would feel like I'm no better than he or she is.

All I can say is,  You do your job and you do it well.  Keep up the good work and keep the tournaments coming!!!

Bebopaloua

I am glad I came here and checked this out. I could not figure out why you invited me to a tournament that started in 3 years.  I will certainly join.  I may also be looking for some help.  I am hosting my first tournament.  I am setting it up mostly for my students (math not chess) and co-workes, but I wanted to open it up to others so we could have more people.  I sounds like you have a pretty good method of keeping things fair.

Hi! I'm new and I want to be a good, friendly and fair player while learning.

I need to ask a couple of questions. Is looking through chess books while playing fair? I don't want to do it if it's not.

What is a glicko rating?

I'd really like to join the type of tournament described by Bigkinak. How do I do that? Just look for his name?

Pardon the noob questions, but the site is huge and can be overwhelming at times.  Thank you very much.

Regrds,

Lou

1. Looking through chess books and databases (where you analyze games on your own with similar openings) in correspondence chess is completely legal and allowed.
Using any kind of computer help is of course against the rules and is considered cheating.

2. The glicko system is a rating system that takes into consideration 'the deviation' phenomena (time spent without playing matters). It claims to be more accurate than the Elo system, and is used mainly on internet sites as far as I know.

3. Yes. You'll see his hosted tournaments on his profile. 

Thank you, GnrfFrtzl.

Thank you GnrfFrtzl.

I just wanted to add a small note.  I started the FFC Group.  Fun, Fair, and Competitive.  It is a select bunch of people who have been with me for a very long time and have proven themselves to live up to the the groups name and all are honest players.  Virtually all my tournaments are now held within this Group framework and are invite only.  Seldom do I do open invites anymore. 

Thanks for taking the time to help Litwitlou , much appreciated.

Keven

Dear Marcomarco,

I understand your frustration; however, Slaight has been with me for a very long:  Since the begining.  He is a good, fair, honest player.  If he has been using up all his vacation hours it is for a reason. I can only hope that he is OK and doing well.  I will shoot him a note and check in on him.  I hope that my word will asage your hard feelings.  Thank you for letting me know your concerns.

Keven  T.D.