I want to create an OTB charity chess tournament in my hometown. Any help?

I'm a board member of a local charity group and I thought it would be a good idea to host an OTB chess tournament to benefit said charity.  Naturally, we'd want to have cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.  But I'd want to keep it simple.  Not entirely sure if I'd want to try to have it sanctioned as an official USCF tournament, but I do see that the USCF website has some resources.

We, the charity, have a huge, open basement in our office building that is being completed and it would be just about perfect for a few rows of tables and probably 20 chess boards (I have no idea how many people would turn out for such an event). 

I don't even know where to begin.  I don't know what I don't know.  Is there a decent guide out there for setting up an OTB chess tournament?

An over the board tournament to raise money for poor chess players?

I just figured an OTB tournament with a cash prize might be fun, where the charity benefits and the chess players get to have a good time and maybe win a little something.

This is all well and good, but I guess I was hoping for more of a point in the right direction from this community.

I looked at the USCF schedule of tournaments and I didn't see any that mentioned "charity".

Most tournament players these days will be young players trying to achieve ratings.  Their parents have to cover travel, hotel, entries, food.

I suggest you look at the schedule of tournaments and try to find one close to where you live.  You will learn a lot by attending. 

The people running the tournaments aren't usually making much money.

Sorry to say it, but that's why charities hold golf tournaments. That's where the money is.

The biggest cost is the venue. Since they have a building, if they got someone to TD for free,  someone to volunteer to set up tables and chairs, maybe some coffee, they could pretty easily run the whole thing at no cost.

I agree that going to a tournament would be a good start. Talk to a local TD about what it takes to run a tournament. Volunteer to be an assistant TD and they'll likely be happy to have you and teach you for free. Then you can run your own tournament.

Hi, 

Awesome idea! The first major decision you need to make is if you want it to be a USCF sanctioned event or not. If it's not, there are many options and flexibility for running this event, but if you want to have it sanctioned by the USCF then you'll have some requirements to consider and implement and additional costs.

If it's not a USCF event- you can basically do it anyway you'd like, decide on date(s) of the event, entry frees, time control, prize amounts, if you'll have a maximum number of players, if you'll provide the chess equipment or not, and I'd suggest locating a tournament director to run the event just for your own sanity and make it a smoother event overall.

However if you're going to have it be sanctioned by the USCF, then you must hire or acquire a certified Tournament Director by the USCF, who's license is equal or superior to the number of participants in the event (entry level tournament directors can run events up to 25 players if I recall, but I could be wrong, for example), and you'll probably want to advertise the event on the USCF website of upcoming tournaments which costs a little bit, and plan well in advance (several months at least). You'd also need to set aside some money for the tournament director and/or their staff, rating fees the USCF charges (might be included in TD, ask them!), and you'll need to determine what sections you'll have (like Open, U1600, U1000 for example), number of and schedule of rounds, time control, prize money, and other such things. I recommend first locating and hiring a TD, then consult with them on the other aspects of the tournament because they will have more experience organizing and running such events, including knowing what may or may not be likely to work.

Don't let organizing a tournament become daunting to you, it can be a lot of fun and don't put a lot of expectations on it, just look at it as a unique experience that you're trying out. Have fun with it!

-Jordan