Is there such a thing as a beginner's guide to chess tournaments?

Hello all!

I was just considering going to my first tournament in November, however as I read through the tournament details I began to have second and third thoughts. I can't seem to find a "codec" to decipher the 5SS, 40/2,  SD/1, 1/2 point byes,  2 day options, G/75 rounds,  etc. etc. that appear throughout the tournament details. I certainly don't want to show up at the tournament completely clueless and raise the ire of a tournament director or the other players as I meander around asking inane questions.

Is there a guide or web page someone could point me to that would decode this strange language? I've Googled around and found some rather sparing bits of information here and there, but nothing substantial. It would be nice if there was some kind of a Dummies Guide to Chess Tournaments. Any budding authors out there? =)

Specifically, this is the tournament page that I'm attempting to  make some sense of: http://www.chesstour.com/kio08.htm

Thanks for your time,

E_G

SS means swiss system. 40/2 means 40 moves in 2 hours. 1/2 point byes means that you can take a bye round and get 1/2 point and don't play a game, presumably you have to arrange this ahead of time. SD/1 means that after the 40 moves in 2 hours, you have 1 hour to finish the game after that. 2 day options means that instead of playing the full 3 day tournament, you can pay less and play 2 days instead of 3. G/75 I think means 75 minutes a game if you take the 2 day option.

edit: i never have played in a tournament so those are mostly educated guesses.

> 5SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day option, rds 1-2 G/75),

Good guesses, meuller. I will use my secret decoder ring to help:

5ss - You will play 5 games, and the tournament uses the Swiss system, which means you will always play someone doing about as well as you are. Eg, if you won 2 games and lost 2 games in the final round you'll probably face someone else who won 2 games and lost 2 games. Although it doesn't always work out perfectly.

40/2, SD/1 - To not lose on time you must complete 40 moves in 2 hours. You must complete the rest of the game within 1 hour. That means a game could go on as long as 6 hours! But most don't, and you're allowed to take breaks.

2-day option, rds 1-2 G/75 -  If you can only be at the event for two days (as opposed to three days) your first two rounds will be G/75, meaning to not lose on time you must make all your moves within 75 minutes. Then the 2-day and 3-day groups will merge.

Half point byes: OK all rounds; must commit by rd 2 or not have plus score. - If you will have to miss one or more rounds, tell the TD at the beginning of the tournament and they'll mark the round as if it were a draw for tournament placing purposes (no rating adjustment though). It's also ok to do this later on if you've lost every game you've played.

You might also check out...

http://www.jaderiver.com/chess/controls.html

I've wondered about the same things.

Great topic.

Try this:

http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/tla/tladesc.php

it should explain most of those code names for US events.

This is a glossary of chess terms:

http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7327/28/

Finally this is a guide to US Chess rated tourneys:

http://www.uschess.org/ratings/info/intro.pdf

You might want to start with a small tournament.

lol remember it's touch move - players like to be biggies on that

Great info- someone, maybe USCF should publish a book/pamphlet, etc for those of us unaware of these tournament 'codes'- Thanks to those who provided the above info.

                                                                IrishMike

shuttlechess92> lol remember it's touch move - players like to be biggies on that

Aye, and especially if you go for the G/75, remember to punch your clock! And if your opponent forgets feign a look of deep concentration and be happy. :)

Thanks loads for the great information. At this very moment i'm culling through the documents and links posted.

Just curious, when you bring a clock to a tournament is there a preference as to if it's mechanical or digital? Do some tourneys make a stipulation as to which is acceptable?

@IrishMike: Maybe we could band together and draft a "Chess Tournaments for Noobs" document. =)

(Edited for spelling)

Enormous_Gastropod> Just curious, when you bring a clock to a tournament is there a preference as to if it's mechanical or digital? Do some tourneys make a stipulation as to which is acceptable?

Yes. In USCF tournaments digital delay > mechanical > digital w/o delay. So all types of clock are acceptable but if your opponent has a more preferred clock he is allowed (and probably will) insist on using it, and that changes the timing of the game. The rules also change slightly depending on what type of clock you use... hopefully you've ordered a copy of the official USCF rulebook so you won't miss anything.

E_G

  You may also want to look over Dan Heisman's novice nook column on first tournaments      http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman42.pdf