FINAL Rules for 2003

Updated March 6, 2003

This Hurvitz Cup / State Scholastic Chess TEAM Championship is a Rated, Open, Team vs. Team Tournament. There are no “qualification tournaments” for this Team Championship. Trophies will be given to the Top 5 teams in all sections. Players on winning teams will also get awards. The Hurvitz Cup, for each of the four sections is a perpetual first place trophy. The Cup is kept for one year by the winning school team and returned at the following team championship to be awarded to the successive winning teams.

Who can Play.

The tournament is open to all children attending full-time, full curriculum MA public or MA private schools. Home-schooled children may also participate.
All players on a team must be from the same school. See definition of SAME SCHOOL below.
Any school can have more than one team, even in the same section!

Home-Schooled Children: Are welcomed to form teams of 3 or 4 players (plus alternate) as long as all players live in the same public school district. Also, if permitted by the local public or private school principal, home-schooled players or any student attending a school which does not have a team in the tournament may play as part of a Chess Team for a school in the local school district where s/he lives in Massachusetts.

Tournament Format?

4 Sections of Teams: Grades Kindergarten through 3 (K-3), K-6, 5-9, and 8-12.
Rounds and Format: 4 Rounds of Chess using the Swiss System method.
A Round-Robin format may be used if there are only a few teams in a section.
Time Controls: All Rounds are G/45. Teams in sections K- 6 and above must have chess clocks on every board. Clocks will not be provided.
Start Time for Round 1: Round 1 begins at 10AM sharp! The 8-12 and 5-9 Sections begin first.
Scoring: Each team receives a win, loss, or draw for the round. If Team A wins on Boards 1 and 2, loses on Board 3, and draws on Board 4, they get a “1” because they have won the round.
Ties: At the end of the day, ties for Awards will be broken by adding the total individual points earned by Boards 1 through 4 of a team, with the team having more points winning. If two teams remain tied, then USCF tie-breaks will be applied to Boards 1 through 4 until the tie is broken.

Rules on Team Composition.

SAME SCHOOL RULE.

All players in a team must be from the SAME SCHOOL except as follows:

A rare exception will be allowed for “feeder” schools in the same school district within the same town where the grade breaks within a school do not conform to the tournament section breaks. In this case, a SAME SCHOOL team may be formed by merging students from both schools. For example; grades K-2 are in school “A” , while grades 3 through 5 are in the school “B” and grades 6 through 8 are in the school “C” and each of the preceding schools feed students to the next. In this case the K-3 team may be formed with students from both school “A” and school “B”. Also, the K-6 team may be formed with students from schools “A” and “B”, or schools “B” and “C”.
ALL such exception SAME SCHOOL teams must be approved in advance by the MACA Scholastic Coordinator in writing or email. Phone calls must be confirmed in writing or email specifying player names, grades and schools involved.
This exception is NOT allowed for on-site entries because enrollment and grade structure of the schools cannot be verified on tournament day. ALL decisions by the MACA Scholastic Coordinator are final.

Within the limitations of the above rule, and within section limits, it’s okay for players to “play-up,” but players cannot “play-down.” A 3rd Grader can play on his/her school’s K-3 or K-6 team. An 8^th or 9^th Grader can play on either the 5-9 the 8-12 team. A 10^th grader must play on the 8-12 team.
Team size is 4 players. Teams of only 3-players are okay, but 3-player teams will receive a “loss” on Board 4 if they are paired against a 4-player team.
You don’t have to have a USCF Rating to play, but when a team has USCF-rated players, members must be arranged in “rating sequence” according to their official USCF rating as of the April 2003 USCF Rating Supplement. Board 1 is always a team’s highest rated player, Board 4 is always the lowest (or unrated player).
Provisional Ratings will be used to determine Board-order. The “Board 1” player on one team will play the “Board 1” player on opposing teams.
If a team has 2 or 3 un-rated players, they must play on the lower 3 boards (not Board 1). Rated players will always play before unrated. Unrated alternates must play on the lowest board.
It’s okay for a team to have 4 un-rated players. Un-rated players must remain in the same Board-order for ALL ROUNDS, they cannot change boards between rounds. When un-rated players register, any ratings posted on the USCF Internet Site (www.uschess.org/ratings), may be used by the Tournament Director to determine player line-up.
Players must play in the order they were entered. The board order submitted at registration, including the alternate, shall be the order the team plays in the tournament.
The Tournament Director is the Final Arbitur of whether team members are sequenced to play in the correct board order.
Alternates:

Each team can have 1 Alternate. The Alternate must be from the same school as the team’s other members, and the Alternate may not play on other teams.
When the Alternate plays, the Board-order of the team must be adjusted so members stay in USCF Rating sequence.
Alternates must announce which board they will play in advance.
A team must notify the Tournament Director in advance of the next round (before pairings are made) if they want to use their Alternate. Also, the Alternate must be identified before the end of tournament registration (before 9am) and may not be added or changed after registration closes.

To Enter a Team.

Enter in advance and pay entry fees by completing and mailing the MACA team entry form.
On-site Registration is from 8:00-9:00am. We will start Round 1 ON TIME!!
Proof of current USCF, MACA membership required for on-site entries.
USCF & MACA memberships of ALL team members must be current or resolved and paid up by end of registration (9:00 AM) or your team doesn’t play. If you anticipate problems or have questions – Email or CALL to resolve them ASAP! This tournament will start ON-TIME, with or without your team.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE:

All issues and questions concerning team composition and eligibility must be presented to the MACA Scholastic Coordinator in advance, before tournament day. Phone calls must be confirmed in writing or email specifying player names, grades and schools involved.

Further, any issues discovered after registration, up through the completion of the tournament and awarding of the prizes, that bring to question the eligibility and/or composition of any team will be decided by the MACA Scholastic Coordinator, MACA Board of Directors present and the Chief Tournament Director and their decision WILL BE FINAL.
Notice to ALL winning teams.

The team composition with regard to school enrollment is subject to verification by the MACA Scholastic Committee. When subject to question by the MACA Coordinator or Scholastic Committee, it will be the team’s responsibility to provide such proof of the team’s player status as the Coordinator and/or Committee deems necessary, including, but not limited to written confirmation from the school principal or administration on school letterhead.

Additional Information.

CHECK THE MACA SCHOLASTICS WEB SITE at www.masschess.org. If that doesn’t help, don’t hesitate to contact:

Peter Lee by email at wiz100@yahoo.com