4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Blitz Scholastic Chess Championship
Saturday 03 June 2017, 09:30am - 01:15pm
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Contact tournaments@mdchess.com

Open to all K - 12 players from anywhere

Roland Park Elementary/Middle School
5207 Roland Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21210

Skittles Rooms: Auditorium & Gym
Tournament Room: Cafeteria

Recent History of the Tournament, Site, and/or Date

MCA WILL PROVIDE PRE-SET CLOCKS FOR ALL PLAYERS. (Nonetheless, MCA recommends that all players who own digital clocks bring them as backups.)

Section

US-Chess

Regular Rating***

­(not Blitz Rating)

Grades

Rounds

1 Time Control

(Sudden-Death)

Individual
Prizes

Team
Prizes

Championship

1000+

K-12

5-DSS

G/3 +2

*

**

Under 1000

100-999 or unrated

K-12

5-DSS

G/3 +2

*

**

 

Scheduled Rounds (Round 1 for all sections: 9:30 AM)

 

Round

1

Round

2

Round

3

Round

4

Round

5

Awards

Ceremony

(sooner, if

possible)

Championship

9:30

10:15

11:00

11:45

12:30

1:15

Under 1000

9:30

10:15

11:00

11:45

12:30

1:15

 

#-DSS

# of double (D) rounds in which each player plays 2 games (1 as White, 1 as Black) against an opponent determined by Swiss-system pairings (SS)

G/#

base time: # of minutes per game (G) each player has to complete all of the player's moves

+#

added time: # of seconds of increment (+) added to a player's base time for each move

AC

Awards Ceremony (sooner, if possible)

*

Trophies: top ≈ 25% of players or players with ≈ 70% of available points (7+/10)

**

Trophies: top ≈ 40% of teams or teams with ≈ 50% of available points (20+/40)—b/o top 4 players

 

*** A player's Regular rating (rather than Blitz rating) determines the section for which the player qualifies. Because the vast majority of scholastic players compete in at most 1 US-Chess-rated Blitz tournament per year, if a scholastic player has a Blitz rating, then that Blitz rating is frequently unrepresentative of the player's current general skill level. Moreover, scholastic players who do not have a Blitz rating are much more likely to vary widely in their general skill levels than are scholastic players who do not have a Regular rating. So, where many players with a Regular rating of 1000+ do not yet have a Blitz rating (and thus are unrated Blitz players), extremely few players have a 1000+ Blitz rating but do not yet have a Regular rating (and thus are unrated Regular players).

The individual & team winners (or co-winners) of the Championship section will be the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Blitz Scholastic Chess Champion.

Blitz Detials

      • 2 games per round against the same opponent, with players alternating colors. The player listed 1st in the pairings starts as White.
      • Recording is not required.

Tournament-Registration Fee (choose additional fee, if player lacks a current US-Chess membership)

      • Register Now! at the bottom of this page, starting 1 month before the tournament
      • $15—Tuesday, 2017.05.30, if completed by 11:59 PM (Early)
      • $30—Thursday, 2017.06.01, if completed by 11:59 PM (Regular)
      • $60—Saturday, 2017.06.03, if completed by 5 AM (Last-Minute: ½-point bye possible in Round 1)
      • $80—Saturday, 2017.06.03, 8 - 9 AM (At-the-Door: if space is available; ½-point bye likely in Round 1)

Registered Players & Wallcharts

      • Individuals (Attendees)includes players registered currently (updated automatically)
        After clicking on the link above, click on Attendees beneath a specific scholastic tournament. At the top of the page, enter into the Search bar the player's first or last name (but not both), or the purchaser's first or last name (but not both). Or, at the bottom of the page, change the # of players displayed to All ; sort by clicking on Player's Name, Purchaser's Name, etc.
      • Individuals (alphabetically)includes players registered by 2017.06.02 13:44—37 players
      • Individuals (by section)includes players registered by the date & time above
      • Teams (by section)includes players registered by the date & time above

US Chess Membership

      • To compete in this US-Chess-rated tournament, a player must have a US-Chess membership that is current (not yet expired).
      • If a player has ever been a US-Chess member, then the player has a permanent US-Chess ID # that must be entered during tournament registration: player's US-Chess ID # and membership expiration date.
      • If a player lacks a current US-Chess membership, then select the 2nd type of Registration Type during tournament registration: Tournament Registration & US-Chess Membership (new or renewal). (Until MCA processes purchases of US-Chess memberships, a new member's US-Chess ID # will be listed as TBD [To Be Determined ] in the wallcharts listed above. MCA might wait until the day of the tournament to process those purchases.)
      • During the tournament a player who lacks a current US-Chess membership is ineligible to play, will not be paired in any round, & will receive a 0-point bye in all rounds, until the player purchases a US-Chess membership, by filling out MCA's US-Chess-membership form in the Tournament Directors' room.

Which Section is Right for Your Player?

      • Players who have never competed in a US-Chess-rated tournament (the vast majority of unrated players) are not eligible for the stronger section.
      • A player's eligibility by rating for a section is determined primarily by the player's official/published US Chess rating during the month in which a tournament will be held. A player's official rating remains the same number throughout a month, because US Chess calculates a player's official rating only once per month. That is, a player's official rating does not change during a month, because a player's official rating throughout a month is what the player’s unofficial/unpublished rating was on the 3rd Wednesday of the previous month. Conversely, a player's unofficial rating can change an unlimited number of times per month, because US Chess calculates a player's unofficial rating a few hours after the conclusion of every US-Chess-rated tournament in which a player competes. When registering a player for a tournament in month X, apply the player's official rating in month X. When registering a player for a tournament in month X+1, apply the player's unofficial rating on the 3rd Wednesday of month X. Look up a player's official & unofficial US Chess ratings here.
      • Sections have a marginally flexible floor (at MCA scholastic tournaments), but an inflexible/hard ceiling (at all US-Chess-rated tournaments). If a player's official rating is below a section's floor, but the player's official rating is only ≤ 50 points below the floor and/or the player's unofficial rating is ≤ 50 points below, equal to, or any number of points above the floor, then the player may play up in that higher section—unless MCA's Scholastic Director and/or the Chief Tournament Director decide it's not in the tournament's best interests. (If a player uses the player's unofficial rating to qualify to play up in a section, then the player might be assigned that unofficial rating for pairing purposes.) However, if a player's unofficial rating is below a section's ceiling, but the player's official rating is above that ceiling, then the player may NOT play down in that section.
      • If a player is registered for a section for which the player is ineligible by rating, then MCA (without notification) will move the player to the lowest section for which the player is eligible.
      • If a player is registered for a section for which the player is ineligible by grade, then MCA will take 1 of 2 steps.

Do Players Need to Bring Anything?

      • MCA will provide all boards & pieces.
      • MCA WILL PROVIDE PRE-SET CLOCKS FOR ALL PLAYERS. (Nonetheless, MCA recommends that all players who own digital clocks bring them as backups.)
      • Food (pizza, candy, soda, etc.) can be purchased at the tournament.

How to Register Online for an MCA Scholastic Tournament

Which US Chess Rating Determines the Section(s) in which a Player May or Must Play?

MCA’s Scholastic Team Policy

MCA’s Scholastic Bye Policy

MCA's Refund Policy & Fees for Registration Changes

Tournament Announcements before Round 1 & Section Schedules

Procedures, Rules, and Etiquette for Players and Spectators at an MCA Scholastic Tournament

Increment Time Control for the Varsity/Championship Section

Even when More Than 1 Player in a Section Can Achieve a Perfect Score, There Will Be No Major Variations; However, There Might Be Minor Variations. The following might be changed for any section, according to the number of players in the section: whether there are natural pairings (the norm at a Swiss-system tournament) or accelerated pairings in Rounds 1-2, and the number of trophies. In the rare instance of a section having an exceptionally low turnout, it might be merged with another section.

US Chess's Official Rules of Chess, 6th Edition (2014)
US Chess's Official Rules of Chess, 6th Edition (2014)—search for rules & terms in GoogleBooks
US Chess's Rulebook Changes (updated annually)
US Chess's Scholastic Blitz Rules (2015)
US Chess's Scholastic Blitz Rules: MCA's Highlights (20??)

Tournament Results

How MCA Determines the Individual Winner of a Section when There’s a Tie for First Place

How to Find a Player’s New Unpublished/Unofficial US Chess Rating after an MCA Scholastic Tournament

MCA's PROVISIONAL Scholastic-Tournament Calendar 2016-2017

      • The tournament-announcement page of a tournament listed in MCA's PROVISIONAL Scholastic-Tournament Calendar 2016-2017 might not yet appear at the top of MCA's home page, because that tournament is so many months in the future.
      • Nonetheless, one can access that tournament-announcement page by alternate means:
            • On the lower, left side of MCA's home page, click on MCA's calendar.
            • Click on By Month (at the top of the page) to display all tournaments within a month.
            • Click on All Categories (at the bottom of the page) to display all types of tournaments (major & local scholastic tournaments, major & local open tournaments)—as well as chess camps.
            • Locate & click on the desired tournament.

MCA's Social-Media Profiles

If MCA's Photographer takes photos of players at the board & in the Skittles Room, then they will be available for purchase at the MCA Photographer's website.

If the tournament were to be rescheduled or cancelled, then MCA would contact you (by email and/or text) and post an announcement at the top of this tournament-announcement page. The tournament will proceed as planned, if MCA neither contacts you, nor posts an announcement about a rescheduling or cancellation. Please do not contact MCA about a site's hypothetical closing because of bad weather, etc. A site closing would be announced separately by the public school's city or county administration, the private school, etc. If the tournament were to be rescheduled, then MCA would issue a refund, if a player were to withdraw from the rescheduled tournament. If the tournament were to be cancelled, then MCA would automatically issue a refund to all players within 1-2 weeks; there would be no need to inform MCA of a player's withdrawal from a cancelled tournament.

For more tournament information, contact the Maryland Chess Association at tournaments@mdchess.com.

Location Roland Park E/MS