2021 Rhode Island Scholastic State Chess Championship

Rhode Island Scholastic State Chess Championship

The 2021 Rhode Island Scholastic State Chess Championship is a chess tournament for players in grades K-12 during the 2020-2021 school year. This tournament will determine the scholastic state champions and is also open to out of state players.

Date:
Saturday, May 15, 2021

Location:
Online at chess.com

Format:
5SS, G/25 + 5 inc. (regular-rated)

Sections:
Grades 9-12
Grades 6-8
Grades K-5

Prizes:
Plaques to the top three individuals in each section and to the top Rhode Island player in each section.

Byes:
No half-point byes are available. Players who miss one or more games will receive zero-point byes for the games missed.

Round Times:
First round at 10:00 AM (EDT). Please make sure you join the event before then.
Other rounds ASAP upon completion of previous round.

Entry Fee:
$15 online by 5/7 at 11:59:00 PM (EDT).
$20 after 5/7 but by 5/13 (no entries will be accepted after 5/13).

Event Day Registration:
Players must register by 5/13. Players will not be able to register on the day of the tournament.

Cancellation and Refunds:
All registration cancellations must be requested prior to the first round of the tournament. All refunds are subject to a $5 processing fee. No refunds will be issued after the start of the first round of the tournament.

Registration:
Please complete steps 1, 2, and 3:
1. Complete this registration form and pay the entry fee.
2. Join the appropriate chess.com group for your tournament section by Friday, May 14, at 5:00 PM. (This can be done ASAP.)
—Grades K-5: chess.com group
—Grades 6-8: chess.com group
—Grades 9-12: chess.com group
3. Join the tournament no later than 9:50 AM the morning of the event via these steps.

Standings:
All results from this tournament (and the distribution of prizes) will be pending until chess.com completes its Fair Play analysis. Official final standings will not be released until after the Fair Play analysis has concluded.

Fair Play:
Chess.com uses a sophisticated Fair Play algorithm to detect cheating in online rated chess. For more information, see chess.com’s Fair Play Policy and associated publication. The USCF has endorsed chess.com’s Fair Play methodology for USCF online-rated games. The USCF’s endorsement letter can be found here.

SENECA takes cheating very seriously and will be relying on chess.com’s Fair Play methodology for this tournament.

If chess.com determines that a player has violated chess.com’s Fair Play rules, that player: (1) will have their tournament results and prize eligibility canceled; (2) may be banned from future play on chess.com; (3) may be banned from future SENECA online and over-the-board tournaments; and (4) may be reported to the USCF Ethics Committee, leading to possible suspension of USCF membership.

For purposes of the USCF rating report and tournament standings, the results of any games in which that player violated chess.com’s Fair Play rules will be adjusted as follows: (i) any games won or drawn by the player who violated the Fair Play rules will be reported as forfeit losses; and (ii) any games lost by that player will be reported as standard losses.

Tiebreaks:
This tournament will not use chess.com’s tiebreaks for determining the top finishers. Instead, the following tiebreaks (in order) will be used:
1. Head-to-Head (only if two players are tied and played each other during the tournament; this tiebreak is not used if three or more players are tied);
2. Modified Median;
3. Solkoff;
4. Cumulative;
5. Cumulative of Opposition

National Tournament Qualification:
A. The highest scoring Rhode Island player in the 9-12 section will be chosen to represent RI at the 2021 Denker Tournament of High School Champions.
B. The highest scoring Rhode Island player in the 6-8 section will be chosen to represent RI at the 2021 Barber Tournament of 6-8 Champions.
C. The highest scoring Rhode Island player in the K-5 section will be chosen to represent RI at the 2021 Rockefeller Tournament of State Elementary School Champions.
D. Should tie scores occur, the winner will be based on our tournament tiebreaks (listed above). There will be no blitz playoff.

Other Information:
1. Active USCF membership is required for ALL players. This must be purchased before the tournament at http://www.uschess.org/.
2. A chess.com account is also required, but this can be created for free.
3. The number of rounds may be decreased depending on the number of players in each section.
4. The tournament will have three USCF-rated sections. There will be no unrated sections.
5. Players must compete according to grade. Playing up a section is NOT allowed in this event.
6. Chess.com automatically completes the pairings for each round. Note that chess.com ratings, not USCF ratings, are used by chess.com in pairing players.

Additional Information:
Contact Ben Swiszcz (benswiszcz@yahoo.com).