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Chess TD

This is a blog about being a chess tournament director and organizer.

Uncertain Ratings I: Provisional Ratings

​US Chess treats all ratings as if they were equally accurate measurements of a player's current playing strength. Because we use ratings to seed people into playing sections to provide a grouping by ability, if some players' ratings are biased or more inaccurate, they could have an unfair advantage in any section with a rating limit. The...
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Guest — clarsen
Michael- I sort of encountered this when I ran my first ES tournament with a colleague. All UNR players. We had no way of ranking ... Read More
Sunday, 01 April 2018 00:17
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The History of Texting Pairings

In 2008, at the MD State Scholastic Champs, as I was yelling into the din of the crowded cafeteria, "Round 3 pairings are up for the K-3 JV section" and seeing the scrum form at the pairings sheet I felt there had to be a better way. We had the pairings on the computer, but it took us at least 30 minutes from when we paired unti...
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How to get Affordable Internet Access with WiFi at Chess Tournaments

Good internet access is an important factor in running a high quality chess tournament. While it is possible either to use a smart phone directly or to set it up to tether to a computer, this can be awkward and expensive. The option of using the WiFi from the tournament facility is also problematic. Hotels want to charge hundreds of dollars per day...
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