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The Boulder Valley Chess League announces the 2008-2009 season. The Boulder Valley Chess League is modeled after the Denver Chess League which has been in existence for over 15 years. The Boulder Valley Chess League includes an Elementary School Division and a Middle School Division. The league is a scholastic team
tournament; a team is comprised of 4 players (or more). Players are arranged in playing strength
order with the best player on Board 1, second best on Board 2, etc. Each player plays two games, one as white
and one as black, against the same opponent. Chess ratings may be used to determine board order but that is not
required. What is required is that your
best player plays on Board 1, second best on Board 2, etc. It is NOT permitted to put an inferior
player on Board 1 in order to gain an advantage by stacking up your better
players against weaker opponents. The rules of chess
apply. This includes, but is not
limited to “touch move” and “spectator interference”. There are too many rules for me to try and list them here. Please
refer to the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Rules of Chess which can be
obtained by calling USCF at 1-800-388-KING. The season consists of a
number of matches against opponent schools. Roughly half the matches are home matches played at your school and half
are away matches played at the opponent’s site. We attempt to schedule half the matches before the winter
holidays and half after. Matches are
scheduled 2 weeks apart on Thursday afternoon. It is up to you and the coordinator of the other school to determine the
actual playing day if Thursday is not possible. All efforts should be made to
play on Thursday as this helps in scheduling. The match consists of 2 rounds. In round one, the home team is white on odd numbered boards and
black on even numbered boards. In round
2, everyone changes colors. 1.0 point
is awarded for a win, 0.5 for a draw and 0.0 for a loss. Thus a match has a total of 8.0 points
available (4 players X 2 rounds = 8 points). The final results for the
year will be determined by adding up the total number of matches won by each
team during the season. In the event of a tie, we will use the number of points
won as the tiebreak. If this still does not determine a winner, a playoff will
be used to determine the winner of a division. If there is still a tie, we will
declare the teams co-champions. One more clarification
needs to be made regarding the definition of “middle school”. Several schools
districts in our area offer K-5/6-8 and several offer K-6/7-9. One of the league’s
guiding principles is to include as many students as possible. So, in the event
that a school has both a middle school and an elementary school team that is in
the league, students that are in the 6th grade must play in the
middle school team. In the event that there is no opportunity for a 6th
grader to play on a middle school team, they may play on the elementary team if
the school is a K-6 school. Any questions or problems with this clarification
should be directed to me as soon as possible. Many schools have more than
4 players who want to participate. You
can either have multiple teams OR if your opponent agrees you can play more
than 4 boards. The extra boards can either
be “for fun” or they can count towards the match result. The only condition is that both coaches must
agree BEFORE the match begins whether the extra boards count towards the
result. However, if you play and count
more than 4 boards the results will be scaled so that the total match result
will be 8 points. The time control is 30
minutes per player per game. If you
have enough clocks they may be used from the start of the game. If not enough clocks are available, then 40
minutes after the game begins, a clock should be placed on the games in
progress giving each player 10 minutes to complete the game. Please note that if a player’s time expires,
ONLY his opponent may announce that fact.
The best rule of thumb is to have spectators mind their own business and
they should not interfere with the game.. Recording moves is not required
but is recommended. A draw by
repetition or by the 50-move rule may only be claimed if a player is keeping
score. A player’s score sheet may NOT
be used against him. If one player
keeps score and the other does not, the player not keeping score may not use
their opponent’s score sheet to claim a draw. They must keep score himself. Entry fee: The entry fee is
$40 per team and is for the entire school year. I am requiring all teams to have an email address that is checked
at least once every two days. All information regarding the league will be
through this email list. All entry fees
increase by $20 after September 22, 2008.
By September 22: $40
I am looking to schedule
the first matches for the week of October 20, 2008 and finish league play no
later than March, 2009. THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS SEPTEMBER 29, 2008. NO
EXCEPTIONS, PLEASE. Remember to fill out the
Entry Form (html) (doc) (pdf)
as soon as possible. Also, please check the Colorado State Chess
Association web site (http://www.colorado-chess.com) for details and updated
information regarding the Boulder Valley Chess League. Check the Scholastics section of
the web site. Sincerely, Bruce I. Galler P.S. Please pass this on to
other schools that might be interested in the Boulder Valley Chess League and if there
are any questions, please feel free to send me email at bgaller@comcast.net |