The Denver Scholastic Chess League is about to begin the 2008-2009 season. The league has been in existence for over 14 years and was founded by the late Garth Courtois. This will be my 10th year as league chairman. Last year there were about 30 teams representing schools from all across the Denver area.

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”. here 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. e 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. n 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 school 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 6^th grade must play in the middle school team. In the event that there is no opportunity for a 6^th 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
After September 22: $60
After September 29: No entries allowed

I am looking to schedule the first matches for the weeks 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) form 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 Denver 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 Denver Chess League and if there are any questions, please feel free to send me email at bgaller@comcast.net