by National Master and Full-Time Chess Instructor Dan Heisman (e-mail Dan; 610-649-0750)
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See also my Tournaments and Events page and the online Team 4545 website for anyone to play (and even the US Chess League for pros)!.
All open tournaments are advertised at the USCF website or in Chess Life Magazine
Types There are two types of team chess tournaments:
Individually Paired The players are paired as in an individual swiss tournament, but the Top N players from each team are scored. The best examples are the PA Scholastic Chess Championships and the National Elementary/Jr. High/High School Championships. These tournaments are designed so that individuals without a team can still compete equally well. Usually, players from the same team are not paired against one another unless it becomes necessary in later rounds. These tournaments usually have a lot of individual prizes as well as team prizes. For these tournaments, since the best N are chosen after the games are played, the more players you send, the better chance of winning a team prize! Also, you can enter these tournaments as an individual! You don't need to be part of a team.
Team Paired These are the tournaments that most tournament chess players think of as "real" team tournaments. The teams have a specified number of players (usually four) and they are paired as teams, with Board 1 playing Board 1, Board 2 against Board 2, etc. The team that wins the match gets 1 match point, the losing team 0. Teams are paired against other teams with the same number of match points, just as individuals would be in a normal swiss system. Boards must be played in rating order with unrated players allowed to play any board. Board order may not be switched (for unrated players) in the middle of the tournament. Most tournaments allow alternates; that is, if it is a four-board tournament, you can have a fifth player who can play in some of the rounds. A team is paired with an average rating of its top N boards, where N is the number that play (e.g., a four-board team with an alternate has an average team rating of its highest four players). Unrateds do not count toward the team average.
NOTE: Even in "team-paired" tournaments
you can almost always show up early without a team and you can form one from
players like yourself or ask for help in being assigned to a team!
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Major Team Tournaments of interest to players in the Philadelphia area:
1) US Amateur Team East (team paired)
What The biggest and most fun team tournament in the world.
Where Parsippany Hilton, Parsippany, NJ on Rt. 10 just west of Route 287, about 2 hrs north of Phila.
When Presidents day weekend (3 days)
Who Team of 4 must have an average rating under 2200.Open to anyone in the world.
2) PA Scholastic Championships
(individually paired)
What The PA championships for grades K-12. In multiple sections
according to grades and rating.
Where Kehr Union Building, Bloomsburg College, Bloomsburg. About 2 hours NW of Philadelphia
When The weekend closest to March 7.Spring break at Bloomsburg.2 Days., Mar 8-9, 2003.
Who All players K-12.Great fun for scholastic players; over 440 showed
up in 2002! Also a very strong open section with 70+ more adults!
3) PA Team Tournament (team paired) Scholastic (K-12), JHS/HS, and
Open
What Team championships for PA; played at a fairly quick rate.
Where Philadelphia Community College, Philadelphia
When Usually final weekend of January. - not held recently
Who In three sections: One scholastic under 1400 (team average) - do not
have to be from the same school; one
open to anyone, including adults with a 2200 maximum average rating
provision. Finally,
there is a very popular G/1 JHS/HS section where all four players must be from
the same school.
4) National Scholastic Championships (individually paired)
What The National Championships of the US: High School, Jr. High
School, and Elementary (3 tournaments)
Where Moves from place to place each year according to winning bidders to USCF
When Usually April - See USCF National Listings
Who K-12. The HS and JHS tournaments usually have sections for younger players.
5) Team 4545 (team paired)
What The premier online team event of four players (plus up to two alternates)
Where online at the Internet Chess Club (ICC)
When Four seasons a year, each lasting about 9 weeks.
Who Anyone in the world who is willing to join ICC. Usually over 100 teams with players of all ages from over 50 countries participate.
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