Tournament Format
This tournament will consist of two events: a 10-5 time control arena from 6:00pm-7:40pm, and a 3-0 blitz arena from 8:00pm-9:00pm. All participants are free to attend either or both arenas, but are required to either create a free Lichess account or use their existing account to participate. Students are encouraged to join our Zoom call at Meeting ID: 854 1662 9954 to participate in discussion and to show off their Halloween costumes! For security, the meeting password will only be given after sign-up.
We will be using the Lichess arena system for these tournaments. This system allows students to play as many games as possible, as it will try to match players into new games as soon as their previous games finish. PLEASE NOTE: Players have 20 seconds to make their first move during each game. If they do not move in that time their game will be forfeited and they will be automatically “paused” in the tournament. Players can unpause by clicking the green “join” button on the tournament main page.
How to Join
Sign up for the tournament on our website, here: https://www.buffalochessassociation.com/tournament-sign-up
Join our Lichess team, here: https://lichess.org/team/buffalo-chess-association. You will need to create a free Lichess account before you can join the team. PLEASE NOTE: If you do not specify your child’s name and why you are joining the team, you will be declined. This is to make sure our team stays a safe place for all of our students!
If you are unsure of how to do this, please refer to this YouTube tutorial.Join the tournament(s), here:
10-5 time control: https://lichess.org/tournament/FlUgWK9d
3-0 time control: https://lichess.org/tournament/WW1bHLqy
If you are unsure of how to do this, please refer to this YouTube tutorial.
Rules
No Cheating
Participants are to receive no external help in playing their games. This includes both help from other individuals (including, but not limited to, parents, siblings, and friends) and usage of a chess engine or other computer assistance. However, parents MAY help their child navigate the Lichess website or deal with technical difficulties if necessary. We will utilize Lichess built-in anti-cheat systems, alongside instructor analysis of any suspicious games. Violation of this rule will result the student’s Lichess account being banned, along with a ban from future BCA events and ineligibility for prizes.
Be Kind
Participants are to show good sportsmanship and be kind to each other. Being unsportsmanly in either victory or defeat will result in first a warning, and then being temporarily muted. Repeated offenses will result in being ineligible for prizes. Severely bad sportsmanship may result in a ban from future BCA events.
Prizes
All students will receive a prize. Prizes will be determined by number of wins, see below.
1st place: A 1st place trophy and a bucket of candy.
Best Win Percentage¹: A bag of candy.
Best intermediate²: A bag of candy.
Best beginner²: A bag of candy.
Best intro³: A bag of candy.
Best non BCA/KPC student: A bag of candy.
Students will receive candy based on their performance in their games (adjusted for their level). PLEASE NOTE: Students should not “trade” wins (by taking turns quickly resigning) or accept draws without good reason. Doing so will result in warnings, then disqualification from all prizes. Please earn your candy fairly!
Intro
10/5:
4 pieces of candy per win
0.5 pieces of candy per loss (rounded up)
1.5 pieces of candy per draw (rounded up)
3/0:
1 piece of candy per win
0.2 pieces of candy per loss (rounded up)
0.5 pieces of candy per draw (rounded up)
Beginner
10/5:
2 pieces of candy per win
0.75 pieces of candy per draw (rounded up)
3/0:
0.5 pieces of candy per win (rounded up)
Intermediate
10/5:
1.5 pieces of candy per win (rounded up)
0.5 pieces of candy per draw (rounded up)
3/0:
0.4 pieces of candy per win (rounded up)
Students not in the BCA/KPC curriculum
10/5:
1.5 pieces of candy per win (rounded up)
0.5 pieces of candy per draw (rounded up)
3/0:
0.4 pieces of candy per win (rounded up)
More candy may be added for students in this category, at tournament directors’ discretion. We will do this as necessary to prevent non BCA/KPC students from receiving an unfairly small amount of candy.
Advanced
10/5:
1 piece of candy per win
0.25 pieces of candy per draw (rounded up)
3/0:
0.25 pieces of candy per win
All prizes can be collected on October 31st from 5:00pm-8:00pm outside of the Rainbow Bridge Culture Center! See our event “Tournament Prize Handouts” for more information.
¹ Arenas give first place to whoever has won the MOST games, which is not always the person who has lost the least! This category is to ensure that slow and accurate players will not be left out. If the first place winner has the highest win percentage, they will receive this reward as well.
² Available for BCA and KPC students only. This is due to us being unable to fairly determine the skill levels of non-students before seeing the results. To make up for this, we will be giving a prize to the best non BCA/KPC student!
³ Available for BCA students only. This is due to us being unable to fairly determine whether a student is of “intro” level before seeing their results unless they were already in our intro program.