SACA REGISTRATION AND MATCH PROCEDURES

REGISTRATION: Send your registration via email the week of the tournament to: scholastic@sazchess.org. All registrations are due by Thursday 10:00 PM, except for clubs that meet only on Fridays. Schools that meet on Friday will be allowed to register up until 8:00 PM on Friday. If you can't email, you can call 270-9140 (Thursday 6-9pm, Friday 6-9pm changes only).

Registration is done by one person per school, usually by a coach or parent volunteer.

REGISTRATION FOR TEAM EVENTS: League Matches 1, 2, 4 and League Championship are team tournaments. For these events, your email should look like this:

Example 1:

Looney Tunes MS LM4 Team Registration (Note Junior High teams are 4 player teams)
JHS Team A: 1717
JHS Team B: 1550
JHS Team C: 1447

Total Players: 14 (2 extra players)

Example 2:

Acme Elementary LM2 Team Registration (Note Elementary teams are 5 player teams)
Elem Team A: 1730
Elem Team B: 1632
Elem Team C: 1343

Total Players: 17 (2 extra players)

Example 3:

Ace Academy LM1 Team Registration (Note Primary teams are 3 player teams)
Prim Team A: 875
Prim Team B: 815
Prim Team C: 766

Total Players: 10 (1 extra player)

Note in the examples that the Schools, Division (JHS, Elem or Prim), Team Rating, and Total Players are all clearly identified. See the TEAM RATING section below if you need help calculating your Team Rating. In addition, the extra players in the above examples will play in the Individual Section.

Note also that player names are not needed for registration in team matches. However, before emailing your entry, please make sure all of your players are in the SACA database. Details for doing this are in the NEW PLAYERS section below.

REGISTRATION FOR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS: League Match 3 and Regional Qualifier 1 are individual events. For these events, your email should look like this:

Example 1:

Looney Tunes MS LM3 registration
Elementary section
Yosemite Sam, 300
Pepe La Pew, 423

Junior High section
Sylvester Katt, 316
Daffy Duck, 553

Example 2:

Walt Disney Elementary LM3 registration
Primary section
Micky Mouse, 302
Pluto, 296
Goofy, 234

Elementary section
Minnie Mouse, 671

Note that the School, Section, Player Name, and Rating are all clearly indicated.

You WILL receive a confirmation of your email registration entry. You must assume your teams are not registered unless you receive confirmation. If you do not receive a confirmation message within a reasonable time (by early Friday afternoon for most), call the Chess Line at 270-9140.

If you must register by phone, call the Chess Line at 270-9140 before your registration deadline. You may be redirected to another number to register.

As a rule, NO additional teams are accepted on Saturday morning! Exceptions occasionally may be made, but only at the organizer's sole discretion, and only under very unusual circumstances! Additions on the morning of the tournament can impose frustrating delays for the hundreds of other children, coaches and parents waiting.

Please be sure to check-in your teams by 8:15 Saturday morning. If you have player drops sufficient to eliminate any of your teams, please check in by 8:00 or call the Chess Line at 270-9140 leaving a message if necessary.

REGISTRATION FOR REGIONAL QUALIFIER 2: This is a USCF rated event, entries will ONLY be accepted by mail. NO email, phone or at site entries will be accepted. Please use the entry form provided in the flyer and fill in ALL USCF information, including date of birth, enclosing the entry fee and USCF membership dues if applicable.

NEW PLAYERS: Please submit the following information for all new players no later than the Thursday before the player's first tournament to: Sabra Castle at slcastle@mindspring.com. You are welcome (encouraged!) to do this as early in the season as possible, even if the player will not participate right away.

Your email should look like this:

Looney Tunes MS new players
Pepe La Pew, Grade 5
Sylvester Katt, Grade 7
Yosemite Sam, Grade 4

Note that the School, Player, and Grade are all clearly identified

Unidentified players cause needless delays in updating the player ratings. If you need help telling us about your new players, please call the Chess Line at 270-9140 for assistance.

RATINGS OF NEW PLAYERS: All children start out with a SACA rating based on their grade. For those in grades K-3, those children begin with a rating of 250. For those in grades 4-8 the beginning rating is 300. Ratings can not go below the 250 or 300 beginning rating.

TEAM RATING: The Team Rating is determined by adding the ratings of the players on that team, plus 150 for each open board on two-player teams in Primary, three-player or four-player teams in Elementary or three-player teams in Junior High. You can find your players' ratings at the SACA ratings page. If any of your players are not listed there, submit the information for them according to the NEW PLAYERS section above.

TEAM MATCHES: For the Primary division, each school may being any number of 3-player teams, with a minimum of 2 players to register a team. For the Elementary division, each school may bring any number of 5-player teams, with a minimum of 3 players to register a team. For the Junior High division, each school may bring any number of 4-player teams, with a minimum of 3 players to register a team. Also, individual players are welcome.

Individual Players are those that either a) are not on their school's teams, or b) go to a school that doesn't have a team.

Individual Players play in a special Individual Section. Additionally, team players without opponents (such as the 5th board of an Elementary team playing against a 4-player team) are paired in the Individual Section on a round-by-round basis. Individual Players line up by grade to be paired in the Individual Section.

Only one partial team per school is allowed in any division. If any open board arises their players should all move up to fill the open board. A school which fields any Individual Players in a division may not field a team that is short a player in that division.

The teams are placed in sections based on Team Rating.

LEAGUE MATCH TIMELINE: Round 1 pairings should be posted by 8:30 AM at the latest. Announcements begin at 8:55. Round 1 will start at 9:00. Subsequent rounds are started as soon as possible upon completion of the prior round. The tournament usually lasts until 1:30 or 2:00 PM.

RESULTS: For the team tournaments, for each round, someone from each school (preferable a coach) must enter the player's names in board order (first and last name, and grade) and game results on the team results sheets. This must be done clearly and accurately as soon as results are known to the coach/parent. Each school should have a designated coach or parent helper to mark the results. For individual tournaments, the players report their results at the scorer's table.

CHANGES, CHECK IN & PAYMENT: The coach or a designated parent volunteer typically collects the entry fees from the players upon arrival at the site, and then pays the school’s total fee, no later than the end of round 1. Some schools may collect the players' entry fees earlier. Please tell your players' parents to not pay for their child individually; they will be referred by the Check In desk back to their team. Each school (parents, coaches and players) should meet together at the site before 8:30.

Team adds can be made until the registration deadline (see REGISTRATION section above). Team drops and changes, and Individual Player adds and drops can be made until approximately 8:15 Saturday morning. The organizer or tournament director may defer Late Individual Player adds until round 2.

Chess line: 270-9140
Entries email: scholastic@sazchess.org
New Player Entries: Sabra Castle email: slcastle@mindspring.com
Player Ratings Info: http://www.sazchess.org/docs/Ratings.txt
Scholastic Director: Robby Adamson email (for questions only, not entries): Robzadamson@msn.com