FAQ

The USCF is The United States Chess Federation. Membership in the USCF allows the chess player to participate in our National Rating System. A USCF membership is necessary to play in most tournaments in the US.

Players in 3rd grade or lower who are playing in a section that is restricted to 3rd grade and under (usually called K-3 or Primary) may play in that section as a non-member (“the JTP program”). The registrar can obtain a USCF ID for the player as a courtesy.  That ID number must be renewed to full membership as soon as the player reaches 4th grade or the player wishes to play in a section that includes players in 4th grade or higher.

Once you have a USCF ID, it is yours for life.  A membership can be renewed at any point, even after lapsing years previously.  The same goes for a rating.  It stays with the membership, going up and down according to the results of tournament play over the course of a person’s lifetime.

A “bye” is simply a request for a player to miss a round without being withdrawn from the tournament.

In person events
For most local tournaments, one 1/2 pt. bye is available for any round that you must miss, if requested before the start of round 2. Additional byes will be at 0- pts. Some multiple-day tournaments will allow additional 1/2 point byes. Requesting byes is not the norm. Most players will play all rounds in an event and request no byes.

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Online events
Many online events, including tournaments held on ChessKid.com, do not allow byes.  Please be prepared to play all games.

If you have registered for a tournament and cannot attend, it is very important to contact the organizer asap. Often, if the withdrawal is made early enough, a full or partial refund may be obtained. When you register and complete payment, the organizer takes it as a sign of your attendance and will pair your chess player into the tournament. Not showing up will leave your intended opponent sitting at the board – waiting. The same goes for leaving a tournament early.

At in person events, always notify the computer room before you leave an in person event.

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If you wish to withdraw from an online event, you may X out of the event. Once you withdraw from an online event, you may not reenter.

In person events: If you know in advance that you will be late, simply request a bye for the round you might miss. For most in person scholastic tournaments, any player missing an opponent at the start in round 1 will be repaired asap. In subsequent rounds, the missing player has an hour or his personal ‘full playing’ time to arrive, whichever is shorter. (E.g. In a G/30 tournament the opponent would be required to wait for 30 minutes.) In our local tournaments, an effort to contact the missing player will be made. We want everyone to get a game each round! However, if a player makes this behavior a habit, that player will not be allowed to register for future events.

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Online events: No byes are allowed for most online events. If a player registers and pays, he is expected to show up for each game. Each round begins automatically.

If you show up late for round 1, you will not play in the tournament. All players must ‘enter’ the online tournament system no later than 8:45am in order to complete.

If you play round 1 but show up late for a future round, you can still play the game. When a round begins, the player who has white will see his clock begin to tick down. After he makes a move, his clock stops and the player with black will see his clock tick down. If a player shows up late, his clock will simply continue to tick down until he makes a move. When a player runs out of time, his game is over and he loses. It is best for online quick events to stay close to the computer and watch for the start of each round. If you do miss a game, please let the help desk know immediately if you wish to continue playing in the tournament.

Our local in person scholastic tournaments are all day events. Please plan to arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before round 1 begins, and stay thru the awards ceremony. Five rounds of G/30 typically takes 6 to 7 hours.

In many of our smaller local events, the rounds are schedule on an ‘as soon as possible’ basis. In this case, and round schedule posted is APPROXIMATE. If a game requires TD intervention or perhaps runs long, or we have technical difficulties with computer or printer, the schedule might run late. If the games finish more quickly than anticipated, we might run ahead of schedule.

Regardless, please know we will encourage the schedule to progress as quickly as is humanly possible, but only in as much as it benefits the chess players.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Local online events move much more quickly. At the upcoming 2021 Region VI Championships, there will be 5 minutes between the end of the last game of a section and the beginning of the next round in that section.  If you finish your game early, you might be tempted to leave the tournament screen. Do not exit out of the tournament until the completion of all rounds! Do not leave the tournament lobby, play puzzles, or play other Fast Chess games, or you risk not being paired for the next round, or automatic tournament removal. When your game is over, you may watch other players’ games. To do this, go into observation mode (binoculars icon) and watch any remaining games so that you’ll have a good idea of when the next round is about to start.

This tournament lobby also shows the number of games remaining, which should give you a good idea how long until the next round begins. There will be a 5 minute break between the last game of your section completing and the beginning of your next round. Do not match other opponents. there is also a 5-second audible countdown right before the game is about to start. – turn your speakers up! Your game will start automatically.

When your last game is completed, you may leave ChessKid. Final results will be shared after all full play is reviewed for fair play.

In person events
We have a limited staff at each in person tournament. The organizers and TD’s will be responsible for the players while they are playing their rounds within the tournament hall. However, once the player leaves the playing hall, parents and coaches must take over that responsibility. Parents and/or coaches, please provide age- appropriate activities during the time between rounds. You are responsible for your players between games! If it is discovered that a child has been left unattended and no responsible party has remained on-site, that child will be withdrawn from the tournament and the parents contacted for immediate pick-up.

Parents, another reason to be onsite involves your child’s emotional well-being. Occasionally losses are very traumatic. If you are available for your child immediately after a tough loss, recovery time is much quicker. “We can’t win them all” is a difficult concept for kids!

When you register a youth for a scholastic tournament you are agreeing a list of Parental/Coach Responsibilities!

In person events
Chess players will naturally get hungry during the day. Playing chess requires fuel to keep those brain cells firing! At each Rocks & Rooks in person tournament concessions are offered for sale. At a minimum pizza and drinks are served at lunchtime. Oftentimes the fare is much more varied, and sometimes breakfast is offered as well. You are, of course, welcome to bring a cooler for you family, or ‘pack a lunch’. However, concessions are offered in most cases by the host school’s chess club as a type of fund raiser. It’s for a good cause!

A Swiss System is simply a chess tournament pairing system which allows players to play all rounds regardless of whether they are winning or losing. No one is ‘eliminated’ because of a loss. Instead, players will be paired based upon how well they are are doing in the tournament. Barring unusual circumstances, a player with x points, however obtained, would play another player with the same number of points.

Chess notation is simply a form of shorthand for writing down the moves of a chess game. In order to improve in chess, it is important to be able to review games. This is a great way of accessing previously played games. In addition, completed notation is required to enforce many chess rules. Algebraic notation is standard in the US. There are many online resources available for learning notation.

At in person events ALL players are highly encouraged to take notation, and it is a requirement in most in person tournament sections when the time control is G/30 or longer. Bring two sharpened pencils and a notation book if possible. At many events, notation sheets will be provided. Pencils and pens are the responsibility of the chess player, and necessary for filling out results slips as well as notation sheets.

Online events do not require hand written notation, as the system records the moves for you. For online tournaments on ChessKid.com players can access their game history to analyze their previous games at www.chesskid.com/me/game-history.

In general, during local in person scholastic events parents and coaches are required to stay out of the room where the children are playing while the games are in progress. At some events parents may escort a player into the playing hall, but should leave quietly when requested to do so. Keeping adults out of the playing hall helps the chess players to focus on their games and keeps parents from trying to ‘help’ out of enthusiasm – or despair.

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Online events can be a bit different. Parents will be able to watch their child’s game on another computer/device in a different room.  They will need to create a Parent Account on ChessKid (which is free).  They should then go to www.chesskid.com/play/fastchess, click on the globe, enter in their child’s tournament usernaname in the search box, and click on the binoculars.

At in person events, teammates are not paired against one another, if possible. (Per TCA guidelines, players who train with a school chess club but do not attend that school cannot be considered team members in TCA sponsored events.) In most tournaments, teams are defined also by the section in which the team is participating, e.g. the same school could field two teams at the same tournament – one in a K-3 section and one in a K-6 section. The top 4 players in a section are used for determining a team’s total points, but all team members are considered ‘part of the team.’ At some tournaments the organizer might allow a school to break it’s players into multiple teams within the same section, but those different teams could possibly be paired against one another.

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Online events are a bit different. Some systems allow for teams to be declared, and some do not. Please review the tournament description in question to see if teams will receive awards and whether teammates will be paired against one another.

In any chess tournament, more than one player can end up with the same score. In the case of tournaments with money-prizes, the prize money is divided evenly between participants who have tied. Trophies cannot be divided. Therefore, we use various tie-break systems to determine places, though all players in that grouping can rightfully say they tied for x-place. Tie-break systems used locally include: Modified Median, Solkoff, Cumulative, & CumOp.

Sonneborg-Berger is the primary tie-break used by ChessKid.com.

In any chess tournament, we have to have a way to limit how long each round will take. The time control is this limit. If your time control is G/30, that means that each chess player has 30 minutes to complete his or her portion of the game. The game could then last a full 60 minutes (30 minutes for each player). Our local scholastic in person events usually have a time control with a 5 second delay. That means, if a delay-capable clock is brought to the game by one of the players and used, each time a player takes a turn, the clock waits 5 seconds before subtracting any time from that player’s allotment. In a 60 move game, using 5 second delay could then mean that the game might take an additional 10 minutes to complete.

Online games are usually a bit quicker. A time control of G/15 +5 would mean a base of 15 minutes for each player’s portion of the game. However, each time a player completes a move, 5 seconds is added to his time. So each 12 moves gets the player an additional minute of time. It’s much harder to run out of time with a 5 second increment.

The USCF recognizes that parents have many choices when it comes to activities for their kids. The USCF offers a special ‘try before you buy’ program for players in 3rd grade and younger called the Junior Tournament Player (JTP) program. This is not a membership. Instead, the tournament organizer will obtain a USCF ID for your player. (Birth date and grade level are required in order to verify qualification for the program.) With this ID a player can participate as a non-member in sections that include no players older than 3rd grade. Once you have a JTP ID, you do not need to request another. You keep the same ID for all events….for the player’s entire lifetime! At any point the ID may be ‘renewed’ to full membership. Any rating and ratings-history accrued as a non-member are retained. Organizers are not required to provide this option.

In person events: If you know in advance that you will be late, simply request a bye for the round you might miss. For most in person scholastic tournaments, any player missing an opponent at the start in round 1 will be repaired asap. In subsequent rounds, the missing player has an hour or his personal ‘full playing’ time to arrive, whichever is shorter. (E.g. In a G/30 tournament the opponent would be required to wait for 30 minutes.) In our local tournaments, an effort to contact the missing player will be made. We want everyone to get a game each round! However, if a player makes this behavior a habit, that player will not be allowed to register for future events.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Online events: No byes are allowed for most online events. If a player registers and pays, he is expected to show up for each game. Each round begins automatically.

If you show up late for round 1, you will not play in the tournament. All players must ‘enter’ the online tournament system no later than 8:45am in order to complete.

If you play round 1 but show up late for a future round, you can still play the game. When a round begins, the player who has white will see his clock begin to tick down. After he makes a move, his clock stops and the player with black will see his clock tick down. If a player shows up late, his clock will simply continue to tick down until he makes a move. When a player runs out of time, his game is over and he loses. It is best for online quick events to stay close to the computer and watch for the start of each round. If you do miss a game, please let the help desk know immediately if you wish to continue playing in the tournament.

Our local in person scholastic tournaments are all day events. Please plan to arrive a minimum of 30 minutes before round 1 begins, and stay thru the awards ceremony. Five rounds of G/30 typically takes 6 to 7 hours.

In many of our smaller local events, the rounds are schedule on an ‘as soon as possible’ basis. In this case, and round schedule posted is APPROXIMATE. If a game requires TD intervention or perhaps runs long, or we have technical difficulties with computer or printer, the schedule might run late. If the games finish more quickly than anticipated, we might run ahead of schedule.

Regardless, please know we will encourage the schedule to progress as quickly as is humanly possible, but only in as much as it benefits the chess players.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Local online events move much more quickly. At the upcoming 2021 Region VI Championships, there will be 5 minutes between the end of the last game of a section and the beginning of the next round in that section.  If you finish your game early, you might be tempted to leave the tournament screen. Do not exit out of the tournament until the completion of all rounds! Do not leave the tournament lobby, play puzzles, or play other Fast Chess games, or you risk not being paired for the next round, or automatic tournament removal. When your game is over, you may watch other players’ games. To do this, go into observation mode (binoculars icon) and watch any remaining games so that you’ll have a good idea of when the next round is about to start.

This tournament lobby also shows the number of games remaining, which should give you a good idea how long until the next round begins. There will be a 5 minute break between the last game of your section completing and the beginning of your next round. Do not match other opponents. there is also a 5-second audible countdown right before the game is about to start. – turn your speakers up! Your game will start automatically.

When your last game is completed, you may leave ChessKid. Final results will be shared after all full play is reviewed for fair play.

Chess notation is simply a form of shorthand for writing down the moves of a chess game. In order to improve in chess, it is important to be able to review games. This is a great way of accessing previously played games. In addition, completed notation is required to enforce many chess rules. Algebraic notation is standard in the US. There are many online resources available for learning notation.

At in person events ALL players are highly encouraged to take notation, and it is a requirement in most in person tournament sections when the time control is G/30 or longer. Bring two sharpened pencils and a notation book if possible. At many events, notation sheets will be provided. Pencils and pens are the responsibility of the chess player, and necessary for filling out results slips as well as notation sheets.

Online events do not require hand written notation, as the system records the moves for you. For online tournaments on ChessKid.com players can access their game history to analyze their previous games at www.chesskid.com/me/game-history.

In general, during local in person scholastic events parents and coaches are required to stay out of the room where the children are playing while the games are in progress. At some events parents may escort a player into the playing hall, but should leave quietly when requested to do so. Keeping adults out of the playing hall helps the chess players to focus on their games and keeps parents from trying to ‘help’ out of enthusiasm – or despair.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Online events can be a bit different. Parents will be able to watch their child’s game on another computer/device in a different room.  They will need to create a Parent Account on ChessKid (which is free).  They should then go to www.chesskid.com/play/fastchess, click on the globe, enter in their child’s tournament usernaname in the search box, and click on the binoculars.

Because this is an online tournament with a distinct username and password for each player, virtual set-up takes extra time. Many people are working behind the scenes to bring you the best tournament possible.

The registrar will be sending all tournament data to ChessKid.com staff on Tuesday morning. We cannot send in late registrations. NO exceptions.

Registration for the 2021 Region VI Championships closes at 7pm on Monday, March 1st. Please make sure you have submitted your registration online BEFORE 7pm.

Online tournaments present interesting challenges when it comes to awards! For the 2021 Region VI event, the top individual finishers in each section will receive a plaque by mail. A perfect score guarantees you an award. But often there are no perfect scores within a section. Four points out of 5 is often enough to be in the top finishers.

Championship sections:
The top finishing Region V resident in each Championship section will be named 2021 Region V Champion for that section, and receive an award to commemorate that honor.
The top finishing Region VI resident in each Championship section will be named 2021 Region VI Champion for that section, and receive an award to commemorate that honor.
An additional 3 awards will be given in each Championship to the next top finishers, after the Regional champions are identified.

Non-championship sections: Awards to the top 3 players in each section.

Results from a rated online tournament may not be available for a week or more after the event, because organizers are very serious about analyzing all events for ethics infractions (aka cheating). At the conclusion of the tournament it will be analyzed for fair play. After the results are verified and certified, the organizer will rate the tournament with the USCF, email all participants a link to the final results (online and standings by tiebreak), and announce the winners. It is at this point that the organizer will arrange for awards to be mailed out.

Fair play will be taken very seriously. Every single game of an online ChessKid.com event will be subject to review by ChessKid’s industry-leading fair play measures. If a player has violated them, he/she will be removed from the tournament, all games will be declared lost, no refunds will be given, and possible further action can be taken. Parents, your role as stewards of proper behavior is vital. We greatly encourage you to have a talk with your child about this before the event.

A reminder of things that are not allowed when playing online chess: No computer assistance, no human assistance, no watching the live stream, no tablebases, no databases, no books, no notes, no pastgames or scorebooks, no use of a second chess set to analyze variations. In addition, no other programs of any kind are allowed to be open on your child’s computer, and only one browser tab is allowed to be open. If other tabs or programs are found to be opened, this constitutes a “technical violation” and your child will also be removed from the tournament and all games declared lost.
Being on Zoom is not necessary for this tournament.

By playing in this tournament, you are agreeing to all of these fair play rules, and you also agree to accept the final conclusions ChessKid renders about fair play.

Recommended ChessKid Equipment to Avoid Connection Issues
• Strong WiFi (or even better, a wired connection)
• Use Chrome or Firefox as your browser
• Clear your cache before the tournament
• Use a laptop/desktop instead of a chromebook, iPad, or phone

Troubleshooting
• If you are using a browser other than Chrome or Firefox, ChessKid highly recommends that you switch browsers. ChessKid tournaments work best on Chrome or Firefox
• If you are using a phone, iPad, or Chromebook, ChessKid highly recommends using a computer or laptop instead
• If the Club on ChessKid says that you need to be given permission or an Admin needs to give you access, please make sure you are logged in with the Tournament ID above and not a different ChessKid Account.
• If you do not see a “Join” button for the tournament, please make sure you are using a Chrome or Firefox browser. Computers and laptops are highly recommended over chromebooks, iPads, or phones. Clear your cache and refresh the page.
• If your game freezes during the game, please refresh your page to see if that solves the problem
• It is highly recommended that you clear your cache before the tournament begins

Live Help Desk (during the tournament)
ChessKid staff will be available starting at 8am CST on Saturday, March 6th to assist you with any questions or issues. For any questions day of event, please ask them here as opposed to sending an email. Please note that the Slack Help Desk will not be staffed for the warm-up event

You can find our help desk here: https://join.slack.com/t/chesskidtalk/shared_invite/zt-lpovrgbm-a8QcZPzmhvOUsyJQe9ZC4Q

When you click the link, you’ll be prompted to create an account for Slack. For quickest assistance, please change your Slack Display Name to your child’s ChessKid username

There will be a warm up event at 7pm on Thursday, March 4th for all pre-registered participants of the Region V and VI Scholastic Championships. This event is optional but encouraged. The warm up event is 4 rounds and has a time control of 8 minutes with a 1 second increment. There are no awards for the warm up event as its main purpose is to practice playing chess on ChessKid, ensure your tournament login works, learn how to join a tournament on ChessKid, and troubleshoot any issues before the real tournament.

Please see below for instructions on how to join the warm up event on March 4th.
• Log into ChessKid.Com using the tournament username that will be shared with you a few days before the event. If you have a different ChessKid Username that you normally use, it will NOT work for this tournament. You will use the same login for the warm up event that you will use for the actual tournament.
• Click on Play -> Play vs. Kid
• Click on your tournament section on the right
• Click “JOIN”. The “JOIN” button will appear 30 minutes before the tournament starts
• Stay on this page and your game will start automatically between 7:00pm-7:03pm CST when the warm up event begins

Most importantly, please show up early!
Please make sure you click the “JOIN” button by 8:45am Central.

How to join a Fast Chess Tournament:
https://www.chesskid.com/article/view/video-tutorial-series#JoinFastTournament

Joining the Tournament on ChessKid
• Log into ChessKid.Com using the tournament username that will be shared with you a few days prior to the tournament. If you have a different ChessKid Username that you normally use, it will NOT work for this tournament
• Click on Play -> Play vs. Kid
• Click on your tournament section on the right
• Click “JOIN”. The “JOIN” button will appear 30 minutes before the tournament starts
• Stay on this page and your game will start automatically between 9am-9:03am CST when the tournament begins

The tournament is 5 rounds and the time control for each player is 15 minutes plus a 5 second increment per move. There is no elimination as participants will play all rounds.

• When you finish a game, do not leave the tournament lobby. The lobby shows the number of games remaining, which should give you a good idea how long it will be until the next round begins.
• You may watch other games in observation mode.
• Do NOT exit out of the tournament until the completion of all rounds!
• There will be a 5 minute break between the last game of your section completing and the beginning of your next round. Do not match other opponents.  Your game will start automatically.
• When your last game is completed, you may leave ChessKid. Final results will be shared once all full play can be reviewed for games played.

Eligibility:

The Region VI Championship Tournament is a Texas Chess Association (TCA) CLOSED event, meaning that only residents of TCA’s Region VI may participate. TCA Scholastic Regions are defined in the TCA Bylaws (page 25).

TCA’s Region VI (South Central) is comprised of the following Texas counties: Atascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Burleson, Burnett, Caldwell, Colorado, Comal, De Witt, Edwards, Fayette, Frio, Gillespie, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kinney, Lavaca, Lee, Llano, Medina, Milam, Real, Travis, Uvalde, Washington, Williamson, and Wilson

Scholastic players must reside in or attend school in one of the counties mentioned above in order to compete as a Region VI resident and/or to win a Region VI award.

For experienced players, section choice is easy. If your rating is too high for any of the under sections, you must play Championship. However, you may not play outside of your grade level, according to TCA rules. (Homeschoolers should register according to the grade they would be placed in by age.)

If you are a new player with a lower rating, you might be able to choose between sections. As long as your grade level and rating fit within a section’s parameters, you may play in that section. When choosing your section, think about the following: Do you like a challenge? Are you hoping to win all of your games or are you playing for the experience? Do you want to be in a section with lots of your friends? There are often many choices. We are hoping to provide smaller sections, giving more participants a chance to succeed.

If you register for one section and find that your rating changes drastically between registration and tournament time, simply contact the registrar via email for a section switch. If your rating increases above your current section limit, the registrar will attempt to contact you, so you may choose between remaining available sections. Please make sure to provide a valid email address with your registration so we may contact you about your section choice if necessary.

Special Information Regarding Section Assignments for TCA tournaments:

Students play in sections based upon their current grade level at school. In TCA tournaments such as this one, Pre-K to 3rd grade students may play in either the Primary or Elementary sections. Elementary schools can have separate Primary and Elementary teams and compete for trophies in both sections, or they can keep all their students together in the Elementary sections. Primary section players’ scores will count toward team and individual standings only in that Primary section—they will not be included in Elementary section standings or the other Primary section standings. Most Pre-K-3rd grade players will play in Primary simply because they are more comfortable playing against opponents closer to their own age. All students, including Pre-K must attend the school in order to compete on the school team. Unrated players may choose any section which is grade-appropriate.

Texas Chess Association rules require that sixth graders who attend an elementary school must play in Elementary. Fifth and 6th graders who attend a middle school play in a Middle School section. Ninth graders who attend a Middle School also play in the Middle School sections. Homeschooled students play in Middle School in 6th grade and High School in 9th grade (base your grade level on age for homeschooled students).

For schools that include some other unusual grouping of grade levels, consult with the tournament director when or after you register to be sure you are in the required section.

Team trophies will be awarded in each Championship scholastic section. The team’s score is the sum of the top scoring 4 players (minimum of 2 players) from that team within a single section. If you attend the same school yet play in different sections, your scores will not combine for team trophy purposes.

You do NOT need a ChessKid.com membership to compete in this event. No later than the Wednesday before the tournament, everyone with a complete, paid registration will receive an email from the tournament registrar with your 2021 Region V/VI ID and password for the ChessKid.com website. That email will also include instructions on how to play in the tournament. Participants must use this tournament username for the tournament. If you already have a ChessKid username, that other username will not work for this event.

Because this is an online tournament with a distinct username and password for each player, virtual set-up takes extra time. Many people are working behind the scenes to bring you the best tournament possible.

The registrar will be sending all tournament data to ChessKid.com staff on Tuesday morning. We cannot send in late registrations. NO exceptions.

Registration for the 2021 Region VI Championships closes at 7pm on Monday, March 1st. Please make sure you have submitted your registration online BEFORE 7pm.

Fair play will be taken very seriously. Every single game of an online ChessKid.com event will be subject to review by ChessKid’s industry-leading fair play measures. If a player has violated them, he/she will be removed from the tournament, all games will be declared lost, no refunds will be given, and possible further action can be taken. Parents, your role as stewards of proper behavior is vital. We greatly encourage you to have a talk with your child about this before the event.

A reminder of things that are not allowed when playing online chess: No computer assistance, no human assistance, no watching the live stream, no tablebases, no databases, no books, no notes, no pastgames or scorebooks, no use of a second chess set to analyze variations. In addition, no other programs of any kind are allowed to be open on your child’s computer, and only one browser tab is allowed to be open. If other tabs or programs are found to be opened, this constitutes a “technical violation” and your child will also be removed from the tournament and all games declared lost.
Being on Zoom is not necessary for this tournament.

By playing in this tournament, you are agreeing to all of these fair play rules, and you also agree to accept the final conclusions ChessKid renders about fair play.

Troubleshooting
• If you are using a browser other than Chrome or Firefox, ChessKid highly recommends that you switch browsers. ChessKid tournaments work best on Chrome or Firefox
• If you are using a phone, iPad, or Chromebook, ChessKid highly recommends using a computer or laptop instead
• If the Club on ChessKid says that you need to be given permission or an Admin needs to give you access, please make sure you are logged in with the Tournament ID above and not a different ChessKid Account.
• If you do not see a “Join” button for the tournament, please make sure you are using a Chrome or Firefox browser. Computers and laptops are highly recommended over chromebooks, iPads, or phones. Clear your cache and refresh the page.
• If your game freezes during the game, please refresh your page to see if that solves the problem
• It is highly recommended that you clear your cache before the tournament begins

Live Help Desk (during the tournament)
ChessKid staff will be available starting at 8am CST on Saturday, March 6th to assist you with any questions or issues. For any questions day of event, please ask them here as opposed to sending an email. Please note that the Slack Help Desk will not be staffed for the warm-up event

You can find our help desk here: https://join.slack.com/t/chesskidtalk/shared_invite/zt-lpovrgbm-a8QcZPzmhvOUsyJQe9ZC4Q

When you click the link, you’ll be prompted to create an account for Slack. For quickest assistance, please change your Slack Display Name to your child’s ChessKid username

There will be a warm up event at 7pm on Thursday, March 4th for all pre-registered participants of the Region V and VI Scholastic Championships. This event is optional but encouraged. The warm up event is 4 rounds and has a time control of 8 minutes with a 1 second increment. There are no awards for the warm up event as its main purpose is to practice playing chess on ChessKid, ensure your tournament login works, learn how to join a tournament on ChessKid, and troubleshoot any issues before the real tournament.

Please see below for instructions on how to join the warm up event on March 4th.
• Log into ChessKid.Com using the tournament username that will be shared with you a few days before the event. If you have a different ChessKid Username that you normally use, it will NOT work for this tournament. You will use the same login for the warm up event that you will use for the actual tournament.
• Click on Play -> Play vs. Kid
• Click on your tournament section on the right
• Click “JOIN”. The “JOIN” button will appear 30 minutes before the tournament starts
• Stay on this page and your game will start automatically between 7:00pm-7:03pm CST when the warm up event begins

Most importantly, please show up early!
Please make sure you click the “JOIN” button by 8:45am Central.

How to join a Fast Chess Tournament:
https://www.chesskid.com/article/view/video-tutorial-series#JoinFastTournament

Joining the Tournament on ChessKid
• Log into ChessKid.Com using the tournament username that will be shared with you a few days prior to the tournament. If you have a different ChessKid Username that you normally use, it will NOT work for this tournament
• Click on Play -> Play vs. Kid
• Click on your tournament section on the right
• Click “JOIN”. The “JOIN” button will appear 30 minutes before the tournament starts
• Stay on this page and your game will start automatically between 9am-9:03am CST when the tournament begins

The tournament is 5 rounds and the time control for each player is 15 minutes plus a 5 second increment per move. There is no elimination as participants will play all rounds.

• When you finish a game, do not leave the tournament lobby. The lobby shows the number of games remaining, which should give you a good idea how long it will be until the next round begins.
• You may watch other games in observation mode.
• Do NOT exit out of the tournament until the completion of all rounds!
• There will be a 5 minute break between the last game of your section completing and the beginning of your next round. Do not match other opponents.  Your game will start automatically.
• When your last game is completed, you may leave ChessKid. Final results will be shared once all full play can be reviewed for games played.