This document comprises the rules that govern conduct of the Spiegel Cup / Massachusetts State Scholastic Championships and qualification events for school year 2006 - 2007 these rules were developed by the Massachusetts Chess Association, Scholastics Committee. Players playing in any qualification event, or in the state championships, are assumed to be familiar with the intent of these rules. Ignorance of the rules shall not be an excuse for violations of them. In addition, because the US Chess Federation (USCF) sanctions all chess played during the championships and qualification events, USCF chess rules are in effect. We strongly recommend parents of younger children go through these rules in detail and raise questions as soon as possible (see Part IX on who to contact).

I. Definitions of Terms.

A. State Championships. A individual-play chess tournament sanctioned and organized by the Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA) in cooperation with the Western Massachusetts Chess Association (WMCA).Games are rated and played according to USCF rules.The winners of this event are recognized by MACA and WMCA as "State Champions" for school year 2006 - 2007.

B. Qualification Event. Any of four individual-play chess tournaments sanctioned and organized by MACA and WMCA for the purpose of qualifying players for the state championship event. Games are rated and played according to USCF rules.

 C. Eligible Player. A player who meets the eligibility requirements described in Part II of this document.

 D. MACA Board of Directors. The body of officials that form the core of MACA's decision-making authority. Sometimes referred to as "The Board" in this document.

 E. MACA Scholastics Committee. The scholastics committee is a group of MACA volunteers, led by the Scholastic Coordinator (a MACA Board Member), who have the purpose of administering MACA's scholastics chess programs, which include the state championship tournament and all qualification events. Sometimes referred to as "The Committee" in this document.

back to top

II. Player Eligibility.

A. Definition. An eligible player is defined as a person enrolled by 3 January 2007 in any public, private or properly authorized home school of grades Kindergarten through 12th Grade located in the state of Massachusetts. The period of a player's enrollment in school must last through TBD, the date of the State Championship Tournament. Further, the age of a player cannot exceed 19 years on or before the State Championships (e.g. a player cannot be 20 years old or older). See Examples in Part IX of this document for illustrations of eligibility.

B. Explanation and Clarification. An eligible player is not required to be a "legal resident" of Massachusetts (as defined by state Tax Law), because "eligibility" for the state championships and qualification tournaments is determined strictly on the basis of enrollment in a Massachusetts school. The burden of proof of school enrollment is the responsibility of the player, not MACA. MACA reserves the right to question the eligibility of any player; furthermore, players that qualify for the State Championships should expect MACA to ask them to show proof of their school enrollment status. Verification can be accomplished in many ways (student report card, letter from the school, etc.).

C. Resolving Matters of Eligibility. The MACA Scholastics Coordinator is responsible for resolving questions of eligibility and bringing them to the MACA Board of Directors for approval.  When any player's eligibility is in question during a qualification tournament, the issue SHALL NOT be adjudicated at the tournament site.  Instead, MACA shall resolve the situation after the tournament and take appropriate corrective action.

back to top

III. Tournament Format.

A.  Formula.  The State Championship Series for school year 2006 - 2007 shall consist of 5 events--4 Qualification Tournaments and the State Championships.  All of these events will be scheduled by the Scholastics Coordinator in conjunction with the MACA Board of Directors and in cooperation with WMCA.  Details about the times, places, and locations of these tournaments can be found on the MACA Scholastics Web "Future Events" page. 

B. Qualification Tournaments. Qualification events shall have 4 rounds of Swiss System play.  A qualification tournament’s Chief Tournament Director has the authority to employ the Round Robin System when there are 5 or fewer players in a section (which means a player could play the same person 2 or more times).  "Half point Byes" cannot be requested by or given to any player for any Rounds of qualification events.  To qualify for the state championship tournament, a player must finish in 1st place in one of the four qualification events. In the event of more than one player tying for first place, there will be a sudden death playoff. All Qualification Events are open to ALL ELIGIBLE PLAYERS, except those who have already won a previous Qualification Tournament. The dates of the Qualification Tournaments are listed in both Future Events and Scholastics Home Page.

C. State Championships. The state championships will have 4 rounds of Swiss System play, unless a tie break is required in the High School section (see Tie Break Rules below).  "Half point Byes" cannot be requested by or given to any player for any Rounds of the state championship tournament.  Section winners are declared State Champions.  The State Tournament is February 2007. 

D: Parent and/or Coach Involvement.  Under any but the most extreme circumstances (e.g. to assist a disabled player, to help player who suddenly becomes ill), a parent, guardian or coach will not be allowed in the tournament room where play is being conducted.  Should a disabled player require assistance, the Tournament Director will select someone considered by both players and the TD to be "neutral" to both players' interests.  In addition, the right to "claim an issue" regarding a game that is scheduled, in-progress, or already completed rests entirely with the two players--parents have no right to make claims regarding any games.  Parents or coaches wishing to photograph their children/students may do so immediately prior to the start of a round, or by requesting permission of the Tournament Director to take a photograph during the round.

back to top

IV. Tournament Sections.

A.  Four Sections of Players. Players entering all qualification events and the state championships will be organized into 4 Sections--age 8 and under, age 11 and under, age 14 and under, [ages as of 31 December 2006] and High School (Grades 9 -12). Other categories (e.g. 11U, under 600) may be used in Qualification Tournaments, but players can only qualify for the state championships by playing in the “open” section for their grade, not in one of the "under" section. At the State Tournament, the winner of each of the 4 sections is recognized by MACA as "State Champion" in his/her section.

B. Combining Sections in Qualification Tournaments.  The Chief Tournament Director will make every effort to NOT combine sections during a qualification event.  If there are 5 or fewer players in a section, then a Round Robin System will be employed.  If there is only 1 player in a section, then that section will be cancelled and the qualification berth shall be filled by that player. 

back to top

V. Time Controls, Round Start Times, Clocks, and Recording of Games.

A. Time Controls at Qualification Events. G/45 shall be used for ALL ROUNDS in 8U and 11U. G/60 shall be used for ALL ROUNDS in 14U and Grades 9-12. Time delay digital clocks may be used. NO TIME deducted from digital clocks using time delay.

B. Time Controls at the State Championships. G/60 shall be used for ALL ROUNDS in ALL SECTIONS.  Time delay digital clocks may be used.  NO TIME deducted from digital clocks using time delay.

C. Start Times. Tournament rounds may be started based on either a pre-announced “fixed start time” (e.g. Rounds at 10 am, 12:30 pm, 3 pm, etc.), or the TD may start later rounds for all sections on an “as soon as possible” basis.  If fixed times are announced (in either a TLA, an official flyer, or verbally by the Tournament Director), players shall strictly adhered to them.  

(1)  Breaks.  The TD shall grant players a minimum of 10 minutes in-between rounds and will grant players a "suitable" period of time for lunch.  

(2)  Starting Early.  A pair of players who mutually agrees to begin their game earlier than the announced start time for a round (other than round 1), may begin early AFTER AND ONLY AFTER they secure approval directly from the tournament director.  Starting early does not allow additional times to be added to a player's clock.  Players that wish to begin early should also realize that by starting early they cannot completely avoid the noise and commotion of other players preparing to begin their games at the prescribed time. 

D.  Chess Clocks. A digital clock will be used if either player has one (regardless of who is playing black), and the digital clock will be set with a 5-second time delay. NO TIME deducted from digital clocks using time delay.  Analog clocks will not have “time added” to compensate for the lack of a time-delay feature.  In the event neither player has a clock, play may begin without one.  MACA prefers, however, that all players use a clock.  During the State Championships, all games will be conducted using a clock.  The Tournament Director shall  "place a clock" on the last game in progress or on any game the TD believes is proceeding at an uncharacteristically slow pace.

E. Recording of Games.  The qualification and championship tournaments will observe the rules set forth in Section 15 of the USCF Official Rules of Chess (4th Ed).  There are two modifications that Tournament Directors will observe at qualification and state tournaments.

(1) 8U Section. Players in section 8U will not be required to record their games, but will be penalized 5 minutes on their clock. Further, by not recording games, players restrict their ability to make certain types of claims (for example, a claim of "3-fold repetition of position").

(2) Other sections. Players in remaining sections who cannot keep score will be penalized 10 minutes on their clock.

F. Tie Breaks. See Section VII below.

back to top

VI. Qualification Methods, Notification, Acceptance, Disqualification, and Replacement Players.

A. Qualification Methods. Eligible players “qualify” for the state championships in one of two ways—by winning their section in any of a Qualification Tournament, or by being "seeded" into the tournament based on their USCF rating.  

(1) Qualification Based on Tournament Performance.  

• All Sections: the player who finishes in FIRST PLACE in his/her section of a Qualification Tournament has “qualified” for the State Tournament. This process will feed 4 players (1 from each Qualification Tournament) into the appropriate section of the State Tournament.

(2) Automatic Qualification Based on State Ranking.  

• In All Sections, eligible players QUALIFY AUTOMATICALLY for the state championships if they are ranked in the top of  their grade-section of Massachusetts as given by the official USCF February, 2007 Supplement Rating List , after excluding from the top, those players who have previously qualified. In other words, the qualifying players shall be seeded first, followed by the remainder of players to complete the field of TEN. Players whose USCF rating is listed as "provisional" in the February, 2007 Supplement Rating List WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED for automatic qualification.
   

(3)Summary.  The procedures listed immediately above will produce a total of 10 players in each of the 4 sections of the State Tournament. 

B. Notification of Qualified Players. MACA's Scholastics Committee will notify players of their "automatic eligibility status". (See also Part VI-E below, "Inviting Replacement Players.")

C Player Acceptance of Qualification Status. All players who qualify for the State Championship Tournament, whether by automatic qualification or by winning a qualification tournament, must notify MACA's Scholastics Committee that they "Commit to Play" in the State Championships.

(1) To "Commit to Play" in the State Tournament means two things. First, it means that a player (and his or her parents/guardians) has decided that the he/she intends to participate in the state tournament. Second, and most important, "commit to play" also means that the player (or parents/guardians) has notified MACA of the his/her intent to participate.

(2) Players (or their parents/guardians) must notify MACA's Scholastics Coordinator or a member of the MACA Scholastics Committee by phone, email, or in person. The Scholastics Coordinator  can be reached at email (click here to send an email), or by phone at ( See website for details). Persons calling or emailing should clearly state and spell the name of the player(s) committing to play and provide a return email address AND phone number so we can CONFIRM your commitment or call if we have any questions. After a player (or parent/guardian) provides the "commit to play" notification, the Scholastics Coordinator will provide the player with telephonic CONFIRMATION that MACA has received the player's "commit to play" notification.

(3) If a qualified player does not "commit to play" by the deadline time and date, then he/she shall be disqualified from playing in the State Tournament, and MACA will pass the qualification berth to another player using procedures outlined elsewhere in this document.

D. Disqualifications.

(1) Disqualification from a qualification event or the state tournament can occur for many reasons.  Examples of reasons for disqualification include, but are not limited to voluntary and involuntary reasons such as:  a player becomes ineligible to participate due to a change in his/her eligibility status, a player withdraws him/herself from a tournament, a qualified player fails to "commit to play" in the state tournament by the deadline time, or a player is disqualified from a tournament for cheating.  Regardless of the circumstances, MACA will view "disqualification" as an extreme event and will make effort to avoid it.  Further, the MACA Board of Directors reserves the right to dispose of the matter in the best interest of MACA and its general membership.

(2) Disqualification from a Qualification Tournament DOES NOT NECESSARILY mean disqualification from remaining qualification events.  MACA will treat these incidents on a case-by-case basis and provide the child, parent, or guardian with an answer upon request.

(3) A tournament site is not the time and place to resolve most matters of player eligibility. The result of any tournament held under conditions in which the eligibility of a player was at issue requires special consideration by the MACA Board of Directors. The Board reserves the right to review such cases on a strict “case-by-case” basis using the information extant (known and unknown) at the time of the eligibility incident. In a case where The Board decides that pertinent information was sufficient to have declared the player as ineligible, then a player’s qualification status and/or championship title could be taken away by The Board and passed to another player.

E Inviting Replacement Players. MACA anticipates numerous reasons for needing to invite one or more "replacement players."  It is MACA's intent to make every effort to invite a replacement player and fill-out each section in the draw for the State Tournament to a total of 10 players.  MACA's Scholastics Committee, which is responsible for filling vacancies in the State Tournament, will identify the names of potential replacement players using the following process:

(1) The Committee will rank-order the player pool by USCF rating in the February, 2007 Supplement Rating List . The Committee will extend State Tournament invitations to as many replacement players as necessary to fill all vacant championship berths--rounding-out all 4 sections of the draw to 10 total players. Replacement players will be notified immediately by The Committee and required to "commit to play" by an agreed upon timeline.

(2) In summary, this process will result in the next highest-ranking players in each section being invited to fill vacancies in the appropriate sections of the State Tournament.

back to top

VII. Awards, Qualification Berths, Titles, and Tiebreaks.

A. Awards.  At a minimum, players who finish in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place IN EACH SECTION will be given an appropriate award (trophy, plaque, etc.).  Given sufficiently available tournament funds, additional prizes (e.g. more trophies, medals, plaques, chess equipment prizes, savings bonds) may be awarded by the organizers.  If this occurs, all sections will have these “additional prizes” distributed down to the same level in the final standings.  In other words, prizes cannot be given to the first 5 finishers in the High School section, but only to the first 3 finishers in the other sections.  Ties for awards will be adjudicated as specified in "Breaking of Ties" below.

B. Qualification Berths.  Each Qualification Tournament has one and only one qualification berth to award the winner of each section.  In the event of a tie for first place, the qualification berth to the state tournament will be awarded based on standard USCF tie break methods ... not on the basis of a playoff.  (See part VII-D below.)

C.  Titles.  At the State Championship Tournament, MACA will bestow the title of "State Champion" on all players in first place based on their performance after 4 rounds of play.  A tiebreak will NOT be used to award a title.

D. Tie Breaks.

(1) Awards.  Player point totals will be used to determine the distribution of awards and prizes.  When ties occur, awards will be distributed using the USCF Tie-Break methodology specified in Section 34 of the USCF's Official Rules of Chess (i.e., Modified Median, Solkoff, Cumulative and Cumulative of Opposition).

(2) Championship Titles. All players tied for 1st place in the state championships will be recognized by MACA as “State Co-champions”, except as stated below. .

(3) High School Section Tie Breaks. In the case of a tie in the High School section, there will be a play-off to determine the champion and who plays in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions. Colors will be assigned either by lot or in some pre-determined formula. If playoffs fail to determine a sole winner, the aforementioned tie-break system will be used.

back to top

VIII. Appeals Process. Appeals to any aspect of this document will be addressed to the MACA Scholastics Committee.  The responsibility of The Committee is to gather the facts related to an appeal, develop recommendations, and to transmit the appeal and recommendations to the MACA Board of Directors.  The Board will consider appeal based on the merits of each individual appeal, on a case-by-case basis.

back to top

IX. Illustrative examples.  The following examples are intended to address common situations.  Any person with a question should contact the MACA Scholastics Coordinator.

(1)  Example 1:  Sam Smith is a student at Jones High School.  He qualifies for the state championship tournament in accordance with the rules set forth in this document, but quits school before the State Championships to pursue a job.  Then, Sam is no longer eligible to participate in the state championship tournament.  Why Sam has dropped out of school does not matter, the fact the he is no longer enrolled does matter.  As set forth in this document, Sam must be enrolled in a Massachusetts public, private, or home school in order to participate in the State Championship tournament.  If a case like this occurs, the MACA Board of Directors reserves the right to identify and invite a replacement player using the methods set forth in Part VI of this document.

(2)  Example 2:  Sally Jones qualifies for the state championships, but is subsequently  expelled from school for the remainder of the school year.  Why Sally has been expelled from school does not matter, the fact that she is no longer enrolled is the issue.  Sally is no longer eligible to compete in the State Championship tournament because she must be enrolled in a Massachusetts public, private, or home school in order to participate.  If a case like this occurs, the MACA Board of Directors reserves the right to identify and invite a replacement player using the methods set forth in Part VI of this document.

(3) Example 3:  Mu'ad Dib qualifies for the state tournament, but then graduates from High School prior to the State Championships.  Mu'ad is no longer eligible to play in the state scholastic championships because he is no longer enrolled in a school--he has graduated.  However, if Mu'ad were still enrolled in high school and taking college courses as part of some type of “special study” program, then he would be eligible for the state championships (because he has not graduated from High School).

(4)  Example 4:  Kathleen Johnson, a very high-ranking player, moves to Massachusetts (or becomes enrolled in a Massachusetts school) in February 2006.  Kathleen desires to play in the State Championships.  Unfortunately, because Kathleen was not enrolled in a Massachusetts school by 3 January 2006 she is not eligible to play in the State Championship tournament for school year 2006 - 2007.

(5) Example 6:  Jadzir Tobias plays in a qualification tournament and wins it, but is later determined to have been ineligible (due to some infringement of eligibility criteria).  In this case, MACA reserves the right to fully review the case based on its merits and further reserves the right to pass the qualification berth to another eligible player as outlined in Part VI-F.

(6)  Example 7:  Ima Wiz qualified for the state championships in the 11U Section in the state.  A family emergency the week prior to the state championships caused Ima's parents to notify MACA that Ima would not be able to play in the state tournament.  Will Ima's vacancy be filled?  If so, how?  MACA will make every effort to fill Ima's vacancy by inviting a replacement player using the procedures specified in Part VI of this document.  In short the player invited to fill the slot will be the next highest-ranking player in the state.

(7)  Example 8:  Sheez Young is a 1st Grader whose rating is given as "985/23" in the February, 2007 Supplement Rating List .  This means Sheez's USCF Rating of "958" in the December List is based on her over-the-board play in 23 rated games.  Her parents claim that her rating places her in the Top 4 rated players in her section for Massachusetts.  They want to know whether Sheez automatically qualifies for the State Tournament.  Sheez's parents believe they can "prove" their daughter has played several more rated games than are shown by the February, 2007 Supplement Rating List ; therefore, they argue, she no longer has a provisional rating.  Does Sheez qualify automatically for the Championships?  Under the rules in this document, Sheez is ineligible for the State Tournament under "automatic qualification" criteria because she still has a provisional rating according to the February, 2007 Supplement Rating List Rating Supplement.  The "fact" that she may have more rated games is irrelevant, as the decision is based entirely on games shown in the Rating Supplement.  Clearly, however, Sheez would qualify if she won any of the 4 Qualification Tournaments ... regardless of the number of rated games she has played.

back to top