HCC May Classical Quad Tournament Announcement

Executive Summary: Registration deadline April 26th 19h EDT (23h UTC). Pairings and tournament schedule published early April 27th with play commencing 19h EDT (23h UTC) April 27th. To register message @datasmith

The third in HCC's 2023 series of classical quad (and quad variants) tournaments will begin on April 27th. This will be our last event before the summer break and we would love to have you join us if you can. We play serious chess but also cultivate a welcoming club atmosphere.

Once registration closes players are divided into groups of four to seven by rating and paired using the FIDE tables for round-robin tournaments. Depending on the number of players in the section we play single or double round-robins, ideally with an even number of games to ensure colour balance for everyone. You can see an example of what the pairings and sections might look like on the pairing sheet from our last tournament.

Our experience with these tournaments has been excellent. The ability to schedule a game at a time convenient to both players allows people to join who would be otherwise unable to do so. The format also seems to solve the problem of no-shows. In over one hundred matchups scheduled in these tournaments so far we have only seen one game forfeited. Dividing the groups by rating also makes the sections more competitive and improves the experience for everyone. Some participants enjoy knowing their colour and opponent ahead of time to do serious opening preparation. We aim at, and largely succeed in, reproducing the feel of competitive OTB play at a local chess club.

Play begins at 7pm EDT (23h UTC) on Thursday April 27th. Registration closes 24 hours before the scheduled start of the tournament to allow us to assign players to sections and publish the pairings. The pairings and schedule will be posted on the morning of Thursday, April 27th. To register please message @datasmith.

Please read and understand the document that contains all the details of pairing, scoring, scheduling and general tournament rules before the beginning of play.

Once play is underway on Thursdays I will make an effort to post links to the games in the HCC Club Room. If I am otherwise occupied, in vainly trying to refute some obscure gambit for example, please post a link to your game in the Club Room chat so that others can watch.

If you can not play but want to receive news about future events, make sure you join the HCC team.

The more participants we have, the more fun for everyone so please pass on this blog post to your networks and encourage them to join us too. Looking forward to seeing you there !

David (@datasmith)