One Day Blitz Tournament for Juniors questions

[John Upham]

We (Hampshire) are hoping to run a one day FIDE rated blitz tournament in April in Winchester that would be open to all ECF members of 18 years or less.

We've not previously run a blitz event so am asking for advice on the format.

We thought we might have

15 rounds or so
Perhaps three rated sections?
FIDE rating if possible
Parings from UTU Swiss or something else
Decent cash prizes and fewer or zero plastic trophies
Either a 5 minutes guillotine time control or perhaps 3 minutes with a 2 second increment.

We have two ECF arbiters but no FIDE arbiters: does this matter?

Any helpful suggestions would be most appreciated.

I'm not aware of too many junior one day blitz events. Have there been any?

[Wadih Khoury]

ECF arbiters are also Fide "national" arbiters. You can rate pretty much anything except 2400+ for standard (not sure about blitz limits)

[NickFaulks]

15 rounds @ k=40 for juniors is a great idea, it means that their new rating will be almost their performance rating for the event.

Of course, that doesn't help if they are all "underrated juniors". Why not let some adults play too?

[John Upham]

15 rounds @ k=40 for juniors is a great idea, it means that their new rating will be almost their performance rating for the event.

Of course, that doesn't help if they are all "underrated juniors". Why not let some adults play too?

The event will be run by Hampshire Junior Chess Association for juniors only.

[Wadih Khoury]

15 rounds @ k=40 for juniors is a great idea, it means that their new rating will be almost their performance rating for the event.

Of course, that doesn't help if they are all "underrated juniors". Why not let some adults play too?

K=20 for all blitz players, regardless of age.

[NickFaulks]

K=20 for all blitz players, regardless of age.

Sorry, silly of me. That change never happened!

[Joseph Conlon]

What's wrong with shiny plastic trophies?

Younger juniors love them and it makes them so happy to receive them (and they are cheap). If you are only aiming at 11+ age groups then I can see the merits of cash prizes only, but otherwise, why not?

[John Upham]

What's wrong with shiny plastic trophies?

Younger juniors love them and it makes them so happy to receive them (and they are cheap). If you are only aiming at 11+ age groups then I can see the merits of cash prizes only, but otherwise, why not?

Certainly primary aged children like them but we have found that the cut-off for approval is around the age of 11.

Feedback suggested that children would be keen to do more events if there were cash prizes.

The problem for shiny plastic trophies is that the novelty value wears off rather quickly.

I recall in the 1970s winning a cash grading prize from Anne Sunnucks being most impressed as were my parents.

[Joseph Conlon]

I recall in the 1970s winning a cash grading prize from Anne Sunnucks being most impressed as were my parents.

First time round I read this as 'winning a cash grading prize from Anne Summers'........

[John Upham]

I recall in the 1970s winning a cash grading prize from Anne Sunnucks being most impressed as were my parents.

First time round I read this as 'winning a cash grading prize from Anne Summers'........

Oh yes, you are right. That is auto correction for you!

They were vouchers to visit Cynthia Payne.

Batteries were not included as I recall.

[John Upham]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons in terms of event running of

5 mins guillotine versus

3 mins plus 2 seconds increment?

Is 15 rounds between 10am and 5pm reasonable?

What should be the gap between rounds?

Many thanks for your help.

[Wadih Khoury]

Some thoughts:

You need digital clocks
You need a lot of arbiters: with juniors, especially beginners, you will face a ton of illegal moves, touch moves, pieces falling, etc..
Time control depends on what you are aiming for. I'd personally go for 3+2 as 5+0 encourages cheesy play to flag an opponent when down on material.

Not wanting to sound too negative, but unless you have a lot of arbiters/parents helping, you'd be better with a rapid tournament or with a lower limit of let's say 1500. GM level blitz is already stressful enough to watch and arbiter, I can't imagine what it would be like with 10 or 20 boards of beginners.

[Alex McFarlane]

I too recommend 3+2. It will not eliminate 'flying pieces' but it will probably reduce the number of these.

I disagree with Wadih on his arbiters/supervisors. Blitz is effectively a free for all fun event (or it should be).

The presence of multiple arbiters will only lead to disputes as players will expect them to rule on them and in most cases the opponent will have touched a piece before making a claim anyway.

I also disagree with his lower limit. In my experience lower rated will produce more disputes over illegal moves. The disputes are normally at the bottom end of such events with a few at the top. The players in the middle are usually just there to enjoy themselves.

The time needed will depend on how competent your team is at doing the draw and preventing any disputes which do arise from dragging on too long.
It can be a good idea to build in a lunch period which can be used to catch up and have a timetable with a slightly longer gap before the last round.

[John Upham]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

3'+2" sounds like the way to go.

If we have 15 rounds starting at 10am with an hour for lunch then I've taken a punt at a schedule as:

Round 1 10:00:00
Round 2 10:20:00
Round 3 10:40:00
Round 4 11:00:00
Round 5 11:20:00
Round 6 11:40:00
Round 7 12:00:00
Round 8 12:20:00
Lunch 13:00:00
Round 9 14:00:00
Round 10 14:20:00
Round 11 14:40:00
Round 12 15:00:00
Round 13 15:20:00
Round 14 15:40:00
Round 15 16:00:00
Prize giving 16:30:00

Is this workable with pairings from UTU Swiss or similar?

Thanks.

[NickFaulks]

When I used to play blitz as a schoolboy, the "illegal move" problem mostly disappeared because taking kings which happened to be en prise was permitted, just like taking queens. Of course, those were simpler times.