2006 Australian Internet Junior Chess Championships Discussion

[AES]

Hi all,

Below is a letter Alan has sent to some chess coordinators in Australia. Apologies if you did not receive one. It is also in hte ACF bulletin. It is only a draft-so don't shoot it down in flames. There may be issues with dates/times etc which is why we have ensured that it is published well before the concrete sets.

We have taken on board the ICC issue and will basically treat the first tournament/year as a trial and see how the chess community respond to a tournament on ICC.

For those who have kindly offered their time/support, thank you and we will let you know shortly who we will be taking on. This decision will be made by those within hte ACF, not just SAJCL.

It is not too late to put in an application for anyone who wanted to see the draft proposal which will be distributed and discussed at the National conference. I know its past the due date!

Alan and I will see some of you at the Australian Schools Championships where we will be publicising the idea.

Kind regards,

Alex Saint.


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Dear Chess Coordinator, Chess Friend


I am writing to you on behalf of the South Australian Junior Chess League (SAJCL) to advise you of a series of Junior Internet Tournaments that we plan to run in 2006. We will be seeking support for it from the Australian Chess Federation at the National Conference in January.



As you know, the internet is a fantastic median for playing chess (particularly for juniors) and yet no formal competitions have been arranged in Australia. We believe these events can only encourage more youngsters to play more chess and to help them improve the general standard of chess in this country.



We think our proposed events are innovative and exciting – and would welcome any feedback.



Many thanks



Alan Goldsmith

SAJCL President

6/12/05



General Format:

All games will be played on the Internet Chess Club (ICC). The ICC is already the chess server of choice for most of Australia’s top adult and junior players and is a particularly good environment for playing chess. It is also very aware and alert to the possibility of cheating. Players should be members of the ICC although some might play as guests and we will investigate creating some generic junior accounts to assist if necessary.
Games will be played on Sunday nights at 7:00pm EST from the players’ homes or a place convenient to them.
6 rounds over 6 weeks
1 hour each on the clock (except Allegro – 15 minutes).


Who runs it?

The State and Team tournaments will be run and financed to the tune of $2000 by the SAJCL in the first year – the individual events will have a $10 entry fee.
To add prestige and credibility to the tournaments, we will seek to have these events approved by the ACF at the National Conference.
There will be a sub-committee of the SAJCL who will be responsible for this tournament in 2006 and beyond.
We will have an Appeal Committee of FM Aaron Guthrie, IM Mark Chapman and James Obst, all who use ICC a lot, who can be responsible for any protests that occur in the tournament.


Tournaments:



In 2006, we propose to run four internet tournaments:



The 2006 Australian National Junior Interstate Chess Championship

Teams tournament between states involving the top juniors in Australia.

6 rounds: Feb 12, Feb 19, Feb 26, Mar 5, Mar 12, Mar 19
Every state would nominate 12 players (9 top boys, 3 top girls) and they will be play for their state in a Swiss event but will not need to play others from their State. The winning state will have the highest aggregate score.

6 rounds, 1 hour each.

Cost: free

Prize: Perpetual Trophy for the winning state, each member of the winning state: 1 year ICC subscription and a trophy.



The 2006 Australian National Junior Internet Chess Championships

Individual tournament, open to all juniors around Australia

6 rounds: May 14, May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11, June 18

6 rounds, 1 hour each.

Cost: $10 (all money goes to prizes for boys/girls and age groups)

Prizes: dependent on entries. Will be publicized before the 1st round.



The 2006 Australian National School Teams Internet Chess Championship

Teams tournament split in 4: primary open and girls, secondary open and girls

6 rounds: Aug 13, Aug 20, Aug 27, Sep 3, Sep 10, Sep 17

The top teams from each state will have the right to play in this. This tournament will be done before the Schools Teams Championship.

Cost: free

Prizes: Perpetual Shield for winning school, trophy for each winning participant and a year’s subscription to ICC.



The 2006 Australian National Junior Allegro Internet Chess Championship

Individual tournament, open to all juniors around Australia.

6 rounds: Oct 29, Nov 5, Nov 12, Nov 19, Nov 26, Dec 3

Cost: $10

Prizes: dependent on entries. Will be publicized before the 1st round.



Publicity:
Draws and pairings will be placed on a website each week (perhaps we could create a webpage as a part of the ACF website).
We will advertise on the Bulletin board (after National conference), in the ACF bulletin, in the Australian Chess Magazine and will write to all State Associations.
It would be good if it could be promoted with chess column writers around Australia.


Prizes:

Certificates to all participants (for Teams tournaments) and annual subscriptions to the ICC.
Could be presented at the Australian Chess Championship/Open closing ceremony along with other prizes.

Entering:
All entries will be done via the webpage.
Every player will have to agree to a set of conditions (in reference to cheating) which should limit that – if any youngster is found to receive help from a computer program or another person, they will not be allowed to take part in any further event.

Cheating/Protests:
If a player thinks their opponent cheated, they can lodge a complaint via email within 24 hours. This will be judged by our panel of experts of James, Mark and Aaron to decide. A ruling will be made and subsequent matches will be watched if there is a problem.
If a player is found guilty of cheating, they will be disqualified.
Also, ICC automatically will help the whole cheating possibility.

Sponsorship:
We also have some people in SA who may be willing to contribute.
We think many IT companies, Internet Providers and others will like the idea once it gets going.

[Davidflude]

First before I start making any criticisms may I state that I think that this is a
great idea.


What are the specific reasons for using ICC rather than FICS or one of the other chess servers. I do not play on ICC because they ask for money.

What evidence is there that ICC is used by more Aussie servers. Currently
I am using three servers, one for on-line play and the other two for the Equivalent of Email play but using databases.

Another point is why only run junior tournaments. These days it is incredibly easy to connect four PC's to one broadband outlet using ethernet. Why not run
an Australia wide on-line teams championship.

[Garvinator]

First before I start making any criticisms may I state that I think that this is a
great idea.


What are the specific reasons for using ICC rather than FICS or one of the other chess servers. I do not play on ICC because they ask for money.

What evidence is there that ICC is used by more Aussie servers. Currently
I am using three servers, one for on-line play and the other two for the Equivalent of Email play but using databases.

Another point is why only run junior tournaments. These days it is incredibly easy to connect four PC's to one broadband outlet using ethernet. Why not run
an Australia wide on-line teams championship.

Some of the answers you require are here:

http://www.chesschat.org/showthread.php?t=3341&page=1

[Davidflude]

The dates chosen appear to clash with at least two Of the Whitehouse Junior
playing dates.

[Alan Shore]

First before I start making any criticisms may I state that I think that this is a
great idea.


What are the specific reasons for using ICC rather than FICS or one of the other chess servers. I do not play on ICC because they ask for money.

What evidence is there that ICC is used by more Aussie servers. Currently
I am using three servers, one for on-line play and the other two for the Equivalent of Email play but using databases.

That's not the only reason I'd recommend against going with ICC. There are many Australians on FICS.

Another point is why only run junior tournaments. These days it is incredibly easy to connect four PC's to one broadband outlet using ethernet. Why not run
an Australia wide on-line teams championship.

That's a really good idea. I may even come out of retirement to play some internet games, if it was for State, or whatever.

[Frank Walker]

I beleive the whitehorse tournaments end at 5.30 but i definitely dont want my son coming back from 5 hours of chess and then playing for another 2 hours

[Alan Shore]

I beleive the whitehorse tournaments end at 5.30 but i definitely dont want my son coming back from 5 hours of chess and then playing for another 2 hours

Why not? Many tournaments (weekenders) go for 10 hours of play per day. One day, it was 13 hours for 4 rounds. What's another 2 hours?

[AES]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments people-keep it coming! We want to know what dates dont work. We will take your suggestions on board and see what we can do.

Just to let you know we have got support from a lot of junior organisers from around Australia including people like Charles Zworestine, Jenni Oliver, Libby Smith, Graeme Gardiner, and many other organisers/players.

In the next week or so, we will be working on who will be on the 2006 organising team. (its not too late to let me know!)

Cheers,

Alex.

[Jason Hu]

Ummm, does ICC know anything about this? They do not give previlages to run private tournaments easily.

There are also problems concerning running online tournaments. I really hope you guys thought it through...

Anyway, wish you all the best of luck.

[AES]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your reply.

ICC does not have to do anything. We are just letting them know out of courtesy that we are holding the tournament.

Each week players will know who they are going to play (via website) and they will do that either
a) Sunday Night, 7pm EST or
b) some other night (if they are busy on Sunday).

We had a huge response at the Australian Schools and it seems like it is going to be a real goer. There were many coordinators, organisers, teachers, DOPs, and most importantly juniors who love the idea and will be in it.

Thanks all,

Alex.

[AES]

Ummm, does ICC know anything about this? They do not give previlages to run private tournaments easily.

There are also problems concerning running online tournaments. I really hope you guys thought it through...

Anyway, wish you all the best of luck.

ICC have confirmed that we can hold a tournament on ICC (the draw and that will be done outside of ICC).

I can also say that ICC has offered 2 months free membership to ICC for every participant in our tournaments including those already with ICC i believe.

We aim to make these tournaments accessible to everyone.

[Trent Parker]

will we be seeing any bulletins from this tournament?

[AES]

If someone wants to help out with that, that would be a great idea!

(GH is not on the committee )

[AES]

On 27th/28th, we will be announcing the state co-ordinators and other roles in the committee prior to the National Conference in January.

[Duff McKagan]

I'd like to see ICC offering me 2 free months Anyways we all could just get a seven day free trial to play in these tournaments, and keep coming back each week, very easy to do. Or better still, organise them on FICS, where there is a nice Aussie community in channel 230 (it could be bigger). Personally I'd like to see an Aussie server with both adults and kids and be free of other organisations/ventures. ICoN and zics.org are not serious places for chess players, so someone needs to host a new server, with the primary function being to organise these events.