The Southwest Louisiana Chess Club will be hosting a chess tournament the fourth Saturday of every month from January to October of 2012.  These tournaments will be held at the Oaklawn Avenue Church at 1515 West University Avenue, Lafayette Louisiana.

Registration is from 8:30 am to 9:00 am. After 9:00 am you will not be able to register. The first round will begin at 9:15 am. The registration fee is $25.00 and is nonrefundable. The tournament structure will alternate from being a quad or a Swiss.

Quad Structure

When the tournament is a quad structure, registered players will be ordered by their rating, and the quads/sections will be formed by selecting players in rating order. The goal is to pair players together who are as close in rating as possible.

There must be at least four registered players or the tournament will not be held and the entry fees will be returned. If the number of players registered is not a multiple of four, each quad/section will not have the same number of players. Some examples are shown below:

Five Players:

Section 1 – three round Swiss with 1 point forced bye for some players

Six Players:

Section 1 – three round Swiss

Seven Players:

Section 1 – (4 players) round robin

Section 2 – (3 players) round robin (each player gets 1 point forced bye)

Nine Players:

Section 1 – (5 players) three round Swiss with 1 point forced bye for some players

Section 2 – (4 players) round robin

Ten Players:

Section 1 – (6 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (4 players) round robin

Eleven Players:

Section 1 – (4 players) round robin

Section 2 – (4 players) round robin

Section 3 – (3 players) round robin (each player gets 1 point forced bye)

Thirteen Players:

Section 1 – (6 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (4 players) round robin

Section 3 – (3 players) round robin (each player gets 1 point forced bye)

Swiss Structure

When the tournament is a Swiss structure, registered players will play a standard Swiss tournament. Usually, there will be just one section with prizes being awarded for first and second place in the section.

If there are twelve or more players, there will be an upper section and a lower section. The upper section will have the top rated eight players and the lower section will have the remainder. The lower section may play a round robin or a Swiss depending on the number of players in that section. All sections will play three rounds. Some examples are shown below:

Four Players:

Section 1 – round robin

Five to Eleven Players

Section 1 – three round Swiss

Twelve Players

Section 1 – (8 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (4 players) round robin

Thirteen Players

Section 1 – (8 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (5 players) three round Swiss

Fourteen Players

Section 1 – (8 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (6 players) three round Swiss

Fifteen Players

Section 1 – (8 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (7 players) three round Swiss

Sixteen Players

Section 1 – (8 players) three round Swiss

Section 2 – (8 players) three round Swiss

Tournament Format Schedule

January – Quad

February – Swiss

March – Quad

April – Swiss

May – Quad

June – Swiss

July – Quad

August – Swiss

September – Quad

October – Swiss

These tournaments are USCF rated events. You must be a USCF member in order to participate. Please come with your USCF card. Additionally, it would be helpful to have proof of your rating, if possible. You may purchase a USCF membership on site.