Dates

Seven Wednesdays in 2024: Jan 10, 17, 24, 31; Feb 7, 14, 21.  Mayor Webber will give prizes on the last evening.

Goals

Two main goals:

• To offer a tournament in the more European style, played over a month or two (or in our case three) rather than crammed into a day or a weekend.  You play one game in an evening and can prepare and focus hard without getting exhausted.

• To declare a top city student (K-12) in a serious tournament series.

Other goals:

• Family friendly by not tying up a full day or weekend - you simply come to the evenings that the games are played.

• This will have a high profile in the city: mayor Alan Webber will award the Mayor's Cup and medals to the top 3 in each section.

• We will award a "Brilliance Prize" for the best game submitted in the tournament.

• We will also have a "family and friends" grown-up tournament: if you accompany your kid to the tournament then you can sign up for the "family and friends" tournament.

Tournament format

1. The players are broken down into sections of 8 and play a full round-robin tournament within that section.

2. Games are played every Wednesday evening (1st game is Wed. January 11, 2023) at the Santa Fe downtown library.  Show up at 6:05pm and games start no later than 6:20pm.

3. If you cannot make a date you may contact your opponent for that date and see if she or he can meet you and the director on a different date.  If this cannot be coordinated then you lose the game by forfeit (but you will almost certainly always be able to coordinate this if it only happens once or twice).

4. Games are played with director in attendance at downtown library.

5. Time controls: each player has 35 minutes for the whole game, and clocks with a delay setting will have a 5 second delay.

Cost/Prizes/Ratings

• Cost to participate: $1.00 for the whole tournament.

• Prize: the Mayor's cup will be awarded to the winner of the highest rated section.  Other sections get medals for 1st-3rd place.  All sections get cash prizes for 1st-3rd place.

• USCF rated: yes (this means you must sign up with USCF).  Friends-and-family don't have to sign up for USCF: games between two friends-and-family rated players will be rated; others will not.

• Allowed participants: any student from preschool to 12th grade in Santa Fe.  Or friends or family or coaches who can play in the "friends and family" section.

• Financial assistance with USCF membership: available; send email to mark@galassi.org for details.

2023-2024 Mayor's Cup -- starts January, 2024.

Send email to mark@galassi.org to register.

Registering for USCF

This is a rated tournament, so you must have an up-to-date USCF registration. You can start at:

https://secure2.uschess.org/webstore/member.php

I recommend the least expensive of the options - their magazine is not especially useful.  Should be $20 each.  Let me know if you have trouble with it, and let me know their USCF ID numbers when you're done.

If anyone qualifies for free school lunches then I can use a grant to pay for their USCF registration if they choose.  Just go ahead and register for USCF, then send me a brief email saying "my child qualifies for lunches and we would like assistance with the USCF fees" and I will reimburse it.

Friends and Family participants

Format for "friends and family":

• You are not committed to showing up (even though the kids in the main tournament are).

• If you do show up by 6:10pm then I pair you in for a round in that swiss tournament.

• If you don't show up and you let me know before the first day then you get up to 2 half point byes (and then 0 point byes). If you don't fore-warn then you get a 0 point bye.

• You don't have to be a USCF member: if two opponents in a game are both rated then their game is rated; otherwise the game is not handed in to USCF.

• I (Mark) plan to play.  I hope you will all consider it.  It would be a fun thing for your kids to see while they are playing their game.