Victorian School Finals

Victorian School Final Details

The Victorian School Final Series will be played during the following dates.

1. Secondary Open – Monday 12 October 1 pm (8 round Swiss; 13 min + 2 sec)

2. Secondary Girls – Tuesday 13 October 9.30 am (7 round Swiss; 13 min + 2 sec)

3. Primary Girls – Wednesday 14 October 9.30 am (7 round Swiss; 13 min + 2 sec)

4. Primary Open – Thursday 15 October 9.30 am (7 round Swiss; 13 min + 2 sec)

The players/ school that qualify for the above tournaments are based on the Chess Victoria Zonal tournaments which have already been played. Entry fee of $20 per player. In each of the categories above, the four top schools (total of 5 boards) will qualify for the Grand Final to determine the Victorian School that will represent Victoria in the Australian School Teams Championship (ASTC). ASTC is to be hosted by Queensland in December 2020 which will likely to be an online tournament due to COVID-19. The only exception is the Secondary Girls where there will only be 2 schools in the Grand Final.

Note on Fair Play

• 1. No chess programs or engines (e.g. Chessmaster, Fritz, Komodo, Houdini, Stockfish, Chessbase with any active UCI engine, etc.) can be used to analyze positions in ongoing games at any time.

• 2. No outside assistance OF ANY KIND is permitted.

• 3. Chess.com has advanced cheat-detection algorithms monitoring all games.. These algorithms are tried and tested over years and millions of games played. If the algorithms detect what it considers to be clear evidence of cheating, all your games will be forfeited and all points will be awarded to your opponent.

• 4. Players have already been caught cheating during the Zonals and their games were forfeited and points awarded to their opponent.

Victorian School Grand Final Details

Grand Final Schedule:

1. Secondary Open – Saturday 24 October 10.00 am (13 min + 2 sec)

2. Secondary Girls – Tuesday 13 October 6 pm (13 min + 2 sec)

3. Primary Girls – Thursday 5 November 9.30 am (13 min + 2 sec)

4. Primary Open – Wednesday 4 November 9.30 am (13 min + 2 sec)

The Grand Final will be played on chess.com. The 4 school team will be ranked according to their average rating which will be determined by the Organiser. Each team will consist of 5 players from the school (Boards 1 to 5 ranked based on their chess.com rapid rating at the commencement of the Grand Final tournament). There is no entry fee for players in the Grand Final.

Each player will play 6 games in the Grand Final according to the following pairings and commencement of the rounds. Each player will play the opponent twice, once with white/black and immediately followed by another game with the opposite colour.

A more detailed process and instructions will be given to the schools that qualify for the Grand Finals by the Tournament Organiser/ Arbiter.

Tie Breaker System to determine the winning school in the following order

1. Match Points - Winner will get 2 points, a draw will give each team 1 point, and a loss is scored as 0 points

2. Game Points - 1 point for win; half point for draw

3. Total number of wins for all 5 players in the team

4. Total number of wins with black pieces for all 5 players in the team

5. Total number of wins on board 1.

6. Total number of wins on board 2, then 3, 4, 5 by progressive process of elimination

Dr Peter Tsai

Chess Victoria Vice President & Tournament Organiser

Email: chess@t-s-a-i.com

Mobile: 0419324870