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Hosting an interscholastic tournament is an excellent chess club fundraiser. Here is how to do it.

1.  Become a Scholastic Affiliate Club Member of the USCF
2. Find a site
3. Select a date
4. Determine tournament flier information
5. Boards and Pieces
6. Chess Clocks
7. Publicity.
8. Concessions
9. Table number tents
10. Chairs
11. Pencils
12. TD Tables
13. Trophy Tables
14. PA System
15. Signs
16. Photographer
17. Assigned supervision
18. Pre-registrations
19. Security
20. Registration arrangement
21. Lunch Break Timing
22. Award Presentations
23. TD Answers to Frequently Asked Questions & Issues at Scholastic Chess Tournaments (separate page)
24. Scholastic Code of Conduct at the Michigan Chess Association website.

 Items needed are indicated below in red, or green if costs are associated.

1. To conduct a nationally rated tournament and attract more players,
   become a Scholastic Affiliate Club Member of the USCF for $40. Also, USCF Affiliate Clubs can order mailing labels for specific groups of USCF members.
2. Find a site for your tournament. It really needs to be a rather large facility like a school or a church. All of the games may be played in one large room like a gym or cafeteria, with a couple of the top rated sections in separate smaller rooms. The tournament game playing area and the area immediately outside should be quiet and have minimal traffic. Allow space for one 6 foot long table for each 4 players, or one 8 foot table for each 6 players, in the tournament rooms. If the facility can provide the needed tables and chairs, it will save a lot of work and/or rental expense. You can look at recent tournament results to see how many to plan for in each section, and overall. A skittles space near the concession with tables and seating for parents and players while between rounds will need to be as large as the combined playing space. Remember that this skittles space will be somewhat noisy and should be well separated from the tournament areas. If you can provide a parents quiet area with comfortable seating, those who use it will be appreciative. An extra room for kids to watch video movies between rounds is also a good way to keep some of the kids captive. Parking should be adequate for the expected size of crowd. It’s also recommended that the facility’s custodian be hired for the entire event, to keep up with restroom replenishments and the inevitable messes to be expected from a large group of kids. Make sure the site has insurance coverage for the event as an outreach or school activity.
3. Select a date that’s compatible with your facility by consulting the OSCO Scholastic Tournaments Schedule. Also, make sure not to conflict with any other significant events listed on the OCA Tournament Schedule or Oklahoma Tournament Clearinghouse, so that the higher rated scholastic players will be more likely to participate in your event. It's usually best to try and not schedule scholastic tournaments less than 2 or 3 weeks apart, particularly if they're in the same metro area. As you can see on the tournament schedules, its best to schedule 6 to 12 months in advance. Active scholastic chess clubs may request an OSCO Grand Prix tournament date for optimum scheduling and participation. You're welcome to contact Mike Swatek at (918) 812-1591 regarding tournament scheduling or any other item below. After selecting your date, contact Mike Swatek and the Oklahoma Tournament Clearinghouse to be listed on all the appropriate schedules.
4. Determine tournament flier information similar to the others linked from the OSCO Scholastic Tournaments Schedule. You may also email for some recent flier examples to be sent to you. Depending upon the grade divisions of your school, you may choose to tailor the sections to be appropriate. A $15 entry fee for an all-day event is what people are used to in Oklahoma and allows the tournament to be a good fundraiser with nice trophies and medals. You may also want to include a "Release and Hold Harmless" statement on the registration form with parent signature providing some protection for the site owner, organizer and their agents.
   
   Trophies for the top 2-3 individuals and top 1-2 teams with medals down to 3 or 3.5 points for 5 rounds is common. Check out the tournament fliers on the OSCO Scholastic Tournaments Schedule or email for some recent flier examples to be sent to you. The best prices and delivery for chess trophies and premium medals in the Tulsa area is at Southwest Tulsa Trophy at 4939 S Union or (918)446-2525. Your trophy shop can help you make a decision on trophies to offer that will fit your budget. Trophies and medals usually run about $100 per section. For low cost in-club tournament medals or interscholastic tournament honorable mention medals, click HERE.
   
   Tournament Direction fees are typically 10 cents per player per round for the USCF tournament rating fee, plus about $50 to cover expenses (score sheets, printer supplies, software, etc.) for a local TD. It’s customary for the TDs to receive free lunch and drinks from the concession. A list of Oklahoma TDs is maintained on the OCA website at www.ochess.org/tds.htm . It’s recommended that your TD review and approve of the flier information before distribution.
   
   Hotel Recommendation should be provided for those who travel to the tournament want to stay the night before and/or after. If possible, arrange for a special chess tournament hotel room rate.
5. Tournament Regulation Boards and Pieces should be acquired for the tournament. You may borrow or rent from other clubs or your TD to get enough, and/or buy some sets to use for this and future tournaments. Cajun Chess has the best deals on 20” roll-up vinyl boards and plastic pieces with a 3.75” king. Having players bring their own sets is too noisy and time consuming with several sections in the same large room, especially with varying time controls or starting times. If sections are in separate rooms and players are requested to bring their own tournament chess sets, then it’s best to offer low cost sets to reduce this as a barrier to tournament entry.
6. Chess Clocks will not be needed for every board. Players should be requested to bring a clock if they have one and use it for their own games. This will take care of the top boards in the higher rated sections. You should also acquire 10 or more clocks, as you did the chess sets. These may be purchased from on-line vendors listed on the OSCO Links page or borrowed from other clubs or TDs.  These are for the TD to place on the unfinished games when there is a total of 20 minutes remaining in a round (10 minutes on each side of the clock). This will help to keep the tournament running on time. If you decide to buy clocks, Cajun Chess has a very simple and low-priced battery powered analog clock that will also be good for in-club use.
7. Arrange for Tournament Publicity early. Many media outlets require considerable advance notice of public service announcements and articles. If you get the tournament on the OSCO website’s tournament list early enough, your tournament may also be included in occasional Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Update email broadcasts. A flier mailing about 3 weeks prior using Oklahoma Scholastic and Youth Member labels from the USCF is one of the most common and effective means of promotion. Request labels of players with memberships that are current or have expired in the last 12 months. This label set will exclude those who asked not to have their information shared. The label cost is $20 setup plus 5 cents per label, with about 500 Oklahoma players having been the size of these sets in 2004. Organizers of OSCO Grand Prix events will receive a set of OSCO member labels and not necessarily need to purchase a set from the USCF. Of course printing, folding and postage for the 500 fliers should also be factored into your budget. The day of and before the tournament, it’s nice to have nearby businesses welcome the chess players on their sign boards.
8. Concessions are also a potentially significant part of your chess tournament fundraiser. Selling pizza coupons at tournament registration for large slices of a few different kinds of pizza (sausage, pepperoni and cheese) is common and low-risk. The order/pickup times and price agreement with a pizza supplier should be pre-arranged. Concession items that may have left-overs consumed at a later fellowship or school activity can reduce your risk. Things like hot dogs, chili, chili/cheese/frito pies and nachos that use common ingredients also help reduce risk. Scholastic chess players will eat a lot of french fries when given the opportunity, and you can cook corn dogs in the same device (oven or fryer). Buying chips in large bags, instead of smaller bags will save money. You may be able to return unopened cases of soda and other items, or get a good deal from a soda distributor. Don’t forget to have doughnuts available in the morning. It’s good to keep coffee available all day long. If you’re unable to arrange for concessions inside the facility, you might try contacting a quality catering truck to setup outside the main entrance for the day. If you have fast food establishments adjacent to the tournament site, this may be another way of dealing with concessions.
9. Table number tents can be 5 X 7 index cards folded in half. You can use a marker or print them out with a computer. It’s best to start each section with 100, 200, 300, etc to simplify things for the players and TD. The top players will be at the lowest numbered board, so they are typically placed furthest from the door for fewer distractions. OSCO table markers are provided for OSCO Grand Prix events.
10. Chairs in the high school sections should be comfortable, particularly those that have fewer and longer rounds.
11. Pencils may need to be provided for the scoresheets, if the TD doesn’t provide them. You should have a pencil sharpener handy for someone to prepare pencils.
12. TD Tables (6-8 feet long) should be provided in each room where tournament games are played. On that table will be the pairing chart(s) for sections in the room, blank score sheets and pencils for the players to use, and a completed score sheet collection box in some cases. For tournaments with multiple playing rooms, and Assistant TD or helper may be staffing this desk. Players will enter their game results on the pairing chart and the ATD or helper will deliver the completed pairing chart to the Chief TD upon completion of the last game.
13. Trophy Tables may be provided in each area where sections are playing for visibility. Alternatively, you can set them next to the top playing boards in each section. Or you can simply leave them on trophy tables in the award presentation area all day, which is usually the large skittles/concession area.
14. PA System is needed in the large skittles/concession area. It will be used to make announcements during the tournament and also for award presentations.
15. Signs are needed for several things, including:
    Directions to playing rooms, concessions, restrooms, TV room, parents quiet room, playground, etc.
    A sign for each section room door, or the end of section tables if in the same large room.
    Signs in the registration area (see below).
    A sign for each section, indicating where in the large skittles/concession area that tournament pairings and standings will be posted, plus a sign in that location for general tournament information. Tape or map pins will also be needed to post pairing and standing charts under these signs.
16. Photographer with a digital camera to document the tournament is a nice touch. Photos of games should be taken in the first few minutes after starting if the camera is not completely silent. Flash photography is discouraged. Use a light tripod or monopod instead of a flash for photos of games, and to improve the quality of award photos. It’s best for the photos to be 1600 X 1200 resolution or more. Make sure the camera has plenty of extra memory and a charged spare battery available. These can be submitted for a tournament gallery on the OSCO website, linked from the tournament results page.
17. Assigned supervision for all play areas for the kids, inside and out, so they don’t get hurt or destroy things. Otherwise, you should post signs stating that the play areas are not supervised and children may only go out with parent supervision, along with some words about the Organizer, school and their agents not being responsible for injury or damage. The signs may be a good idea even if you do have supervision planned, since they may be unavailable for some time.
18. Pre-registrations should be given to the TD by early Thursday evening before a Saturday tournament. You should be firm about not accepting any pre-registrations after the list goes to the TD Thursday evening. You'll be too busy with tournament preparations on Friday and the TD will appreciate no day before additions. Request that mailed pre-registrations be mailed by Monday. Keep track of which pre-registrations to the TD have been paid or not. The TD should enter all of the pre-entries in the pairing software before arriving at the tournament. The TD may require you to enter the pre-registration information into this Excel spreadsheet, so they will be able to much more easily import the data into the pairing software and electronically process USCF memberships. The TD can then print out an alphabetized list of the players by section that have pre-registered for tournament and flag those requiring new or renewed USCF membership. This list can then be used at tournament check-in. Be sure to verify that your TD will be able to provide this flagged list. The organizer will then need to add any additional flags to the list regarding tournament entry fee payments due.
19. Security may be needed for the tournament site for the night before, if trophies and chess sets have already been setup. Check with the facility to see if there have been problems that might raise concern.
20. Registration arrangement that seems to work the best is:

·        Pre-registered check-in table (6-8 feet long) with the flagged pre-registration list described above. People needing to make any additional payments or provide additional information for their USCF registration (flagged pre-registration list) will do this with the check-in desk staff. This table needs two persons and a large sign above head level. Use more than one sign with line instructions, if there are multiple lines. For large events, its best to alkso have another person working in front of the pre-registered check-in desk to help organize the line and keep kids from hanging out in the way..

·        Next is the cashier’s table (4-6 feet long), which receives money from the adjacent tables. Placing a table (6-8 feet long) perpendicular ahead of the cashier where people in the adjacent lines can complete forms works well, since there is no line in front of the cashier. The cashier's table needs one person that is trusted to handle all money, a cash box and plenty of change.

·        Next table is the USCF Registrations table (6-8 feet long). This person assists the door registrations by looking up USCF membership status and rating on a computer using a spreadsheet provided by the TD. This desk will handle USCF registrations needed from door registrations to make sure all necessary information and payments are received. This table will need one or two people, pens, USCF registration forms and a sign. Electrical power will be needed at this table for the computer.

·        Next is the door registration table (6-8 feet long). This table may need two people if there are a lot of door registrations, so the tournament can start on time. Door registration payments and completed forms are received and verified, with school codes added from a list for the TD. They will need a sign, pens, tournament registration forms, large sign overhead and USCF registration forms. Also, give the person at the door registration table a form so that they can keep a running count of how many players have registered for each section. This will allow the tournament organizer to see how many extra places he is going to need at any given time.

·        Next is the Tournament Director table (6-8 feet long). It's best to avoid having the TD check USCF registration for the door registrations and have that done separately using a computer at the USCF Registrations desk, next to the door registration desk. The TD will be entering door registrations in the computer pairing software. Electrical power will be needed at the TD table for the computer. The TD will probably generate the pairings for the first round from the registration location. Check with the TD to see where they want their table to be located after they get the first round under way and provide assistance moving it to that location.

·        Next is the Tournament Director Assistant table (small). For larger events, its best to avoid having the TD on the computer answer questions from players, parents and coaches. Provide a small table and chair placed in front of the TD computer table where a TD assistant can answer questions and allow the computer TD to work uninterrupted as much as possible.

·        Other tables for pizza coupons, chess fliers, chess supplies, etc should be in the registration area.

21. Schedule the designated lunch time in cooperation with the TD. They may want it to arrive at 12:30, instead of noon, so that two or more rounds can be played before lunch.
22. Award Presentations usually are conducted at the conclusion of the last round for each individual section, except when it’s more desirable for everyone to be there at the same time for the award presentation. Having the quicker sections receive their award presentations early will usually allow most of the younger players to leave and reduce the disturbances for the remaining players. However, at state championships it may be preferred that everyone be there at the end to have a big crowd to honor the champions. A stage is nice to have for the award presentations.

Visitors Since 30 October 2004