MIAMI OPEN 2008 ONLINE QUALIFIER

This weekend, August 16th and 17th, World Chess Live is hosting a major qualifying event with prizes for the winners valued at more than $10,000 as well as guaranteed $50 value special prizes for everyone else just for participating.

Best of all, entry is free for all USCF members and prizes will be awarded in six different ratings sections!

Tournament Schedule

This online tournament will run over two days, with all players starting in a fifteen round Swiss on Saturday, August 16th at 3pm WCL server time (Eastern Daylight Time).  The top six players in each of the ratings Classes will go on to sectional playoffs on Sunday 8/17/08 at 2pm server time for the Open, U2100, and U1900 winners or 4pm server time for the U1700, U1500, and U1300 winners.  (Note that you can check the current server time by typing "date" in the Main tab of the Channels window.)

Prize Structure

The top three winners of each of the six ratings sections will receive free or highly discounted entry to the Miami Open as well as hotel rooms at the Hyatt Regency Miami Convention Center (four nights for Open section winners, three nights for others).  Everyone who qualifies for the Sunday Playoffs will also receive a free year of WCL membership.  All other players who finish the tournament will receive $50 certificates good for discounted tournament entry.

For each section, prizes are as follows:

Entry Requirements

Entry is FREE, but you must be a current USCF member to enter and you must have a World Chess Live account registered with your USCF ID number.  Also, you'll need to be using Dasher 1.2 or later in order to play.  If you are new to WCL, we strongly recommend that you download Dasher, register, and start familiarizing yourself with the service immediately.

As a special bonus for members of the USCF who register on World Chess Live, we're pleased to offer six months free membership.  You may enter your USCF ID when you first register with WCL or add it to an existing account from your account page.

(Either way, be sure to have your PIN ready, which is the number printed on the letter that came with your most recent membership card.  You may also find it printed on the mailing label for your latest issue of Chess Life magazine, but if you have recently renewed, it may not be current.  Contact the USCF for further assistance getting your current PIN or email support@worldchesslive.com for general help with WCL.)

If you need to renew your USCF membership, do so no later than the day before the tournament by going to www.uschess.org and clicking on Join/Renew.  For more information about USCF member benefits and registration, see this special USCF page.

If you already own a free GM/IM/FM account on WCL, you must use that account.  NOTE: as for all USCF-rated tournaments, real names of all participants will be publicly available.

Please connect to WCL at least 15 minutes prior to the tournament, and watch for instructions, which will automatically appear. Each round will take roughly 9 minutes, so you can expect a 15-round qualifying tournament to take about 2.5 hours. WCL management reserves the right to pause the event if necessary. Show up on time!! The tournament director may allow late joining after the start, but there will be no half-point byes for missed rounds.

Playing System

In the qualifying stage, a fifteen-round Swiss system will be used.  36 qualifiers will move to the Sunday playoffs, with six final Double Round Robin tournaments among the six top players in each of their respective Classes. Classes will be determined by USCF ratings as follows:

The time control will be 3 0 (three minutes total per player, no increment) for all games.  All games will be USCF quick rated. Quick ratings at the start of the tournament will be used for pairings and for determination of Class eligibility. If entrant has no quick rating, the standard USCF rating will be used. Players with neither rating will only be eligible for the Open section.

In the Saturday Qualifier, tie-breaks will be determined by (in this order): (a) sum of scores of opponents, adjusted such that if an opponent does not play a round for whatever reason, 0.5 is added to the sum, or (b) average rating of opponents.  In all cases the bots will announce the winners in the order of the number of games they won.

In the Playoffs on Sunday, we will be playing Double Round Robin in each Class as a separate tourney, with three tournaments in separate channels running at once.  Ties will be broken by giving priority to the lower rated players. WCL reserves the right to adjust the Playoff tournaments as needed, based on the number of players in each Class Section. 

General rules

a) Normal WCL server rules apply.

b) The use of computer chess engines and databases while playing is strictly prohibited.  Assistance from other players is also prohibited. The games will be monitored during play and reviewed prior to determination of final winners and submission to the USCF.

c) Some features of which you should be aware include:

1. The WCL timestamp mechanism, which stops both player's clocks while a move is in transit over the internet.
   
   
2. If a player gets disconnected the game is typically adjourned and should be resumed as soon as that player returns. The time allowed for resumption, before forfeit, will be at the sole discretion of the tournament director.
   
   
3. Draw offers and draw claims may be made by clicking the Draw button prior to making a move.

d) The WCL tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from a tournament, reverse results, or refuse to allow a player to join a tournament for any reason including, but not limited to:  failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's Internet connection is not reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a player is receiving assistance, or the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC or WCL rules in the past.

e) Additionally, we reserve the right to retroactively reverse any benefits a player may have gained before, during or after his, or her, disqualification whether due to rules infraction(s), previous to, during or post tournament. There is no appeal.  WCL’s decisions are final.  WCL may decide, but not limited to, said player not be allowed to compete in future prize events for an unspecified time period, to ban said player from WCL, or any WCL related server, or any further sanctions not heretofore mentioned.

Important privacy advisory

Please note that entering any USCF-rated tournaments, such as this tournament, will expose your USCF membership number along with your full name and whatever other personal information the USCF normally makes public, just as if you were playing in an over-the-board tournament. If you prefer to keep your online identity private, you will need to either avoid entering a USCF-rated tournament, or sign up for two WCL accounts, one as your USCF account and the other anonymous.  (A Family membership may be used to purchase a second account at a greatly discounted price along with one full-priced membership.)