Hampton Roads Chess Association
presents
The March Treasure Chest Arena - MORNING
Saturday, March 13th, 2021
10:00 AM to Noon EST
Ready for something fun and different? Join us on our private server for an Arena tournament with prizes from the HRCA Treasure Chest!
What is an Arena tournament? An Arena tournament is akin to a "cross-round" tournament over-the-board. Upon registration, you will be provided with access to the area on our server that is hosting the tournament. All you have to do then is log on and JOIN the tournament, as early as when you are granted access and as late as the start of the event (and even late arrivals are admitted to the Arena!). The computer will pair you with someone else in the Arena whose score and/or win-loss percentage is similar to yours for each game. There are no rounds, per se -- no set start time for each game. The first games will start automatically the second the Arena tournament is set to start. When your game is finished, the computer will find your next opponent, and your next game will start. By the end, some players may have only played 4 games, while others may have played three times that many! We are allowing a couple of features the kids enjoy -- Berserk and Streaks. In Berserk, you voluntarily cut your clock time in half for the chance to gain an extra point if you win. For Streaks, if the computer detects you have won two games in a row and then you win another, you also get extra points. Unlike a normal Swiss tournament a win is 2 points, a draw is 1, but a loss is still 0. At the end of the designated time period for the tournament, the computer IMMEDIATELY pops up the results. Any games in progress are allowed to finish but don't count for tournament points. For more information on Arena tournaments, see Tournament FAQ • lichess.org. The bottom line is 2 straight hours of solid, frantic, somewhat fast and super fun chess games! No waiting around for the next round to start!
Who can play? Any HRCA member in grades Pre-K through 12, or any other school-age player residing in Hampton Roads (a region in Southeast Virginia). This event is NOT open to adults, and it is NOT open to those outside our area except our alumni HRCA members.
What playing platform and username do I use? Most HRCA members know their private server username -- that's what you'll use. If you don't have one (guests from our area), we will create an account for you and send you the login information before the event. We'll send the URL out privately only to registered players on Friday, March 12th. Our site is a clone of lichess, so if you are familiar with that platform, you will be comfortable with ours.
Can I play in BOTH the morning and afternoon Arenas? YES! But you have to register and pay separately for each one. This event was designed to cater to busy families who may only be able to spare a couple of hours in EITHER the morning OR the afternoon, so you can do one and not the other. Each event completely stands alone.
Is this a rated event and do I need any memberships to play? NO! Not this time! This is NOT a rated event. Arena is not a ratable format under US Chess. You do NOT need a current US Chess membership to play. You do NOT need an HRCA membership to play -- guests welcome... as long as you live in Hampton Roads!
Are there sections for different ages or abilities? NO! Not this time! Everyone will play in one huge arena. But that's why we have prizes for everyone of all abilities! See below!
What if I need to come late or leave early or leave in the middle? With an Arena tournament, you can join late or leave early -- just be sure to press the WITHDRAW button when you leave so the computer doesn't pair you in your absence!
Will there be fair play checks to catch cheating? YES. ALWAYS. Results won't be final until we've ensured through our fair play resources that everyone is "clean." Any use of electronic assistance in your games will be caught. You will be disqualified from prizes and face stiff penalties for the remainder of the season. Don't do it!
Why is it called a Treasure Chest Arena? Because the prizes for this event are not the usual money or trophies, medals, and ribbons. The pandemic left us with a decent stash of cool prizes that our kids used to "buy" at our chess store every week with incentive "bucks" they earned through our club. We will be purchasing a handful of bigger prizes like Leap chess clocks, but in our Treasure Chest, we have some chess socks, magnetic chess sets, a TON of hard-to-find Checkmate series Hotwheel cars, and a bunch of other smaller, random prizes. We will also be awarding a limited number of tournament chess sets, vouchers for some swag (shirts, hats, etc) in our upcoming apparel order, US Chess memberships for unrated players, and ChessKid Gold accounts for kids who don't already have them! And the coolest part? YOU GET TO PICK YOUR OWN PRIZE. I wouldn't presume to guess what you already have or what you want. So when we send out the final instructions on March 12th, it will include a SURVEY for you to fill out to rank order what you would like to receive if you win a prize. After the event is over, we will go down the list and award the highest of your requested prizes that we still have remaining when we get to you. NOTE: Ratings for the "class" prize eligibility will be the higher of your over-the-board or online Regular rating from the 1 March supplement.
1st thru 5th Place Overall
1st thru 5th Place Unrated (Rookies)
1st thru 3rd Place 800-999, 600-799, 300-599, U300
We will also award prizes for players with perfect scores or very high win ratios even if they didn't play enough games to finish in the top of the standings -- i.e. rewarding those who play slowly and carefully. MINIMUM of 4 games.
We'll weave our way back and forth through the top Overall and top unrated players... like 1st Overall, 1st Unrated, 2nd Overall, 2nd Unrated, etc., and then weave our way back and forth through the rated "classes" in similar fashion. We will add more prizes if the number and variety of players warrants it. Everyone will get something, even if it's a participation ribbon for our guests with a chess eraser, small dragon and/or knight figure, a chess piece keychain, chess temporary tattoos or stickers, etc. from our treasure chest.
ENTRY DEADLINE is 11:59 PM on THURSDAY, MARCH 11th. NO EXCEPTIONS. After completing registration, be sure to check the entry list. If you don't see your name, the registration -- and payment -- didn't go through. Please try again!
HRCA is a 501(c)(3). Every entry in this super fun event helps support HRCA programming in a very challenging time for non-profits. Join us! For more information, contact Tina at cschweiss2@gmail.com.