1. What are the Grade School Qualification Tournaments
(GSQTs)?
Answer:
The GSQTs, also called "the
Quaification Tournaments" or "the Qualifiers", are a
primary way for Virginians to earn the right to play in the State
Scholastic Invitational Tournament (SSIT) in April or May 2021.
Players who perform well in their section of a GSQT have a strong chance of qualifying
for the SSIT. During a GSQT both the size and strength of a section
influence and determine how many players qualify for the SSIT.
A large, strong K-5 section in one GSQT will qualify more players
than a small, weaker section in another GSQT.
For each GSQT a minimum of 3 players will qualify from each
section up to a maximum of 10 players from each section.
You and your schoolmates need to play in the GSQTs because it
allows more players to qualify for the SSIT—maybe even you!!
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2. When are the Grade School Qualification Tournaments
(GSQTs) going to be played?
Answer:
The three (3)
Qualification Tournaments are scheduled for January 9-10, February 27-28, and March 20-21, all
in 2021.
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3. How many players can qualify for the State Scholastic
Invitational Tournament (SSIT)?
Answer:
The SSIT could
have up to 40 players in each of the grade groups—K-3, K-5, K-8, and
K-12. That’s a total of up
to 160 players! Of the
maximum of 40 players who qualify from each grade group, up to 30 can
qualify through the Grade School Qualification Tournaments.
The remaining 10 will be invited to play by the Virginia Chess
Federation based on their being one of the Top 10 players in the state
in their grade group. (See also the 2nd part of Question
1 above.)
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4. How many players from our school can play in the
three Grade School Qualification Tournaments (GSQTs)?
Answer:
As many as you
want! That's right, there is no limit.
Players can play in one, two or all three GSQTs.
Playing in all three is THE BEST WAY to ensure your school team
earns the maximum number of team points.
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5. Are Team awards given out at the Grade School
Qualification Tournaments (GSQT) or the State Scholastic Invitational
Tournament (SSIT)?
Answer: YES,
there will be team awards given out at each of the GSQTs.
In addition, the Virginia Chess Federation will use each school’s points
earned in the GSQTs to determine State Champion Teams in April or May.
A school whose players compete in only 1 or 2 GSQTs may not be
able to earn as many points for their team compared to another school
that plays in all 3 GSQTs.
Team awards will be handed out in April or May, after all 3 GSQTs are
finished. Schools will be
rank ordered for team awards based on the points earned by their players in the GSQTs.
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6.
I
don’t understand how Team awards are being determined, can you explain
it?
Answer: Players
earn points for their school teams by participating on one, two, or all
three of the Grade School Qualification Tournaments (GSQTs).
After the last GSQT is held in March 2021, the VCF totals-up the
team points earned by players from each school. The
team with the most points in each section of the GSQTs (e.g. K-3, K-5,
etc.) is crowned as the “2020-2021
Virginia K-X Chess Team Champion” for that grade-group.
If two or more schools tie for 1st place, all of the
tied schools will be recognized as “Co-Champions”, but the 1st
Place Team Trophy will go to the school whose top player accrued the
most points. If two or more
of the top players are tied, then the tie will be broken by the team
players with the 2nd most points for their team, etc.
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7. If I am already qualified for the State Scholastic
Invitational Tournament based on an invitation from the Virginia Chess
Federation, do I need to play in the Grade School Qualification
Tournaments?
Answer: If you want to earn points for your school’s chess team then
YOU NEED TO PLAY in as many qualifiers as you can—even if you already
have qualified for the State Scholastic Invitational Tournament (SSIT).
Already-qualified players who play in a Grade School
Qualification Tournament DO NOT BLOCK other players
from qualifying. For
example, if “Jonny Smith” already is qualified for the State Scholastic
Invitational Tournament, plays in the January GSQT, and wins it, then
the VCF will pass down his qualification berth from the GSQT to the next
player in Jonny’s section of the GSQT.
In other words, if 10 players qualify from Jonny’s section in the
January GSQT based on the size and strength of the section, then players
2 through 11 in that section will be awarded the 10 qualification spots.
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8. Can a home school player play for our public or private
school team if s/he attended our school last year but is home-schooling
this year because of COVID-19?
Answer:
In general, No.
If you feel you may have an exception, contact the Virginia Chess
Federation by
clicking here and providing your rationale.
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9. What is the Virginia Chess Federation (VCF) going to do
to prevent cheating in the online games?
Answer: The
VCF will not tolerate cheating.
We will organize the Grade School Qualification Tournaments on a
game platform whose Fair Play Detection Methods have been endorsed by
the US Chess Federation. At
this writing two companies’ chess platforms have been endorsed by US
Chess—Chess.com and the Internet Chess Club (ICC).
The US Chess Federation was not paid for either endorsement;
rather, a team of professional (PhD) statisticians signed non-disclosure
agreements and conducted a detailed examination of both company’s
methods on behalf of US Chess.
The reviewers were not compensated for their recommendations to
US Chess. In addition to
the analysis by the game platform, VCF will subject “suspicious players’
games” to more intensive analysis in the days after the tournament.
For this reason, the “final results” of a GSQT may not be
available for up to 3 weeks in accordance with Chapter 10 of the US
Chess Rules of Chess (7th ed.).
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10. Will the VCF disqualify players from the tournament who
are caught cheating during the event?
Answer:
This situation is
very possible.
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11. How do I find out if I am one of the “Top 10” players in
K-3, K-5, K-8 or K-12 in Virginia?
When and how will this be determined?
Answer:
The Virginia
Chess Federation (VCF) will publish preliminary lists beginning the
first week of December 2020 based on the ratings found in the US Chess
December Rating Supplement.
The December Rating Supplement will be the authoritative source for
ratings used by the VCF to establish Top 10 Player Lists for schoolyear
2020-21 in the grade-groups of K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12.
Publicizing the list for several weeks before we “lock it in”
allows players, parents and coaches to point out players whose names are
not on the list but should be.
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12. We just moved to Virginia from Kentucky.
Can we play in the Qualification Tournaments or qualify to play
in the State Invitational?
Answer:
Assuming you
are attending public, private, or home school in VA, you must meet one
of two conditions. First,
you can qualify for the State Invitational based on your performance in
one of the three Grade School Qualification Tournaments.
Second, if the higher of your US Chess Over-the-Board or Online
or Regular Rating makes you one of the Top 10 players in VA for your
grade group (e.g. K-3, K-5, etc.), then you must have been attending
grade school in Virginia as of the start of school in January 2021 in
the school district where you live.
Someone who moves into VA after public school starts in their
school district cannot qualify based on rating.
Rather, they must play in one of the Qualification Tournaments.
We use as a benchmark the start of public school in the school
district where you live so that all players, including home schooled
players, have a common standard.
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13. If I am in the Top 10 List for my grade-group, how will
I be notified and how will I be invited to play in the State Scholastic
Invitational Tournament in April or May 2021?
Answer:
The VCF will
begin contacting players by email not long after the VCF publishes the
Top 10 Lists. Formal
“invitations” to play will not be distributed until the list is
locked-in, which will happen before the last Qualification Tournament.
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14. I attend two different
schools during the week. For what school am I earning team points?
Answer: You can only
earn team points for one school. The school that gets your team
points is the school considered by your school district to be your
principal school. If you have questions on this, please
contact the VCF.
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15. What happens to the "team
poins" I earn if I change schools part way through the school year?
Answer: Any team points
you earn stay with the school you were attending at the time you played
in a Grade School Qualification Tournament, they DO NOT transfer when
you change schools.
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