We’re excited to get off to a quick start again this year in Seaside with our traditional Blitz Tournament.  For those of you who need a refresher on the rules, here they are.  Note that contrary to popular belief, the USCF scholastic blitz rules that we are using here are touch move, so you have to move the piece you touch, the move is determined when you release that piece on a square or touch an opponent’s piece; and the move is complete when the clock is pressed.

First, an important request:  PLEASE BRING YOUR CLOCKS!!  Coaches and teams with several clocks, please bring them all.

Here’s how to get yourself onto the pairing sheets for blitz and win one of those coveted Star trophies:

1) Check in (or purchase tickets).  You must check in for Blitz no later than 4pm on Friday.

If you HAVE NOT purchased tickets already, you must check in by coming to the B-Hive in the foyer of the Convention Center to buy a ticket and confirm your purchase.  Cost is $15.tickets if necessary and/or confirm your presence, or (b) (for those with prepaid tickets) by checking in online.

If you HAVE purchased tickets already — and only if you have — then you may check in either by coming to the B-Hive in person OR by email (something new this year).  Here’s how:

No earlier than 10am on Friday, April 24, and no later than 4pm on Friday, send an email containing the following information to Blitz15@oscf.org:

a) Name of Player with prepaid ticket that is Checking in for Blitz.
b) Grade of that Player
c) School of that Player

Note that this year you DO NOT need to check into the main event (i.e., get your nametag) before checking in for blitz or bughouse.  That said, we do strongly recommend that you get your name tag once you arrive on Friday — either before or after checking into blitz / bughouse — in order to avoid the rush on Saturday morning, in the morning, but the order of doing so doesn’t matter.

2) Arrive at the Convention Center around 4:45, with play to start at 5 pm.

We are trying something new this year and playing in the large (Pacific) room.  We will have board numbers placed on the tables in the room; please don’t disturb them.  Once pairings are ready, players will be arranged into (mostly) Quads — groups of 4 players.  Those groups will usually be arranged by rating, though we do make some exceptions and generally have adults play up, or play each other.  E.G. Quad A will be the highest four rated players in the tournament; Quad B the second four, etc.  If the number of players is not divisible by 4, we will have a couple of groups of 5 or 6.  We are working on methods for displaying the pairings so all can see.

In each quad, every player plays every other player twice — once as black, then trade sides and once as white (or vice-versa).  Mark down the score for each game.  Each quad manages its own play.  The youngest players may need assistance with this; for adults of the youngest kids, please assist as best you can.  For the oddly-sized sections, the players will usually play each other only once, but we will talk about it with those groups.

Generally speaking, we will finish about 75 minutes after we start, so we’ll be done a little after 6:00 PM.  Note that if you’re playing Bughouse, you should check in for Bughouse before you begin playing in the blitz tournament.

Have fun!