Tournament+Tips

**Tournament Tips**
A **chess tournament** is a series of [|chess] games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team (wikipedia def). Most scholastic tournaments our students attend are [|Swiss System] style tournaments. Since you and your child spend several hours at the tournament site we decided to put together a few tournament tips we have found handy to make the day of the tournament run smoothly.


 * Register your child in advance (the registration fee is often lower)
 * Review & Print directions & rules the night before the tournament or save them to your portable electronic device. Review the rules with your child (touch move, touch capture, etc).
 * Set the chess clock for tournament play (so you are not scrambling to find the setting minutes before the game begins) the night before the tournament.
 * Send your child to bed on-time (most tournaments are on the weekends where children might stay up later than on a school night)
 * Allow yourself plenty of time to arrive at the tournament site at registration time or 20 min prior to game time if you are already pre-registered. Time late to a game is time taken from your child's clock and upsetting to teammates if you are on a team.
 * ALWAYS call in advance to cancel your child's registration (even if it's that morning due to illness). Your child has been paired with another child for the first game and a "no show" can cause delay for everyone if players are reassigned (not to mention the loss of a point for your team).
 * Bring items required for the tournament such as:
 * 1) chess set
 * 2) chess clock
 * 3) USCF# (registration card for your child if playing a rated tournament)
 * 4) notation pad & pencil
 * Bring items to make your stay enjoyable such as:
 * 1) Food: Snacks, lunch, beverages
 * 2) Cash (some tournaments sell food & chess supplies, some don't)
 * 3) Book to read or Laptop to work (something for the parent to do while waiting)
 * 4) Backpack of things for your child to do between games (books, homework, electronic games, mp3 player, chess set)
 * 5) Spare batteries for your child's chess clock
 * 6) Meds/bandaids

It is considered good etiquette to stay for the trophy ceremony even if your child is not receiving one. This may not always fit your schedule, but if possible it's good sportsmanship for your child to show their support for their peers, so trying to stay for a few ceremonies is a good lesson for a growing chess player. Many tournaments offer a participation medal, so no child walks out empty handed.