Utah Open Championship

Date: Open is Saturday and Sunday, 29-30 October. The two reserve sections (U1600) and (U800) are Saturday only (29 October).

Location: University of Utah, Student Union Building, Panorama Room and Saltaire Room.

Registration: Saturday 8:45-9:30 am. A half point bye is available for up to any two rounds, as determined at time of registration. (Per USCF rule 22C4 no ½ point byes for the last rounds of the tournament will be allowed if not requested prior to round two.)

Entry Fee: $30 Adult, $20 Youth, $5 less if received by 28 October. Mail entries to Grant Hodson, 5856 Cilma Dr, West Valley City, UT 84128. Make checks payable to UCA (Utah chess Association). GM/IM/ free. Please include USCF ID number, current rating and any requests for byes.

UCA Membership Meeting: The annual meeting will be held Saturday from 9:30 until 9:55. Three individuals are to be voted to the seven-member Board for two-year terms. There will also be the annual treasurer’s report. All Utah Chess Association members who are at least 16 years old are entitled to vote for these three positions to the UCA Board. (A UCA member is any USCF member in good standing who also resides in Utah.) Per the UCA amended By-laws, amendments must be submitted to the UCA Board at least one month prior to the annual membership meeting to allow posting on the UCA web site and ample review by the UCA members in advance of voting. Therefore, if you have special items, please submit them in writing not later than 29 September to Grant Hodson (granthodson@comcast.net), President, Steve Hoisington, Secretary, (stevehoisington789@hotmail.com), or Brenda Ahlemann (chessbybrenda@gmail.com), webmaster, so they may be posted on the website, included in the agenda, and discussed and voted upon at the UCA Membership Meeting.

Rounds for Open: Saturday at 10, 1:30 and 5:45. Sunday at 11 am and 4 pm. Round 1 is game/90; rounds 2-5 are game in 2 hours.

Rounds for Reserve (U1600): G/60 with rounds at 10-12:30-2:45-5-7:30. Note that this is a 1-day tournament—Saturday only.

Rounds for U800: G/45 with rounds at 10-12-1:45-3:30-5:15. Note that this is a 1-day tournament—Saturday only.

Time Control Considerations: A 5-second time delay is to be used for each round if either player has a digital chess clock having time delay capability. Each round is sudden death, so once either side has 5 minutes left on the clock neither side is required to keep score; but of course both sides are expected to keep score prior to that point. If you need a Tournament director (TD) because of an illegal move or draw claim, or need for someone to count 50 moves, please pause the chess clock before a flag falls and raise your hand or come and find us.

Qualifying Event: Anyone achieving a plus score of 3/5 or more qualifies to participate in the Utah Closed Championship to be held the 1st weekend in December. Note that the winner of the Utah Closed is the Utah State Champion.

Prizes: Trophies and cash prizes are guaranteed to at least the following levels regardless of number of participants:

· Open: $200 1st, $100 2nd plus trophies. Utah Women’s Championship Trophy and $100 to top female. Class trophies for 1st U2000 and 1st U1800. (See class prizes below.)

· Reserve (under 1600): $150 1st, $75 2nd plus trophies. Also, 1st and 2nd place class trophies for U1400, U1200 and U1000.

· U800/unr/beginner: $100 1st, $75 2nd plus trophies.

Class Prizes: Unlike the above guaranteed prizes, class prizes depend upon the number of players per section. Winners of guaranteed prizes are not eligible for the class prizes, except in case of ties the greater payout per individual will be awarded. Any section having 30 or more (fully paid) players will receive 50 1st and $30 2nd in each class in addition to the class trophies. Smaller sections will only receive class money if money is available after subtracting total expenses including room rental, rating fees and guaranteed prizes.

· For all sections, in the case of ties, computer tiebreaks will be used to determine trophies with head-to-head results considered first, then modified median and solkoff, but prize money, of course, will be divided equally among those having the same score.· Unrated players (and beginners) may sign up for any section, and rated players may play up a section. By definition, anyone may compete in the Open Section, but this has the strongest players in the state.

Booster: All new USCF members who join after July 2011, and have not yet played in a USCF rated event, may waive the entry fee. Indicate ID number and date for advance entries and email granthodson@comcast.net together with identifying the section you wish to play in. You may also join at the playing site, but an additional $5 processing fee will be charged, since this may delay start of 1st round.