Chinese School Fall 2025 Chess Tournament
📅 Dates: November 23 & December 7, 2025
🕒 Time: 2:50 PM – 3:40 PM
📍 Location: Cafeteria, Shaker Middle School, Latham, NY 12110
📝 Registration at https://forms.gle/kzJ146NUP5mw9X378 Deadline: November 21, 2025
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The Chinese School Fall 2025 Chess Tournament welcomes all children and relatives of school families ages 17 and under, regardless of whether they are currently enrolled in a chess class.
All skill levels are encouraged to participate. Players will be placed into two divisions of approximately equal size based on age. (Note: First-place winners from previous tournaments will automatically be placed in the older division, regardless of age.)
🏁 Tournament Format & Prizes
(1) Games will be played in the cafeteria in a ribboned-off area
(2) Only players and coaches/judges are allowed in the marked-off playing area at all times.
(3) Two rounds (games) to be played each of the two days. All players play in all 4 rounds (with exceptions for byes, see below). No player will play the same opponent twice. Players only play against others in their division.
A “bye” is when a player does not play in a round. Players will be allowed up to 2 voluntary byes, if, for example, they know they will not be able to be at school for one of the tournament days. Players will receive 1/2 point for each voluntary bye (as if they had played a tied/drawn game). An involuntary bye can also happen if there is an odd number of players for a round. In that case, the current lowest-score player will be given a full 1-point bye (as if they had played and won).
(4) 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place prizes will be awarded for each division based on the top 3 scores. There could be multiple players with the same score; they will all receive the same prize.
(5) Players receive 1 point for a won game (or involuntary bye, see above), 1/2 point for a tied/drawn game (or a voluntary bye, see above), 0 points for a lost game (or forfeit/no-show). So the possible final scores are 0, 1/2, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/2, 4.
(6) Games will not be timed (no chess clocks); players instead are encouraged to complete each game within 20 minutes. If a game is running longer than 25 minutes, coaches may have to “adjudicate” it as a win or a tie. If any two players paired for the 2nd round of the day complete their 1st games early, they can start the 2nd round early.
(7) Play on the “honor system”, no need to record (write down) moves, but get a coach/judge right away if any disputes or questions arise during games.
Players are encouraged to bring their own chess sets if they have them. Supplies are limited.
Please register your student(s) as soon as possible https://forms.gle/kzJ146NUP5mw9X378 if they want to play the tournament. It takes a while to figure out pairings in advance, and last-minute changes are very hard to accommodate.
Note that there will be no chess classes on November 23 and December 7 due to the tournament running instead. So all chess class students are encouraged to register for the tournament.
Any questions on the tournament can be emailed to Coach Young: youngjeffreyalan@gmail.com.
Chinese School Administration Team
