The 29th ALLEGHENY CHESS CONGRESS being held at the Pittsburgh Chess Club this July 25, 2009 will be using an unusual, and as far as we know, new tournament format! It is being called a HYBRID, more about that name later...But for players who are considering entering this interesting event, there are two important details to be noted right here:
#1: There will be only one section, no matter how many competitors join. The field will not be separated by rating cutoff levels, or divided to produce small groups with a certain limited number of players in each. With that in mind, though...
#2: Every player, no matter what their skill level, will have a realistic chance of finishing in a top place! How is that possible? Because every participant will play only other players who are close to them on the rating chart.
Pairings:
The matchups in this event are very similar to the traditional Quad format. In fact, they are almost the same, with only one difference. Just as in a Quad tournament, where players are broken into 4-player groups by rating, all of the pairings in this tournament are determined by the players' positions on the original wallchart. The results of games in earlier rounds do not affect later pairings. Also, this event has 3 rounds, just like traditional Quads, and in 2 of the 3 rounds, the pairings are exactly the same as they would be in normal Quads. The top 4 players face each other, and the next group, players 5 through 8, are paired together, etc.
But here's the key to the special format - Hybrid means 'mixing together' or 'combining' something, so what makes this system different is that during just one of the rounds, those apparent 'Quads' are crossed together. Player 3 faces player 5, and 4 plays 6. Because of that, players 7 & 8 are no longer grouped together with 5 & 6, but play 9 & 10 instead, and so on. The pairings in this round are also just like normal Quads would be, but as if the top 2 players had not entered, and the 4-player Quad sections were divided starting at player 3 instead of 1. (But players 1 & 2 *do* get a game this round - this is when they are paired against each other).
So, this format can be called HYBRID because what could seem to be separate Quad sections are hybridized together with each other, but in another sense it is also the HYBRID of the Quad system with the one-section Open format. Everyone is in the same group competing for prizes, as in a large Swiss tournament, but players only face others near them in rating, as in Quads.
Prizes:
The prize payout for this unusual format will follow USCF distribution rules. The only variable involved will be the number of prizes available, and that depends on the number of players who enter. Each individual prize is the same amount as the next one. For this particular tournament, the prizes have been announced as "$$50 b/4" which means that for every four players who enter, another $50 prize will be awarded.
Since it's possible for four PCC members to enter this event before the early-entry cut-off date (7/20/2009) and pay only $15 each, that gives a ratio of $50/$60, or 83% of the entry fee returned as prizes. That's better than the 75% of total entry fees that many, if not most, Quad sectioned tournaments return to their top finishers.
Just for example, let's say that 12 players enter (even though we definitely expect more). $$50 b/4 means that a total of $150 will be awarded, because it's three (12/4) prizes of $50 each. That would be the same as announcing it this way: 1st $50, 2nd $50, 3rd $50. If just 3 players all score 3-0, the $150 will be split between them, $50 each. If 4 players tie for 1st with scores of 2.5-0.5, the $150 will be split 4 ways, $38 each. If only 1 scores 3-0, but 3 more tie for second place with 2-1, the top winner will get $50 (the cap is no more than that for one person), and the remaining $100 splits between the three 2nd place finishers to give $33.33 each. For any other number of entrants, and any other combination of final scores, the prize distribution will follow USCF rules just like these examples.