• Time Control & Schedule & Prizes

    Time control: 6SS G/90 +30 inc
    Team event, pairing is team vs. team, considering each team as individual entry.

    Schedule
    Onsite Registraiton: Dec 27, Thursday 10AM - 3PM

    Team Captains & Coaches meeting: Dec 27, Thursday 4PM

    Opening Ceremony & reception: Dec 27, Thursday 4:30PM

    Round 1 Dec 27, Thursday 6PM
    Round 2 Dec 28, Friday 10AM
    Round 3 Dec 28, Friday 5PM
    Round 4 Dec 29, Saturday 10AM

    College Committee Meeting: Dec 29, Saturday 3PM

    Round 5 Dec 29, Saturday 5PM
    Round 6 Dec 30, Sunday 9AM

    Trophy Ceremony: Dec 30, Sunday 3PM



    Team Prizes
    Top Teams 1-5
    Division II 2000-2199
    Division III 1800-1999
    Division IV 1600-1799
    Division V: 1400-1599
    Division VI: Under 1400 (Organizer’s option)
    Top International Team
    Top Community College (awarding no baccalaureate degree)
    Top Four-Year Small College (under 5,000 enrollment)
    Top All-Female Team
    Best Mixed Doubles Team (with at least 2 males and 2 females)
    Biggest Team Upset

    Individual Prizes
    Top Individual Boards 1-4
    Top Alternate
    Biggest Individual Upset

  • Registration, Lineup submittion and Fees


    Registration of teams can be made
    online: www.bayareachess.com/my/panam
    (user login ID required, name of the team should be noted in the Additional notes)
    or via email: ask@bayareachess.com

    Payment for a team can be made anytime, and roster can be finalized until 12/27 3PM.

    Eligibility Form - must be submitted to the eligibility committee
    Pan_Am Eligibility Shortform Checklist 2018.pdf
    Be aware that this form needs the registrar's signature and stamp, so you have to get this before you leave campus!
    "The checklist below must be copied onto your institution’s letterhead. All boxes should be checked to confirm compliance. The letter should be signed, dated, and stamped with your University’s seal by your University registrar or commensurate authority. Please scan and email the letter to Kelly M. Bloomfield (bloomfield.40 at osu.edu). You will receive a return email. Be sure to bring the original to the event."

    Lineup Submittion
    Team roster must be submitted by Dec 27 4pm.

    Lineups for each round must be submitted 1 hour before of the announced official round start times.
    Lineups can be submitted:
    - in person at the Event Center
    - via email to ask@bayareachess.com
    - text to 919-265-7560 (which is also the main hot line)

    Entry Fee
    $229 per team
    $10 US College Chess Committee fee included

    $50 late fee if registered after Dec 1st.

  • Rules

    The tournament is both USCF and FIDE rated.
    FIDE rules are applicable.

    Announced rules by Committe Chair (click on the link)


    Team Rosters & Lineups

    A team is made up of four players plus up to two optional alternates.
    When alternates play, they must do so starting on the lowest boards. Any regular team member may sit out when an alternate plays; other team members move up accordingly.
    Teammates must play in descending rating order, except that 50-point transpositions are allowed. Board order must remain the same throughout the event.
    Each team must submit a roster before the close of registration indicating the fixed lineup
    A team may not deviate from its given roster after sign-up.

    Teams are ranked in order of the average of four highest individual ratings – this includes the alternates. The team average rating is used for wall chart ranking and class-prize eligibility.
    Unrated players must be placed below rated players.
    A team must have a minimum of three players to compete for prizes. In the event that only two players arrive from a school before round 1, they will be allowed to compete provided their teammates are expected to arrive. If these teammates do not arrive, then the two who did arrive are ineligible for all prizes.
    There may be no mixed teams. For example, if two schools arrive with only two players, the four may not form a team, even if they volunteer to forego prize eligibility.
    A school may send an unlimited number of teams. There is no rule regarding the composition of multiple teams (e.g. they may be balanced or in order from highest to lowest rated), only that individual
    members of each team must be in strict descending rating order. Multiple teams will be designated as "A," "B," "C," etc., with "A" designating the team with the highest average rating.
    All teams must designate a coach or captain (he/she need not be a competitor, just affiliated with the team's school).
    The role of the coach/captain is:
    • To turn in his team line-up to the TD at least one hour before the round begins.
    • To see that his/her team arrives on time for each match.
    • To see that his/her team plays in correct board order.
    • To advise his/her players whether or not to accept or offer a draw.
    • To report the result of the match to the TD.
    • To check the wall charts for accuracy

    Pairings & Color allocations

    The event is a Swiss System, paired strictly team vs. team.
    Board 1 of Team A plays Board 1 of Team B, through board four (see IX.3 for substitution practice of alternates).

    Pairings are done by considering each team an individual entity
    A team that is assigned "white" has white on boards 1 and 3, black on 2 and 4; conversely, a team that is assigned "black" has black on boards 1 and 3, white on 2 and 4.
    The rule regarding color in a series (popularly known as "the three blacks in a row rule") is less important in team play, because each team has two whites and two blacks per round

    Team Scores, Game Points

    Each team gets one match point if the combined scores of the four players in a round is 2 1/2 or greater, one-half match point if the combined score is 2, and zero match points if the combined score is 1 1/2 or less.
    Teams are grouped by their match points and then ranked within the group by their ratings.
    Byes, defaults, lateness, and so forth are treated as in individual tournaments.
    The number of match points (not total game points) determines the final standings.

    Tie Breaks
    Tie-breaks are used to award places and trophies only. Cash prizes are divided equally in any tie.

    If two teams are tied for first, they are considered co- champions. Tie-breaks are used to determine which team name "goes first" in articles, and which team gets the larger trophy. The recipient of the second place trophy can have it send it for a new engraving declaring that team "co- champion." If three or more teams tie, tie-breaks are used to determine first, second, third, etc. places. If two teams or individuals tie for a prize other than first place team, tie-breaks are used for place plus trophy allocation (no new engraving need be sent).

    When team match points are equal, the following order of tie-break systems will be used:
    • U.S. Amateur Team East (USATE)
    • Game points
    • Direct encounter
    • Bucholz Cut 1
    • Bucholz
    • Sonneborn-Berger
    For individual board prize determinations, the tie-break procedure is total points scored, then
    • Winning percentage
    • Median
    • Solkoff
    • Sonnenborn-Berger
    • Cumulative
    • Kashdan
    • Result between tied players
    • Most Blacks
    • Result between teams of tied players
    • Coin flip


    Electronic Devices & Notation devices
    Any electronic device that could be used to transmit or receive information related to chess or to calculate potential moves is not allowed in the tournament playing area.
    This restriction applies to players and all other personnel in the playing area except the tournament director and TD’s support staff.
    Further, no such devices can be in the immediate possession of a player, regardless of the player’s location, during a game that is in progress.
    Prohibited devices include, but are not limited to, cell or smart phones, tablets, computers and Apple or Android watches. (Nothing in this rule prohibits the use of Monroi or DGT devices at the discretion of the tournament director.)
    Violation of this rule by a player may result in the player’s immediate forfeit of a game in progress. Violations by a non-player may result in banishment from the tournament playing area.

  • Eligibility

    Pairings & Color allocations

    Rule 1
    For college and university teams, FIDE International Masters and FIDE International Grandmasters are eligible to participate if they satisfy at least one of the following stipulations: #1 or all three conditions listed in #2.
    1. Are less than 26 years old as undergraduate students, or under 30 years old as graduate students, as of September 1 of the academic year in which the tournament takes place.
    2. Satisfy all of the following three conditions:
    a) Are full-time, degree-seeking students (e.g., at least 12 semester credit hours for undergraduate students and 9 semester credit hours for graduate students)
    b) Have a grade-point average of at least B (e.g., at least 3.0 on a 4-point scale)
    c) Have satisfied conditions 1 and 2 for at least one full semester at their team’s college or university prior to the event. (Thus, note that this is an exception to Rule 4, below.)
    Rule 1 applies to all college events — individual or team. There are no age restrictions on players not having the two above-mentioned international titles.
    All international grandmasters and international masters are eligible to play in a maximum of six Pan-American Inter-Collegiate Team Chess Championships.
    Rule 2
    College and University players shall be enrolled at least half-time (e.g. 6 semester credit hours) during the semester of eligibility. For the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championship, traditionally held between Christmas and New Year’s each year, players must be enrolled in the fall semester preceding the event. A player must not be enrolled in high school.
    Rule 3
    College and university players shall be eligible to play for a total of six years, where a year is defined as being either a traditional academic year of a fall and spring term or a fall term or a spring term, e.g., a player enrolled in spring of 1998, spring of 1999 and fall of 1999 is considered enrolled for three years under this rule.
    Rule 4
    College and university players shall be enrolled in a degree-seeking program with a cumulative grade point average of at least a C. If a student is new to the institution and has no GPA, then this requirement is waived.
    Rule 5
    College and university players for a Pan-American team must all be resident at the same geographical location, which can include multiple campuses and instructional facilities used by the same college or university the players represent. All players must live either in on-campus housing or in housing within reasonable commuting distance of each other and the college or university they are representing.
    Rule 6
    Colleges and universities offering chess-related scholarships shall maintain records about the individuals awarded such scholarships, their time of attendance, the degrees received if any, and the grade point average attained.
    Rule 7
    Faculty and staff are not eligible to compete. In this context, “staff” is not intended to include student workers or teaching assistants.
    The following are suggestions offered for guidance:
    Faculty conflicts. A faculty member serving as a consultant or director to a university or college chess program should adhere to the following guidelines:
    • To admit no player to their program who does not, in their judgment, demonstrate a serious likelihood of achieving a degree.
    • To not offer independent study courses to members of the chess team.
    • To not recruit players from other chess programs.
    • To scrutinize carefully undergraduate students applying for a second baccalaureate.

  • Side Events

    Warm up Blitz
    Dec 27
    12M - 2PM
    5SS G/5;d0 rated blitz tournament
    $14 - register onsite :)

    *** Immediately after Pan-Am ***
    Bay Area International
    GM/IM Norm Open SuperSwiss tournament
    $13,000 Guaranteed
    Jan 1 - 7, 2019 @ SFO Hyatt
    More information:
    sfinternationalchess.com

    Players attending both PanAm and Bay Area International will not have to move rooms!

  • TDs and Organizers

    Tournament Directors
    NTD, IA, IO Thomas Langland
    NTD, FA John McCumiskey
    ANTD, FA Richard Koepcke
    STD, NA Abel Talamantez
    STD, NA Judit Sztaray
    STD Jordan Langland

    Organizer: Dr. Judit Sztaray
    2017 Organizer of the Year by USCF
    Email to the organizer

  • Location & Accomodation

    Tournament site:
    SFO Hyatt Regency (map)
    1333 Bayshore Hwy, Burlingame, CA 94010


    Reserve room NOW at the Tournament Site
    $115/night (+ tax & fees)
    Link to reserve rooms:
    https://book.passkey.com/go/PanAm2018

    Cut-off: Dec 1st, 2018

    Single Occupancy:

    $ 115

    Double Occupancy:

    $ 115

    Triple Occupancy

    $ 140

    Quadruple Occupancy:

    $ 165

    Suites:

    $ 115

    Individuals will also be able to make, modify or cancel reservations by calling either 888-421-1442 toll free and referring to Group, Event name or Event code.