Link to our Electronic Device & Player Conduct Policy

Byes, Withdrawals, Missing a Round, Forfeits

• You must immediately inform a tournament director if you need to miss a round, are running very late and/or want to withdraw from the tournament (i.e. you do not want to play any remaining games in the event).
• Below is an example of how you may see withdrawals marked on a pair chart:

• If you need to miss a round and would like a "half-pt bye" for the timely advance notice to the TD, let them know when you register and/or follow any of the pre-tournament publicity on how to request the byes. Some events have a maximum # of 0.5pt byes available & deadlines for when you can request them.
• Forfeits happen due to a variety of reasons but most commonly when someone did not tell the TD that they were going to miss a round. This results in the opponent waiting an hour or so to get the free point. It is a waste of the TDs time to keep track of this and a waste of the player's time who is waiting around for his/her opponent. Penalties may be issued for future events if you fail to let the TD know you can't make a round.

Draws

• Proper timing is to offer a draw after you have made your move, but before you hit the clock. Then hit the clock and wait for your opponent's response to the draw offer and/or claim as applicable. There are exceptions to this procedure. i.e. triple occurrence and 50 move rule draws
• To claim a triple occurrence draw, the player claiming should write the move down on the score-sheet, don't play the move, stop the clock and state the claim to the opponent.  If no move is required to state the claim, then just stop the clocks and state the claim. 
• To claim a 50-move rule draw, you must be able to demonstrate that the last 50 consecutive moves have been made by each side without any pwn move or any capture. You can ask for a TD to help count out 50 moves if in sudden death. You as the player need to declare the intention to invoke this 50-move rule. 
• Per USCF rules, A TD is NOT responsible to initiate these draw claims on behalf of the players. 

Pairing Requests

• You may not have an option to play "up" a section. Cutoffs for sections are determined by the tournament director and pairings are based off of the latest supplement rating unless otherwise specified. See each tournament's publicity details for options. 
• We do not use "LIVE" ratings for pairings. Provisional ratings may be used based on the discretion of the TD. Foreign ratings may be used. Other references may be used in the event of an unrated player.
• We only honor requests for family members (siblings) to avoid pairings for the first half of the tournament only. i.e. if it's a 3 round, only for rounds 1-2; if it's a five round event, only for rounds 1-3. In all other rounds, siblings may be paired against one another.