HCC Spring Quads 2024

HCC's 2024 Spring Quads tournament will begin on April 4th. This is likely the last event of the 2023-2024 season and we would love to have you join us if you can. We play serious chess but also cultivate a welcoming club atmosphere.

Once registration closes players are divided into groups of four to nine by rating and paired using the FIDE tables for round-robin tournaments. Depending on the number of players in the section we play single or double round-robins, ideally with an even number of games to ensure colour balance for everyone. You can see an example of what the pairings and sections might look like on the pairing sheet from our last tournament.

Our experience with these tournaments has been excellent. The ability to schedule a game at a time convenient to both players allows people to join who would be otherwise unable to do so and minimises no-shows. Dividing the groups by rating also makes the sections more competitive and improves the experience for everyone. Some participants enjoy knowing their colour and opponent ahead of time to do serious opening preparation. We aim at, and largely succeed in, reproducing the feel of competitive OTB play at a local chess club.

Play begins at 7pm EDT (23h UTC) on Thursday April 4th. Registration closes on Sunday March 31st at midnight Eastern time (23h29 UTC) and pairings will be posted on the morning of Monday, April 1st. To register please message @datasmith.

Please read and understand the document that contains all the details of pairing, scoring, scheduling and general tournament rules before the beginning of play.

Once play is underway on Thursdays I will make an effort to post links to the games in the HCC Club Room. If you don't see me there please post a link to your game in the chat so that others can watch. This is also the place to hang out to meet and get to know other members of the group.

Whether you play or not, make sure to join the HCC team to receive all the news about this and future HCC events.

The more participants we have, the more fun for everyone so please pass on this blog post to your networks and encourage them to join us too. Looking forward to seeing you there !

David (@datasmith)