Saturday, May 29, 2010

New USCF Titles

Titles for the masses! Titles are not just for masters any more. The concept of a norm has been expanded to each class.

ClassRating Title
D 12004th Category
C 14003rd Category
B 16002nd Category
A 18001st Category
Expert 2000Candidate Master
Master 2200Life Master
Sr. Master2400Life Senior Master

The idea is to award a player a norm when they achieve an "impressive" performance for someone at that level. Basically whenever someone has a good tournament (for a particular class) they get a norm toward a title in that class. After five norms at or above that class, the title is awarded.

For a tournament to qualify for a norm, it must be at least 4 rounds, must not be quick rated, and cannot be a match. So at minimum, a 5-player round robin at a 61 minute time control would qualify.

For a player to earn a norm at a qualifying event, he can't have played the same player more than once, and has to have achieved a certain score.

The score needed for a norm is calculated based on the post-tournament ratings of your opponents. To get a norm at the 1600 level, you have to score one more point than you would have, if you 1) beat everyone under 1400, 2) scored on average .75 points against opponents rated 1400-1600, 3) scored on average .375 against opponents rated 1600-1800, and 4) scored on average .125 points against opponents rated 1800-2000.

This is the win percentage for an "impressive" performance against different rated players. But you have to have exceeded this win percentage by 1 point over the course of the tournament to earn a norm. The USCF found that 10% of Class B players will receive the 2nd Category title over the course of 5 years of tournament play.

More details on the history, rules, and formula for this new title system can be found here.

These titles were applied to USCF rating history data going back to 1991. You may have already earned a title. Find out if you already have a title here!

A few of our club members:

Seth HomaLife Master, 2008
Alisher Sanetullaev1st Category, 2007, with 3 Candidate Master norms and 1 Master norm
Tony Nichols1st Category, 2007
Matt Hassen1st Category, 2009
David Sundeen2nd Category, 2002
Jacob Fortuna2nd Category, 2009
Erik Robinson3rd Category, 2010, with one 2nd Category norm
Chris Irwin4th Category, 2009, with one 2nd Category and one 1st Category norm.

These are all life titles, and cannot be lost. Congratulations to everyone.

Monday, May 17, 2010

May Swiss

Congratulations to Andy Catlin on taking 1st in the top section and David Sundeen on his perfect score in the bottom section. Thanks to everyone for playing.

Top Section 
 
---------------------------------------------------
 Pair | Player Name       |Total|Round|Round|Round| 
 Num  | Rtg (Pre->Post)   | Pts |  1  |  2  |  3  | 
---------------------------------------------------
    1 | ANDREW CATLIN     |2.5  |W   7|W   6|D   3|
   MI | R: 1958   ->1969  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    2 | ANTHONY NICHOLS   |2.0  |W   5|D   3|D   4|
   MI | R: 1985   ->1987  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    3 | MICHAEL CHEN      |2.0  |W   8|D   2|D   1|
   MI | R: 1984   ->1987  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    4 | JUSTIN CHEN       |2.0  |D   6|W   8|D   2|
   MI | R: 1739   ->1775  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
5 | PETER CHEN        |1.5  |L   2|W   7|D   6|
   MI | R: 1877   ->1874  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    6 | TODD MCAULIFFE    |1.0  |D   4|L   1|D   5|
   MI | R: 1876   ->1865  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
7 | JEFFREY GUILFOYLE |1.0  |L   1|L   5|W   8|
   MI | R: 1670   ->1675  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    8 | BRUCE ROTH        |0.0  |L   3|L   4|L   7|
   MI | R: 1732   ->1700  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
Bottom Section
---------------------------------------------------
 Pair | Player Name       |Total|Round|Round|Round| 
 Num  | Rtg (Pre->Post)   | Pts |  1  |  2  |  3  | 
---------------------------------------------------
    1 | DAVID SUNDEEN     |3.0  |W   7|W   3|W   4|
   MI | R: 1600   ->1627  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
2 | JOHN GRIFFIN      |2.0  |D   5|D   4|W   7|
   MI | R: 1506   ->1500  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    3 | JERRY CRYSLER     |2.0  |W   6|L   1|W   5|
   MI | R: 1496   ->1492  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    4 | LARRY HODGE       |1.5  |W   8|D   2|L   1|
   MI | R: 1350   ->1361  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    5 | BENNARIO CHAPMAN  |1.5  |D   2|W   6|L   3|
   MI | R: 1069   ->1146  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
6 | ROD SCHAAF        |1.0  |L   3|L   5|W   8|
   MI | R: 1125   ->1123  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
    7 | MERVIN DRAPER     |0.5  |L   1|D   8|L   2|
   MI | R: 1180   ->1168  |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------
8 | JOY CHEN          |0.5  |L   4|D   7|L   6|
   MI |R: 1199   ->1157   |     |     |     |     |
---------------------------------------------------

Lansing City Championship Rd 4 Pairings

Cruz vs Sanetullaev
Zelevinsky vs Garrison
Sundeen vs Irwin
Epshtein vs Nichols

Lansing City Championship Rd 3 Results

Garrison vs Sanetullaev  0-1
Nichols vs Zelevinsky  0-1
Irwin vs Cruz  0-1
Sundeen vs Epshtein  1-0

Monday, May 10, 2010

Lansing City Championship Rd 3

The pairings for round 3.

Garrison vs Sanetullaev
Nichols vs Cruz
Sundeen vs Irwin
Epshtein - Bye

Lansing City Championship Rd 2

No surprises in round 2 as the rating favorite won every game.

Sanetullaev vs Nichols 1-0
Garrison vs Cruz  1-0
Epshtein vs Irwin 0-1
Sundeen - Bye
Torrence - Bye

Monday, May 3, 2010

Lansing City Championship Rd 2 pairings Update

Here are the pairings for round 2. They are subject to change if someone late joins.
Update: Sundeen has to take a bye for medical reasons.

1 Sanetullaev vs Nichols
2 Garrison vs Cruz
3 Torrence vs Irwin
 
   Ephstein  1 - Bye
   Sundeen 1/2 - Bye

Lansing City Championship Rd 1

The results of round 1:

Irwin vs Sanetullaev    0-1
Nichols vs Sundeen    1-0
Torrence vs Garrison  0-1
Cruz vs Epshtein         1-0