Alabama ChessKid Qualifier for the National ChessKid Championship

Alabama ChessKid Qualifier For the National ChessKid Championship!

ChessKid is excited to announce the Alabama ChessKid Qualifier for the National ChessKid Championship! On Saturday, November 20th at 12pm CT, the Alabama ChessKid Qualifier for the National ChessKid Championship will take place and be open to all scholastic players K-12 in Alabama.

       Tournament Details

When: Saturday, November 20th, 2021 at 12pm CT for the K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 sections.

Entry Fee: $15 by November 16th, 2021, 11:59 pm CT. No entries accepted after November 16th.

Note -- in order to play in the warm up event on November 18, 2021, you MUST register by November 16th.

Time Control: All sections will play G15+2 (ten minutes per game with a two-second increment per move). There will be a total of five rounds.

How to Qualify for the National ChessKid Championship

Players who score 3 points qualify for the national championship event on December 11th. Players who score less than 3 points can play in the Reserve section on December 11th.

Registration Information

• Registration will take place here

• The entry fee is $15 USD.

• Registration closes on November 16th, 2021 at 11:59 pm CT. There will be no registrations accepted after 11:59 pm CT time on November 16th. 

• ChessKid will create a unique username for use in this event. 

• Everyone who registers by November 16th will be receive their username by Friday, November 17th and will be able to participate in the warm up event on November 18th

Fair Play

ChessKid expects that all children and their families will abide by the rules governing fair play. Both the child and the parent/guardian will have to agree to our fair play policies when registering for the event.
This is what will be agreed to upon registering for the event:

• ChessKid will run this event with the highest level of integrity and ethics. All players must play fairly and use good sportsmanship.

• We strictly forbid cheating of all kinds. ChessKid will use its own algorithms to monitor games and also will manually analyze select games at its discretion.

• All of your moves must be your own. You will not get help from anyone or anything else, including coaches, friends, parents, chess engines, or any other software of any kind.

• You will also not have a phone, tablet, or any other electronic device in the same room.

• You are only allowed to have one browser tab open and no other programs running on your computer. Violating this rule is a “technical forfeiture” and you will be disqualified, with no chance at prizes.

• You agree that ChessKid will make the final determination on any fair play issue.

• If you violate the ChessKid Fair Play Policy, then ChessKid will close your account and label it as having violated the Fair Play Policy.

• If you are not willing to agree to the above policies, you will not be allowed to play in the event.

Technical Details

• All games will be played on ChessKid.com's live server. No account is needed and if you already have an account, you won't need that either. Special one-time use tournament accounts will be created for all players. 

• Each section will be open for kids to 'join' the tournament about 30 minutes before the first round. Here's a video on how a child joins a live tournament on ChessKid. If you try to join after the starting time, you may not be able to play. It is required that you 'join' before the tournament starting time.

• ChessKid highly encourages playing on a laptop/desktop computer and not a tablet. Wifi is usually stronger and the site functions better. If you can plug in to an ethernet port, that is best. The reality of online play, even with the world champion, is that Wifi failures can impact an online tournament.

• If you must play on a tablet, the web site version is the only way (opening a browser on your device). The app will not work for this.

• Preferred browsers are Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

• Clearing your browser's cache before the tournament is another great protective measure.

• If you experience issues in the middle of the game or the tournament, clicking 'refresh' on your browser is the first thing to do. If you 'refresh' in the middle of a game, it will never kick you out of the game and can only help.

• Two kids cannot play at the same time on the same device.

• If a family has any issues with logging in, playing, etc, they will be able to contact the tournament organizers for assistance.

For any questions about the event, please email tournaments@chesskid.com