Unofficial PWC FAQ - Last Updated 9/3/2010
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This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is NOT by Dick Stableford. It is by the owner of
loudounchess.org which is primarily to support chess activities in Loudoun County but is more
than happy to be a publication point for Mr Stableford's activities. As such, I cannot
presume to represent Mr Stableford or any other TD although I suspect that some of them will
agree with some of the answers below. So, any blame on what is posted below is solely mine.

0. Who are you and what is this FAQ all about?

I run the loudounches.org website. I used to help out at Dick's unrated tournaments as a
Tournament Director. For those of you that don't know, Dick (and all the volunteers) do not
run these tournaments to get rich. Like any other community activity, it is run for the kids
and that is why I volunteered then and still assist in a small way now. Loudoun Chess was
started to help chess in Loudoun County but chess is so big in Northern VA that I am happy to
assist other volunteers even if it was a small thing like give them a place to help
communicate and organize.

This FAQ is meant to be especially useful for the parents of those kids. I suggest that you
at least read the questions below even if you don't have a lot of time.

I've also kept the tone of this FAQ as unbureaucratic as possible because I believe in
explaining things while keeping things relatively efficient.

1. Why the change to the Web Form based registration instead of the old email system?

There were several reasons for this. The main one being that the amount of work was just
getting to be a little too much and we were looking for ways to make things less painful for
the registration TD.

More than twenty percent of the registrations would come in in the 24 hours before the
deadline and the volunteer would have to plug these last 30 to 50 kids into the tournament
software from Thursday night through Friday night and STILL get his regular day job done. It
caused many a late night, mistakes and frustration.

[TD: Tournament Director]

2. Who is supposed to do the registration through this web form anyway?

Regardless of what the school chess club, school principal, teachers or your friend says, the
organizers of the tournament insist that the responsibility for registration lies with the
parent/guardian of the child that is going to play. He said, she said, finger pointing and
other reasons do not gain any traction with us.

3. What kinds of typical issues occur in registration?

- Incomplete information (lacking school or section etc)

- Multiple emails due to incomplete information. A grade level DOES NOT mean that the child
will play in the section that matches that grade level because a child can play UP if they
wish.

- School chess club sponsors/teachers that just lets all the kids check off their names in
school up till the last day and then send me a spreadsheet or file with 20 names on it a few
hours before the deadline.

4. What can we do to help make the process better?

Register early and get your friends to register early. Check your registration on the
website after a few days. Registering 24 hours before the deadline is not the best way to do
things.

5. How can I contact Dick Stableford to get on the mailing list?

Let him know you want to get on the mailing list. o6usmc@comcast.net

6. I don't have internet access, how can I register?

Public library? School library (if it has access), or a neighbor? How about a friend's
iPhone?

7. I am a school chess club sponsor/leader, what is my role in this?

- Get your kid's parents to do what was written in Question 4 above.

- Distribute the flyers from Dick if possible.

- Don't tell me that everyone in the club is coming by sending your club's full membership
list just because you are afraid that some may forget to register. It generates more work
that is unnecessary for the registration TD.

- Tell the kids to answer roll call and to let the TD know when they are no longer playing.

8. I like the old system of registration and want it back! Can we go back to that please?

No.

Actually, we can go back to that when you decide to become the registration TD and are
willing to volunteer to learn the software, receive the emails, answer the questions and
spend all those hours getting everything right under the old system.

9. Why are these tournaments only open to Prince William county students?

Simply put, at some tournaments, up to 25% of the players were coming from other counties
that at that time, did not have tournaments in their own counties even though they had active
chess clubs in their schools. Since being excluded from Prince William, some of them have
started their own tournaments.

The tournaments were starting to get too big with these additional kids so we limited it to
PWC kids.

10. I am a player. What can I do to help?

- Get your parent to register you early!

- Answer roll call.

- Let us know when you leave so that we won't pair you up for subsequent rounds.

- If you say you are going to play all rounds, make the effort to do so. Don't leave just
because you feel like it.

- If you told us that you're going to skip the first round, don't get mad when we can't fit
you in when you walk in early.

11. I liked the old email address because I could contact you that way. Can we get it back?

We ignore that old email address now. In fact, if you send email to it, you will get an
automatic response saying your email is being ignored. All questions go to Dick Stableford
as he is the Organizer of the tournament.

12. What are the conditions for registration?

Register with first and last name, school, email address, desired section to play in and
which rounds you're skipping. See (13) below as well.

13. What are the conditions for being allowed to play in these tournaments?

The player has to be a K through 12 student in Prince William County either in public school,
private school or home school.

14. I just want to turn up Saturday morning and have my kid play. What can't I do that?
Why does it have to be so formal?

We have some tournaments where 220+ kids turn up to play. That means that there are about
220+ parents as well and perhaps a few non-playing siblings around as well. That's 440
people at a minimum.

Let's make it a small tournament. 100 kids and their parents.

Each walk in registration takes a minimum of 2 minutes to process and sometimes more. So, if
you walk in and we have to take 2 minutes out to register you, that's 2 minutes out of 200
other peoples' time as well since we can't get started on the tournament until we put your
name in and pair your player up. That's 400 minutes of other peoples' time. That's 6 hours
and 40 minutes of other kids' and parents' time just because you couldn't register before
Thursday night.

If one parent can come in and register late, why not 10? Multiply that and we have wasted
almost 67 hours of time.

No one should have a right to waste that much of others' time just because they couldn't meet
the deadline.

15. I don't know my schedule and availability until Friday. How can I register without
knowing? Why is your Thursday deadline so strict?

Register anyway. Then have a friend tell us Saturday morning that you won't be coming. In
any case, when you're not there to answer roll call, we take your name out. Not a problem.

16. How can I provide feedback to you if you won't use your email address?

Send email to Dick. I'll be providing some form of feedback in the future through the
website.

17. I am a teacher, what can I do to help?

First of all, thank you for being a teacher that cares enough to want to help the kids using
this game. You probably don't get paid extra to do this and we appreciate it.

- As a teacher, you know that when it comes to kids, the scalabilty of managing events like
this is always a challenge. That's why the registration system is very focused and
streamlined. So, please communicate to the kids (and perhaps more importantly, their parents)
that early registration is appreciated.

- If possible, volunteer to help out in these tournaments. It doesn't have to be for the
whole day or even in a big role. It doesn't even have to be for every tournament. Small
things help too.

- Lastly, if you still don't know what the benefits of the game are, learn about them.