Quads
Pairings, Results & Rules
See the Google Doc.
What are Quads?
Some of our members (but not all) participate in our monthly Quads competition. Each Quad is a Chess tournament, where groups of four players (a quad) compete in an all-play-all event. Games are played gradually over the course of the month. Unplayed games are scored as nil and inactive players are removed from the next month’s pairings.
Quads are rank-ordered and the top Quad is called the Championship. The winner of each Quad will get promoted to the Quad above. The last-place finisher will get demoted to the Quad below. As players join/leave the Quads extra promotions and demotions may happen to rebalance the Quads.
As well as competing in the Quads, there are two other competitions. Each year the winners of the Championship Quad compete to become Club Chess Champion. Each game and every point scored also contribute towards a Grand Prix score. Each Grand Prix lasts three months and allows active players to compete across Quads.
Sign-Up/Opt-Out
Please speak to Dean at club-night if you’d like to sign-up or opt-out. There is a sign-up (and an opt-out) form on the clip-board which should be filled in. If you become inactive you will be dropped.
You can rejoin at any time. Just speak to Dean - in some cases we can get you onto the super-quad right away.
We only recommend Quads to members who average at least 50% attendance.
Prizes
Players are awarded Championship Points (not to be confused with Quad-Night points!) depending on the Quad and their position within that Quad. Extra prizes are subject to vary depending on availability. Sorry about that, we do our best with proceeds from our shop or donations from members.
The first time you win the Championship you will be awarded a Club T-Shirt. A T-Shirt (or similar) will also be awarded to the winner of the Grand-Prix.
Quad-Night Points
The first club-night of every month is Quad-Night. Quad games played on a Quad-Night score extra points that count towards tie-breaks and the Grand Prix title. While the result matters for the Quad tournament it makes no difference to the extra Quad-Night points. One point is awarded for each Quad game played on Quad-Night.
Tie-Breaks
When two players score the same points tie-breaks are used to decide which player is promoted/demoted. The following tie-breaks are used in order:
- Head-to-head score.
- Quad-night points.
- Grand-prix points.
- Previous Grand-prix points.
Grand-Prix
Each quarter Quad players compete in the Grand-Prix. At the end of the Quarter, the player to accumulate the most Grand-Prix points over 3 months wins. (The same tie-breaks as Quads apply.)
Grand-Prix points for each month are calculated as:
score + games played + quad night points
There are four Grand-Prix races each year:
| Grand-Prix | Months |
|---|---|
| Winter | January-March |
| Spring | April-June |
| Summer | July-September |
| Fall | October-November |
For the Fall Grand-Prix, points for the entire year are counted - so it becomes a Grand-Prix-of-the-Year competition. The winner of each Grand-Prix wins a club T-Shirt or other swag!
Championship
Quad players are eligible to score Championship points. In December, once all Quads have been played, the player with the most Championship points is declared that year’s Club Chess Champion.
The number of Championship points won each month is determined by where each player finished within the Quads. Winning the Championship gives an extra boost of points. Winning any Quad gives a single Championship point.
| Quad | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Championship | 1st | 6 |
| 2nd | 4 | |
| 3rd | 3 | |
| 4th | 3 | |
| Challenger | 1st-2nd | 2 |
| 3rd-4th | 1 | |
| Any other Quad | 1st | 2 |
| 2nd | 1 |