There are similarities in running an adult or a junior tournament. I am only going to concentrate on running a junior tournament, due to the extra requirements.
Below are a number of important things you should be aware of when running a junior event:
- Chess sets and boards. You should have sufficient chess sets and boards to cater for all the players, including any late entries. Good practice would be to have an extra 20 chess sets for late entries. In order to mitigate this, you can add a very expensive late entry fee. This will deter most people from turning up and entering on the day without notice.
- Clocks – ideally digital clocks. It is good practice to have spare clocks available. Clocks often break down, so you will need replacements on hand. Also ensure you have a few sets of spare batteries on hand, as the most common cause of clocks not working is due to low battery charge.
- Computer pairing program, or pairing cards and a pairing board. In the past, manual pairing cards and pairing boards used to be the norm. The arbiter manually sets the pairings, and records the results of every round. As you can clearly see, this is a manual process and can result in error and in some cases favoured pairings. The recommended method is to use a computerised pairing program. This will save time and avoid errors. The best pairing program is Swiss Manager . It is not very intuitive, and quite difficult to get the hang of. However, once you are up and running this program will speed up your tournament, reduce the chance of errors, provide online pairings and also printable copies and online results. You will need a wifi connection to upload the pairings. If the venue does not have wifi you can simply connect your computer to your phone for connection. If you have no phone or wifi, you can simply print the pairings and display them at the venue as well.
- Board numbers. These are vital. Without these your tournament will descend into chaos. I have seen events like this, and let’s just say I won’t be returning to them. Board numbers should be clearly viewable by each board and set out in numerical fashion. If you are running an event with age group sections, it is advisable to have the youngest section situated nearest the arbiter’s desk, as this is where you will get most of your issues.
- Arbiters and staff. You will need at least one arbiter, depending on the size of your event. You will need a few board stewards as well, who will go round and resolve any issues during games. 5 board stewards for 100 children are enough.
- Trophies / cash prizes. A good place to buy trophies for a reasonable price is Action Trophies. The children love trophies and the older children also love cash prizes. Having lots of trophies at a prize giving makes for an event that looks very professional right to the end of the event. One tip to ensure children – or more importantly parents – attend the prizegiving is to add to your entry form, and also restate at the start of the event, that prizes will not be given out to those who do not attend.
- Certificates (optional). Certificates are a nice extra. Creating these comes with a good deal of admin. A fair number of certificates are not collected, so this is not an essential, but a ‘nice to have’.
- Someone to run a small canteen for basic refreshments. This is very important. Without a canteen, you are likely to have parents complaining all through the day. It is surprising the effect a cup of coffee can have on a parent who has to sit and wait for his child all day in a parent’s room, and also this gives the ability to provide a packet of crisps, for example, to the child of the same parent.
- Parents’ room. This is again very important. Parents should never under any circumstance be allowed in the playing hall during a tournament. This means you need a large space to accommodate parents while they wait for their children. If you do not have sufficient space, tables and chairs, you will receive complaints throughout the day of your event.
- A secure venue with chairs and tables and sufficient space. The best venues for junior events are generally schools, as they are generally quite secure places. You do not want to use a venue where anybody from the street can walk into your event. There are potentially serious safeguarding issues here.
Space is very important for junior events, more so than adult events. When you display pairings, these must be put in a place that is easy accessable and easy to move away from once a child has found their pairing. If you create a bottleneck and have a large event, you will find that children will all pile into a small area and then struggle to remove themselves once they have found their pairing. This can result in pushing and possible injury. This is of vital importance. Good practice for a large event is to have several places to put up your pairings, to avoid too many children in one area. - Signs for (i) directions, and (ii) round times, rules and format. Your venue must be littered with numerous signs covering prizes, round times, directions and rules. You cannot overdo these. Even with lots of signs up, you will still find parents approaching you and asking what time the next round is, despite it being written on a wall behind or in front of them. Without signs you will have a difficult day and find it difficult to run your event, as you will have constant questions throughout the day.
- Parental responsibility. In your entry form, you should say that you are only responsible for the children while they are in the playing hall. You should also state that a parent must stay at the venue to look after their child. This should be repeated at the start of the event when you do your introduction. Despite this, you will still find little 6-year-old Kate wandering round saying “I can’t find my mum!”, who has left the venue. It is good practice to have easy access to all parents’ email addresses and mobile numbers, so you can call them directly if required.
Even though you have an opt out saying that it is the parents’ responsibility to look after their children, you must also follow standard safeguarding rules. You cannot ignore everything that happens outside of the playing hall. It is good practice to have stewards walking round the playground and parents’ room. You will be amazed at the things that can happen if you are not careful. I caught a parent in a school retrieving a ball – despite a very large sign saying ‘danger of death’ – as he was about to enter the main electric outlet for the school by climbing over a 7-foot fence. It may be that you will get away without any legal problems in such a situation. However, your reputation as an organiser will be ruined. Word gets round and parents will go to a better-run event.
