Thursday, June 12, 2008

Q&A

On the USCF Forums, a player named James Schuyler asked,
In the USCF rules, there are examples of players getting portions of different prizes for which they are eligible, e.g. 1/4 each of 4 different prizes for which they tied.

In the National Open this year, I got 1/4 of the U2400 prize, but I was told that I was not entitled to (up to) 3/4 of the place prize for which I tied.

A) Is this really correct?
B) If so, how is this logical or fair?

To answer A), please know what you're talking about.

Answer: This is a common error. (Oddly, players rarely complain when they think they're receiving more prize money than they deserve.) There were 14 players tied for 9th-17th and top U2400, and top U2300, four of whom were U2400 and one U2300. In this case, you perform two calculations: a) add up all the prizes and divide them equally, and b) add up the class prizes only and divide them among the eligible class players. The class players get the larger of the two, which here meant a four-way split of the U2400 prize. (And the U2300 took his class prize clear.) They don't get that and a slice of the place prizes as well.

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