RULES (Primary and Secondary Schools)

1. Any Primary or Secondary School in Australia may enter
2. Each tournament should have 7 rounds
3. Each session (round) should be allocated at least 20 minutes. You can choose play one round a week or multiple rounds in a day.
   
4. Minimum tournament size is 8 players, maximum size is 128 players
   
5. Games are concluded by checkmate, opponent's resignation or agreed draw. If the game is not finished by the end of the allocated time a result is determined by counting the value of pieces remaining on the board. A player must have an advantage of 3 or more points to be adjudicated the winner. Stalemate or insufficient mating material (less than 5 points and no pawns) are counted as a draw. If in doubt take a photo of the position and email it our help-desk.
   
6. Points value of each piece as follows:  Queen = 9,  Rook = 5,  Bishop = 3,  Knight = 3,  Pawn = 1
7. Games are scored; 3 points for a win, 2 for a draw and 1 for a loss. An absence is 0 points. If there is an odd number of players in a round, one player will be allocated a BYE, which is scored as 3 points.
   
8. Pairings will be automatically calculated with our web-based Tournament Management Software. Simply enter the names of your players into the website and our software works out who plays who! Use the roll-call feature to include in the pairings only the players present for that round. You will receive links to instructional videos with your Info & Prizes pack and we are available by phone or email at any time to assist you. 
9. Disputes during the event are to be settled by the teacher/parent in charge, but any queries can be referred to the Tournament Organiser, David Cordover (1300 424 377) or email challenge@chesskids.com.au.

PRIZES
Prizes are won as the following score is reached or passed (3 points for win, 2 for draw, 1 for loss):
3 points                BADGE
6 points                1st Gold Spot
9 points                2nd Gold Spot
12 points              3rd Gold Spot
13 points              MASCOT
15 points              4th Gold Spot
16 points              KEYRING CHESS SET
17 points              Qualifies for MEGAFINAL
18 points              5th Gold Spot
21 points              6th Gold Spot (plus JACKPOT PRIZE)

The overall tournament winner will receive a trophy. If you are running more than one tournament in your school and have more than one champion you will need to pay $15 for each additional trophy.

QUALIFYING FOR MEGAFINALS
Any player scoring 17 points or more will qualify for the Area MegaFinal. This is a one-day event, held on a weekend. Dates and locations will be released in due course. There is an entry fee of $30 per player into the MegaFinal. 

PLUS the best scoring boy and girl in each age-division of U7, U8, U9, U10, U11, U12, U13, U14 and U15 (given they have played at least 5 games).

Ages are taken as of January 1. Current Year minus Year of Birth gives you the U-Age category. Eg. Current year 2015 born in 2005; 2015-2005 = Under 10 for the entire calendar year.

There will be an entry fee per player of $30 to the Megafinals . There will also be an entry fee for the National Terafinal.

FAQ's

How does it work?
The Challenge runs over 3 stages:
Stage 1. A chess tournament in-school - 'school championships' if you like. Players who can score 17 points or more will qualify for stage 2. (Usually around 10% of players)
Stage 2. Mega-Finals...an online series of tournaments with players from all over the country.Players who score 17 points qualify to stage 3
Stage 3. Tera-Finals. By now it's only the best of the best remaining, this is where cash prizes are awarded. This event is an in-person event and is held in Melbourne in late November.

Who does what?
A teacher, parent or chess coach will take responsibility for Stage 1 (in-school tournament). After that the co-ordinator responsibility is limited to passing information to the players who have qualified. It is then up to the parent/player to take part in the Mega-Finals and beyond.

When does it all happen?
Term 1 is for registration and information dissemination. Basically just getting organised.

Term 2 and Term 3 will be the time when your in-school Challenge takes place. Any 7 sessions. As long as your Challenge is completed before the last MegaFinal (end of Term 3) then your kids can still play MegaFinals. If your event doesn't finish until Term 4 they will have missed out.

Term 3 is MegaFinals - these are held on SUNDAYs from week 7 of Term 3 and players who qualify choose from the calendar we provide which date (or dates) suits them to participate. Registration for Mega-Finals is $30 and entitles players to take part in as many MegaFinals events as they like.

Term 4 is Tera-Finals ... this is the only event where in-person participation is required. Held on the last Sunday in November.

Where are the Mega-Finals held?
There are many Mega-Finals held, all ONLINE. Mostly on Sunday afternoons. The calendar will be released in the middle of Term 3 each year.

Can Secondary Schools enter?
Certainly, yes!

In later stages the events are broken into age-divisions. In the Tera-Finals there is a $1000 cash prize for the Ultimate Winner (of any age) plus there is a cash prize for the best Primary School Student.

Who gets prizes?
Everyone wins a prize! 

In the school-championships we provide prizes for every player. At later stages there are trophy prizes for winners in each age group (U8 - U18).

At the Tera-Finals the winner (open age) will get $1000 cash. There is also a cash prize for the best student age U12.

What exactly is in a "Prize Pack"?
Each school receives 2 prize packs plus a trophy. You may also choose to order additional prize packs or trophies. Each prize pack contains:
75 x Gold Spots (stickers)
15 x Badges
10 x Animal Mascots (plush toys, approx 6cm)
5 x Keyring Chess Sets

When are the online games?
The School Challenge stage (first stage) is designed to be a face-to-face competition between the players in your school. 

The second stage (Mega Finals) will involve online matches - players will either receive a login to www.chesskid.com or we can use their existing login if they are already playing on this site.

What does Tornelo do?
Tornelo works out which kids are due to play against each other in each round of the competition. The actual game can take place at any time between the 2 players (you can share the link to the tournament with your kids so they can check who they are playing at any time) but the next round shouldn't be paired until the majority (preferably all) of the games from the first round are completed and results entered into Tornelo.

Who's running the event?
The entity Chess World Australia Pty Ltd (ABN: 41 118 087 862) is the organiser of this event. This company is also the owner of other well-known brands such as Chess Kids, National Interschool Chess Championships, Chess World, GiantChess.com.au and many others.