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I've always wondered how CO Tour points were calculated. Upon assuming the position of CSCA Secretary, out-going secretary Mike Fuchs showed me how this works. Now I will pass this knowledge onto you for information's sake. It's actually quite simple, not requiring any advanced math degrees.

For new readers, the CO Tour is a series of CO Chess tournaments starting w/the CO Open in September and ending with the NW CO Open in August. Winners are announced at the CO Open and receive cash prizes based on score (ie, performance). See the CSCA web site at www.colorado-chess.com for more details.

I'll demonstrate by using examples, starting w/me!

EXAMPLE 1 (one open section):

I played in the CO Membership Open, (3 games) which had one open section. My post-tournament rating from those 3 games is 1655, as calculated by Swiss Sys paring program. Twenty other players played.

STEP 1: I add up every players post-tourney rating and divide by 1000. That number is 30.54.

STEP 2: I take my score of 2 points and divide by the max points possible, then multiply by 30.54. So: 2/3 * 30.54 = 20.36 tour points.

That's basically it!

Now this was easy because there is only 1 section. What if there's more than one section?

EXAMPLE 2 (multiple sections):

Let me make an example of 2 up-and-coming "scholastic chess monsters" from 2 different sections of the 2002 CO Open: The "Incredible" Tyler Hughes (open section), and the "Cool" Richard Herbst (reserve section).

STEP 1 (open section): I add up every open players' post-tourney rating (calculated automatically by Swiss Sys using USCF rating formulas) and divide by 1000 to get 53.11.

STEP 2 (open section): Since Tyler is bravely playing in the Open section instead of lower sections, he gets extra credit in this way: There are 58 other people in lower sections, in this case just one section, namely the reserve. Add 58 to 53.11 to get 111.11.

STEP 3 (open section): Now I take Tyler's score, divide by the number of games, and multiply by 111.11. Or 3/6 * 111.11 = 55.55. Tyler earns 55.55 CO Tour points using this methodology.

OK, what about the "Cool" Richard Herbst in the reserve section?

STEP 1 (reserve section): Sum of all post-tourney ratings divided by 1000 in the reserve section is 78.66.

STEP 2 (reserve section): Richard scores 3.5 so his tour points are 3.5/6 * 78.66 = 45.89. Done!

Now if there were a third lower section, then we wouldn't be done.

Theoretical STEP 3 (Reserve section): Richard's CO Tour points would his score divided by total games multiplied by the quantity 78.66 + number of people in lower sections. Or in math terms, 3.5/6 * (78.66 + number of players in lower sections). And then Tyler Hughes' points would be 3/6 * [53.11 + 58 (people in reserve section) + (number of players in lower sections)].

That's basically it, but let me add one more nuance to complete the full picture here. People who opt for ½-point byes do not have the ½ point count towards CO tour points. For example someone who scores 2.5 with a single half-point bye really has a score of 2 for points calculation purposes. On the other hand, if someone is FORCED to have a 1-point bye, then that point does count towards calculating tour points.

You may wonder how Average Ratings are calculated throughout the course of the year. This is important in determining who the top players in each Class are. Average rating at any point in time is calculated by taking the sum of games played from each tournament times that tournament's pre-tournament rating. This sum is then divided by the total games played. Basically it's a weighted average. Here's my last example:

EXAMPLE 3 (calculating average rating):

Another strong scholastic player, Dustin "Deepkeyz" Eager (ICC handle) played 6 games in the CO Open and 5 games in the Elk Hunt with pre-tournament ratings of 1568 and 1627, respectively (nice improvement dude!). So his average rating at this point is merely (6*1568 + 5*1627)/11 = 1595. If the CO Tour ended today, "Deepkeyz" Eager would be compared to other Class C players (1400 to 1600) in determining the top Class C player, NOT Class B players! Rad!!

Note: pre-tournament ratings (from USCF Supplement) determine average rating; post-tournament ratings determine CO Tour points. This should make sense, right?

That's how CO Tour points are calculated. While mathematically simple, in practice updating the tour standings after each event is actually somewhat tedious. The easy part is doing the math-I let Microsoft Excel spread sheet program do the work. The tedious part is setting up the math formulas in the beginning (luckily, this is done only once), ensuring new people are added to an ever-growing list of participants, and doing "editing", such as re-sorted names in order of most games, points, and rating categories. (This could probably be done easier in MS Access Database, but I don't it on my home PC, nor do I have the time to learn it).

Time permitting, it's my goal to increase CO Tour publicity by updating Tour standings within two weeks of each event. This, plus announcements at each CO Tour event should "hype" the race up a bit more.

Let me add a note that the job of calculated the CO Tour IS NOT specifically a CSCA Secretary responsibility; ANY volunteer can perform this task. If you have the interest, time, and a comfortable use of the MS Excel (or Access), let me know. Otherwise, see you somewhere on the CO Tour!