Only those High Schools who pay a fee are entitled to enter a team in the
State Team Tournament. The fee will be $20.00 for AAA/AAAA/AAAAA teams and
$15.00 for A/AA teams. The fee is due at the time of the State Team
tournament. The fee will be used to pay for trophies and tournament expenses
as they may arise. The funds will be placed in a bank with Internet banking at
the discretion of the state director. The state director will be accountable
to the coaches at the coaches meeting during the State Team Tournament. The
outgoing and incoming state chess directors are responsible for insuring
continuity on the signature card. A small school (A/AA) may compete in the
larger school division (AAA/AAAA) provided it notifies the State Director at
the time the trophy fee is submitted. It cannot later rescind this decision,
nor may any AAA/AAAA school compete in the A/AA division.
All members of a team must be properly enrolled students at any grade
level in the district of the high school being represented. Only one team may
represent a high school district in Regional or State Tournament. Transfers
from other schools are eligible to play in state competition if they are, in
attendance prior to February 1. Eligibility of a team member shall not be
affected by his/her playing in other tournaments.
Part
2 - Tournaments and Directors
Geographical boundaries of the five Regional Tournaments are defined as
follows:
Region 1- Northwest Region: All school districts lying
north of US Highway 60 and west of Interstate Highway 25 and State Highway
44 with the exception of those AAA/AAAA schools within Bernalillo County.
School districts lying on or near the boundaries but included in Region 1
are: Aztec, Bernalillo, Bloomfield, Cuba, Jemez Springs, and Magdalena.
Region 2 - Northeast Region: All school districts lying
north of Interstate Highway 40 and east of State Highway 44. School
districts lying on or near the boundaries but included in Region 2 are:
Dulce, Jemez Mountain, Los Alamos, Logan, and Santa Fe.
Region 3 - Southwest Region: All school districts lying
south of US Highway 60 and 380 and west of US Highway 54. School districts
lying on or near the boundaries but included in Region 3 are: Alamogordo,
Cloudcroft, Quemado and Tularosa.
Region 4 - Southeast Region: All school districts lying
south of Interstate Highway 40 and east of Interstate Highway 25 between
Albuquerque and Socorro and State Highway 54 between Carrizozo and Newman.
School districts lying on or near the boundaries but included in Region 4
are: Carrizozo, Moriarty, Estancia, Mountainair, Ruidoso, San Jon, Santa
Rosa, Tucumcari, Belen, Los Lunas, and Socorro.
Region 5 - Albuquerque Region - All AAA/AAAA lying within
Bernalillo County. All small schools in Bernalillo County will compete in
Region 1.
Each Regional Director shall complete the Regional Tournament by a date
falling between the second week of January and the end of the 2nd weekend of
March inclusive, or the Region will be disqualified from the State Tournament;
the State Director may make exceptions to this requirement at his or her
discretion. The Regional Director must receive a $20.00 trophy fee no later
than one week prior to the regional tournament; the Regional Director may make
exceptions to this requirement at his or her discretion. The Regional Director
shall notify the State Director of their winning school(s) by March 20. The
Regional Director shall conduct the Regional Tournament in conformity with the
State Tournament rules listed below and with the Tournament rules of the
United States Chess Federation. Each Region will elect two large (AAA/AAAA)
schools and a small (A/AA) school to represent the Region.
State Championships
The New Mexico High School AAA/AAAA State Championship will be
determined by a four round Swiss tournament involving the first and second
place teams from each of the five AAA/AAAA Regional Tournaments. In cases
where there are not representative teams from each Region, the State
Director will invite third place team(s) and, if necessary, fourth place
team(s) from the five Regions to complete the ten teams for the State
Tournament. However, no more than four teams from the same Region may
compete in the State Tournament.
The New Mexico High School A/AA State Championship will be determined by
a round-robin tournament of the four A/AA Regional Tournament winners. In
cases where there are not representative teams from each Region, the State
Director will invite the second place team(s) and if necessary, the third
place team(s) from the larger Regions to complete the four (4) teams for the
State Tournament.
The AAA/AAAA and A/AA State Championships will be held simultaneously at
the same location.
The State Chess Director for the succeeding year shall be elected annually
by the participating coaches present at the current year’s State Tournament.
Rotation of the position is encouraged. The State Tournament shall be held in
the greater Albuquerque area. The State Director shall take minutes of the
tournament committee meeting. The State Director shall provide copies of the
amended constitution to the NMAA Executive Committee.
The team coaches present shall elect the Regional Directors at their
Regional Tournament.
The State Director shall purchase through the NMAA a State Championship
trophy for the AAA/AAAA division and the A/AA division. He shall purchase
other team trophies, as he deems appropriate. The Regional Directors shall
determine the number and kinds of awards for each division. The Regional
tournament must be completed and results reported to the State Director at
least one week prior to the State Team Championships.
The State Tournament can be held between the last Friday and Saturday in
March and the second Friday and Saturday in April, inclusive. However, the
State Tournament shall not be held on the same weekend as the National High
School Championships or Easter.
Part 3 - Tournament
Rules
AAA/AAAA teams shall consist of six players and a substitute. A/AA teams
shall consist of five players and one substitute. Prior to round one, players
of each team shall be ranked by their coach in the order of their chess
proficiency. The most expert player shall be ranked board one, the next best
shall be board two, etc. The substitute is the lowest ranked player. A coach
may, at his discretion, make one substitution per round with all team members
playing in order of proficiency. All tournaments shall be team tournaments in
which all players of similar board rank play each other.
Any Regional
Director may schedule the style of team tournament that may be best suited to
that region.
For the A/AA tournament Round Robin pairings published in the USCF
Official Rules of Chess will be used for the pairings; team positions will be
drawn by lot for their starting position number. For the AAA/AAAA Tournament,
pairings will be based on match points following standard Swiss tournament
pairing procedures. Coaches will be asked to rank their players by their
relative strength and to assist the Tournament Director in a
'seeding-session'. The Tournament Director will make every effort to avoid
first round pairings of same region schools.
Color sequence and
starting colors shall be determined by the standards currently existing for
the type of tournament to be played. For the purpose of team play, colors
refer to board one with color to alternate for the remaining board positions.
A Match being a contest between two teams, the winner shall be the team
with the most total individual scores for the match. Individual games will be
scored 1 point for a win, 1/2 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. A won
match will be scored one match point, a tied match 1/2 match point, and a lost
match 0 match points.
In the A/AA Round Robin Tournament, if two or
more teams have identical final Match points, the tie or ties are to be broken
by comparing their total individual points for every match played in the
Tournament. If a tie still exists, the next lowest board will be dropped, etc.
until the tie is broken.
In the AAA/AAAA Division, team(s) with the highest Match score(s) shall
be declared the winner(s). Two or more teams tied for first shall be
declared co-champions.
Final rank between teams tied for position other than first shall be
determined by a tie- breaker system in effect at the time.
AAA/AAAA tiebreaks shall be, in sequential order:
Modified Median
Total game points
If two or more teams still have identical final Match points, the tie
or ties are to be broken by comparing their total individual points for
every match played in the Tournament. If a tie still exists, the next
lowest board will be dropped, etc. until the tie is broken.
The
tiebreaker system shall not in any way affect the match points other than
to determine the relative standing of teams with the same score.
The tiebreaker system shall not in any way affect the
Match points other than to determine the relative standing of teams with the
same score.
Clocks shall be used when available with 75 minutes being allowed each
player to complete the game. Other time controls can be used if each coach
affected and the Tournament Director agree. Whether or not clocks are
available, every player is expected to be attentive to his time and game at
all times.
Each tournament director shall be responsible for advising visitors to the
tournament site that they are welcome only if they do not disturb the players
or violate the ethics of the game.
The United States Chess Federation (USCF) Official Rules of Chess applies
for detailed playing rules not covered.
A decision of a tournament director may be appealed to the tournament
committee. The appeals committee shall be made up of three coaches chosen from
those not involved in the dispute. If the conflict is not of a technical chess
nature (i.e., eligibility, deportment, etc.) and cannot be resolved, the
decision may be appealed to the Review Board of the New Mexico Activities
Association (NMAA). If the issue is of a technical chess nature, it may be
appealed directly to the USCF.
Right of Appeal
Any non-technical decision of the Tournament
Appeals Committee by which a student and/or school is aggrieved may be
appealed to the Review Board of the NMAA. Such appeals shall be heard "de
novo".
Chess related technical decisions are, if deemed
necessary by the aggrieved party, to be appealed directly to USCF's Review
Board. USCF decision shall be considered to be final.
Appeal Procedure
If aggrieved by the determination of Appeals
Committee, the student and/or school shall have a right to appeal that
decision. Non-technical appeals are to be initiated by a simple letter to
the NMAA from the aggrieved school. Technical appeals are made to the USCF
in accord with their rules of appeal. In either cue, non-technical or
technical, the letter shall request that the decision be reviewed by the
Review Board, and such letters must be submitted within five (5) days of the
incident in question. If such a letter of request is postmarked within five
(5) days after the incident, then it shall be considered timely. Failure to
appeal within the time specified constitutes a waiver of any right of
appeal.
New Evidence
New evidence will not be allowed unless it was not
in existence at the time of the decision by the member organization. Due
diligence is assumed to be exercised in the discovery process by the
contemporaneous tournament appellate committee.
Part 4 - Changes in the
Constitution
This constitution shall be amended by a majority
vote of the coaches present at the State Chess Team Tournament, one vote for
each school. The State Director shall guide the procedure and vote only in case
of a tie. If the State Director happens to be the sole coach of a given school
present at the State meet, then the State Director may vote in his or her
capacity as the coach of that school. Each Regional Director shall encourage
discussion of proposed amendment changes at the Regional Tournament.
