Kingsley Junior Chess Arena Festival 2025

Our club hosted the 2025 Arena Festival on Saturday, November 15th.

This was an individual Arena format, meaning waiting players were paired with other waiting players of a similar skill level.

Over 3 hours, 134 junior chess players competed over the board and played 710 games in total, averaging just over 5 games each.  There was a large variation in the number of games, depending on if players were late or left early, or if they paused to take a break.

Some played as few as 4 games, while others played as much as 17 games in just 3 hours!

See below for the Results, and Click here for Full Results Table

Feedback and Testimonials

"Thank you for posting this in the Mensa parents group.  I took my kids and was so impressed with the whole event.  It was really well organised and they just loved scanning in for their games and finding their tables - the scoring with the hot streaks also got them excited."

Tournament Details

Time & Venue

Saturday 15 November in Duncraig Senior High School from 1 pm to 4:30 pm.

Eligibility

All school aged children (primary and secondary) are invited to participate. There is a

limit of 150 entries on a first-come-first-served basis.

Cost of entry: $20.

Format

The Kingsley Chess Club arena format computer will be used for the game pairings. How it works:

All players (both primary and secondary) are pooled together.

The computer will calculate an internal rating for each player and will match players of similar strength.

Once paired, the player's name, board and colour will be displayed on the screens.

The games will be played using the time controls of 10 mins + 2 sec increment per move.

Each player will be provided with a tag which they will use to record the result. At the conclusion of the game, the players will scan the tag and indicate the result.

Their opponent will also scan their tag to confirm the result.

When the players are ready for the next game, they will scan again and mark themselves as available. You may take as many breaks between games as you wish, during the tournament.

If you are a new player, the computer will be able to estimate your internal rating after around 3-4 games. Thereafter, you should then play fairly matched opponents.

At 30 mins before the tournament end (i.e. at 4 pm), there will be hard stop. The games must be concluded before this time to count towards the results. This is to provide time towards the prize giving ceremony.Scoring

Each player will receive points depending on the outcome of the game:

• 2 points for a win.

• 1 point for a draw.

• 0 for a loss.

Win Streaks

If the player wins multiple games in a row, they will receive additional points.

• 2nd consecutive win: 3 points.

• 3rd consecutive win and beyond: 4 points per win.

Draw Farming

We discourage players quickly agreeing to a draw to accumulate points. Thus, if the game ends in a draw before 5 mins, both players will earn 0 points. Games with a decisive result are unaffected.

Arena Ranking

Each player will continue playing as many games as possible until the end of the tournament. At the conclusion, they will then be ranked according to the following criteria, in descending order of priority:

• Total number of points.

• Who played the fewer number of games.

• Who obtained the last win first.

For example:

• Jane scored 15 points over 11 games.

• John scored 14 points over 9 games.

• Jack scored 14 points over 10 games.

The ranking is as follows:

• Jane is ranked 1st with 15 points.

• John is ranked 2nd due to having played fewer number of games than Jack.

Prizes

In this arena format, in general, lower rated players tend to play faster games - thus, no matter your chess rating, you will have a shot at winning a prize! The top 12 players will receive a prize according to the arena ranking system defined above.

The prize distribution is as follows:

1st = $120
2nd = $100
3rd = $80
4th = $70
5th = $60
6th = $50
7th = $40
8th = $30
9th = $30
10th = $30
11th = $20
12th = $20

In addition, trophies and medals will also be awarded to the winners.

The organisers may adjust the prizes depending on the number of entries.

Laws of Chess

The standard FIDE laws of chess will apply to the tournament. The key rules are:

• Touch-Move: Must move the touched piece (if legal).

• Capture Rule: If an opponent’s piece is touched, it must be captured (if legal).

• One-Hand Rule: Use the same hand to move and press the clock.

The one exception is that the illegal-move rule is modified for this tournament. Every time a player makes an illegal-move, 1 min will be added to their opponent’s clock and there will be no forfeit of games.

If you have any issues during the game, please stop the clock and raise your hand. An Arbiter will then provide assistance for you.

The Arbiters will have the final say on all rulings during the tournament.

Points to Improve in the Future

We tweak the system each time we run this tournament, and this time there were only a couple of items we identified we could improve on:

• Uniforms for better visibility of Arbiters, to help keep over-enthusiastic parents out of the playing area.  We had a few complaints of parents standing too close to the chess boards, and some were even giving hints to the players!

• Accelerate the calculation of player strength.  Some players were not moving up (or down) the ratings ladder quickly enough, resulting in those players missing out on closer matched games.