Tournament Prize Funds

Swiss events

Prize funds for our Swiss tournaments are based on attendance. We generally return anywhere from 2/3 to 4/5 of the entry fees as prizes, and sometimes we've gone as high as 89%. The larger the tournament, the larger the prizes, and the more categories we can award them in.  We try to allow for our overhead of room rental, ratings fees and TLA costs. These figures presume our standard $20 entrance fee.

We generally divide our players into two sections, so no expert has to play a beginner and no lower player gets crushed by an expert. Prize money is proportional to the attendance in that section. usually both sections have an equal number of players, but if the ratings distribution is too dense on one side or the other, I make adjustments to provide a more enjoyable event.

If attendance is low, we may combine into one section, in which case we give out class and upset prizes, so anyone has a shot at winning some money. In these single section events, beat someone two hundred points higher than yourself, and we'll hand you ten bucks. Beat someone four hundred points higher, and we'll make it twenty. Class prizes are typically the same as the third place finish.

Quad events

Prize funds for our Quad tournaments are simple. Each section rewards the first place finisher with $40 and the second place finisher with $20 (two times and one times the entry fee, respectively). This holds even for the bottom section, which may have from four to seven players. Unrated players are eligible for these prizes.  On occasion, we may award first and second place trophy prizes in each quad. In all cases, the types of prizes, cash or trophies, are announced in advance.