Chess tournament?

Question

I'm thinking about playing in a chess tournament .. which i have never done before .. the tournament details are as follows:

4SS Time Control: G/60, and OSA Byes 1-3 request before round 2

I don't know what this means .. is that 60 minutes to make all your moves ? .. what is SS and OSA ? ..

any info would be helpful .. thanks a lot ..

Answer 1

yes, each player has 60 minutes to make their moves.

4SS refers to the style of this tournament....It means there will be 4 "swiss style" rounds.

In a swiss style tournament, everyone plays everyone else... in each round, you are paired with another player who has about the same record as you (in this tournament)... in other words, if you win your 1st game, you'll play another player who won his/her first game, and if you split your first two games, you'll play someone else who split their first two games, etc.

O.S.A. means "Other States Accepted"

Bye 1-3 means that half-point byes are available in rounds 1 through 3.

If you go to:

http://www.uschess.org/tla/tladesc.php

and scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see a list of abbreviations used in the advertising of chess tournaments.

Answer 2

go