(See special guidelines for the State Scholastic Tournament.)General:
The TCA welcomes your bid for any of our tournaments. On this page you will find information and links to important information about the bidding process including events that can be bid on and the deadlines for those bids, as well as lists of events that have been awarded. If you have any questions or comments please direct them to the TCA President, Clemente Rendon (
crendon44@hotmail.com).
The TCA Bylaws and any motions passed by the TCA membership form the underlying rules of the bidding process. Additional information about bidding on and the organization of TCA scholastic events can be found in the TCA's State Scholastic Bidding Guidelines.
Deadlines: (See
tournament bid spreadsheet)
Note: Any bidding guidelines for specific regional tournaments shall be posted on each regional web page. The information below applies to statewide TCA events.
The TCA's tournament year is a calendar year, from January through December. Bids for any given year are due by the deadline in the prior year for all non-major events, and for major events only if an event was not awarded in the prior year. For example: a 2006 Texas Team (non-major) event can be bid on before the 2005 deadline, but a 2006 Southwest Open (major) event could be bid on before the 2005 deadline
only if it was not awarded in the 2004 bidding cycle. Bids for major events can be bid before the deadline in the year prior to the prior year. For example: a 2006 major event can be bid on before the 2004 deadline, and with the TCA's approval awarded.
In general, while bids can be received early they will not be considered until the appropriate deadline has passed. However, the TCA Bylaws do provide an exception to this general rule: "In the case of an opportunity arising, the TCA may choose to run any of its events and/or accept a bid more than two years in advance and may organize
the major tournament. The TCA may choose to hire an affiliate to run this event." For example, in September 2003 the TCA chose to self-organize the 2007 State Scholastic; although, the first deadline for this event would have normally been some time in June 2005.
TCA Major events:
* Southwest Open
* Texas Amateur Championship
* Texas Grade Championships
*
Texas Scholastic Championship* Texas State Chess Championship
TCA Non-Major events:
* Regional Scholastic Championships
* Texas Action Championship
* Texas Armed Forces Championship
* Texas Collegiate Championship
* Texas Girls Championship
* Texas Grade Championships
* Texas Junior Invitational Championship
* Texas Junior Open
* Texas Junior Team Championship
* Texas Open
* Texas Postal Championship
* Texas Quick Championship
* Texas Senior Championship
* Texas Team Championship>
* Texas Women’s Championship
General Discussion:
Perhaps the most important general concept that governs how bids are considered is that in the best judgment of the TCA only bids from organizers who meet or exceed the minimum guidelines for an event, and are expected to do a good job organizing that event will be seriously considered. For example, an organizer who has insufficient prior experience with organizing sizable scholastic events will likely not be seriously considered to organize a State Scholastic Championship. Whereas, a new organizer who bids on a small scholastic event, for example the Texas Junior invitational, will likely be given serious consideration. New organizers are encouraged to start small, gain experience, demonstrate they can do a good job, and move up progressively to larger and larger events.
The reputation of an organizer is also significant. For example, while admittedly subjective, if the strong consensus among players is that an organizer runs poor quality events, their bids will likely not be given serious consideration.
That said, the TCA sees great value in having many quality organizers distributed across the state of Texas, and wishes to encourage participation of many organizers to run TCA events.
Specific Criteria:
1. Organizing Non-Scholastic Events Gives Extra Consideration For
Certain Major Events
"Organizers/organizations who submit bids for TCA non-scholastic events will
be given extra consideration for their bids on the Texas Scholastic Championships and Texas Grade."
"Organizers/organizations who submit bids or run a non-scholastic regional will be given extra consideration for their regional bids."
2. No Regional Scholastic Is Held
"A TCA region that does not hold a regional [Scholastic Championship], forfeits their priority in the next bidding cycle for the Texas Scholastic Championships and for the Texas Grade Championships."
3. Affiliate Rotation for Major Events
"One affiliate cannot host a single specific "Major Event" two years in a row unless there is no other comparable bid for the tournament.
4. County Rotation for Major Events
"Cities within the same county should not host a single specific “Major Event” two years in a row unless there is no other comparable bid for the tournament (e.g., cities within the same county should not host the Southwest Open two years in a row, but can host the Texas Junior Championship, the Southwest Open and the Texas State Chess Championship in the same year.)"
5. City Rotation for all TCA Events
“Priority Rotation Schedule” will begin in 1995 for TCA Tournaments. This rotation schedule will give a higher priority to a city making a comparable bid and, in some cases, this higher priority can result in an automatic award of the tournament to a bidding city. That is, the city which has had a longer time since hosting a tournament may be awarded the tournament without a vote if their bid is reasonably comparable to other bids made for that tournament. If there are multiple cities (or affiliates within the same city) who have somewhat equal lengths of time since hosting the tournament, only those cities’ (or affiliates’) bids will be included on the ballot in the July-August issue of Texas Knights."
6. Other Criteria
"The final approving authority for the comparability of bids and “somewhat equal lengths of time” for awarding a tournament to a bidding city shall be the Board of Directors, or in the case of major scholastic events, the Scholastic Committee. They should consider the following factors: geographic location, drawing power of the area, finances, organizers’ experience, size of the playing site, hotel
contracts and other relevant criteria."
What Should Be Included In a Bid.
The TCA's State Scholastic Bidding Guidelines includes very valuable information about bidding on and organizing scholastic tournaments. Some of this information will also be valuable for organizers of non-scholastic events as well. You are encouraged to read these guidelines. What should be included in a bid will vary depending on the event, but in general the more major the event is, and the more likely there will be active competition for the event, the more desirable detail will be. At a minimum a bid should include but is not limited to:
* A statement that the event will be a USCF rated event
* A statement that the organizer will follow all relevant TCA requirements and guidelines for that event.
* The exact location of the event
* The date of the event (note: some events have restrictions as to when they may be held)
* A statement that releases the TCA from any liability associated with the event
* For those events that require it, a statement that the organizer will have a liability insurance policy in force at the time of the event
* Hotel room information if applicable
* Information about prize funds and/or trophies if applicable
* A description of any sections and any conditions for playing in those sections if applicable
* Submitting a draft copy of a TLA (USCF Chess LifeTournament Life Announcement) is recommended
* For any sizable event submitting a draft budget and any pending hotel or other contracts is recommended. The draft budget would include all estimated expenses and revenues. Unless an event has an underwriter (sponsor or patron), we want to avoid awarding events to organizers who are likely to lose sizable amounts of money, or will enter into hotel contracts that have unreasonable performance clauses.
