Caveman Chess Festival Reporting and Prize Payment Process
Thank you so much for being part of our tournaments. We know that after a great weekend of chess, everyone is excited to see final results, ratings, and prizes — and we're just as eager to get everything out to you correctly and quickly. We wanted to share a bit about what happens behind the scenes once a tournament ends, so you know what to expect and why it sometimes takes a little time to get everything right.
Some of what's below applies to any tournament we run, and some is specific to the scale of the Caveman Chess Festival, where we typically run six to ten tournaments over the course of the event. We've noted which is which below.
How Post-Tournament Processing Works (Any Tournament)
A one-week window is normal, not a delay. US Chess rules give organizers up to a week to process results, and that standard exists for good reason — it takes time to do this well. Nothing is behind schedule until after that week has passed, and some tournaments naturally take a bit longer than others depending on their complexity.
FIDE tournaments follow FIDE's calendar. For any tournament held near the end of a month that is also FIDE-rated, FIDE reporting rules require us to prioritize that submission first, with US Chess reporting following close behind.
Accurate contact information and memberships help everything move faster. We work hard to make sure every participant has valid contact information and the required memberships on file, since either one slipping through can slow processing down. We'd love your help with this — please double-check that your contact information is correct and your memberships are current and active.
Catching a misreported result early makes a big difference. Occasionally, a result is entered incorrectly, and if it isn't caught until after the tournament, it can delay processing as we sort it out. We ask that players check both their contact information and their results during the tournament itself, so anything that needs fixing can be corrected on the spot rather than after the fact.
What Makes the Caveman Chess Festival Unique
The Festival is a wonderful, one-of-a-kind event, and part of what makes it special is also what makes the reporting side more involved:
It's several distinct events, not one event with sections. While most tournaments are a single event with a few sections, the Festival comprises nine to ten separate events (around sixteen sections in total), each of which requires its own US Chess and FIDE reporting.
Age prizes take real, careful work. Age-based prizes are still uncommon in most tournament management (pairing) software, so much of that calculation is done carefully by hand to ensure accuracy.
Place, Age, Cash / Non-cash and Male and Female prizes complicate the work. Our NTDs have told us that the calculations for the Festival's combined prizes are some of the most intricate they've encountered — genuinely more complex than anything on a TD certification exam. We take that seriously, which is why we review these calculations closely before results go out, and why we've been investing in better tools to make this process faster going forward.
National championships are released by US Chess, not by us. Several Festival events carry national championship status, and for those, US Chess (not the local organizer) controls when results are released for rating. That's simply how those events work everywhere, and it applies here too.
Director credit reporting is a big, worthwhile task. Because of the Festival's unique structure, our directors have access to more certification credits than they'd typically earn at a standard event — credits that matter for their future FIDE and US Chess certifications. Making sure those are captured correctly for all events takes real time, but it's time well spent for the people who make the Festival run.
The Caveman Chess Camp adds a well-earned tenth event. The Camp runs its own tournaments, ratings, prizes, and outside reporting, immediately prior to the main event. Sometimes some of that reporting can run into the main event. We aim for a quick turnaround every year.
A Quick Note on the Junior Open
We've noticed some understandable confusion between the Junior Open and scholastic chess tournaments many families know well. Scholastic chess is a great and important part of youth chess, focused on school teams and school representation. The Junior Open is part of the broader world of youth chess — it's run more like an adult open event, with spectator-friendly rules, and it also carries national championship weight. It's a fantastic stepping stone for young players preparing for open tournaments, and we're proud to offer it. Additionally, it is the most prestigious open national junior championship, a highly competitive event.
Thank You for Your Patience
We know the waiting can be hard, especially when everyone just wants to see their results. Please know that our team is working hard — often well into the night — to ensure everything is processed correctly across all 10 events. We'd rather take a bit of extra care and get it right the first time than rush and have to make corrections later.
If you have questions during this window, we appreciate it if you give our team the full week to finish processing before reaching out — it genuinely helps us get everyone's results out faster. We're grateful for your patience and even more grateful you were part of the Festival with us.