Important: New 2025 Club Schedule and Points System

Background (Why WCC is changing its point system)

Wachusett CC has many more class A players now than the last ten years. So that they can distinguish themselves, we're going to try a new system using Tournament Position Points (TPP), similar to those used by other clubs. For example, Metrowest CC researched and back-tested the TPP approach starting in 2005 to distinguish the strongest players in a strong club. Billerica CC adopted the approach recently to qualify 6 players for a round robin club championship. Note, we will also continue to use Grand Prix Points (GPP), giving everyone below the top section a chance to compete. Also note, several club members contributed and reviewed many ideas. If the points, number of qualifiers or rating cutoffs (all explained below) are not perfect, we can adapt next year as the club has with many formats and membership sizes.

New Points System

Tournament Position Points (TPP) are earned by final tournament position in the top section only. First place earns 64 points, second 40, third 24, fourth 16, fifth 8, sixth 4. Ties will share points; e.g., if two players tie for 1st/2nd, they each earn 52 TPP: (64+40)/2.

Grand Prix Points (GPP) will be earned in all sections, same as before. Total points (used to qualify) will be TPP+GPP.

Regular Season & Championship Season

The 2025-26 regular season events will be either 2 or 3 section Swiss events held over 42 weeks (see tournament schedule further below). 50% games played are required to qualify for championship play. Our championship season, comprising 7 weeks, will consist of: Club Championship ("A" section; 8-player round robin event); Class Championship ("B" section; 12-player Swiss) and Open ("C" section; Swiss event open to all).

Qualification per Championship Section

Club Championship (A): Top 8 by total points, 50% games played and 7/7 game commitment required, with established ratings. The goal of the section is a tournament of the highest performers in the regular season. NOTE: This section will be a round robin. As such, a firm commitment to play all rounds is required.

Class Championship (B): Next 12 by total points, 50% games played and 5/7 game commitment required, with established ratings. The goal of the section is a class tournament across the club.

Open (C): Everyone else and new players.

NOTE: Mike David back-tested our new TPP+GPP system with our 2024-25 regular season results, to show who would have qualified to play in the Club Championship if the new points system had been used. This image shows the TPP players would have earned. This image shows total TPP+GPP per player. The top 8 players, highlighted in yellow, would have qualified to play in the Club Championship (A section), and the next 12 players, highlighted in green, would have qualified for the Class Championship (B section).

Tournament schedule (see Mass Chess event list for dates):

For 2-Section tournaments: The top section is open to players with a 1400+ rating at the start of the event. Such players can choose to play in the top or second section, tournament by tournament. Registering for a section counts for the whole tournament. The increasing thresholds for the under section give class B players the option of playing down to pursue GPP, and makes the top section a little smaller which increases competition there.