Some players are afraid of attending chess tournaments. One source of anxiety is knowing that, sadly, most of us aren't grandmasters. How, then, can we hope to win in a large chess tournament with numerous titled players fighting for first place?
Luckily, tournament organizers understand this, and have found ways to structure tournaments so that they can reward the top players, as well as less talented players who have an excellent tournament.
Sections
Most major chess tournaments are divided into sections based on rating. For instance, you might see a tournament advertised as having the following sections:
Open
Under 2000
Under 1600
Under 1200
An open section is a section in which anyone can participate in, regardless of rating, This is almost always the section with the largest prizes and strongest competition. An under section restricts entries to only players under the posted rating. For instance, in an Under 2000 section, the highest rating a player may have to enter is 1999. It's worth noting that you'll occasionally see a "2000 or Under" section; that's slightly different, is it means the highest allowable rating is 2000.
In a tournament, players will only compete with other players in their section, and each section will have its own prizes awarded.
Under Prizes and Class Prizes
Within each section (or in a single section tournament), there may be prizes that are further restricted so that only certain players are eligible to receive them. For instance, in our hypothetical Under 2000 section, there may be an Under 1800 prize, awarded to the top finisher with a rating of 1799 or lower.
Less common, but still popular, are class prizes. These prizes are restricted to players within a certain ratings range, usually within a 200-point "class." In USCF play, classes are usually defined as follows:
Senior Master: 2400+
Master: 2200-2399
Expert: 2000-2199
Class A: 1800-1999
Class B: 1600-1799
Class C: 1400-1599
Class D: 1200-1399
Class E: 1000-1199
In our Under 2000 section, for example, there might be a Class B prize, which would be awarded to the top finisher rated between 1600-1799. This would be somewhat different than an Under 1800 prize, since the Under 1800 prize would also be open to players rated lower than 1600 -- even if they were unlikely to win it.
