HUNTSVILLE – Madison City Chess League or MCCL players can register now for the second tournament of 2024 – the Rookie Rally Tournament on Jan. 27.

Blossomwood Elementary School at 1321 Woodmont Ave. SE in Huntsville will serve as tournament venue. Players will compete for individual and team trophies at Rookie Rally.

State Sen. Sam Givhan and State Rep. Rex Reynolds are sponsors for the tournament.

Only Rated sections will be available with K-3 Under 300, K-3 Championship, K-5 Under 500, K-5 Championship, K-8 Championship and K-12 Open.

A mandatory meeting for players will convene at 9:15 a.m. The schedule for round times will be 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The time control will be Game 30/d5.

Rookie Rally’s setup uses 5 round Swiss and is U.S. Chess rated. In all sections, a player must have current U.S. Chess membership. To sign up for membership, visit new.uschess.org/become-member.

The entry fee is $25 per individual. Because Rookie Rally is an individual and team event, the registration fee is the same for all individuals.

To register online, visit madisonchess.com. At the bottom of the screen, click “View” for “2024 Rookie Rally Tournament (1/27).”

On the “2024 Rookie Rally Tournament (1/27)” window, complete the “Quantity” and “Choose a Participant” boxes. Select the appropriate section for competition in “Section for Participant” box (for example, “K-12 Open”). In the “Bye Request” box, select the round for the bye or the “No bye selected” option.

Registration closes Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. Onsite registration will not be available. A player cannot receive a refund after pairing for the first round.

“This is an individual event, with secondary team prizes. Team score is the total of the four highest individual scores from a school,” MCCL Executive Director Todd Guthrie said.

“We will try to avoid same-team pairings during the first two rounds; after that, the pairings will be based on individual standings only,” Guthrie said.

“You must have more than one player from a school in your section to be eligible for a team award,” Guthrie said.

For individual awards, trophies will go to the top 10 individuals in K-3 Under 300, K-3 Championship, K-5 Under 500, K-5 Championship and K-8 Championship. For the K-12 Open Section, the Top 5 individuals will receive trophies. All individuals who tie for the lowest trophy will earn medals.

For team awards, trophies will go to the top 5 teams in K-3 Under 300, K-3 Championship, K-5 Under 500 and K-5 Championship sections. In the K-8 Championship and the K-12 Open Sections, the Top 2 teams will earn trophies.

For more information, visit madisonchess.com.