Team selection is a complex problem that involves a variety of competing objectives. Not only do we wish to select the strongest possible team, we seek a process that is fair, efficient, inclusive, final, and defensible, selecting reliable players who work well as a team and who are committed to play. Three Selection Methods Three common ways to select teams are by rating, selection tournament, or coach's choice. The simplest and most objective process is to select teams by USCF rating . Although ratings contain much information, relying solely on ratings has several serious shortcomings.
Some students are under- or overrated.
Others are unrated. Ratings do not necessarily reflect players' current strength because they might have been inactive for long periods of time. There are regional variations. Interpreting foreign ratings can be problematic. Scholastic ratings tend to be rather unreliable because many scholastic players are rapidly improving, and many have been inadequately tested against the high level of top collegiate chess.