tournament question

hi everyone .. i've never played in a chess tournament before and i am thinking about playing in one this weekend .. the details for the tournament are listed as ... 4SS time control: G/60 and OSA ..

 

well i don't know what this means .. specifically i have no idea what the 4SS and the OSA means .. and does the G / 60 .. mean that each player has 60 minutes to make all their moves with no increment ? ..

 

thanks in advance ..

Well, G/60 does mean each player has 60 minutes to make their moves, for a total possible playing time of 120 minutes.  The 4SS is a reference to the style of tournament.  It means there will be 4 "swiss style" rounds.  Now, the tournaments we have on this site are Round Robin, which means that every one in the tournament (or at least, in your grouping) plays everyone else.  In a swiss, you play one game at a time and each round you are paired with someone that has done about as well as you have.  I don't know what OSA stands for, but my first guess would be "Other States Accepted."  It might help me to figure out if I could see the full text that you're looking at.

thanks man .. that makes sense .. i'm not sure if i will play in it or not .. if i do i will have to sign up for the uscf membership and alabama cf membership .. and pay for playing in the tournament .. so i'm thinking about just going and watching and seeing what it's like ..

 

as far as giving you more context .. that's the entirety of the text about the tournament .. the rest of the form being blanks that i will need to fill in ..

 

i appreciate the help .. sincerely