Chess Tournaments

If you're familiar with the rules and have an active US Chess ID, you're eligible to participate! Players of all ages and skill levels are welcome, with participants ranging from 5 to 99 years old.

Initial Registration must be done on our website. The registration deadline for the tournament is 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. Players who register after this cutoff may receive a bye for the first round.

Inform us as soon as possible if you cannot play a round. Half-point byes are available if requested before the start of the preceding round. If not requested in time, the bye will be worth zero points. 

If there’s an odd number of players, then someone has to sit out. You’ll still get a win in the tournament, but no ratings change. Byes are given to the lowest-scoring player in the section, with the exception of players for whom it’s their first tournament or players who have a scheduled zero or half-point bye coming up. Refunds are not given or expected for byes.

Upon registration, all players will, by default, be placed into whichever tournament section corresponds with their current Monthly rating. Unrated players will, by default, be placed in the lowest section, though if evidence of higher strength can be produced, the TD is encouraged to reassign the Unrated player to a more fitting section. In similar manner, players who are approved to play up will be reassigned to the section above their normal rating bracket.

For Scholastic tournaments, play-up ability is more limited, as grade groupings cannot be mixed. In these tournaments, playing up is possible only when a player is playing up to a section of the players same grade grouping. For pairing purposes within sections, all tournaments will still use Monthly ratings, with any anomalous exceptions falling under TD discretion.

Playing Up: You may request to compete in a higher section for an additional fee if you meet the criteria below.

1 ) If either your Monthly or Live (or even Provisional) rating is within 150 points of the floor of the section above you, then you qualify to play up. Furthermore, if your Live/Provisional actually meets or exceeds the next section’s floor, you can play up without paying a fee at all.

- Example A: If you want to play in an 1800+ section, and your Monthly rating is 1620, but your Live rating is 1739... then you are eligible to play up, because even though your Monthly rating is not in the 150-point range, your Live rating is!
- Example B: If you want to play in an 1800+ section, and your Monthly rating is 1620, but your Live rating is 1647... then you’re not yet eligible to play up, because neither your Monthly rating nor your Live rating are quite in the 150-point range yet. But who knows, maybe just one more tourney will get your Live rating over the hump in time for the next one!
- Example C: If you want to play in an 1800+ section and your Monthly rating is 1620, but your Live rating is 1809... then you’re eligible to play up with no fee at all, because you’ve already earned the 1800+ privilege directly on the chessboard!

2) If you don’t have a USCF rating yet, but you do have a FIDE rating or substantiated online chess rating, you can request to play up based on that alternate rating, provided that it is reasonably correlated with the section that you’re seeking. (The FIDE conversion formula we use is [USCF = (-1073 + 1.5667*FIDE if FIDE ≤ 2000) OR (20 + 1.02 × FIDE if FIDE > 2000)].

In the first round, players are ranked by their monthly rating. The top half competes against the bottom half. In subsequent rounds, winners face off against each other, as do the losers. This pattern continues throughout the tournament. There is no elimination in swiss style tournaments.

Tournament Refund Policy: For FIDE-rated and championship tournaments, participants are eligible for a full refund if they cancel more than 48 hours before the tournament begins. If cancellation occurs between 48 hours and 2 hours before the start time, a 50% refund will be issued. No refunds are provided for cancellations made within 2 hours of the tournament start time or for no-shows.

For scholastic, blitz, and weekly Swiss tournaments, a full refund is available if cancellation is made at least 2 hours before the start time. No refunds are issued for cancellations within 2 hours of the start time or for no-shows.

To cancel your registration, please send an email before the applicable deadline. Refunds are typically processed within five business days.

Norm tournaments follow separate refund policies, which are listed on their respective registration pages.

For players on a subscription plan, missing a tournament without prior notice will result in a warning for the first offense. A second offense will lead to a suspension of the subscription. Missed tournaments are not eligible for refunds.

You DO NOT have to bring anything. We provide notation sheets, pencils, chess boards, and clocks. It is recommended that you bring water bottles. We have snacks and drinks for sell onsite.

Among median tiebreak methods, this approach is widely used. It evaluates a player's competition strength by summing the scores of their opponents. Players with an even number of wins and losses discard both the highest and lowest opponent scores. Those with more wins discard the lowest score, while those with more losses discard the highest. In tournaments with nine or more rounds, the top two, bottom two, or all four scores are omitted, depending on the player's win/loss ratio. Unplayed games are counted as half a point each. If a tied player has unplayed games, those are treated as games against opponents with a score of zero.

In the United States, a player obtains a chess rating through the United States Chess Federation (USCF) by participating in rated tournaments. After playing and completing 4 games against other rated opponents in a sanctioned event, the USCF uses the results to calculate an initial rating for the player called a “Preliminary Rating”. This rating fluctuates as one continues to play in rated events, reflecting their performance relative to other players. In addition to the rating, players are assigned a unique US Chess ID, which helps in tracking their progress, tournament history, and rating adjustments over time. After 25 total rated games, they will receive their “Established Rating” which fluctuates less often.

FIDE-rated tournaments differ from US Chess-rated events in their rating systems and international scope. FIDE uses the Elo system globally, while US Chess focuses on American players. To get a FIDE ID, play in a FIDE tournament and complete the registration form. We’ll handle the rest.

Alternatively, you can request from USCF directly. To be officially FIDE-rated, you must play five games against rated FIDE players, score at least half a point, and achieve a performance rating of at least 1400.