At the 2018 Delegates Meeting in Middleton, Wisconsin, a motion passed to make portions of the 7th Edition of the US Chess Federation’s Official Rules of Chess edited by Tim Just available on-line in a free, downloadable format. The most utilized chapters in past rulebooks were: Chapter 1 (Official Rules of Chess), Chapter 2 (Tournament Section), and Chapter 11 (Blitz Chess).
At the Special Delegates Meeting held online in 2020, it was decided to make Chapter 10 (Rules for Online Tournaments and Matches) also available for free download
At the 2021 Delegates Meeting in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a revised Chapter 9 for Correspondence Chess Rules was adopted and it was then decided to also make that chapter available here.
These 7th edition chapters are now available for viewing and downloading at no cost using the below link.
2024 Updates
Chapter 1,2, 9, 10, and 11 Combined
With a simple point and click within the Table of Contents and on cross-referenced items, the rules become easily accessible. You can also do a text search within the PDF. The easy access of these on-line chapters makes excellent reference material for both the Tournament Director (TD) and player alike. TDs are encouraged to compare the on-line material to any printed material presented to them by players before making any rulings.
The full, unabridged paperback of the 7th edition is available for purchase from US Chess Sales here. (The 2024 version will be available in January.) For 2024, the cover color has been changed from blue to yellow for easier identification.
The eBook version is available via Amazon. These versions contain pairing rules, prize fund distribution rules, equipment standards, the US Chess Code of Ethics, rating information, correspondence rules, round robin tables, Tournament Director Certification regulations, an index, and much more. All chapters will cross reference rules for the entire book.
All TDs should have a complete copy of the 7th edition of the rulebook either as an eBook or paperback copy. If you note any typos or other mistakes, please send them to dlucas@uschess.org and put “Rulebook” in the subject line.
Note: Rule 28A references pairing cards. As those are no longer available for purchase, you can download pdfs here, in three different colors, for you to print out: White, Green, Blue.
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- 2023 Updates
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2023 Version (Effective 1/1/2023):
- 2021 Updates
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2021 Version (Effective 1/1/2020; Updated on 10/1/2021):
- 2020 Updates
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Note: The 2020 updates of these chapters were uploaded on December 20, 2019 and incorporate the rules changes to 11D and 11D1 that go into effect on January 1, 2020 and also incorporate minor corrections.
UPDATE 1: Minor corrections were incorporated on May 11, 2020. Note: v7.1 of these chapters were uploaded on July 19, 2019 and incorporate minor corrections.
UPDATE 2: A new Chapter 10 (Rules for Online Tournaments and Matches), adapted at the Special Delegates Meeting on August 15, has been posted and goes into effect on August 21, 2020. The combined Chapter 1-2-11 download has been updated to include Chapter 10, and slightly revised individually downloadable Chapters 1 and 2 (updating Chapter 10 references) have been uploaded as well.
UPDATE 3: "Update 2" files have been revised to fix various typos.
At the 2018 Delegates Meeting in Middleton, Wisconsin, a motion passed to make portions of the 7th Edition of the US Chess Federation’s Official Rules of Chess edited by Tim Just available on-line in a free, downloadable format. The most utilized chapters in past rulebooks were: Chapter 1 (Official Rules of Chess), Chapter 2 (Tournament Section), and Chapter 11 (Blitz Chess). Those three 7th edition chapters are now available, individually or packaged together, for viewing and downloading at no cost using the below links. After the Special Delegates Meeting on August 15-16, 2020, it was also decided to make Chapter 10 (Rules for Online Tournaments and Matches) also available for free download.
2020 Version (Effective 1/1/2020; Updated on 9/17/2020):
Update File For 2020 Chapter 1,2, 10, and 11 CombinedNote: Rule 28A references pairing cards. As those are no longer available for purchase, you can download pdfs here, in three different colors, for you to print out: White, Green, Blue.
- 2019 Updates
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2019 versions for reference:
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