A Free Event for US Chess Members Only In Celebration of US Chess Reaching 100,000 Members

March 10 Update: See our pre-event informational meeting by clicking here.

1. Platform & Date
Date: Friday, March 10, 2023 @ 8PM East Coast Time, 5PM Pacific Time
The tournament is played on Chess.com (automatically run tournament - tournament link will be provided).
A free account is sufficient to play in the tournament. No Chess.com account yet? Easy to make, just follow the instructions below.
See Eligibility for more details on chess.com accounts.

2. Tournament format:
Tournament format: individual Swiss
Total Round: 9 rounds
Round times: consecutively, immediately started after the previous round finished
Time control: G/3+2 (Game in 3 minutes with 2 second increment with each move.)
Games will be US Chess online-rated affecting US Chess online blitz rating.
Sections: Open
Pairings are based on the actual chess.com blitz rating.

3.How to Play?

A welcome email will be sent out before the tournament that explains all the details of how to play in the tournament.

Be sure to provide a correct email when registering for the event!
Players must be logged in to chess.com and go to the tournament link.
Players must JOIN the tournament, we cannot do this for them!

Visit the club's page and click on the green plus sign next to the event.

For direct access to the club click here.

Games are paired automatically by chess.com.

Most US Chess pairing rules are followed, however, players MUST be active on the tournament page in order to get paired. Inactive players will receive a 0 (zero) point bye.
A Tournament Help Desk is available for any player who needs to get in touch with the Chief TD. The Zoom link to the Help Desk is shared with every player registered for the event.

For more information, please see this article, How To Play in US Chess Online Rated Tournaments.

Chief Tournament Director Judit Sztaray will conduct a voluntary informational meeting via Zoom on March 9, 2023, at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT:

https://chess.zoom.us/j/84832975043?pwd=K0EwZ2tyYVE5azd0TUFTZWZremJtUT09 Meeting ID: 848 3297 5043 Passcode: 881021

4. Byes
Byes are NOT available for players.
Late registration and Late joins are OK and it's possible, however, they will receive a 0-point bye for any missed round.

5. Awards -- US Chess membership extensions and Chess.com diamond memberships.

Note: For any US Chess Life or Benefactor Members winning a membership-extension prize, they will instead receive a US Chess Sales Gift Certificate of an amount equal to an Adult Membership: $45; prorated for 2nd ($23) and 3rd place ($12) prizes. If the member is currently opted in to receive a print copy of Chess Life or Chess Life Kids, that will be extended for the same amount of time as the membership.

Thank you to our friends at Chess.com for not just hosting the event and providing the Chief Tournament Director Judit Sztaray, but for the Diamond Membership prizes too!

Top 5 players

1st: 1-year membership extension & 1-year Chess.com diamond membership

2nd: 6-month membership extension & 6-month Chess.com diamond membership

3rd: 3-month membership extension & 3-month Chess.com diamond membership

4th: 3-month Chess.com diamond membership

5th: 1-month Chess.com diamond membership

Top 5 U1800

1st: 1-year membership extension & 1-year Chess.com diamond membership

2nd: 6-month membership extension & 6-month Chess.com diamond membership

3rd: 3-month membership extension & 3-month Chess.com diamond membership

4th: 3-month Chess.com diamond membership

5th: 1-month Chess.com diamond membership

Top 5 U1200

1st: 1-year membership extension & 1-year Chess.com diamond membership

2nd: 6-month membership extension & 6-month Chess.com diamond membership

3rd: 3-month membership extension & 3-month Chess.com diamond membership

4th: 3-month Chess.com diamond membership

5th: 1-month Chess.com diamond membership

Special US Chess Employee Bounty Prizes!

We expect some US Chess full-time and part-time employees to play in this event. Should you happen to be paired against an employee and should you be the first person to defeat that employee you will be awarded a $20 certificate to US Chess Sales.

Class prizes are based on players' US Chess online blitz rating at the start of the tournament. However, pairings will be based on Chess.com blitz ratings.

6. Registration
FREE Event. Registration is encouraged to receive welcome email and Zoom link. Registration deadline is March 10 at 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

7. Eligibility
Players must be member of the USChess - Members Only Club on Chess.com:
https://www.chess.com/club/uschess-members-only

IMPORTANT: Please know that it takes manual processing to verify a player's identity and only after will we be able to admit the player to the club.

Please take care of this well in advance to avoid the last-minute rush and possibly missing the tournament!
Players must have a minimum 20 blitz games played on Chess.com before being able to join the tournament. This is part of the Fair Play process. Please, make sure to have this in your game history (https://www.chess.com/stats/live/blitz/USERNAME).

8. Tournament rules
Standard US Chess rules apply, with special focus on the Chapter 10 Online Chess rules.
NEW: Announced variation:
When a player is removed due to fair play violation, scores will be adjusted as follows:
1. If two or more rounds remain, all opponents of the disqualified player will receive a win by forfeit, unless they defeated the disqualified player, in which case they will retain a rated win.
2. If the tournament has concluded, or if there is only one round remaining:
The last opponent of the disqualified player will receive a win by forfeit.
Other opponents who lost to the disqualified player will receive a half-point bye.
Other opponents who drew with the disqualified player will receive a win by forfeit.
Anyone who defeated the disqualified player will retain a rated win, instead of a forfeit win.

9. Fair play
Fair play screening: all games will be screened by both Chess.com and by Dr. Kenneth W. Regan, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo.
Players should not use any outside assistance: not have other browsers open and not be talking to other people during their games
Parents are strongly encouraged to monitor their kids' activity during the tournament to ensure fair play.
Players found or believed to be violating fair play are not eligible for a prize and their account will be removed from the US Chess Members Only club. Players who are confirmed to be using outside assistance may be reported to US Chess and restricted from future US Chess events.

The Organizer and/or the Chief Tournament Director can require players to play their games with a camera that records the player playing with a view to the screen. Players should be prepared to provide this precaution if asked to do so.

Prize distributions and rating submission will take place AFTER all games have been screened. This is expected to be 5-8 days.