Announcing the Relaunch of the US Chess Forums

UPDATE, JUNE 5:

Since last week's relaunch, some people are having problems getting a new password request sent to them via email, either because the email address we have on file for them is no longer valid or because there are issues with their ISP accepting a new password request. (This has been known to happen at Yahoo and Hotmail, but AOL and AT&T mail may also have issues.)

US Chess can update the primary email address in the member’s records, either to a more current email address or to an email address on a different service. This will send a confirmation email to that new email address. Once it has been confirmed, the member should be able to receive a new password message.

What some members are doing is creating a new username similar to their old one but with a different email address. If you have done that, US Chess can merge your accounts so that all of your posts show up under the same username. For this to happen, you must tell us which username you want to keep. (If you keep the old one, that will involve our updating the email address in the old account, after which you will need to respond to an email to confirm the address change and then request a new password.)

You can send email to Click here to show email address to have us update the email address in your user record. Please provide your username, the new email address, and your US Chess member ID.

If you have created a new login, you can contact the forum staff (sysadmins and moderators) on the new Forums by sending a private message (PM) to @staff.

US Chess disabled Forums access at the end of April due to security flaws affecting this platform that we had introduced in 2003. We are happy to announce the relaunch of the Forums utilizing the Discourse platform.

The Forums are intended for discussing chess-related subjects. There are categories for discussing general chess matters (All Things Chess), chess clubs, issues surrounding the running of chess tournaments, and issues specific to the US Chess Federation.

Due to the platform change, some aspects of the Forums have changed. Some of these changes are temporary while we complete the process of integrating the Forums with the rest of the US Chess website. All of the messages from the old Forums (over 350,000!) are being brought over to the new Forums. Messages posted between March 23rd and April 20th may not be available for another few days.

How to access the Forums

The Forums are currently accessible at https://uschess.discourse.group. We hope to integrate access to the Forums with access to the other member features available on your member dashboard at https://www.uschess.org, but for now the Forums will require a separate login and password.

All Thing Chess, Chess Clubs and Running Chess Tournaments categories are discussions that are publicly visible to all (including non-members), while access to the US Chess Issues category is restricted to current US Chess members who are age 16 or older. Only current members who are age 16 or older may post to the Forums.

If you had posted to the old Forums or registered for access to member-specific features of our website before July of 2020, you should already have a username on the new Forums site, tied to your email address. If you do not have access to the email address on file under that username (needed to set up a new password), you will either need to create a new username or contact the Forum staff to request assistance with access.

All users need to do a password reset to log in to the new system. Logins were copied over, but not passwords. To set up a new password click on the ‘Log In’ button at https://uschess.discourse.group, using either your existing username or your email address. You can also request a one-time link to log in without setting up a new password.

To create a new username, click on the ‘Sign Up’ button at https://uschess.discourse.group. You will need to include your US Chess member ID which you can find on your Member Dashboard.

To contact the forum staff for assistance with access, send an email to Click here to show email address. Please provide your username (if you have one), your US Chess member ID, your birthdate, and your current email address.

Accessing the US Chess Issues category and posting to the Forums

Until we complete the integration of the new Forums with your member dashboard, we have no way of verifying your member ID, current membership status and age, all of which are required for access to the Chess Issues category or to post to the Forums.

If you had posted to the Forums in 2022 or 2023, your username should already be set up for accessing the US Chess Issues category and for posting. If not, you will need to request to be added to the ‘Adult Members’ group. To do this, click on ‘More’ in the left-hand sidebar and then click on ‘Groups’ to bring up the list of groups, then click on the ‘Request’ button under ‘US Chess Adult Members’ and fill in the requested information. Please allow one business day for staff to respond to your request.

Before you begin posting messages, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the Acceptable Usage Guidelines (AUG).

New Features and Changes

The new Forums package has some differences from the old Forums software and a number of new features.

There are multiple options to indicate your opinion of a post, including a heart, thumbs up and thumbs down.

User polls are supported.

Links to other social media sites are easier to make.

New topics have a minimum length for the topic header, to help make your topic clear and distinct from other, possibly similar, topics. Posts also have a minimum length, and quoting the previous post in full is discouraged.

There are other features, such as calendaring, that may be utilized in the future, for example to display a calendar of upcoming national and local events.

We hope you will find the new Forums easier to use and more useful, and that they will become an important part of your US Chess membership benefits.