Worldwide Scholastic Speed Chess Championship (#1)

We are pleased to unveil our next online blitz tournament, as the first of a series of monthly tournaments. In addition to providing competitive variety to the many students who regularly play in our monthly classical tournaments, this event intends to empower scholastic players of all grades and locations to compete even when they do not have sufficient time to play classical chess. Moreover, by offering class prizes exclusively for lower-rated players, the opportunity to win good prizes is not limited only to the strongest players available. Finally, as our classical tournaments have drawn students from twenty-three states and two foreign counties, you could be competing against players all over the country, or even the world. For all these reasons and more, we hope you will join on for this grand event on December 11.

Date: December 11, 2021

Platform: Chess.com

Rounds: Six rounds. Swiss system (no elimination). G/5;d0.

Qualifications: Every scholastic player who is a member of the United States Chess Federation is eligible to participate in this tournament, regardless of geographical location. For avoidance of doubt, players residing in counties other than the United States of America may participate. Players with foreign ratings must disclose such ratings.

Entry Fee: $5 by 11/27; and $10 thereafter.

Registrations: Players may register electronically at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/worldwide-scholastic-speed-chess-championship-1-registration-209595464677 All entry fees are refundable until seven days before the tournament; provided that Eventbrite’s fees are nonrefundable. Refunds are made to the original method of payment only.

Schedule: The first round commences at 4:30pm (Central Time) and each subsequent round commences immediately after the previous round concludes. As a result, this tournament will last one hour.

Prizes: Amazon gift cards in the amount of $200 will be issued for all sections of this tournament based on forty full-price entries, with such amount being divided between the three sections proportionate to the number of entries in each. In the event that less than forty full-price entries are received, the awardable amount will be proportionally reduced (i.e., if only twenty full-price entries are received, $100 will be issued). Advance entries will be counted towards the based-on amount in a fractional manner (e.g., a $5 entry counts as ½ of a full-price entry). If the condition of registrations permit, we intend to award at least three place prizes (for which all players are eligible) and at least two class prizes (of which one will be only for players rated under 600 and one for players rated between 600-999). Should two or more players tie for any prize, the same will be equally divided between them.

Ratings: For section/prize qualification, we will use the greater of players’ USCF regular ratings (OTB and online), but only online ratings will be affected due to participation in this tournament.

Classical Tournament: We will also hold a classical scholastic tournament on the same day as this event, which should conclude by 4:00pm. Said tournament will have four rounds, three rating-based sections and a time control of G/45;d5. If you would like to discover more about, or register for, the classical tournament, click here.

Fair-Play: In order to ensure the integrity of this tournament and to discourage violations of our fair-play standards, all participants will be monitored on a continuous Zoom video call. During the duration of their games, players must keep their camera on and cannot use a background. As an additional protection against transgressions, prizes will not be issued until one week after the conclusion of the tournament. By this time, chess.com almost certainly would have closed the accounts of any students who have resorted to chess engines (or other methods) to determine moves. Any player whose account is closed in connection with this tournament will be disqualified from receiving any prize from the tournament, will forfeit any played games and may suffer other penalties. If you would like to discover more about how chess.com’s vigorous anti-cheating procedures work, please visit: https://www.chess.com/article/view/online-chess-cheating

Technical Provisions: Before the tournament, all students will receive a detailed email explaining everything they need to know about participating in the event. Having conducted many online tournaments in the past, we have refined our system to make enjoying these tournaments really easy for participating families. Essentially, all students will need to do before the tournament begins is to: (1) Create a free Chess.com account (if you do not have one already); (2) Join our Chess.com online club, Innovative Chess Solutions Tournament Hall; (3) Click on the provided link and join the live chess tournament marked with your section; and; (4) Click on the other provided link to join the Zoom call. Four easy steps and you’re all ready to go. As long as your internet connection holds up, no further effort should be necessary other than playing your very best in the tournament!

Contact: If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at: Click here to show email address