Note: Players must have a USCF membership to participate in USCF rated tournaments. Join USCF or renew here!
Upcoming Tournaments
Contact: Call or text (845) 273 0303 / piermontchess@piermontchess.com
How to Read a Listing
Hypothetical listing: “Rapid G/25+5 4SS, $20 entry fee +$10 late onsite, Prizes ($160 b/20) $60-40/$40-$20 U1000, USCF Required“
“Rapid” – This describes the general length of the games. (See also: Bullet (very fast), Blitz (fast), and Classical (slow). “Rapid” is medium). Note: This is NOT the same as USCF rating categories, eg: Standard (>65min), Dual (standard+quick (65-30 min)) Quick (<30min), Blitz (<10min), & Online. Each category receives a unique rating score. The appropriate rating category is decided by the time control of the event.
“G/25″ – This is the time control. “G/25” stands for “game in 25 minutes.” There are many variations to this. In this case, each player receives 25 minutes on their clock and the game could last around an hour.
There are also “Bonus” and “Delay” increment variations. “G/25+5” indicates “bonus” which adds time to each move and can accumulate. “G/25d5” indicates “delay” where time is not added but there is a delay before the clock continues. Bonus and Delay give time to make notation, add unique dynamics to the games, and minimize the manipulation of the clock to win games.
“4SS” – This is the number of rounds (4) and the style of the tournament (SS). Most chess events are “SS” which stands for Swiss-System in which everyone plays in every round; if you win, you play others who have won & if you lose, you play others who lost, etc.
“Entry Fee” – The cost to enter a tournament. You can pay online, or at the club with cash. If you miss the early registration cutoff, the Entry Fee +$10, cash only, will be required before the first pairing.
“Prizes ($160 b/20)” – This is the amount of the total prize fund, usually 50% of the fees. “b/12” indicates the prize fund is based on 12 players registering. The fund may go up or down, without notice, according to the number of registered players. In the event of a tie, cash prizes are split evenly, or players will play a blitz tie-break game. Also, “Tie breaks,” performance based mathematical algorithms, are used to determine winners of trophies and other indivisible prizes.
“$60-40/$40-$20 U1000” – This is the prize split. In this case, $60 to first place, $40 to second place & $40 to first and $20 to second best scoring players rated under 1000.
“USCF required” – This indicates an official United States Chess Federation rated tournament and you MUST have an ACTIVE membership with USCF in order to play, whereas unrated events are open to anyone. Join or renew your membership HERE.
NOTE: New USCF, AKA “Unrated” players are only eligible for place prizes (1st place, 2nd place etc). They are NOT eligible for “under” prizes (U1200, U800 etc). This is to prevent players of high skill entering sections they can easily win.
Tournament Formats
Scoring – Win = 1 point. Lose = 0 points. Draw = 1/2 point. The winner of the tournament is the player (or team) with the highest cumulative score after a series of rounds.
Open – An open tournament is an event “section” that is “open” to all players and all ratings. It is usually combined with the Swiss System (more below) for scoring and pairing players.
Sections – Most tournaments that aren’t “quads” will have multiple sections based on rating, where you’ll play under the given rating. The U1200 section, for instance, is for anybody rated 1199 or lower. You cannot “play down” in a section that is lower than your rating, but you can “play up” in any section you wish.
Swiss System (SS)- The most common non-elimination pairing format where all players play in all the rounds but not against every player. Best score wins. In the 1st round, players are listed by rating, the list is divided in two and paired across. Example: If there are 8 players: 1 vs 5, 2 vs 6, 3 vs 7, 4 vs 8. In following rounds, the players are paired by the results from the previous rounds. The effect is the rounds get more challenging and the best performers gradually rise to the top for a dramatic final round. There will usually be a 1st place prize for each section (with 2nd and 3rd sometimes) and class prizes if there is just one OPEN section (eg: best under 800).
Quad – A quad tournament is a tournament where the players are put in groups of 4 based on rating strength. Each group plays a Round Robin for a total of three games (all four players play each other once). Each quad will have it’s own winner and prize.
Accelerated Swiss (AS)- Variant of the Swiss System where the first round pairs players closer in rating “accelerating” the event. If there are 8 players, then: 1 vs 3, 2 vs 4, 5 vs 7, 6 vs 8. The effect is that higher rated players face each other sooner, pairings are more fair/competitive in first round, and results are more likely to be decisive (less ties) despite the fewer rounds. Generally used in short tournament with fewer rounds compared to number of players.
Round Robin (RR)- A non-elimination format where all players play all other players once. A double round robin sees all players play each other twice.
Elimination/Knockout (KO) – Players are eliminated if they lose and there is 1 decisive winner after a set number of rounds -like a championship bracket.
Random – Completely random pairings in the first round. Best used at the club level where the same players repeatedly appear in each tournament. Those players tend to face the same opponents so random pairing mixes things up. Subsequent rounds follow the Swiss System.
Contact us if you have any further questions.