Tournament Registration

Note: US Chess Federation membership is required in order to participate in our USCF rated tournaments. Join or renew here! (USCF membership is not required for unrated events.)

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Tournament List

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Contact: Call or text (914) 719 1970 / piermontchess@piermontchess.com

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How to Read a Listing

Hypothetical listing: “Rapid G/25+5 4SS, USCF Required, $10 entry fee -$15 late/onsite, Prizes ($100 b/12) $60/$40 U1000”

Rapid – This simply describes the general length of the game. (Others: Bullet (very short), Blitz (short), and Classical (long). “Rapid” is average). Note: This is NOT the same as the 3 official USCF rating categories (Standard, Quick, Blitz) Some games, for instance, are “dual rated” like a “Rapid G/25+5” will affect both your “Standard” and “Quick” ratings, while “Rapid G/15” will only affect your “Quick” rating etc.

G/25+5 – This is the time control. G/25 means “game in 25 minutes.” In G/25+5, each player gets 25 minutes for the game (50 max), plus 5 seconds added to their clock when they press it AKA increment or bonus time. (Other common controls: “G/25 d5” where “d5” means “delay 5 seconds before continuing countdown” and “G/25 SD” indicating “sudden death,” a simple timer with no delay or bonus.)

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 other players who have won & if you lose, you play other players who lost, etc. (Other systems include Accelerated Swiss (AS), Knockout (KO), and Round Robin (RR).)

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. Get your membership HERE.

Entry Fee – Payment is required to play. Sorry, no refunds. If you miss the early registration cutoff, late registration fees will apply. Late registration is cash only, and done on-site at the club before the start of the tournament.

Prizes ($100 b/12) – This is the amount of the total prize fund. “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. An announcement will be made at the start of the event. In the event of a tie score, cash prizes are split evenly, or players can agree to a tie-break game with a faster time control.

$60/$40 U1000 – This is the prize split. In this case, $60 to first place & $40 to the best scoring player rated under 1000.

Tournament Formats

Scoring – A win = 1 point. A loss = 0 points. A draw = 1/2 point. The winner of the tournament is the player with the highest cumulative score after a series of rounds.

Open – An open tournament is an event that is “open” to all players and all ratings. It is usually combined with the Swiss System (more below) for scoring and pairing players.

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 (more below) for a total of three games (all four players play each other once). Each quad will have it’s own winner.

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, would be open to anybody rated under 1200. While you cannot play in a section lower than your rating, you can play above your rating. If your rating were 1400 and you wanted to play tougher opponents, you could play in the U2000 section, for example, simply by registering for that section.

Swiss System (SS)- The most common non-elimination pairing format where all players play in all the rounds but not against every player. In the 1st round, players are listed by rating, the list is divided in half, and the two halves are paired across. If there are 8 players, then: 1 vs 5, 2 vs 6, 3 vs 7, 4 vs 8. In following rounds the players are paired according to 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.

Accelerated Swiss (AS)- Variant of Swiss for tournaments where there are fewer than optimal rounds than # of players. Player list is divided in four and then paired across. 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 competitive, and results are more likely to be decisive (less ties) despite the fewer rounds.

Round Robin (RR)- A non-elimination format where all players play all other players.

Knockout (KO) – Players are eliminated if they lose their match 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.