Continental Chess Tournaments

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: DirectorAtChess.US (At = @ symbol)

PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills, NY 12577-0249

Email us at DirectorAtChess.US (use the @ symbol in place of "At")
For withdrawals, write to DropoutsAtChess.US (use the @ symbol in place of "At")

IN EITHER CASE, PLEASE PUT THE NAME OF THE TOURNAMENT AND THE NAME OF THE PLAYER IN THE EMAIL SUBJECT HEADING!

Phone 914-665-8152 or 347-201-2269, but it's MUCH better to use email, which reduces the possibility of error.

For withdrawals or section switches, please email us at least 2 hours before your first round.

*********************************************************************

Welcome to Continental Chess! We have organized chess tournaments from coast to coast since the 1960s, open to players of all ages, from beginners to Grandmasters. Most include sections in which less experienced players face only each other.

We are not a membership organization, but are affiliated with the US Chess Federation . Our events award USCF ratings and require USCF membership, available through us at special rates. We presently plan events in California, Connecticut, DC, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia. For tournaments in other states, see uschess.org. If you're not ready to enter, please visit any of our tournaments; there is no fee for spectators.

For results, see CROSSTABLES. For your latest USCF rating, click here. Note that only "official ratings" are used at our events, unless you would otherwise be unrated. "Unofficial ratings" are NOT used if you have an official rating.

To view up to date online advance entries for any tournament, go to chessaction.com, find the tournament on the chronological list, and click "advance entries," This will show all online entries received (even online late entries) and some, but not all, mailed and phoned entries. Often there will be a delay of a week or two in posting the mailed and phoned entries. When viewing advance entries, please remember that for most tournaments, the majority of entries are received during the last five days before the tournament and at the door.

**************************************************************************************

WORLD OPEN TIME CONTROLS
(erroneously listed in some publicity):
OPEN SECTION: 40/90, SD/30, inc 30.
UNDER 2400 TO UNDER 1200 SECTIONS: 40/115, SD/1, d5 (4 day option, rds 1-2 G/75, d5, 3-day option, rds 1-5 G/45, d5).
UNDER 900 SECTION: G/65, d5.

WORLD OPEN U1200 SECTION CLASS PRIZES
(erroneously listed in our early postcard):
The class prizes are for under 1000, not under 1100.

**************************************************************************************

CHANGE OF DATES: NORTHEAST OPEN
The dates of the Northeast Open in Stamford, Connecticut have been
changed from June 21-23 or 22-23 to August 16-18 or 17-18.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

To avoid huge ballroom rent, most of our tournaments count on having many players use guest rooms at the host hotel, and asking for the chess rate gives the tournament credit. For all tournaments, please stay at the tournament hotel if possible and ask for the chess rate. Thank you for your support!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONTINENTAL CHESS FORUM
Contact other players about sharing rooms or transportation, ask questions or make suggestions regarding our tournaments, or comment on USCF or FIDE chess issues. You must use your USCF ID number as your user name when registering, and an 11-character password.

OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES: PLEASE PUT THE NAME OF THE TOURNAMENT AND THE NAME OF THE PLAYER IN THE EMAIL SUBJECT HEADING!

To ask questions or change your section or schedule for a tournament: DirectorAtChess.US
To withdraw from a tournament before play begins: DropoutsAtChess.US
To request an invitation for a foreign player: GoAtChess.US
To ask about a prize: PrizesAtChess.US

In all cases, use the "@" symbol for "At." We don't spell out the full email address here to minimize spam. ___________________________________________________

IMPORTANT NOTICE: WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT ALL PRIZEWINNERS WAIT TO RECEIVE THEIR PRIZES AT THE TOURNAMENT! Prizewinners may receive their prize checks right at the tournament (except for World Open Under 1200 through Under 1800), as soon as the amount of their prize has been determined! The IRS also requires that anyone who wins $600 or more show proof of their Social Security or Tax ID Number to the Tournament Director, in order to receive their check. Those prizewinners who choose not to receive their prizes at the tournament may instead provide us with their addresses (and tax ID numbers if necessary) so we can mail these prize checks after the tournament. However, especially during our busy periods, it may take up to four (4) or more weeks for us to process all the outstanding prizes.

REFUND POLICY: If you cannot attend any of our tournaments, send us an email at least 2 hours before the first round. If this is not possible, call the tournament site and ask for the chess tournament. You can apply the entire fee to future tournaments, or obtain a refund of the fee minus a $15 service charge. You may also give notice of withdrawal by mail by writing us at least 8 days before the first round. NO REFUND, full or partial, is EVER given once you have started playing your game in the first round.

Especially during busy periods such as June-August or November-January, we tend to have a large backlog of work: entries, refunds, prizes, rating reports, memberships, invitations, questions, hotel contracts & setup, travel to tournaments, etc. If four weeks elapses and your refund does not arrive, it has probably been overlooked- send us an e-mail pointing this out and we will give it priority.

USCF MEMBERSHIP SPECIAL FOR MOST TOURNAMENTS: 1 year USCF dues with paper magazine if paid with entry. Online at chesstour.com, Adult $30, Young Adult $20, Scholastic $15. By mail, phone or at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $30, Scholastic $20. Adult and Young Adult (under 25) include monthly Chess Life, Scholastic (under 13) includes bimonthly Chess Life For Kids. USCF membership is required for all our tournaments.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our next tournament is the DC International, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, just outside Washington, DC in Arlington, VA (free shuttle service from Washington's Reagan National Airport, Doors 5 and 9, daily until midnight, and free shuttle service also to the Crystal City Metro Station, at the corner of 18th and Bell Streets, Crystal City, daily until 10:00 pm), with $8,000 in Guaranteed Prizes and IM and GM norms possible!

Our next tournament, after the above, is the 41st Annual WORLD OPEN , July 3-7 (5-Day Schedule, Open throughU1200 Sections); July 4-7 (4-Day Schedule, U2400 through U1200 Sections); July 5-7 (3-Day Schedule, U2400 through U900 Sections); July 1-7 (7-Day Schedule, is ONLY for the Open Section); or June 29-July 7 (2-Weekend Schedule, but only for Open, U2400 and U2200 Sections), at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, a few miles from our nation's Capitol, in Arlington, VA. The multiple schedule options in Open through U1200 all merge with each other and compete for the same prizes within each section.

$250,000 projected prizes, $175,000 minimum!!
IM and GM norms possible in Open Section!
Free Analysis Of Your Games By GM Sam Palatnik!
Free GM lectures July 5 & July 6, 9 am!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW!

CCA minimum ratings as of June 19, 2013 are now posted. They will be used, if above USCF ratings, at all CCA tournaments, effective immediately!

     CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY LISTS - then go to the event you want and click "entry list."

    PLEASE NOTE! The purpose of posting entries is NOT to show how many entries there are likely to be!   The majority of entries for most tournaments come in the last few days before the event or at the door. Often a week or two before an event, entries are only 5% to 10% of their ultimate total, and even a few days before, there are sometimes just one or two entries in a section/schedule only to have it wind up with ten or more.
     If you enter online at chessaction.com, your entry should appear immediately if you click on using the tournament's "entry list" link. If you enter by phone or mail, there may be a delay of a week or two before your entry is posted there. We don't confirm entries by mail, phone or email, only by posting them at chessaction.com. If you mail an entry and two weeks elapse without it being posted, please send us an email.

     FOR ALL TOURNAMENTS HELD BY CONTINENTAL CHESS, WE WILL USE THE OFFICIAL RATINGS CORRESPONDING TO THE TOURNAMENT'S ENDING DATE.       So a tournament ending June 30 will use the June official ratings, while one ending July 1st will use the July official ratings.

       We will use the JUNE OFFICIAL USCF RATING LIST for all our tournaments that end in June (but unofficial ratings at www.uschess.org will usually be used for players who would otherwise be unrated), along with the latest CCA MINIMUM RATINGS for all events, and if they are too high for the section requested, the player(s) will be automatically moved up. The latest rating will not always be shown on the shopping cart- for example, if you enter a September tournament in August, the cart may display your August rating. If the cart says you are not eligible for a section you want and you believe you are eligible based on a rating change, either wait for the cart to display your new rating or send us an email.

       Please note: no events that ended after May 17th are rated for the June official USCF rating list.

Some players have been assigned CCA MINIMUM RATINGS, effective immediately, as a result of outstanding results.

********************************************************************************************************************

The 2012 World Open, the 40th anniversary of this event, was played with 9 rounds, July 4-8, 5-8 or 6-8 and other schedules at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel. GM norms were achieved by Marc Arnold, John Daniel Bryant and Eesha Karavde and IM norms by Thomas Bartell, Yaacov Norowitz and Luke Harmon-Vellotti. See the World Open website with results and games from World Opens since 1998. The 2013 World Open will be held July 3-7, 4-7, 5-7 or 1-7 at Hyatt Regency Crystal City, a few miles from Washington, DC in Arlington, VA. Room rates are $95, with $6 parking and free shuttle from Reagan National Airport available.

The $100,000 guaranteed Chicago Open was held in 2012 at the luxurious Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Wheeling, Illinois May 24-28, 25-28, 26-28 or 27-28. The Open Section had 9 rounds with FIDE norms possible, and three were earned: GM Daniel Ludwig, IM Kayden Troff, and WIM Sarah Chiang. The other sections had 7 rounds. The 2013 Chicago Open will be held at the same location May 23-27, 24-27, 25-27 or 26-27.

The 2012 North American Open was held at Bally's Las Vegas December 26-30, 26-29 or 27-29. The Open Section had 9 rounds for the first time, and four norms were achieved, GM by John Daniel Bryant and Zhanibek Amanov and IM by Yian Liou and Michael Bodek. The lower sections were 7 rounds. The prize fund of $120,000 projected and $90,000 minimum turned out to total $112,901, larger than any other open tournament in the US in 2012 except for the World Open. This tournament always begins Dec 26 each year, regardless of the day of the week.

The 2012 Philadelphia Open, held at luxurious Loews Hotel April 4-8, 5-8, 6-8 or 7-8, was won by GM Magesh Panchanathan. Lighting in our main playing room was greatly improved over 2011. The 2013 Philadelphia Open at Loews March 27-31, 28-31, 29-31 or 30-31 ended in a tie between GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez and 17-year old IM Daniel Naroditsky. Corrales Jimenez took the top prize on tiebreak, while Naroditsky earned a GM norm. IM norms were achieved by 12-year old Jeffery Xiong, Adarsh Jayakumar, Arthur Shen, and Adithya Balasubramanian.

[Widely Believed Myths about CCA Tournaments]

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

CONTINENTAL CHESS ASSOCIATION