Continental Chess- General Tournament Information

For questions, the easiest way to reach us is through email.  We do receive many emails, though, and sometimes fail to reply- in that case, we suggest you repeat your email after a few days.  

For section or schedule changes, it is best to send this email to Director@Chess.US.

If you are unable to play in the tournament, please write to Dropouts@Chess.us.      

For the lowest fees you can enter online at chessaction.com.  

Complete details of all our tournaments appear at chessevents.us and uschessorg.  If you have trouble understanding symbols or abbreviations, see  "How To Get The Most From Tournament Life."    

REFUND POLICY:  If you cannot attend one of our tournaments, send us an email at least an hour 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 (no service charge) to future tournaments, or obtain a refund of the fee minus a $15 service charge.  To apply the fee, wait until you know which event(s) you wish to enter and then pay the balance through PayPal to chesstour@aol.com, saying which tournament you have a credit from, or if your credit is sufficient by itself, enter by email (Director@Chess.us) and any balance remaining is a further credit. 

NO REFUND or credit, full or partial, is EVER given once you have started playing your game in the first round.

PLEASE ALLOW a few weeks to receive your refund.  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.

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM REQUESTING UNNECESSARY REFUNDS.  Some players automatically ask for a refund whenever they withdraw, only to enter another CCA tournament shortly after.  This causes extra work for us and costs you a $15 service charge you can easily avoid, so please don't do it.    

Likewise, if prizes are available at the tournament and you leave without your prize, don't count on it arriving immediately.  Often it will take a week or two, but our backlog of work may delay it, especially if we had a recent large tournament. 

Bring a set and board to every tournament, plus a chess clock if you have one.  We supply no equipment.  However, there is a book seller at most tournaments who also sells sets, boards, and clocks.  

At some of our tournaments for inexperienced players, not enough players provide clocks, and an occasional game must be played without one.

If a tournament announcement refers to a "section," then players in that section play only each other.  They never face opponents in other sections.

Provisionally rated players are NOT unrated.  If you have a provisional rating (a rating based on 4 to 25 games), it will be used to determine eligibility.  For most tournaments, provisionally rated players may win all prizes.  For our largest tournaments, there are special prize limits, in sections other than Open, for some provisionally rated players. See the publicity for each event for details. 

If you have an unofficial rating that appears online and are otherwise unrated, the Director will usually use your unofficial rating.  Note that unofficial ratings are not used if you have an official rating.

If you have an old rating- even 30 or 40 years old- you are not unrated.  Your old rating is still valid, and will be used if it can be verified. Please enter in advance if possible and give us the approximate date you last played, so we have time to do research on your rating. 

If you have a FIDE or foreign rating or category, you are not unrated.  Let us know about your rating or category and we will determine which section you can enter. If you win a large prize in a class section, proof of foreign rating may be required before prize is paid. Adjustment points are frequently added to convert ratings to their Continental Chess USCF equivalents- see www.foreignratings.com.

Official ratings: Unless otherwise stated in the tournament publicity, ratings become official when the rating supplement month and tournament month are the same- for example, October ratings are official for an October tournament.  If a tournament starts in one month and ends in another, we use the ratings corresponding to the ending date.  We use only official ratings, unless you would otherwise be unrated.  For the latest official and unofficial ratings, see the USCF ratings website.

After you enter online, our shopping cart confirms the entry almost immediately- just go to the line the tournament is listed at and click "entry list" and your name should be there within a few minutes. The shopping cart also sends an emailed confirmation, but some of these are not received, and this duplicate confirmation is not really necessary if you appear on the advance entry list
  
There is no "check-in" required at any of our tournaments.  If you have entered in advance, disregard the time listed for registration at the site- you can just show up at the round one game time and start playing.

If you wish to enter at the hotel with a half point bye (a draw without play) in the first round, or the first few rounds, you can do so an hour before your first game. Advance notice is not necessary.

US Chess Federation membership is required for all our tournaments, and may be paid together with the entry fee.  

Please avoid paying your USCF dues separately from the entry fee  if possible, as this may cost you more, is more work for us, and may be inconvenient for you as well if you must wait on a long late entry line at a tournament. To take advantage of special, greatly reduced USCF dues, enter online and pay USCF dues at the same time (the shopping cart will offer this possibility when you pay the entry fee).

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