Continental Chess Tournaments

PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills, NY 12577-0249

Email us at ChesstourAtAOL.com (use the @ symbol in place of "At")
With a copy to ChessCentrAtAOL.com (use the @ symbol in place of "At")

Phone 845-496-9658, 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.

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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 York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, 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.

EMAIL CONFIRMATION PROBLEM: In recent days, our shopping cart has started to display a message saying "Error- unable to send email" to some players after they input their credit card. This means that for reasons we don't understand, you will not receive a confirming email. HOWEVER, IT ALSO MEANS THAT YOUR ENTRY WAS RECEIVED, SO PLEASE CONSIDER IT AS A CONFIRMATION AND DON'T CONTACT US ABOUT IT.

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VAN WELY WINS CHICAGO OPEN (23 Grandmasters!)

LAZNICA WINS WORLD OPEN (37 Grandmasters!!)
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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!
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We receive so much email that it is difficult to keep track of important messages, such as those regarding players who have entered a tournament but will be unable to attend. To simplify this task, we have set up a special email address for mail regarding such withdrawals. It is DropoutsAtChess.us (use the @ symbol instead of "At."). Please use this address for the following purposes:

1. To notify us that you will not be able to attend a tournament that you entered. This should be done at least two hours before your scheduled first game.

2. To inquire about a credit or a refund from a past tournament you entered but did not attend.
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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 1600, Under 1400 & Under 1200), 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 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 social security 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, for you to then receive your prize by mail, instead of just receiving it on site, at the end of the tournament.

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.

ONLINE ENTRY using a secure server is available for all CCA tournaments that offer advance entry! Online entry is also available at www.entry.cc, which you can use if you ever have problems accessing chesstour.com. Immediately after you enter online, you should see "Thank you for your order" on the screen. This means your entry is confirmed.
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USCF MEMBERSHIP SPECIAL FOR MOST TOURNAMENTS: 1 year USCF dues with 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. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

CCA minimum ratings as of August 25th are now posted. They will be used, if above USCF ratings, at all CCA tournaments effective immediately.

We will be posting the advance entries for our next few tournaments here.
We expect to update the entry list the day before each event, and sometimes earlier than that.
Please do not write to the chesstour email address to ask about an advance entry, as that address does not process advance entries.

PLEASE NOTE! When advance entries are posted, it is so that players will know they are correctly entered, NOT for the purpose of showing how many entries there are likely to be! The great 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 the 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 are not listed and the entry deadline has not been reached, or no entries are posted, please wait for the final update on the Thursday before the tournament. If the final post is up and you are omitted, please send an email to the ChessCenter address, with a copy to the Chesstour address.
       Please do not report misspellings or rating changes to us. Misspelled names and changed ratings are automatically corrected when we import the player's info from the USCF database, using the ID number. This is done after the final posting of advance entries.

     We will use the SEPTEMBER OFFICIAL USCF RATINGS for the New York State Championship, Green Mountain Open, and Louisville Open, 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 advance entry list is not used for any purpose once the tournament starts, so misspellings and incorrect ratings on the advance entry list are generally never corrected on that list, they are updated only on the pairing sheets and wall charts.

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The 2010 World Open was held in Valley Forge, PA July 1-5, 2-5, 3-5 or June 29-July 5. A 9 round Swiss with GM and IM norms possible, the event this year had guaranteed minimum prizes totaling $175,000 and the actual amount awarded was over $215,000, highest of any open tournament in the world. The 2011 World Open will be played July 1-5, 2-5, 3-5 or June 29-July 5 at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel. See the World Open website with results and games from World Opens since 1998.

The $100,000 guaranteed Chicago Open was held in 2010 at the luxurious Westin North Shore Hotel in Wheeling, Illinois May 27-31, 28-31, 29-31 or 30-31. For the first time, the Open Section had 9 rounds, so GM and IM norms were possible, and this new format was a spectacular success with 23 GMs and four players earning norms. The other sections had 7 rounds. The 2011 Chicago Open will be held at the same location May 26-30, 27-30, 28-30 or 29-30 with similar details.

The 2009 North American Open, a 7-round Swiss, was held at Bally's Las Vegas December 26-29. The 2010 event will again be 7 rounds, Dec 26-29 at Bally's, with alternate schedule option Dec 27-29. This event is always Dec 26-29 each year, regardless of the days of the week those dates are.

The 2009 Foxwoods Open was held April 8-12. This tournament was always held over Easter weekend (no other weekend was available at Foxwoods), with 9 rounds in the Open Section (5 days, GM & IM norms available), and 7 rounds in the lower sections (choice of 4-day or 3-day schedule). The Foxwoods Open is not planned for 2010 due to a requested huge increase in guest room rates. A new event, the 2010 Philadelphia Open, was held at the Philadelphia Sheraton Hotel over Easter weekend, with details similar to the Foxwoods Open. For 2011 the Philadelphia Open is expected to again be held over Easter weekend.

A new CCA mega-tournament, the Continental Class Championships, will be held in the Washington, DC area over Columbus Day weekend. The dates are Oct 7-11, 8-11, 9-11 or 10-11, 2010 (last day of play is Monday, Columbus Day) and the location the luxurious Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia with a very special $95 chess rate. Free airport shuttle, special parking rate $6, minutes from the attractions of our nation's capital by car or Metro subway. Master Section is 9 rounds with norms possible, other sections 7 rounds. Prizes $100,000 based on 650 paid entries, $60,000 minimum guaranteed.

Widely Believed Myths about CCA Tournaments

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CONTINENTAL CHESS ASSOCIATION