Rise & Chess: Scholastic Fall Classic

Join us at Rise Coffee on Saturday, September 19, for a welcoming five-round chess tournament.
The event includes three nationally rated scholastic sections for students in grades K–12, plus a separate non-US Chess-rated Roswell Chess Open available for adults to participate.

Beginners are welcome, and no previous tournament experience is required.

How the tournament works

The tournament will use a five-round Swiss format. Every player may play all five rounds, and no one is eliminated. Players are generally paired against opponents who have similar tournament scores.
Each player receives 25 minutes for the entire game, with a five-second delay before the clock begins counting down after each move. This time control is written as G/25;d5. Please bring any chess clocks you may own.

Family Discount

Families get 50% discount (after first family member). After registering, the 2nd, 3rd, etc family member should show a 50% discount at the final step.

US Chess-rated scholastic sections

“Scholastic” means that these sections are for school-age players in grades K–12.
The U400, U800, and Open Championship sections are officially rated by the United States Chess Federation, commonly called US Chess or USCF. US Chess is the official non-profit governing body for chess in the United States, representing over 110,000 members

A US Chess rating is a number that estimates a player’s tournament strength. Ratings change based on the results of officially rated games. The letter “U” means “under” and refers to rating, not age.

• U400 Beginner: For players rated below 400 and most players who do not yet have a US Chess rating.
• U800 Intermediate: For players rated from 400 through 799.
• Open Championship: For players rated 800 or higher. Lower-rated players may also choose this section for a greater challenge.

Tentative Schedule

9:15–9:45 AM — Check-in
9:50 AM — Player meeting & announcements
10:00 AM — Round 1 (will start promptly)
11:00 AM — Round 2
12:00–12:30 PM — Lunch break
12:30 PM — Round 3
1:30 PM — Round 4
2:30 PM — Round 5
~3:30 PM — Awards
These are the ++latest planned start times++. Our goal is to run this tournament very efficiently and minimize waiting. We’ll do our best to keep things moving and start later rounds early whenever all games are finished and the next round is ready. If things move smoothly, we hope to finish earlier than the schedule above.

Bye requests

Players may request up to two ½-point byes (there is an option during registration to do this. If you need to change your Byes you can click on Update Registration. Please submit all ½-point bye requests before Round 1 begins at 10:00 AM. After that deadline, players who need to miss a round or leave early may request a 0-point bye by contacting the organizer. A 0-point bye does not affect a player’s US Chess rating, because no rated game was played.

Pricing

Prices for the USCF Sections are $30 admission (early bird pricing) and will rise to $35 within 48 hours of the tournament start. The Non Rated Open Section is $20 and will rise to $25 within 48 hours of tournament start.

Players who are new to USCF and do not have a rating will normally be placed in the U400 section. The tournament director may place an unrated player in a higher section based on previous tournament results, online ratings, club ratings, or known playing strength. Please reach out to us via the Send Club a Message on our Chess67 club page if you have any questions.

Players may compete in a higher section upon request but may not play in a lower section than their rating allows.

Games in these three sections will affect both players’ US Chess Regular and Quick ratings.

Refunds

WIthdraws must occur before 8PM Friday September 18th start to be elligibile for refunds.

US Chess membership requirement

For the U400, U800, and U800+ sections: An active US Chess membership is required only for the U400, U800, and Open Championship sections.

Players who are not already members can join or renew through Chess67 here:
https://chess67.com/uscf-membership
or you can through the official US Chess website:
https://new.uschess.org/join-us-chess

New members will create an online account, purchase a membership, and receive a US Chess Member ID. Please complete this process before registering for a US Chess-rated section and enter the player’s Member ID during tournament registration.
Parents should purchase the membership in the child’s name, since the child is the rated player.

For the Non Rated Open Section - No USCF ID is required.

Trophies, Prizes and section adjustments

Trophies will be awarded to the top three finishers in each section.
Sections may be combined for pairing purposes depending on attendance. If sections are combined, players may face opponents from an adjacent section. Trophies/awards for the originally advertised rating groups will remain separate unless otherwise announced before the tournament begins.

We will also reward Rise Coffee & Tea gift cards to to the winners of each section!

Players who finish with the same score will be ranked using standard tournament tie-breaks: Modified Median, Solkoff, Cumulative, Cumulative Opponent.

Chess67 will be used for tournament pairing and live results!

Roswell Chess Open

Just to reiterate. The separate Non Rated Open is not US Chess rated. It does not require a US Chess membership or national rating. All ages are able to play in this section.

Results from this section will count toward Roswell Chess Club’s local Roswell Rapid rating instead of a national US Chess rating.