United States Chess Federation

The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF[1]) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating system, awards national titles, sanctions over twenty national championships annually, and publishes two magazines: Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids. The USCF was founded and incorporated in Illinois in 1939, from the merger of two older chess organizations. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee. Its membership as of 2020 is over 93,000.[3]

United States Chess Federation
AbbreviationUS Chess or USCF[1]
FormationDecember 27, 1939 (1939-12-27)
HeadquartersCrossville, Tennessee
Region served
United States
President
W. Allen Priest
Vice President
Randy Bauer
Executive Director
Carol Meyer
Staff
30[2]
Websitewww.uschess.org

History

In 1939, the United States of America Chess Federation was created in Illinois through the merger of the American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation. The American Chess Federation, formerly the Western Chess Association, had held an annual open championship since 1900; that tournament, after the merger, became the U.S. Open.[4] The National Chess Federation, founded in 1927 to organize U.S. participation in the Olympiads, had held the prestigious invitational U.S. Championship since 1936.[5]

The combined membership at the time was around 1,000.[6] Membership experienced consistent, modest growth until 1958, when Bobby Fischer won the U.S. Championship at the age of 14. This began the "Fischer era", during which USCF membership grew thirty-fold, to approximately 60,000 in 1974, after Fischer had won the World Chess Championship.

The Fischer era did not last long, but the USCF has grown substantially since then, largely because of the explosive growth of scholastic chess. Annual national championship tournaments are now held at different grade and age levels; none of these tournaments, which now attract thousands of players, even existed prior to 1969.

At its founding, the USCF had no employees and no headquarters, but in 1952, the USCF hired a Business Manager (the position eventually became Executive Director), headquartered in New York. In 1967, headquarters moved to Newburgh, New York;[7] in 1976, New Windsor, New York;[8] and in 2006, Crossville, Tennessee.[9]

Governance

The U.S. Chess Federation has, in effect, two governing bodies.[10] The Board of Delegates, composed of 125 persons designated by the state affiliates, as well as some other categories, meets annually at the U.S. Open. The Executive Board, composed of seven persons elected by the membership to staggered three-year terms, meets quarterly.

Ratings
US Chess rating classes
CategoryRating range
Senior Master2400 and up
National Master2200–2399
Expert2000–2199
Class A1800–1999
Class B1600–1799
Class C1400–1599
Class D1200–1399
Class E1000–1199
Class F800–999
Class G600–799
Class H400–599
Class I200–399
Class J100–199

US Chess implements rating systems for chess players. In each system, a rating is a calculated numerical estimate of a player's strength, based on results in tournament play against other rated players. Tournament organizers submit results to US Chess, which carries out the calculations and publishes the results.

A player can have up to six ratings: for correspondence games, for over-the-board games at regular (slow), quick, or blitz time controls, and for online games at quick or blitz time controls. Ratings are posted online on the US Chess Player Search web page.[11] Ratings for over-the-board play range from 100 to nearly 3000, with a higher rating indicating a stronger player. Ratings are often used by tournament organizers to determine eligibility for "class" prizes, and eligibility to enter "class" sections, in tournaments.

USCF first instituted a rating system for over-the-board play in 1950, using a calculation formula devised by Kenneth Harkness. In 1960, the USCF adopted a more reliable rating system invented by Arpad Elo, a college professor of physics who was a chess master. Elo worked with USCF for many years. The system he invented, or a variant of it, was later adopted by FIDE, and is utilized in other games and sports, including USA Today's college football and basketball rankings.[12] USCF has made further adjustments to the rating calculation over the years; the present calculation[13] was influenced by the "Glicko rating system"[14] developed by Prof. Mark Glickman, a significant refinement of Elo's system.

Titles
US Chess norms-based titles
TitleRating Level
Life Senior Master2400
Life Master2200
Candidate Master2000
1st Category1800
2nd Category1600
3rd Category1400
4th Category1200

US Chess awards titles for lifetime achievement. These should not be confused with the titles awarded by FIDE, such as Grandmaster and International Master.[15]

US Chess awards a player who achieves a rating of 2200 or above the title of National Master, and sends the player a certificate. Likewise a Senior Master certificate is awarded for a rating of 2400 or higher. Until 2008 the only other title awarded was that of Life Master, awarded to players who played 300 or more rated games while maintaining a rating above 2200.

In 2008 the USCF implemented a system of "norms-based titles", patterned after the titles awarded by FIDE: if a person has (for example) five tournaments in which he demonstrates strength above 2400, and if in addition his rating at some time eventually reaches 2400, then he earns the Life Senior Master title. The system is somewhat more complicated than this simple example suggests.[16] The old Life Master title was renamed Original Life Master to avoid confusion with the new Life Master title; both are recognized and tracked by US Chess. Titles are posted on the same Player Search web page as ratings.[11]

National Championships

US Chess organizes or sanctions various national championships. Most of these are held annually.

The oldest is the U.S. Open.[4] It began as the Western Open in 1900, held in Minnesota. It is the "congress" of US Chess – the annual meeting of the Delegates is held concurrently, as well as many smaller gatherings and events. Several hundred players participate (the highest number, 836, was at the 1983 event in Pasadena). Five invitational events are held concurrently. Each US Chess state affiliate nominates a representative to each of the five invitationals. The five invitationals are: The National Tournament of Senior State Champions (50+), The GM Arnold Denker National Tournament of High School State Champions (9-12), The Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions (6-8), The John D. Rockefeller National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions (K-5), and The Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions (K-12). Players generally qualify for these events by winning a state championship tournament, although each state affiliate is allowed to use any criteria for selecting its representatives.

The U.S. Championship, an invitational event, has been held since 1936. (For many years before that, the national championship had been decided by head-to-head match play.) Noteworthy past winners include Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer, eight times each; Walter Browne, six times; and Larry Evans and Gata Kamsky, five times each. The 2019 tournament was won by Hikaru Nakamura.[17]

The U.S. Women's Championship, also invitational, has been held since 1937. In recent years it has been held concurrently with the U.S. Championship. The 2019 tournament was won by Jennifer Yu.[18]

The largest national championships are the Elementary (K-6), Junior High (K-9), and High School (K-12) Championships which are held annually in the spring. Every four years the "Supernationals," an event combining all three in one tournament, is held. The last Supernationals in 2017 drew over 5,500 players to Nashville, Tennessee and was claimed to be the largest rated chess tournament ever.[19] The oldest of the three, the National High School, was first held in 1969 by the Continental Chess Association.[20]

The Elementary, Junior High, and High School championships should not be confused with the National Grade Level Championships, held in December, in which each grade level from K to 12 has its own championship.

Except for the U.S. Championship, the tournaments listed above are organized by US Chess itself. But the US Chess calendar of national events[21] also includes quite a few events that are bid out to interested affiliates.[22] Here is a partial list:

National Openopen
U.S. Juniorinvitational; under age 21
U.S. Junior Openopen; under age 21
U.S. Cadetinvitational; under age 16
U.S. Senior Openopen; age 50 or over
Pan-American Intercollegiateopen; teams
U.S. Mastersopen; rating 2200 or over
U.S. Class Championshipsopen
U.S. Amateur Team (North, South, East, West)open; teams
All-Girls Nationalopen

US Chess also organizes national championships of correspondence chess:

Absolute Correspondence Chess Championshipinvitational
Golden Knightsopen; mail or e-mail
Electronic Knightsopen; e-mail only

Publications

US Chess publishes two magazines, the monthly Chess Life, and bi-monthly Chess Life for Kids, which is geared towards those under 14. Chess Life, which began in 1946 as a bi-weekly newspaper, is now a glossy full-color magazine of 72 pages per issue.

US Chess also publishes a rulebook. The current 7th edition is self-published by US Chess and produced in paperback and kindle forms. The most relevant chapters for over-the-board play are also available to download for free online from the US Chess website.

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See also

References
  1. In 2015 the U.S. Chess Federation announced a rebranding effort, calling itself US Chess rather than USCF (Chess Life, August 2015, p. 13). Wikipedia continues to use the older abbreviation USCF because it is more commonly used in secondary sources.
  2. "USCF Employee Contact Information". The United States Chess Federation. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  3. "About". US Chess Federation. Retrieved Feb 16, 2020.
  4. "US Open Tournament Index". Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  5. "US Open 1927 Kalamazoo = 28th Western Champ". Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  6. "2016 US Chess Yearbook" (PDF). uschess.org. 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  7. Chess Life, Nov. 1967, p. 327.
  8. Chess Life, March 1976, p. 130.
  9. Chess Life, September 2005, p.7
  10. "Bylaws of the US Chess Federation" (PDF). US Chess Federation. October 3, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  11. "Player Search". uschess.org. U.S. Chess Federation. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  12. "Sagarin speaks: Playing chess and the BCS". Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  13. Glickman, Prof. Mark E.; Doan, Thomas (24 April 2017). "The US Chess Rating System" (PDF).
  14. Glickman, Prof. Mark E. "The Glicko System" (PDF). glicko.net. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  15. "FIDE Handbook". fide.com. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  16. US Chess Ratings Committee (February 2016). "The US Chess Title System" (PDF). glicko.net. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  17. Pereira, Antonio (April 1, 2019), "Hikaru Nakamura is the 2019 US Chess Champion", chessbase.com, retrieved April 10, 2019
  18. Klein, Mike (March 30, 2019), "U.S. Chess Championship: Yu Wins Women's, 3-Way Tie In Open", chess.com, retrieved April 10, 2019
  19. "SuperNationals VI is the Largest Rated Tourney Ever", Chess Life Online, May 13, 2017, retrieved May 8, 2018
  20. "About Continental Chess Association". Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  21. "National Events Calendar". Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  22. "How to Bid on a US Chess National Event" (PDF). October 2015.
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