FAQ
What goes on at the Reno Chess Club?
The Reno Chess Club meets Thursday nights. We are located at 125 West Plumb Lane Reno, NV (Mathewson Bridge Center). Each Thursday night involves one USCF-sanctioned, rated tournament game. Pairings are set by 6:30pm. The time control varies with each tournament; in the worst case, a game may go as late as midnight. Basically, the activities are competition with any didactic occurring in the post-game analysis. There are no formal classes, but some members are generous with offhand instruction while others give paid private lessons.
How do I join the Reno Chess Club?
Reno Chess Club dues are $60 per year, expected by the third visit. United States Chess Federation Membership is strongly encouraged since most of our activities are USCF rated tournament games. USCF membership is $42 per year, $29 if you decline the magazine subscription. There are discounts for seniors and juniors. Reno Chess Club tournaments have varying costs.
Where can I play less serious chess?
On Thursdays from when the doors open til the pairings have been made for that night's game is a great time for social, less serious chess, (5:30pm - 6:30pm).
On Saturdays from about 10-4, Shopper's Square in Reno at the corner of Virginia and Plumb typically has a half dozen tables set up for passersby to play pickup games against each other for free. The tables are at the west end of the building.
How do I get a chess rating?
The USCF administers a rating system among all its members. A new unrated player will play his first 25 games in provisional status with his rating simply the total of his opponents' ratings, +400 adjustments for each win, -400 adjustment for each loss, and then averaged over all the number of his opponents. After the 25-game provisional period, the formula is a complicated Glickman modification of the Elo formula. Technical details can be found here.
How can I get better at chess?
There's nothing better than actually playing to get better. The post-game analysis, also called the postmortem, is a valuable time to figure out where things went wrong and get pointers as to what kinds of things are hurting your game. Almost all chess players collect more books than they can possibly read. There are now all kinds of free videos on YouTube and free articles at ChessCafe.com. For targeted help, teachers are excellent, but require more monetary investment.