There will be 3 sections: Championship (U2000), Intermediate (U1600), Novice (U1000).
This tournament is a five-round, two-day event to be held on July 25th & 26th that will use a Fixed-Roster Team format. (Novice section will only be 4 rounds on Saturday only.)
The tournament will be conducted using USCF rules.
The event is a Swiss System, paired strictly team vs. team. Board 1 of Team A plays Board 1 of Team B, through board four. No substitutions, alternates or lineup changes will be allowed.
For pairings, the TD/Arbiter uses each team’s average rating as determined using the July 2026 Regular Rating Supplement. Each team’s average rating is used for Wall Chart ranking and section eligibility.
At the start of the tournament, teams are ranked-ordered and sequenced according to the average rating of the four players listed on the team’s roster provided during the registration process. The team with the highest average rating is the top seed, etc. A team’s average rating is a fixed value for the duration of the tournament.
Unrated players will not count towards the average of any team.
A team assigned "White" has white on Boards 1 and 3, black on Boards 2 and 4. Conversely, a team assigned "Black" has black on Boards 1 and 3, white on Boards 2 and 4.
The rule regarding same color in a series (e.g., "the three blacks in a row rule") is less important in team play because each team has two whites and two blacks in every round.
A team gets one match point if the combined scores of the four players in a round is 2.5 points or more, one-half match point if the combined score is exactly 2.0, and zero match points if the combined score is 1.5 or less. Teams are grouped by their match points and then ranked within the group by their average team ratings. Byes, defaults, tardiness, and so forth are treated in the same manner as in individual tournaments.
Each team’s total match points, not total game points, determines their final standings.
Teams may request one half-point bye before the end of Round 2. All subsequent byes will be zero points. (Only a whole team can request byes. Not individual players)
Any electronic device capable of transmitting or receiving information related to chess, calculating potential moves, or looking-up moves from a database, is not allowed in the tournament playing area. This restriction applies to players and all other personnel in the playing area except the TD/Arbiter the event support staff.
No electronic devices shall be in the possession of a player, regardless of the player’s location, while that player’s game is in progress.
Prohibited devices include, but are not limited to, cell or smart phones, tablets, computers, and Apple or Android watches.
Chess notation is required by all players, move-by-move, for the duration of all games in the Championship & Intermediate sections. Novice will begin with 10 minutes deducted from the clock, if applicable.