If you have looked at a lot of chess tournament announcements, you probably have noticed a common theme. They almost always seem to say something like “USCF Membership Required,” or if the organizer does not want to be bland and boring, maybe “All scholastic players who are members of the United States of America Chess Federation (USCF) in good standing on the day of the tournament shall be eligible to participate.” You may ask, however, what even is USCF and why do I need to join them?
To give you the story short, the United States Chess Federation, founded in 1939, is the governing body for chess in the United States and is recognized by the World Chess Federation as such. At present, there are more than 93,000 members of the USCF as well as over 2,000 chess clubs and other organizations (this company included) who affiliate with the USCF. Although the USCF has a wide array of charitable activities and organizes many national championships each year, its most important function is to regulate chess tournaments in the United States.
This regulation comes in many forms. Most prominent is the invaluable USCF rating system, which endeavors to estimate the playing ability of chess players by assigning them ratings based on their performance over the board. It is for this reason that you know that someone who is rated 100 (i.e., the lowest possible rating) is likely a very weak player compared to someone rated 2500 (i.e., close to the natural rating limit and usually held by grandmasters). While the details of this system are too complex to explain here (for the USCF’s rating pamphlet, click here), it suffices to say that ensuring that a tournament is rated is very important to organizers because stronger players expect to be able to improve their rating and hopefully earn chess titles.
However, if you want your tournament to be rated by the USCF, there are rules you have to follow. For instance, the organizer must be a USCF affiliate ($40 annual fee) and must have a USCF-certified tournament director to run the tournament onsite. The director is also required to enforce the tournament rules that have been adopted by the USCF Board of Delegates, which are known as the USCF’s Official Rules of Chess. Finally, as a condition for the tournament to be rated, the tournament director, and in most cases, all of the players, must have unexpired USCF memberships in good standing. As the organizers need their tournaments to be rated, they require their players to be USCF members.
Fortunately for you, becoming a USCF member is relatively inexpensive. Membership dues for a one-year membership are currently $45. If you are under eighteen years of age, that amount is reduced to just $20. In addition to being able to playing in USCF tournaments and obtaining an official rating, you are also entitled to view the latest issues of Chess Life and Chess Life Kids, the USCF’s extensive monthly magazines, from uschess.org. Also, if at least sixteen years of age, you can vote in elections of the USCF Executive Board. To purchase or renew a USCF membership, please visit: https://new.uschess.org/join-us-chess
Hopefully, this article has dissolved any confusion that was lingering in your mind about USCF memberships. It is my hope that now you understand the why behind this common theme as much as you understand the what. Who knows, maybe you will someday become one of those organizers who consistently require USCF memberships?
Bibliography: https://new.uschess.org/