Waiting For Bellingham USCF Tournaments To Start Again?

Hey guys,

Just a quick little update on USCF rated tournaments held by the Bellingham Knights Chess Club. I have been in touch with the club organizer Steve about when we are wanting to re-start the club's USCF rated tournaments. For those that do not know, USCF (United States Chess Federation) is a elo rating system used by the United States. When playing in "official" USCF rated tournaments you earn a rating that reflects roughly where your skill level is, using an almost identical system to online ratings. These USCF tournaments will generally have longer time controls and cash prizes. 

When will USCF tournaments return to Bellingham?

The Bellingham Knights Chess Club will bring back USCF rated tournaments once Whatcom County is cleared to enter phase 3 of Governor Inslee's phased re-opening plan. This phase would allow the group size needed for a tournament to operate. Unfortunately as of right now there is no posted requirements for what Whatcom County would need to be at in order to apply for phase 3 re-opening, even though we are currently in phase 2... I assume that it would be sometime in July or even August.

How do I play in a USCF rated tournament?

You will first need to get a USCF membership, this is required of all players in the tournament. You can find USCF memberships here: https://secure2.uschess.org/webstore/member.php

Once you have an active membership you can register for tournaments. Tournaments that are held in Bellingham will be posted on the Bellingham Knights Chess Club website: http://www.bellinghamchess.com/

When we do start tournaments up again we will post schedule updates both here and on the BKCC webpage, along with Covid policies by the BKCC.

I can't wait!