Tournament Schedule

will it always be open tourney or will they eventually have sections? not fair to beginner players.

As far as I know, there aren't any plans for sections. Maybe if the groups get large enough it might be something that will be done but until then, I don't see it happening.

I'd also love tournaments to start around 9PM EST/6PM PAC. My kids don't get to bed until around 8:30. Also, lots of people have evening obligations (dinners, social events) that usually end just before 9.  

5EST/8PAC is just awkward because it eliminates west-coasters that work and east-coasters with evening obligations.

Also, is there an option to play just rounds 3-5 on the Friday tournament?

You can play as many of the rounds as you want; all games played get rated. The caveat is there are no late signups.

I have seen where joining the tournament then closing the Live window so as to not be in the interface when the round starts, allows a player to not play in the 1st round as long as they stay logged into the main site. I don't know if you could use that to skip the first two rounds or not and I don't know if that method is a bug or not, so it may not always work.

I am an unranked player (beginner), Do you recommended me to just start with any tournament or wait for a unranked tournament?

For here, there are only Open tournaments. If you are asking about over-the-board (OTB) then that depends on you and what is available in your area.

The USCF won't have anything quicker than G/29 for online. Quick and Blitz only.

I see a lot of discussion about long time controls and cheating online.  Since I am older, I move more slowly, I am nearly 70 (my birthday is in September)... so I don't like to play blitz.  I would like 15/10, that is fine with me.  And I assume people can and will cheat at 15/10, and that is fine with me too -- as it will push their rating higher, out of my class - I am a 1500 player, since the 1960s.  So cheating is something that Masters worry about, in my opinion.

My local club is exactly the opposite... all blitz and quick, no standard.  Maybe clubs could offer a mix??  Oh well...

More  than  one  way  to cheat...program  is  only  one way..use  of  'ringer' 

is  almost  impossible  to  detect..  an  1800  player  making  all  the  moves  of  a  player  identified  as  1300...any  on  line  game  is  vulnerable  to  this  type  of  cheating....  suspicious  point  gain  is  hard  to  identify  as  cheating as  opposed  to  improving  player..         

What???

Sorry I didn't understand

We really don't want to be having discussions of cheating here.

As normal on the site, if you suspect someone, report them via the site's contact method. If you suspect it in one of these events, please report via that and message one of the admins.

A "ringer"... someone else, usually a stronger player, advising you or making the moves for you.  It is a common form of cheating in correspondence chess... less so online live, no matter what the time limit.  Of course, it is always possible, when you are not able to see your opponent make the moves.

I'm unrated for uscf does that matter?

Just have to have an active USCF membership.

Thanks for your time and effort Martin!

I am very interested in playing in some 45/45 rated tournaments. How do we go about setting this up?

The USCF is not allowing regular rated online play. Online Blitz and Online Quick only at this time. In my opinion, it is unlikely they will add longer time controls.

That is correct. You have to be a member to play rated tourneys. If the TD wants to accept memberships at the tourney they can renew that way.

I think they send one automatically.