Why USCF AND State Registration?

All Things Chess
1

Greetings!

Please let me start off by making it clear that my inquiry is not a complaint, but for reasons of clarification.

I have students at my school who are interested in taking their chess to the next level. They understand and are okay with the idea that they must register with the USCF in order to play in tournaments, but they do not understand why in addition to that, they must register with our state chess association (Michigan). According to the USCF Membership ad in Chess Life magazine, as a member of USCF, you get “The right to play in USCF-sanctioned tournaments and be asigned an official rating.” If you get that right with membership, why are there USCF sanctioned tournaments in Michigan that require you to be a member of both the USCF and the Michigan Chess Association?

I must admit, it does seem redundant, and my students have limited funds.

If someone could please grant clarification on this subject, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

2

It isn’t really the USCF causing this issue but your local organizers along with the state association. For instance in Illiniois there use to be an Illinois Tour event sponsored by the State organization. The idea was that it would promote chess because players would play more often due to the Tour. For some time the downstate area wasn’t involved in the Tour and thus downstate tournaments didn’t require State membership. Then overtime one by one the downstate area basically joined the Tour. (Not only did the players have to be members but there was an added cost from the organizer that went to the State organization to support the Tour.) During this time there were a lot players that complained also of having to be a State member just to play in tournaments.

Eventually the state organization set up a seperate sub tour for just the downstate players. And then eventually the Tour ended and joining the state organization become more less voluntary. At which point the State organization almost collapsed in on itself. Currently what has happened is that (at least downstate) State membership gets you a small discount to your tournament entry fee but State membership is not required.

So even if Michigan isn’t running a tour they are most likely the ones organizing USCF tournaments and if they don’t require membership they probably would vanish and then the USCF tournaments that they are putting on would also vanish.

But there is nothing keeping anyone from running USCF tournaments that don’t require State membership.

3

Because no one goes to the tournaments that don’t require the state membership?

4

Last time I checked, Four Rated Games Tonight doesn’t require state membership. Plenty of people play in those events. Michigan chess should follow your example.

5

Mr. Lund, why not become a USCF affiliate, and a certified TD (if you have not already done both), and run ‘public’ (eg, not restricted to your players) rated tournaments?

Then you can decide for yourself whether or not your tournaments would benefit from the existence of the Michigan Chess Association enough to require state membership, since appears the organizers of the events you want to have your students play in have decided it does benefit them.

6

The Michigan Chess Association, like most state associations, sanctions, sponsors, organizes, and runs the USCF recognized state championship events, and publishes a magazine and a tournament bulletin. Those events require MCA membership, or membership in some other state association on a reciprocal basis. Other chess tournaments that require MCA membership are granted free advertising for their events in the MCA publications. The membership fees are collected to cover the expense of producing MCA publications. For all other chess events, USCF rated or not, there is no requirement to join MCA. Those events can be advertised in MCA publications for an advertising fee.

Regards,

Tim Sawmiller
Former President, Secretary, and Membership Secretary of the Michigan Chess Association

7

Hey Thomas,

Without telling you to run out and become a TD, I think the question you asked is why you can be granted the right to play in a USCF event can be overridden by a TD who restricts entry based upon certain criteria.

Personally, I find this statement a bit misleading because no one has a “Right” to play in a USCF event if they are USCF members. A USCF membership provides someone partial eligibility to play in a USCF tournament and provides the member some protections against personal discrimination and ensures that the tournament will be held in accordance with the USCF rules unless otherwise specified in advance.

If every USCF member had a right to play in every USCF tournament then closed events cannot happen. How can the Wisconsin State tournament be restricted to only WI residents? The answer is that it cannot be as all those IL players should have a right to play. In addition to that, if a player has a right to play, how can they be required to also pay any entry fee? Shouldn’t the fee paid to the USCF be enough as it does grant you the right? And why can’t I, as a 30 year old player show up at a rated scholastic event and take on some 1st graders? Again, it is a USCF event and I should have the “Right” to play.

I’m not sure if your question was really about the verbiage on the USCF site or if you just don’t to pay the few bucks it typically costs to join the state membership (I’m not from MI so I don’t know what they charge) but I do agree that the verbiage should be updated to truly display what is actually granted by being a USCF member.

8

Please make suggested improvements, then.

9

Thank you for your reply. It definitely helped. My question was more on the verbage, I suppose. It seemed to me misleading to have the “right”, yet still be blocked by not being a MCA member. I’d like to make it clear to all those who read and replied that I don’t have a problem paying the MCA membership fee, and now better understand the reason for both being required for some Michigan tournaments. My question more came from students asking me to explain it to them, and I found that I didn’t know enough to give them an appropriate answer.

As for me becoming a TD, I don’t think that’s in the cards just now. I run the school’s chess club, am the Science Olympiad coach, and amongst the classes I teach, A.P. Chemistry is one of them. Plus, I like to see my wife from time to time. My plate is a bit full as it is.

Many thanks for the replies!

Rich Lund

10

State memberships, unlike USCF memberships, are irrelevant for rated tournaments. It’s up to the organizers to decide. The only reason a state chess affiliate should exist is to award state titles recognized by the National organization. As has been discussed elsewhere on these forums, USCF will recognize anyone as a state champion if proclaimed by the state’s affiliate. In some respects, because alternate rating systems can be used USCF is actually making itself irrelevant.

Such irony . . . .

:open_mouth:

11

That certainly isn’t all that MACA does in Massachusetts. We publish a magazine, Chess Horizons. We have programs to give chess sets to clubs and send magazines etc. to people in prison. We run four or five rated tournaments a year for adults and eight for kids. MACA’s goal is to promote chess in Massachusetts in every way we can, not just by awarding state titles.

12

This is a key problem in USCF–many state charters are under-performing
in helping to grow the USCF membership base, helping new affiliates grow
around their states, and running enough events. We need active state
charters willing to “carry a load” to help USCF turn the ship around.

Rob Jones

13

In Kentucky we do not require state association membership for our scholastic events, including our scholastic team and individual championships. We do require the state membership for state residents who are playing in our state open championship.

14

(Before I start, I am a member, but not an officer, of the Michigan Chess Association. The following information is my understanding, but not a statement of policy.)

The Michigan Chess Association sponsors certain tournaments, and in order to play in one of those tournaments, players must be members of the Michigan Chess Association.

In addition to that, the MCA maintains a calendar of events on their web site, and that web site is the primary means by which people notify other people of the existence of chess tournaments in Michigan. By policy, the MCA will not post information for any rated, non-scholastic, tournament unless that tournament requires MCA membership as a condition for participation. In other words, if you hold a “public” rated tournament, you won’t be allowed to advertise it on the MCA web site.

There are rated tournaments that do not require MCA membership. I know there’s a regular series in Grand Rapids. (See westmichiganchess.com, because you won’t see them on the MCA web site.)

With some reluctance, I decided that for my own series of tournaments (gamesinmichigan.com/chessforcharity next tournament is this Saturday, Jan 22, in Auburn Hills. $10.00 entry fee. [End of shameless plug]), I would require MCA membership for the rated sections, simply because I did not think I could draw enough players if I were not on the web site.

Fortunately, MCA dues are quite low for scholastic players.

I think that the required memberships are a huge problem for Chess in Michigan, because it means to play in your first tournament, you have to shell out USCF membership, plus MCA membership, plus the tournament entry fee.

Unless of course you play in mine, because I have unrated sections, and you might just end up in the rated section paying only ten bucks for the privilege.

And you can always advertise your event on my site for free (gamesinmichigan.com), but the viewership is considerably less than either USCF or MCA sites.

15

I used to direct scholastic qualifier tournaments for the Massachusetts Chess Association, and what we would do for brand new players, that is those without a USCF ID is let them play for just the $20 advance entry rate, even if they signed up at the door. We’d give them a $7 tournament membership and an $6 one year MACA membership, and just take the rest as an entry fee. It takes away the biggest barrier for new kids whose parents aren’t sure if they’re going to like it.

Alex Relyea

16

Unless things have changed recently, events not requiring MCA membership can still be advertised for a fee.
Requiring MCA membership allows for free tournament listings.

17

I do something similar, just some slight variations. One way or another, if you show up to my tournaments you will pay ten bucks, and you will play Chess. I might lose a couple of bucks at worst on a player who does not have the required memberships.

18

I think you are correct. I stand corrected.