2026 President's Day Weekend Scholastic Championship

Welcome to our new website!
If you notice anything missing or in need of an update, feel free to let us know at chessroom@milibrary.org. We appreciate your feedback!

Register or Join Wait List

Registration

• Online Registration Open Until: Monday, February 16: 9:30 am
• Onsite Registration: 9:30-9:45 AM
• Entry fee for Mechanics' Institute Members: $35
• Entry fee for Non-Members: $50
• Late fee: $10
• $5 admin fee for all cancellations & refunds.

Two ways to check your entries:

• Check the live entries on the Jumbula site by clicking on the View Entries button.
• Check the processed entries here a day before the event.

 

Tournament Format

• Tournament Format: Swiss System
• Total Rounds: 5
• Time control: 30 min basetime + 5 sec delay
• Round Times: 2/16 10:00am and remaining rounds are on a rolling schedule
• Sections: Under500 500-999 1000+

• Sections might be adjusted based on signups to best serve the players.
• Play-ups are allowed free of charge for scholastic players as long as they are within 200-rating points to the next section.
• US Chess rating will be used for section determination and pairings. 
• Pairings are based on the Jan 2026 regular supplemental regular US Chess rating.

Prize Fund

• Trophies to Top 5 in each section.
• Medals to all others.

 

Byes

Byes are available for players in any rounds if they can't participate in any round but would like to stay in the tournament.

• A maximum of two half-point byes can be requested in this tournament.
• Round 1 pairings will be done on Saturday at 9:50 am onsite. If you need a Round 1 bye, please email us by 9:45 am.
• Round 2-4 byes must be requested 10-15 minutes before next round start (i.e. before the pairings are done for the next round.)
• Late registrations will receive a half-point bye for any missed round, up to two rounds.

Eligibility

• Players must have current US Chess Federation membership. Expiration date of their US Chess membership must be later than the last day of the tournament.
• Players must have a USCF rating of 1400 or below to be eligible for this tournament.
• Not sure if you have a membership? Need to check the expiration date of your members? Visit: https://new.uschess.org/player-search
• Become a member or renew your membership: https://new.uschess.org/join-us-chess

Tournament Rules

• Time Control: G/30;d5  (Game in 30 minutes with a 5-second delay at each move.)
• Forfeit time: 30 minutes. 
• We provide clocks and set it up for players.
• Games will be US Chess and quick-rated (so-called dual-rated). Tournament results will be submitted immediately after the last round is finished.
• What do the time controls mean?
  Time controls tell you how much time you have for each game.
  G30;d5: Game in 30 minutes with a 5-second delay with each move. This means you get 30 minutes, your opponent gets 30 minutes, and at each move the clock will count back 5 seconds before the time starts. One game may last up to 1 hour.

Mechanics' Institute Chess Club reserves the right to update any details of this event (including but not limited to sections, time control, round times, prize fund, etc.) as we get closer to the event date to ensure an excellent tournament experience for players.

Standings

Processed entries are coming 1 day before the event starts.

Final standings will be posted after the event is finished.

 

Pairings

Pairings are posted on the wall of the club. We do not post pairings online for scholastic events.