2nd Spy's Mate Rapid with Thinkers Publishing
Join us for our second Rapid tournament with Spy's Mate author Brad Buchanan!
Brad will give a book talk about his fantastic chess novel at 6pm with a 5 round rapid tournament following it at 7pm. The publisher, Thinkers Publishing, is also generously donating $350 to the prize pool and book prizes so don't miss out!
Top 6 boards are broadcasted on Chess.com: coming as we get closer to the event.
Register or Join Wait List Change Request Form
Info
- Date: Tue, Apr 28 , 2026
- Eligibility: Open to Everyone!
- Rating: USCF & FIDE
- Location: 57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
- Capacity: 80
Registration
- Online Registration Open Until: Tuesday, April 28: 6:00 pm
- Onsite Registration: 6:00-6:45pm
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Entry fee for Mechanics' Institute Members: $25
- Play-up fee: $10
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Entry fee for Non-Members: $30
- Play-up fee: $15
- Late fee: $10
- $5 admin fee for all cancellations & refunds.
Two ways to check your entries:
Check the live entries on the Jumbula page.
Check the processed entries here a day before the event.
Please note our late fee may be in effect and is usually added 24 hours before the start of a tournament in case capacity reaches 90%.
Tournament Format
- Tournament Format: Swiss System
- Total Rounds: 5
- Time control: 15 min basetime + 3 sec increment
- Round Times: and remaining rounds are on a rolling schedule
- Sections: 1800+ u1800
Play-up "200-rating point rule":
Players must have an 1600 USCF regular supplemental or actual regular rating to be eligible to play up to the 1800+ section.
US Chess rating will be used for section determination and pairings. FIDE or other ratings are only used if no US Chess rating is available.
Pairings are based on the Feb 2026 regular supplemental regular US Chess rating.
Prize Fund
Prize explanations are coming after the event.
Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing prize checks.
Per IRS rules anyone with a cumulative $600+ prize in any calendar year will need to fill out a W9 and Mechanics' Institute will be providing a 1099 form.
Prize Fund:
$400 based on 40 paid entries + $350 from Thinkers Publishing
Actual Payout: $300 based on 30 paid entries -- 75% payout.
| 1800+ | u1800 | |||
| Projected | Actual | Projected | Actual | |
| 1st Place | 125 | 75 | ||
| 2nd Place | 75 | 50 | ||
| 3rd Place | 50 | 25 | ||
Byes
Byes are available for players in any round in case they can't participate but would like to stay in the tournament.
Byes can be requested up to 15 minutes prior to the round start time.
Last round bye must be requested by the start of Round 1.
Late registrations will receive a 0.5 bye for any missed round, up to a total of 2 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.
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
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 1-day events.