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USCF Invitational Requirements Print E-mail

The following guidelines pertain to players wishing to receive an invitation to the following events:

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    1. USCF Membership Requirement
      2.
       
      • USCF: Every player must be a USCF Member in good standing at the time of invitation.
         
        • Invitations are a privilege, not a right; not afforded to any player by virtue of his or her status as a USCF member.

        • Players found to be inappropriately manipulating their results may face sanctions, including ineligibility for invitations for USCF Invitational events.
    2. Federation listed USA at FIDE
      3.  
      • Player must be registered with FIDE as a USA player to participate in these events if not a US Citizen.
      • For players not already listed as USA with FIDE, the player must be published on the FIDE transfer page by the date of invitation.
      • Further, the date of eligibility to participate under the new flag must be prior to the beginning of the event.
      • In extraordinary circumstances, the USCF Executive Board may grant a waiver of this requirement upon petition by the affected player.
        (http://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml is the link to the FIDE federation change page)
        (http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=19&view=category is the link to FIDE forms, rules, and cost (as listed in the FIDE handbook as section C.05.)
    3. US Residency Requirement
      4.   The following residency requirements apply to non-United States Citizens:
       
      • Waiting Period: A player is eligible for invitation based on the other requirements stated herein after completing a one year (12 months) waiting period. The waiting period starts on the date of his documented residency as noted below:
         
      • Aliens (Non-Citizens) must register yearly for invitational eligibility with the USCF office. This Form may be obtained from the USCF office or printed from the USCF website and will include the information described below.

        •   FORM
           
          (Contact Susan Houston at 931.787.1234 ext 136 or shouston@uschess.org)

      • Provide documentation of a form of US residency: Acceptable forms of permanent residency include a green card, I-94 visa, O-1 visa, H1B1 visa, or student visa.
      • Provide evidence that player physically lives in the US for the duration of the Waiting Period. Travel to foreign countries during the Waiting Period is acceptable, but the player must be in the US for at least 75% of the time. Acceptable documentation may include dated copy of utility bill, a copy of prior year taxes, lease agreements for example. Contact the USCF office for more information.
    4. US Champions Automatic Eligibility
      5.   The defending US Champion and US Women’s Champion automatically qualify for the next years Championships regardless of activity or rating.
       
      • The current US Champion and the US Women’s Champion automatically qualify for the Olympiad Team and the World Team. This means that if there is a timing issue because the US Championship is not completed at the deadline for registration of the US Team for the Olympiad or World team, the prior year champions will receive get the eligibility slots.
    5. Qualifier Events and Wildcard Placements
      6.   The winners of the following events are automatically qualified for invitation as noted below:
        US Championship
       
      • The following qualifiers apply to US Players who meet USCF/FIDE membership and residency requirements specifed herein:
         
        • Winner of the US Open
        • Winner of the US Junior Closed
        • Winner of the US Senior Open (Recommended)
      • Wildcard placements are only valid to players who meet membership and residency requirements noted herein.
      • If a player wins the right to be seeded into the US championship by qualification at the US Open, US Junior Open, or US Senior Open, and if that player declines the invitation, the invitational slot will not be extended in the events listed above, but rather will be extended to the next eligible player by the invitational qualifications stated herein.
      US Women’s Championship
       
      • Winner of US Junior Women’s Invitational
      US Junior Girls Invitational
       
      • Winner of the All Girls National U18 section
      • Winner of the Girls Jr. Open
      Olympiad Team
       
      • The US Champion and the US Women’s Champion automatically qualify for the respective Olympiad Team.
      World Team
       
      • The US Champion and the US Women’s Champion automatically qualify for the respective World Team.
    6. Invitation Cutoff Dates
      7.   The US Championship, US Women’s Championship, and the US Junior Girls Invitational cutoff dates are based on the timing of the event. USCF Office will determine the invitation date which will be about three months prior to the event.
       
      • The Olympiad and World Team Championship Invitation Dates will be after the respective US Championship (including playoff games) is rated, unless the dates for submitting the team rosters precludes using the US Championship results. In such case, the USCF Office will determine the invitation date which will be about three months prior to the event.
      • When event dates are known, USCF will publish invitational cutoff dates.
    7. Rating Requirement
      8.   The rating of matches and private tournaments will not be included in invitational rating calculations (see definitions in section 11. Private Tournament and Match restrictions).. Only established USCF ratings will be used for invitational purposes, provisional ratings will not be used.
       
      • For the US Championship, US Women’s Championship, and the US Junior Girls Invitational the USCF rating will be used to create the invitation list and then adjustments, as noted below, will be calculated.
      • Olympiad and World Team: Invitational rating will be computed by taking the average of USCF Rating and FIDE Rating as of the invitation date as noted herein, and then adjustments, as noted below will be calculated.
    8. Peak Rating Bonus
      9.  
      • Player currently at lifetime peak USCF rating, or was at lifetime peak rating within the 90 days prior to invitation: 20 invitational bonus points.
      • Player's lifetime peak USCF rating was achieved more than 90 days, but no more than three years prior to invitation: 10 invitational bonus points.
      • Player's lifetime peak USCF rating was achieved more than three years prior to invitation: no bonus points.
    9. Activity Adjustments
      10.  
      • The “Activity Period” is defined as the 12 months period ending 120 days before the date of invitation.
       
      • Each player must play at least 30 regular rated USCF games against certain strength opponents as defined below during the Activity Period.
      • Games must be rated by the invitation cutoff date. Games that are quick rated or dual rated, e.g., G/30 and G/60 do not count.
      • Games played in matches and “private tournaments” do not count as “activity”.
      • For games to be counted as “activity” they must be against a certain strength opponent as noted below:
        •   Event Strength (USCF Rating)
          US Championship 2200
          US Women's Championship 2000
          US Junior Girls Invitational TBD
      • Any player who fails to play at least 30 games as defined above during the Activity Period will be penalized one (1) invitational rating point for each game fewer than 30 played.
    10. Medal Bonuses Adjustments: Olympiad and World Team:
      11.
       
      • A player will receive an invitational rating point bonus for an individual Medal Performance from the previous Olympiad or World Team (if we qualified). Also, each team member will receive invitational rating point bonus for a team medal performance from the most recent Olympiad or World Team.
      • The bonus is as follows:
        Team Performance   Individual Performance
        Gold = 30 points   Gold = 30 points
        Silver = 20 points   Silver = 20 points
        Bronze = 10 points   Bronze = 10 points
    11. Private Tournament and Match Restrictions
      12.  
      • Private Tournament: Results from matches and private tournaments will not be used in invitational rating and activity calculations. A tournament is considered to be private unless it has at least one of the following features:
        •  
        • A TLA which appears in Chess Life magazine at least two weeks before the tournament.
        • The tournament is FIDE rated, registered as such with FIDE at least 30 days in advance, open to the public to spectate, and adequately publicized at least two weeks in advance.
      • Matches: Usually, a two player event is considered to be a match and so does not count in invitational rating and activity calculations, however:
        •  
        • The USCF Executive Director may allow a match to count if it is FIDE rated, registered as such with FIDE at least 30 days in advance, open to the public to spectate, adequately publicized at least two weeks in advance, and neither player has been on a rating floor during the past 24 months.
        • Segments of knockout match tournaments in which the pairings are determined by a system for round 1 and by results after that are not considered matches.
        • Playoff matches for a title or prize, if specified in the advance tournament publicity, are not considered matches.
        • The USCF rating program considers some events with more than two players to be matches, for example, events in which players face each other more than twice, or some events in which one player plays more games than others. Events considered to be matches by the rating program do not count.
    12. Tiebreak Rules
      13.
  • US Championship
  • US Women’s Championship
  • Olympiad and World Team (if USA qualifies)
  • US Junior Girls Invitational
  • Other invitational events as added by the Executive Board or Executive Director

    • The Invitational Requirements are described below:

      If after invitational ratings are calculated and if a tie must be broken, the following rules will be used to decide order of invitation:
     
    1. The highest total number of USCF played during the activity period. (Note that USCF rates FIDE games.)
    2. The highest number of USCF rated games played in the US during the activity period.
    3. The higher FIDE rating from the current FIDE rating list at time of invitation.
    4. The greatest USCF rating gain during the activity period.
    5. If multiple players are still tied, the USCF shall have a drawing of lots to break the tie.


    Notes:
     
    • These guidelines will be adjusted as necessary and posted on the USCF web-site.
    • The invitation dates and rating supplement or tournaments that will be used will also be posted on the USCF web-site.
    • The USCF reserves the right not to issue invitations to any particular event or to change these criteria without advanced notice.

    Revised May 20, 2012

 
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