IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEW ITEMS

USCF has rated very few international events held outside of the United States in recent years. We are going to resume the rating of these events under the following conditions:

1. Official FIDE events in which American players participate will be USCF rated, including the Olympiads, the World Championship and World Women's Championship, the World Junior and World Youth, and the Continental events qualifying for the World Championships.

2. Other foreign events will be rated only for USCF members who request such rating in writing in advance of the tournament. After making such a request, the player is responsible for promptly submitting a report of the event, including verification of his or her results by the Tournament Director, and including a special rating fee of $20.

3. It is possible that in the process of carrying out the above, foreign players, non-members as well as USCF members, will have games USCF-rated and will appear on USCF rating lists.

4. When a USCF member faces a player with a FIDE rating but no USCF rating, the opponent's FIDE rating plus 50 points will be used for the rating calculation. If an opponent has no FIDE or USCF rating, that player's performance rating will be used.

5. We hope to rate some old FIDE events from past years later this year, after our rating software is rewritten and we are able to "re-rate" everything in chronological order. We do not presently wish to rate these old events as for players who have been active since the event, the ratings would be distorted.

Tournament Crosstables: When there is more than one section in a tournament it is possible that all sections will not be rated in the same week. Some of the reason’s for this could be that a membership has not been processed yet, there could be a result that is not correct and we need to fix it before it can be rated, we cannot find an ID number for someone. We will not hold up rating the other sections because of a problem in another section. So do not get upset if you do not receive all the sections for your tournament at the same time. As soon as the remaining sections are rated you will receive the rest of your crosstable.

Rating Supplement Downloads: USCF rating supplements are available as a free download from the members only area of the USCF website (www.uschess.org.) Any member or affiliate can download the rating supplement by visiting the members only area and following the posted instructions.

Dual Rating Events with Time Controls of G/30 to G/60: The USCF is improving the accuracy of quick ratings by increasing the number of games that are rated under the quick rating system. Any tournament with a time control between G/30 and G/60 inclusive that is submitted on disk with the time control indicated on the rating report will be rated under both the regular rating system and the quick rating system. A tournament director or organizer who submits a rating report on paper only (no disk) may have the tournament dual rated by submitting a double rating fee. Tournaments with time controls of G/5 to G/29 will continue to be rated using only the quick rating system. Tournaments with time controls of G/61 or slower will continue to be rated using only the regular rating system. If no time control is indicated on the rating report, the tournament will be rated using only the rating system indicated on the rating report.

Expiration Dates: Please note that on the Regular and Quick rating lists we are now putting XX in the expiration date field for anyone who is not a valid member. If there is an XX in the expiration date it means that no membership money was received for that person. We created the x-member record in order to rate a tournament in which the person participated.

Lines 7-24: $3.00 per line for one insertion (one issue), subsequent insertions half price.

Lines 25 and above: $4.00 per line for one insertion (one issue), subsequent insertions half price.

NOTE: The TLA deadline is the 10^th of each month for events beginning on or after the 15^th of the month two months later (January 10^th deadline for events starting March 15^th or after, etc).

If you do not indicate how many TLA insertions you wish, you will be billed for the maximum possible number of insertions. For example, a May 1 event submitted January 10 will obtain two insertions.

If you obtain the number of insertions desired, and there is time for more insertions than you request, you will obtain only the latest insertion(s). For example, a May 1 event submitted January 10 and requesting one insertion will appear in the "May issue" coming out in early April, but not in the "April issue" coming out in early March.

Minimum rating fee for any event: $5.00

Rating reports submitted on paper: $0.30 per game

Rating reports submitted on disk: $0.15 per game

Scholastic or Quick Chess reports submitted on paper: $0.20 per game.

Scholastic or Quick Chess reports submitted on disk: $0.10 per game.

Minimum rating fee for any event submitted on paper: $8.00

Minimum rating fee for any event submitted on disk: $5.00

Rating reports submitted on paper: $0.40 per game

Rating reports submitted on disk: $0.20 per game

Rating fees and PHBF fees are to be remitted together with the rating report.

Both players must have established ratings, and their differential has to be less than 400 points (the latest published rating prior to the match will be used for calculating the rating difference).

Each match report must be submitted with the appropriate rating fee.

Reports need to be validated by a certified tournament director or by a notarized statement signed by both players.

The maximum rating change allowed from a match is 50 points. No player’s rating may go up or down more than one rating class within a three-year period solely through match play. Match results will not be taken into account for invitational events unless they are subsequently confirmed in tournament play.

Rating floors exist at 100, 1400, 1500, 1600,…, 2100. No player’s rating can drop below 100. A player’s rating floor is calculated by subtracting 200 points from the highest attained established rating, and then using the floor just below. For example, if a player’s highest rating was 1941, then subtracting 200 yields 1741, and the floor just below is 1700. Thus the player’s rating cannot go below 1700. If a player’s highest rating was 1588, then subtracting 200 yields 1388, and the next lowest floor is 100, which is this player’s floor.

Under current USCF policy, a person’s rating floor can also change if the individual wins a large section or class prize. If a player wins an Under 2000 prize of at least $1,000, the individual floor is 2000

Tournament Directors Update Lists: A complete list of our tournament directors appeared in the December 2003
Annual Rating List. The following is a list (updated March 19, 2004) of the new, renewed and upgraded TD’s, Local or above, since the February 2004 Supplement.

Robert Singletary - NC

Rating System in the header information

Senior TDs please do not insert Q – D for Dual rating.

Alexander Beltre – NY this selection our computer system in the

Roger Buerkle – ND office cannot understand the command.

Daniel Heisman – PA Please enter F or H for the K factor and

William Mabry – ID R for the Rating System and then be sure

John Mc Manus – NY to mark on the cover sheet what the time

Scott Parker – GA control is and that you want the tournament

Dual Rated. Thank you for your help!

Ann Marie Allen – VA

Gregori Alpernas – OR

Christopher Belcher - NY

Noah Belcher – NY

Joseph Biegen – NY

Joel Blaustein – FL

Joseph Byrnes – NY

Jack Cashman – CA

Kenneth Evans – NY

Martin Gordon – TX

Stephen Herx - NJ

Funda Hutchings – VA

Donald Jones - OH

George Leritte – LA

Gilberto Luna – FL

Albert Rich – CA

Steve Sawyer - OK

Robert Weinberg - TX

John Zeitler - OH

RECURRING ITEMS

Share the Rating Supplement: The Bits & Pieces and TD Corner columns have much important information for both TDs and players. Make a copy of the columns and make them available at your club. When you get a new director at your club, encourage him or her to review the back issues, especially the TD Corner.

USCF Membership Requirements: USCF membership is required to play in USCF rated events. It is not permitted to include both members and non-members in a section and only report the results of games between members. It is permissible to have a non-rated section for non-members. Participants in the Junior Tournament Player program are an exception to the membership requirement and are allowed to participate in rated play in tournaments run at their school which are limited to only players from that school. See the JTP form for complete information as there is an exception for JTP participants in grades K - 3.

Foreign GMs, WGMs, IMs, and WIMs (those living outside the US and whose FIDE federation is not USA) are an exception to the membership requirement. These players are allowed to participate in USCF events without becoming a USCF member. If you have a player in this category play in your event, please collect and send the office their birthdate and mailing address information. This is important so we can identify them when they play in subsequent events. Include a note stapled to the front of the report for first

Late Submission Of Memberships And Rating Reports: It is very important to our members that new and renewing memberships be submitted promptly. Please make every effort to send them to the office within 1-2 days of being received. If you are running a tournament that will last for 2 or more weeks, don’t hold the memberships until the rating report is ready for submission.

Labels for Chess Life are normally created in the first week of every month. If a new or lapsed renewal is received after the date the labels are created, they will not receive their magazine until a supplemental mailing is done approximately 6 weeks later. For someone whose membership ends in March, if we don’t receive a renewal by about March 1^st, there is a very strong possibility that they will not receive the April issue of Chess Life until 6 – 8 weeks after the membership is received.

Some of our organizers have been waiting to submit rating reports until they get the ID numbers back from the USCF. Please do not do this. Send your rating reports in promptly. Your efforts to insure that the ID numbers are included in the report are greatly appreciated, especially for the large scholastic events. However, we prefer to receive the reports as quickly as possible to be able to rate tournaments promptly.

Phone numbers of Special Referees (Last Updated January 19, 2004):

A special referee is a director with substantial experience who is available to provide advice or make a ruling by phone. See rule 21J. "The Special Referee" (pages 70 - 71) in the 4th Edition of the U.S. Chess Federation's Official Rules of Chess. If you are interested in volunteering, contact the Rules Committee, c/o the USCF Office.

Looking up players ratings and ID numbers: Each rating supplement, both paper and disk, covers a different period of time. The December annual supplement will have the ID numbers and ratings for a player who participated in an event rated anytime during the entire previous year. The June semi-annual list will cover the preceding six months. The February, April, August, and October lists only cover a two- month period. If you are just starting an affiliate this month, you should request the December 2002 issue so you cover anyone who has played in the past 24 months.

Rating List On Disk: You can still order rating lists on 3.5-inch diskettes. Single copies are $10.00 for February, April, August, and October lists, and $15.00 for the June and December lists. A one-year rating-list-on-disk subscription, consisting of six consecutive issues, costs $55.00.

Please make sure your disk information and the paper backup are in the same order: It is very difficult to match up player information when one copy is in pairing order and the other is in scoring order.

The disk must be accompanied by a printout of the complete tournament wallchart, which lists all the players in their original paining order, along with all the results for all the players, for every section of the tournament. We cannot accept printouts which list the players in the post-tournament standings order, because they are incompatible with the rating report files on the disk. The correct USCF ID number must also be listed for each player.

The disk must contain the three rating report files created by your pairing software: TDEXPORT.DBF, THEXPORT.DBF, and TSEXPORT.DBF. Our computer does not accept any other files (e.g.,".DAT,.TXT,.XLS," or any other file types). Before sending the USCF your rating report, please check your disk to make sure it is in good working order, and that these three files are present.

Please avoid the defects listed above, or your report will be returned to you for re-submission.

Mailing Rating Reports on Disk: Due to the methods the Post Office is using to process the mail, we are receiving a number of disks which have been radiated. Before you put your rating reports in the mail, if you could please write on the outside envelope that there is a disk enclosed maybe this will help avoid this problem.

General Comment: Please include both your affiliate name and ID number with your report. NOTE: USCF-rated tournaments must be sponsored by a current member affiliate and directed by a TD whose certificate is current.

Also, when submitting your tournament on disk, please enter "USA", not "US" or "United States", in the "country" field for events played in the United States. This does not affect processing. However, when producing the Rated Events list, the computer will list the events that do not contain "USA" in the "country" field under "ArmyPO, FleetPO, FOREIGN." The list then has to be manually corrected. Also remember to include the cover page from the OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT REPORT FORM. It is required even when submitting a rating report on disk. Please request and use the most recent form.

Stapled Checks: Many organizers submit memberships with a check stapled to each membership form. This is not necessary and does not help our staff. It takes us additional time to unstaple the checks before we can process the memberships. Please just enclose the loose membership forms and checks in an envelope. Please group the checks together, not interspersed in the membership forms.

Birthdates Needed: Please include the birthdates of ALL members when sending in New or Renewal memberships. This information is needed to insure that all qualified members receive their ballots. It also helps us to identify correct ID numbers. Please do not guess birthdates and be careful that you don't make an error. When we are looking up ID numbers to see if a player had a previous ID, if the birthdates are different, we normally do not consider them the same person. If you only know the month and year, leave the day blank if you are unable to get that information from the player.

FIDE-rated Events: When submitting FIDE-rated tournament reports, include a list of participants who played games with an accelerated time control (example, games with time controls of G/75). These games are not FIDE-ratable; thus the office has to remove the results from the crosstable prior to submitting the rating report to FIDE. The best way to list the non ratable games is to include a statement such as. "Rounds 1-2 for players # 1,3,4,6,9 were played at G75"

Please include an extra copy of the crosstable with your report. Title the extra copy FIDE information, Attn: Ratings Manager. Indicate on the extra copy which players have FIDE ratings. FIDE ID numbers and ratings are not necessary but do help.

All FIDE-rated USCF events must be FIDE-registered one month prior to the start of an event. Contact the Ratings Manager for details.

Blank norm certificates are now available on the USCF website. If you are running an international tournament, please fill out a norm certificate for any player or TD who satisfies the criteria for a GM, IM or IA norm. The original certificate should be sent to FIDE, and copies should be given to the person who earns the norm and mailed to the USCF office at:

USCF

ATTN: Glenn Petersen

3054 US Rte. 9W

New Windsor, NY 12553

For information about the rules for earning a norm, please visit the FIDE website or contact Glenn Petersen at the USCF office.

In order to cover some of the USCF office expense devoted to FIDE reports, effective with tournaments ending June 30, 2004 or later, there will be a fee for processing reports of FIDE-rated tournaments and submitting them to FIDE to be rated. The fee is$35 per event, if only one section is to be FIDE-rated. If more than one section is FIDE-rated, the fee is $35 per section. The rating report must be postmarked by 10 days after the conclusion of the event, or there is an additional late charge of $70.

Chess players rely on you to submit prompt and complete rating reports. It is very important to submit tournament rating reports within seven days of the conclusion of your tournament. The USCF rates most tournaments within one to two weeks of receiving the rating report. Tournament reports that are submitted late will be rated out of chronological order, and this may cause some players to receive more (or less) rating points than they deserve.

for a very valuable and interesting web page. Carol Jarecki's article describing the digital clock functions is on the site. Thanks also go to Mike Atkins for creating the web page.

Using ratings from the USCF ratings web-page: Using OTB ratings on the website for pairing and prize purposes is a permitted variation from the standard rule of using the current rating supplement. If you intend to use the website ratings, it is very important to review the clarifications to the rules in the December 2000 Rating Supplement or the December 1999 Chess Life Magazine. This is an important change and should be published in all advance publicity. If a player does not have a published rating, you can use the website rating as this is permitted by rule 28C. Remember to post this procedure so players are aware of what you are doing.

(Effective January 1, 2003)

Senior*(a) $ 36 $ 65 $ 93

Youth*(b) $ 25 $ 49 $ 70

Scholastic**(c) $ 19 $ 35 $ 52

Blind* $ 12 $ 23 $ 33

Prison*(d) $ 12 $ 23 $ 33

Additional Family+(e) $ 23 $ 45 $ 65

Trial *(6 months only) $ 32

Sustaining*(f) $ 120

Life* $ 1000 Payment must be paid in one lump sum

Senior Life* $ 500 Payment must be paid in one lump sum

Blind Life*(g) $ 250 Payment must be paid in one lump sum

economy regular + $ 39 $ 73 $ 107

economy scholastic+ $ 13 $ 25 $ 37

* Includes monthly Chess Life

** Includes 6 issues of Chess Life

+ Provides NO publications

AFFILIATE RATES: Affiliate commissions per membership category are in parentheses, followed by the amount to be submitted to USCF (in bold type).

Adult (4) 45 (5) 85 (5) 125

Senior (4) 32 (5) 60 (5) 88

Youth (2) 23 (4) 45 (5) 65

Scholastic (2) 17 (2) 33 (3) 49

Additional Family (2) 21 (4) 41 (5) 60

Trial (2) 30

Sustaining (8) 112

economy regular (3) 36 (4) 69 (5) 102

economy scholastic (1) 12 (2) 23 (3) 34

(a) Must be 65 years old or over.

(b) Must be 19 years old or under at the beginning of each year whether paying one or multiple years.

(c) Must be 14 years old or under at the beginning of each year whether paying one or multiple years.

(d) Available to those incarcerated in a penal institution.

(e) Available to those living in the same household with a relative who is currently receiving Chess Life. Additional family member receives no magazines. Relative’s USCF ID number is required. This membership does not cover entire family but the individual additional family member.

(f) Sustaining rate is $120 for Sustaining Memberships starting from January 1, 2003. For continuous Sustaining Memberships started prior to Jan 1, 2003, the former rate of $95 per year is allowed. After 10 consecutive annual payments, Sustaining members become Life members.

(g) Proof may be required.

FOREIGN POSTAGE: Canada/Mexico: Add $6 each year. All other non-U.S. countries: Add $15 each year.