About This Tournament
Scholastic and Quads Tournament at the Meadowdale Public Library
Saturday, September 26, 2026 -- with Round 1 at 9:30 AM
Come out and play chess at the Meadowdale Public Library!
Place: Meadowdale Public Library, 4301 Meadowdale Blvd, North Chesterfield, VA. It’s a really nice place to play chess!! Organized by the Virginia Chess Federation, the official State Chapter of the U.S. Chess Federation.
Registration: www.vachess.org, or onsite at the library starting at 8:30 am on Saturday. We will have a Pre-Tournament Information Meeting on Zoom on Thursday, Sept 22nd for new players—check our website www.vachess.org close to the tournament date.
Round 1 at 9:30 AM in all Sections. Registration will close at 9:00 am if you want to play in Round 1. We VERY STRONGLY RECOMMEND that all NEW players participate in our Zoom meeting as mentioned above.
The Tournament has 4 Scholastic Sections and "Quads"
4 Scholastic Sections: Players play 4 games (e.g., the tournament has 4 rounds of play). Entry Fee is $30 until Wednesday Sept 21st, entry fee is $35 starting Thursday Sept 22nd and onsite at the Library. The tournament should be over around 2:30 or 3 PM, the Not Rated sections usually finish sooner. We do take a LUNCH BREAK! The Time Control is Game 40, Delay 5 for Rounds 1, 2 and 3. The Time Control is Game 60, Delay 5 for Round 4. The "Time Control" is the amount of thinking time each player has to make all of his/her moves. For example, "Game 40, Delay 5" means each player has 40 minutes to complete all their moves and also has 5 "free" seconds at the start of each move.
Here are the Sections of competition:
K-12 Rated and K-5 Rated: These two sections are for players in grades K-12 and K-5 who have or want to receive an official US Chess Federation rating. US Chess membership is required to play in this section. Players who already have official US Chess ratings will be paired using the higher of their US Chess Regular and over-the-board and online ratings from the September 2026 US Chess Rating Supplement. If you need to join the US Chess Federation, or renew your existing US Chess membership, please go to the VA Chess website at www.vachess.org and select the “Join/Renew US Chess” option on the left side of the screen. VA Chess Federation membership is encouraged, but is NOT required.
K-12 Not Rated and K-5 Not Rated: These two sections are also for players in grades K-12 and K-5, but they are for players NEW to Chess and want to “test the waters” of tournament-style gameplay. K-12 players with US Chess ratings over 600 and K-5 players with US Chess ratings over 400 must compete in the Rated Sections. U.S. Chess Federation membership is NOT required in this section, but players will not receive an official US Chess rating after their games. If you are looking to get a rating, you need to play in either the K-12 or K-5 Rated sections.
AWARDS: Nice Trophies for 1st-5th places in each section, plus 1st-3rd place school teams. Medals to players who finish with at least 2 points out of a possible 4! A "team" is 2 or more players who attend the same school and are competing in the same section of the tournament.
Quads Tournament: Players are organized into groups of 4 based on their US Chess Ratings. The section is open to ALL Adults and any Scholastic Players who have a US Chess Federation rating of 1200 or higher in the past year. Each group of 4 players (a Quad) plays 3 games , each player plays all other players in their Quad. The Time Control is Game-60, Delay 5 (this means each player has 60 minutes to make all their moves in the game, plus you get 5 "free" seconds at the start of each move). Quads usually end about 4 PM, but could finish earlier. Entry Fee is $35 until Wednesday Sept 21st, entry fee is $40 starting Thursday Sept 22nd and onsite at the Library. Cash Prizes: 1st Place ($85), 2nd Place ($55) in each Quad.