Thursday Chess in West Chester, PA
The West Chester Chess Club plays USCF rated OTB chess on Thursdays! Please arrive no later than 7:15PM to register.
- You will need an active USCF membership to play. You can purchase or re-activate a USCF membership at the USCF site. Please do so at least a day before to insure that the USCF fully processes your membership.
Every four Thursdays the West Chester Chess Club runs a USCF rated swiss tournament. You can start play in the Swiss at any time, and play as many nights as you can make. The swiss tournaments run for 4 weeks. You can join a swiss at any round. You do not have to start play in round 1.
On the 5th Thursday, a 30/5 Quad is run! And then we repeat with a four week swiss. The following is the 2025 schedule:
- Please arrive by 7:15 at the latest to register. Pairings are then set and play begins at 7:30.
- In the first four Thursdays, games are 1 hour and 30 minutes, delay 5. So just one game but it can last for hours!
- The 5th Thursday is a quad, where you are paired with three other closely rated players. Games are 30 minutes, 5 second delay
Club dues are $20 a year and are pro-rated depending on when you join. First visit is free!
For directions to the club, visit this page.
About the Club Championship:
In 2005, a rule was established that you had to play 12 games to qualify to play in the club championship. Over the years we modified it to limit the field to the top 8 Open Section players based upon the number of wins accumulated over the year.
We play 9 four round swiss tournaments for a maximum of 36 points (by attending each week and going undefeated). In 2024, Joe Mucerino was the top player with 23 points. It took only 15 ½ points to be in the top 8. Win only 43% of your games and you’re in.
The race to qualify for the 2026 Championship begins Thursday 2/20 as we get back to regular order with the Kickoff Swiss. Yeah, 43% sounds reasonable enough. But there are no easy games in the West Chester Chess Club.
Good luck to everyone. And have fun.