ChessKid USA Girls & Women's Championship April 17th - Register Now!

Exciting Update: GM Irina Krush will host our Pre-Tournament Training Camp for all who register by April 5th!!!

ChessKid USA Girls & Women's Championship Coming April 17

ChessKid is pleased to announce its first nationwide online tournament to be played in the United States just for female chess players. Individual and team prizes will be awarded to promote and highlight the continued growth of scholastic female chess players in the U.S. Additionally, we are also featuring a women's section with individual prizes.

The tournament will be US Chess Online Quick Rated and all scholastic girls that are brand-new members of US Chess will also receive a one-year membership included with their registration!

Among the prizes for the tournament will be opportunity for the top ten in each section to participate in an online chess camp led by current/former US Women's Champions!

Past champions GM Irina Krush, IM Nazi Paikidze, IM Anna Zatonskih, IM Rusa Goletiani, WGM Sabina Foiser, WGM Jennifer Shahade, WGM Jennifer Yu, and WIM Elina Cotler have already offered to be the master teachers for the winners. That's pretty much every U.S. Women's Champion from this century!

WGM Jen Shahade will provide commentary during this unique event for girls and women. She will be joined by GM Irina Krush and WGM Jennifer Yu. "I am so excited to watch the top girls and women in the country battle in the ChessKid USA Girls & Women's Championship," she said. "Let's make this a world record -- spread the word!"

Four Sections for Girls Offering Team and Individual Awards

Sections: K-3; 4th-5th; 6th-8th; and 9th-12th grade sections. Note that in the girls event you cannot "play up" into a higher grade. You must play in the section of the grade you are currently in.

Registration: At this link.

Individual awards: Plaques for top 3 in each section; top 10 girls in each section get to participate in chess camp led by current or former U.S. Women's champions!

Team awards: Plaques for top 3 teams for the top 3 scores from each school in each section.

Women's Section Individual Awards

Plaques for top 3; top 10 women get to participate in a chess camp led by current or former US Women's Champions!

Note that scholastic girls can elect to play in the women's section. It is open to all female players regardless of age.

Special Awards

The top 3 mother-daughter pairs (combined score) will also receive plaques!

Tournament Details

When: Saturday April 17, 2021 at 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern.

Entry Fee: $40 by April 5; $50 by April 12. No Entries accepted after April 12. Note -- in order to play in the warmup event on April 10, you MUST register by the early deadline on April 5.

Time Control: K-3 & 4th-5th grades: Game 10 min + 5 sec; 6 rounds.

6th-8th, 9th-12th & Women: Game 15 min + 5 sec; 6 rounds.

***The tournament is ONLY open to girls/women who are playing from inside the USA or one of its territories.

***USCF memberships required; will affect USCF online quick rating only.

***Note for scholastic sections online: If you are brand new to US Chess and rated play, ChessKid will purchase a US Chess scholastic membership for you and send you a voucher that you can use to register for a NEW USCF membership. The option to sign up for a free US Chess membership is now live on the registration, so you can sign up directly on the registration page.

(This offer does not apply for existing or expired US Chess members or for the women's section.)

Registration Information

Registration will take place online here.
The "early registration" fee is $40 USD if received on or before April 5th at 11:59pm Pacific U.S. time.
Registration from April 6th-April 12th, 2021 is $50 USD. There will be no registrations accepted after 11:59pm Pacific U.S. time on April 12th, 2021.
ChessKid will create a unique username for use in this event. Both the girls and women's sections will take place on ChessKid.com.
Everyone who registers by the early registration date of April 5th will receive their username by Friday, April 9th to participate in the warm-up event on Saturday, April 10th.
Everyone who registers after April 5th will receive their username by Friday, April 16th to participate in the main event on Saturday, April 17th.

Benefits of Registering Early

Everyone who registers by the early registration date of April 5th will be invited to a free pre-tournament camp that will be live-streamed just for competitors. If you do not register by April 5, you will not be able to attend this special event.
Early registrants will be eligible to play in a warm-up event on ChessKid on Saturday April 10th scheduled to occur at the same time as the main event: 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern.
Lower registration fee until April 5th.

Fair Play

ChessKid expects that all children and their families will abide by the rules governing fair play. Both the child and the parent/guardian will have to agree to our fair play policies when registering for the event.

This is what will be agreed to upon registering for the event:

ChessKid will run this event with the highest level of integrity and ethics. All players must play fairly and use good sportsmanship.
We strictly forbid cheating of all kinds. ChessKid will use its own algorithms to monitor games and also will manually analyze select games at its discretion.
All of your moves must be your own. You will not get help from anyone or anything else, including coaches, friends, parents, chess engines, or any other software of any kind.
You will also not have a phone, tablet, or any other electronic device in the same room.
You are only allowed to have one browser tab open and no other programs running on your computer. Violating this rule is a “technical forfeiture” and you will be disqualified, with no chance at prizes.
You agree that ChessKid will make the final determination on any fair play issue.
If you violate the ChessKid Fair Play Policy, then ChessKid will close your account and label it as having violated the Fair Play Policy.
If you are not willing to agree to the above policies, you will not be allowed to play in the event.

Technical Details

All games will be played on ChessKid.com's live server. No account is needed and if you already have an account, you won't need that either. Special one-time use tournament accounts will be created for all players.
Each section will be open for kids to 'join' the tournament about 30 minutes before the first round. Here's a video on how a child joins a live tournament on ChessKid. If you try to join after the starting time, you may not be able to play. It is required that you 'join' before the tournament starting time.
ChessKid highly encourages playing on a laptop/desktop computer and not a tablet. Wifi is usually stronger and the site functions better. If you can plug in to an ethernet port, that is best. The reality of online play, even with the world champion, is that Wifi failures can impact an online tournament.
If you must play on a tablet, the web site version is the only way (opening a browser on your device). The app will not work for this.
Preferred browsers are Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.
Clearing your browser's cache before the tournament is another great protective measure.
If you experience issues in the middle of the game or the tournament, clicking 'refresh' on your browser is the first thing to do. If you 'refresh' in the middle of a game, it will never kick you out of the game and can only help.
Two kids cannot play at the same time on the same device.
If a family has any issues with logging in, playing, etc, there will be a live help desk on Slack that will open one hour before the first round.

For any questions about the event, please email [email protected].