The West Orange Chess Club (WOCC) is announcing an upcoming Chess Tournament, the 2025 Back-To-School Special. If you are interested in participating, please carefully read the following important information.

STRUCTURE:  Four round tournament, Swiss-style.

TIME CONTROLS: G75 d5

DATES AND TIMES:

One game per week on August 26th, September 2nd, 16th, and 23rd. There is no game on September 9th.  All games begin promptly at 7:00 PM. 

LOCATION:

All games will take place at the West Orange Chess Club, located in the Toby Katz Community Center, 650 Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange, NJ. (It's tricky to find -- take the access road between the high school and baseball fields. It's past the fields.)

MEMBERSHIP:

This is a USCF-rated tournament. All players must have a valid USCF membership.

SECTIONS:

Open Section (Master & Expert)

Under 1900 Section (Advanced)

Under 1400 Section (Intermediate)

Under 900 Section (Beginner / Advanced Beginner)

The USCF August 2025 published ratings will be used to determine your eligibility to play in any of the sections other than the Open Section.

REGISTRATION COSTS: $25 per player ($20 for club members)

Payment can be made electronically via Zeffy (heavily preferred), or paid in cash at the event. On-site registration cannot be guaranteed (see below), so if you wish to pay in cash on the day of the tournament, it is STILL BEST to register online, using the Zeffy platform, ahead of time. We appreciate your cooperation so that we may start the tournament on schedule.

Non-members may join the club for $10 ($5 for those less than 18 years old, over 50 years of age, and West Orange residents). Select the appropriate "Membership" Option in addition to the ticket if you are not a member of the WOCC.

Additional donations to the West Orange Chess Club, and to Zeffy, are welcome but are not required to participate in this tournament.

Registration for this tournament will close at 6:00 PM on August 26th. On-site registration may be accepted until August 26th at 6:45 PM at the discretion of the Tournament Director (Stephen Lorimor) but is not guaranteed. Even if you are allowed to register on-site, you may be forced to accept a half-point bye for the first round.

REQUESTED BYES:

A requested bye is when a player notifies the tournament director they wish to skip a round.

One half-point bye per player is available for any round.  

Round 3 & 4 half-point byes must be requested before the start of Round 2.  

Only zero-point byes are available otherwise.

Bye requests, questions, and/or notices that one cannot attend a game should be phoned or texted Stephen Lorimor at 908-286-0720, or e-mailed to sdlorimor@comcast.net. Bye requests must be requested no later than 6:00 PM on the day of the game. Late requests may result in a forfeit game or a zero-point bye.

PRIZES:

75% of entry fees will form a prize pool for each section. The exact amounts and method of distribution to be determined once the tournament begins (ie, we intend to spread the rewards out a bit.)

Thank you for your interest and participation in this event. As ever, we appreciate your commitment to the community of chess players in New Jersey. Sincerely,

-- WOCC Executive Board & Chief Tournament Director

Here is the link for online registration:  www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2025-wocc-back-to-school-special-chess-tournament .