How to join in a Chess tournament ?

It has been said that the more practice you do, the better you will be. This is certainly true for Chess. You need to play lots of games and learn from your mistakes to make improvements. For MA residents, here is how to join in a Chess tournament.

1. Join The United States Chess Federation (USCF) following the online membership registration. For Scholastic members (Age 12 and Under), the membership is $16/year.
2. To play a tournament at MA, you need to join The Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA) following the online membership registration. For Junior members (Age 18 and Under), the membership is $6/year.
3. Find a suitable tournament to play. There are typically several tournaments each month for both adults and scholastics. The upcoming tournament information is regularly published at MACA's Future Events page. For first time scholastic player, it's best to start with the "Burger King" tournament, which offers monthly events at various towns, such as Waltham and Chelmsford, MA. It is highly desirable to record the chess games you played so that you can review them later.
   

Most of the time, you can also purchase the above memberships at a tournament site. After you have your memberships, and start to play tournament games, your performance is rated based on your results against your opponents. Your rating generally reflects your strength. The rating is maintained by USCF and you can look up a player's rating here. The following shows USCF rating structure,

National Senior Master	-	(SM)
USCF Rating 2400+
National Master	-	(NM)
USCF Rating 2200+
Expert/Candidate Master	-	(Expert/CM)
USCF Rating 2000+
National US Amateur Classes
National Class A	-	USCF (1800-1999)
Top Amateur Class
National Class B	-	USCF (1600-1799)
Strong Tournament Player
National Class C	-	USCF (1400-1599)
Average Tournament Player
National Class D	-	USCF (1200-1399)
Strong Social Player
National Class E	-	USCF (1000-1199)
Social Player
National Class F	-	USCF (800-999)
Novice Player
National Class G	-	USCF (600-799)
Beginner II/Scholastic Player
National Class H	-	USCF (400-599)
Beginner I/Scholastic Player
National Class I	-	USCF (200-399)
Early beginner/Scholastic Player
National Class J	-	USCF (100-199)
Minimum Rating Class