US Amateur Team Tournament Returns to Chicago Area

The U. S. Amateur Team (USAT) North, a popular USCF national event, is returning to the Chicago area for the first time since 2005. The USCF invited veteran organizers Tim Just and Glenn Panner  to run the event, which will be held February 18-20 at the Crowne Plaza in Northbrook, Illinois. The event includes a Scholastic Team side event on Saturday, as well as ICA’s 2011 Illinois Blitz Championship on Saturday night.

This team format pits two teams of four players directly against each other for five rounds of g/90 increment 30.  The teams can be made up of any four USCF rated-players, plus one alternate.  Teams may include any combination of chess players; past teams have been put together from club members, schools, and friends. Each team must also have a captain.  Individuals can register to play without a team and will be assigned to a team by the organizers. Teams have a choice of Friday-Sunday or Saturday-Sunday playing schedules.

As the event name implies this is an amateur event, so the average rating of the top four players on each team must be below 2200. It’s the average that matters, teams can include masters as long as the player average stays below 2200.

The team with the highest total score (the scores of all four players added together) at the end of each match wins that round. The team that wins the event gets to play for the National Amateur Team Championship, on-line at a later date, against the winners of the USAT East, USAT West, and USAT South.  For more info regarding the details of team tournaments and USCF team rules see http://chessweekend.com/usat/usat.html.

Boards, sets, and clocks are being provided by North American Chess Association. There are plans to have  a book dealer on-site.

For more information on the USAT-North see the ICA Open events page.