No. CFCC ended its weekly chess club meetings in 2004 after Hurricane Charley damaged our meeting facility. Since then, the club has shifted its efforts to organizing competitive USCF-rated tournaments several times every year.

However, there a number of local chess clubs and programs available in the Central Florida area. Simply check out our community Chess Calendar to see what’s happening near you!

View the benefits of CFCC’s Annual Club Membership

CFCC club membership is not required to play in our tournament events, however, it does provide benefits to our tournament players and helps support our not-for-profit volunteer efforts in making competitive chess available to players of all ages and skill levels in Central Florida since 1987.

To help support your child’s interest in chess, you have multiple resources:

• Ask your school about an after-school chess program

• View our Chess Calendar to find chess club meet-ups and programs near you

• Compete in our USCF-rated tournaments - all of our tournaments include an U1200 Scholastic section for ages 18 and under

• Utilize online resources such as chesskid.com to play safely online, watch instructional videos, and more

• Seek a private chess coach

You can either browse our Chess Calendar (available in both a desktop and mobile-friendly calendar format), or you can join our monthly chess newsletter to get the details delivered right to your inbox.

Browse our Coaching page for several recommendations to local chess coaches.

If you are interested in donating chess equipment and/or chess related books to CFCC to benefit local area chess clubs and meetups, simply send us an email so arrangements can be made.

We appreciate your support!

Central Florida Chess Club (CFCC)
Established 1987

Yes. All of our chess tournaments are USCF-rated, which requires all players have an active USCF membership ID in order to participate.

If you have never established a USCF membership before, you have multiple methods for doing so:

• During online registration for our upcoming tournament

• Directly on the USCF membership page

• On-site with our tournament director. Registration hours are as follows:

  → 2-Day Schedule & Scholastic: 9-10am on Saturday morning.

  → 3-Day Schedule: 5-6pm on Friday night.
  Tournament directors can be found in the tournament room or the TD's office.

1. Complete registration and payment for each player in either the Master/Expert/A/B/C/D sections ‍or‍ Scholastic section of the tournament.

   1. During online registration, ensure you are an active United States Chess Federation (USCF) member. You can choose to either become a new member or renew your membership (if it has expired) during your online registration with a single payment.

   2. Player Note: Players who have never participated in a USCF rated chess tournament before are considered to be unrated. An unrated player can play in any section they choose (scholastic section is limited to players aged 18 or younger). Unrated players are also limited to a $100 prize (unless playing in the master/expert section) and are required to have current USCF membership before finishing the tournament.

• Complete the steps outlined in questions #1 & #2.

• Make sure you know the rules of competitive chess. USCF has a great info page if you’re not sure of the basics.

• See next question (#4)

In addition to being a USCF member (see question #1), all players are expected to bring:

• Their own chess set, clock, and a pen/pencil

  • Easy to carry vinyl chess sets are the most popular choice for tournament players, as they are lightweight, inexpensive (<$30), and readily available online from the United States Chess Federation (USCF Sales), where all sales help support their non-profit efforts in organizing and promoting competitive chess in the United States.

• Chess notation pad / book or an approved digital version

  • All competitive chess tournament players are required by the United States Chess Federation (USCF) to notate all the moves in their games (to the best of their ability) in case there are any player issues or game disputes the tournament director may need to resolve.

When completing your online registration for our tournament, you will have an opportunity to request a “bye” for any tournament rounds that you cannot attend. If you can play in all five rounds, you do not need to worry about making bye requests.

Should a scheduling conflict for one of your rounds arise after completing your online registration, bye requests can also be made by contacting us before the tournament begins.

Yes, our tournaments allow players on our 3-day schedule to switch to the 2-day schedule on Saturday morning if they wish; there is a $60 re-entry fee that applies.

Yes, you can complete your online registration for the tournament, just do not complete the payment portion of the process. Then simply contact us to let us know and we will update your online registration* as active.
*Note: If you win a prize, our early entry fee amount ($110) will be subtracted from your winning prize amount.

We utilize chessregister.com to register players for all of our tournament events. Once you have completed the required information and completed your payment, you will receive a registration confirmation email.

To confirm the details of your online registration yourself (i.e., player section, schedule, rating, and/or any bye requests):

1. Simply go back to the event on chess register and click/tap on the green “person” icon on the event listing to display all the currently registered players in the tournament (separated by player sections).

Only rated players may play-up in any section that is within 100 rating points above their January 2026 USCF published rating or can play-up two (2) sections above their rating for an additional $100 entry fee (you must notify the TD prior to the start of the tournament so the additional entry fee payment arrangements can be completed before the tournament begins).