MCA's Refund Policy & Fees for Registration Changes

The MCA is committed to starting its scholastic tournaments on time, so that families can arrive back home for dinner after an enjoyable day of chess. When we receive a large number of requests for registration changes the day before and the morning of the tournament, we are less able to focus on starting Round 1 for all sections promptly at 9:30 AM. We designed the procedures below to reduce the number of requests for registration changes that we receive after the scheduled end of online registration on Thursday night.

Punctual Registration Changes (changes requested prior to the scheduled end of online registration on Thursday night) will be honored free of charge.

Minor registration changes requested after the scheduled end of online registration on Thursday night might not apply to Round 1 and will be assessed a $5 fee, payable at the Registration Desk or online (www.mdchess.org : “Main Menu” sidebar : “Register for Scholastic Tournaments” : “Late Registration Changes” at the bottom of the page). Minor registration changes include: section switches, requested byes, switchings of school names, etc. A player who requests a section change At-the-Door might not play in his preferred section until Round 2; instead, he would receive a half-point bye in Round 1 in his new section, which would put the player at a disadvantage to win a trophy.

Major registration changes requested after the scheduled end of online registration on Thursday night will be assessed a $10 fee, payable at the Registration Desk. Furthermore, major registration changes will render it highly unlikely that the player will be permitted to play in Round 1; instead, he would receive a half-point bye in Round 1, which would put the player at a disadvantage to win a trophy. Major registration issues include: At-the-Door Registration (whose $10 fee is already included in the registration fee), purchase of a new US Chess membership, renewal of an expired US Chess membership, etc.

Payment for one player’s registration may neither be applied to, nor substituted for payment for another player’s registration (presumably a player on the same team). Instead, a payment-substitution request will be treated as a new At-the-Door Registration. Furthermore, if you do not inform us of the absent player’s withdrawal by 8:30 AM, then you’ll have to pay both for the withdrawn player and for the new player.

If a player must withdraw from the tournament, then a refund will be issued, only if you inform us by email at tournaments@mdchess.com of the player’s withdrawal at least 1 hour before the scheduled start of the tournament. A $5 processing fee will apply.

The goal of these additional registration fees and conditional refunds is not to collect money; rather, it’s to minimize the number of registration issues that emerge after the scheduled end of online registration on Thursday night. We want to reduce the registration complications that diminish our ability to begin Round 1 for all sections promptly at 9:30 AM. Ideally, we would not collect any registration fees after the scheduled end of online registration.

For further information, contact the Maryland Chess Association at tournaments@mdchess.com.