Cincinnati Scholastic Chess

Inviting you to enjoy the king of games in the Queen City

Summer Hybrid Series

The 2025 CSC Summer Hybrid Series comprises four online events and three in-person tournaments (over-the-board play) for players in grades K–12 (2025-26 school year) plus 2025 high school graduates (list your grade as 12 even though your grade would be 13 next year). The Series will be played from late May through mid-July.

We have added capacity and a practice online tournament! See the UPDATES under Tournament Dates and Entry below for details.

To go directly to our registration page, click here: http://www.kingregistration.com/event/summerhybrid25.

Click here for an event flyer.

To see the event details, read on:

Online events will be played on www.chess.com and will NOT affect USCF ratings. USCF membership is NOT required to participate in any online tournament.

In-person tournaments will be played in the Blue Ash Shelter at the Blue Ash Nature Park and will include rated and non-rated sections. To play in a rated section, a player must be a current USCF member. USCF Quick ratings will apply. For a non-rated section, USCF membership is NOT required. Players in a non-rated section will not obtain a USCF rating.

USCF members who have no Quick rating may play in either a rated section or a non-rated section (even if they have a Regular or Blitz rating). A player may move from a non-rated section to a rated section of a future tournament at any time, provided that the player has a USCF membership prior to playing in the rated section and notifies us accordingly.

Format

All tournaments are 4-round Swiss tournaments.

Ratings:

  • For each online event, we will use chess.com Rapid ratings.
  • For the rated section(s) of the in-person tournaments, the most recent USCF Quick rating in a player’s tournament history will be used for section assignments and pairings. Unrated players will obtain a Quick rating as a result of playing in their first in-person tournament.
  • For the non-rated section(s) of the in-person tournaments, we will assign a rating to each player (for example, a player’s most recent rating from a CSC Series non-rated section or a rating based on the player’s age or school grade). Players with a USCF Quick rating whose USCF membership is expired are ineligible to play in the non-rated section(s).
  • The rated section(s) will be submitted to the USCF for Quick rating only; the non-rated section(s) will not be submitted for rating.

Sections: We will determine the number of online tournaments or in-person sections based on the number of players entered, and will communicate these details, along with player assignments and other pertinent information, by email on the day before each tournament.

Duration: Online events will last about 1.5 to 2 hours;  in-person tournaments will last about 3.5 to 4 hours.

Other points:

  • Notation is NOT required at any tournament. (This means that players are not required to record the moves of the game as they play it.)
  • For in-person tournaments, players may take one optional half-point bye in each tournament; any additional bye will be a zero-point bye. All players must use a clock.

Tournament dates, times and time controls

UPDATE: Wednesday, May 21: practice online event at 6:30-8:00 pm – G/10;+3 (each player has 10 minutes with a 3-second increment at each move). FREE! And open to all scholastic players, whether or not you are entered in the Summer Hybrid Series. 4-round Swiss, same format as described above for the Series online tournaments.

*Wednesday, May 28: in-person event #1 at 5:00 pm – G/20;d2 (each player has 20 minutes with a 2-second delay at each move)

Thursday, June 5: online event #1 at 2:00 pm – G/10;+3 (each player has 10 minutes with a 3-second increment at each move)

*Saturday, June 14: in-person tournament #2 at 9:00 am – G/20;d2

Friday, June 20: online event #2 at 10:00 am – G/10;+3

Monday, June 30: online event #3 at 6:00 pm – G/10;+3

Tuesday, July 8: online event #4 at 2:00 pm – G/10;+3

*Sunday, July 13: in-person tournament #3 at 1:00 pm – G/20;d2

*If you enter the Hybrid Series but will not participate in one or  more of the in-person tournaments, you must let us know by email to info@chesscincinnati.com at least one hour prior to the start time of a tournament in which you will not participate. Players who do not so notify us and do not show up for the tournament will have their trophy score reduced by one point.

Trophy details

Your five highest scores from the seven tournaments will count toward a series trophy. The highest possible score is 20 points (5 tournaments times 4 points per tournament). Different levels of trophies will be awarded for different point totals as follows:

  • Platinum: 18.0 points or more
  • Gold: 16.0–17.5 points
  • Silver: 14.0–15.5 points
  • Bronze: 12.0–13.5 points

All trophies are personalized with the winner’s name and will be delivered by Dr. Brackenridge to winners living in Southwest Ohio.

Entry

UPDATE: Due to the enthusiastic response so far to this event, we have put plans in place to expand our capacity to 122 players! We have also secured additional space in the Blue Ash Nature park for the May 28 and July 13 tournaments so the parents will have a convenient place to hang out. Enter online at this link: http://www.kingregistration.com/event/summerhybrid25. There will be no onsite or mail-in entry. The entry fee is $85 . The entry fee covers the entire seven-tournament series, and no partial refund will be given for any individual tournament in which a player does not play. To play in any tournament, a player must enter no later than NOON on the day before the tournament.

Questions?  Send an email to info@chesscincinnati.com.