Frequently Asked Questions

Bags will be permitted at the chess tournament. However, please note that if you are attending the Orlando Magic game afterward, bags will NOT be permitted there. Bags and purses are prohibited at the Kia Center for Orlando Magic events. Medical and parent bags, and small clutches no larger than 4.5 in. x 6.5 in. x 1.5 in. are exceptions. Click here for more info on the Kia Center bag policy. You may store any bags in Binbox smart lockers located in the street level plaza on the northwest corner of Kia Center by Big Storm Brewery. Please download the Binbox app prior to first use. 

Please note that the Kia Center does not allow outside food to be brought into the arena. Pizza will be provided for lunch at the tournament, courtesy of Orlando Regional Chess Alliance (ORCA). There will be no charge for the pizza, but donations to support ORCA's mission are welcome. Bottled water will also be provided. You also may bring in an empty water bottle, which can be filled inside the arena (although bottles will not be permitted at the basketball game). 

Yes, a basketball ticket to March 2nd's game against the Raptors is required in order to enter the arena (even if you don't plan to attend the game). Additionally, if you plan to play in the chess tournament you must register through Chessregister.

Yes, any accompanying guests will need to purchase a basketball game ticket in order to enter the chess tournament venue.

The Orlando Magic team has graciously agreed to host the tournament at their arena and are handling the admission of registrants and guests into their building. They require basketball tickets to enter the building on game day. They have agreed to provide tickets at a discounted rate through our link. Separately, our nonprofit organization requires a registration fee through Chessregister in order to cover the costs of organizing the event, including prizes, USCF fees, and other expenses.

Basketball tickets are not required for children under 36 inches in height.

Please make sure you use this link to buy tickets. The game is against the Toronto Raptors on March 2nd at 6:00 p.m. That link provides a discounted group rate. If the discounted tickets are sold out, please go to Ticketmaster to purchase tickets. 

Yes, you can. The first step is to obtain a USCF membership. Once you have that, you can begin to obtain a rating by playing games in a USCF-rated tournament, like this one. The Orlando Magic Chess Championship is USCF-rated, which means that the tournament director will submit the games played in the tournament to the USCF, and those games will become a part of each player's USCF record of rated games. A player will be given a provisional rating while he or she plays their first 25 games. After 25 games, their rating is official and no longer provisional. You may play a rated tournament even with a provisional rating. You can play a rated tournament even if you have zero rated games as long as you have a USCF membership and want to begin developing a rating record. 

Yes. Just as with the Scholastic Rated section, as long as you have a USCF membership, you can play in the Open Rated section. It is not necessary to have a USCF rating before signing up for Open Rated. The games played in the Orlando Chess Open tournament will count toward your USCF record of rated games.

You do not need a FIDE ID to participate in this tournament, so you do not need to input it into the "FIDE ID" prompt.

No. All registrations must be done through Chessregister in advance. Because basketball tickets may sell out, advance registration and purchase of game tickets is necessary. 

You can use this link to see who has registered already through chessregister.com. We expect the number of entrants to grow as the date approaches. 

Once you purchase your ticket(s), you will receive an email confirmation from FEVO (the company that handles the check-out process for Ticketmaster). The email will contain a link to access your tickets. On that linked site, click on "Manage Tickets" at the bottom. You will need a Ticketmaster account (or create one) in order to access your tickets. Your Ticketmaster login email must match the email used for ticket payment. If you used PayPal for payment, the email you use for your PayPal login must match your Ticketmaster login email or your tickets will not show up. Please note that the tickets will not show up in the Ticketmaster mobile app - you must use this link: https://am.ticketmaster.com/magic/. 

ORCA stands for Orlando Regional Chess Alliance, and we are a newly founded chess nonprofit. We hope to make our first major contribution to the Orlando chess community with this tournament!

Certainly! Please email eliza@orcachess.com if you would like to become a tournament sponsor or if you would like to donate a prize for our chess tournament winners. We would like to include the name of your company or organization on the Sponsors section of the website and on our flyers. In addition to the participants and parents at the tournament, our audience includes over a dozen chess clubs in the area and hundreds of chess players throughout Orlando. This is a good way to reach members of the chess community as we publicize the tournament. 

Bye requests can be sent before the day of the tournament to the tournament director, Nick Perez, at nick@orcachess.com.

Our last tournament had almost 100 participants and would have been larger, but we had to close registration a week prior to the event due to space constraints at the venue. We believe we can accommodate more participants at this tournament. However, we have invited chess players from all over Central Florida and are beginning to spread the word through all of the chess clubs in the area, so if you are interested in playing, please register and get your tickets early in order to secure your spot!

For questions about the open section, please contact Tournament Director Nick Perez at nick@orcachess.com and for questions about the scholastic division, please contact Sammy Lou at sammy@orcachess.com.