The 86th Annual
2025 South Carolina Chess Championship
October 3-5, 2025
Hosted at the Columbia Chess Club
6169 St. Andrews Rd., Columbia, SC 29212
S.C. Residents Only
2- or 3-day options
$6000 b/74
- Winner Crowned S.C. Champion
- Winning Team Crowned S.C. Champion Club
- S.C. Blitz Champion Crowned Saturday Evening
REGISTRATION
Entry Fee: $110 (Available until Sept. 26, 2025); Standard Fee $130 thereafter. Titled Players Free (National Master+, entry deducted from prizes). Online registration only.
Two Sections: Championship (1600+); U1600, both with class prizes. Players may register for a higher section if they are within 100 USCF rating points of the cutoff.
Re-entries for 3-day players available Friday after Round 1, $40 on-site only.
Registration is limited to the first 74 players to register, no exceptions. An early registration window until June 1, 2025 is provided to the top 75 players in South Carolina, so please reserve your spot at your earliest opportunity. After that point, we cannot guarantee placement for players in contention for a title. Registration to all remaining SC players opens June 1, 2025. U1600 Section opens for registration on June 1, 2025.
Blitz Championship is open to all SC Residents with on-site only registration after Round 3. $20 to enter with 75% payout. (Tournament players given priority if 74-player cap is hit). Blitz play starts 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Must be a resident of South Carolina.
SCCA Annual Meeting, 2-3 p.m. Sunday.
PRIZE DETAILS
INDIVIDUAL PRIZES
$6000 b/74**
Championship (1600+) $4000 awarded as follows:
- 1st: $1000 (plus Trophy Cup - shown - and Title)
- 2nd: $800
- 3rd: $650
- 4th: $500
- 5th: $350
- Class Prize U1800, 1st $450; 2nd $250
U1600 Section $2000 awarded as follows:
- 1st: $550
- 2nd: $430
- 3rd: $280
- 4th: $220
- Class Prize U1200, 1st: $300; 2nd $220
**Based on 74 players, meaning that 50% of all prizes are guaranteed and scale with participation to the amount shown. Player count does not include re-entries or blitz players.
Blitz Championship $20 entry on-site after Round 3 with 7:30 p.m. start, 75% payout apportioned as follows:
- 1st: 40% (plus Trophy Cup - shown - and Title)
- 2nd: 30%
- 3rd: 15%
- Class U1600, 1st: 15%
Watch Live
The 2025 South Carolina Chess Championship will be streamed live online, with video on the Columbia Chess Club's Twitch channel, as well as games via DGT LiveCloud, Chess.com, and Lichess. Click "Live" in the site menu for easy access to streams and current standings.
Blitz Championship: $20 entry on-site after Round 3 with 7:30 p.m. start, single open section with class prize, 75% payout apportioned as follows:
- 1st: 40% (plus Trophy Cup - shown above - and Title)
- 2nd: 30%
- 3rd: 15%
- Class U1600, 1st: 15%
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
When you register for the Championship, you will also declare your allegiance to a chess club (if you consider yourself a part of a club). Two Champion Clubs will be crowned: Champion and U1600. Your club's top-4 scores in each respective section will be combined to determine the winning club in that section. Clubs must be an affiliate of U.S. Chess to be eligible. Currently, the list of clubs in South Carolina are:
- Beaufort Chess (USCF Affiliate A6052295)
- Charleston Chess Club (USCF Affiliate A5005973)
- Charleston Chess Kid Club (USCF Affiliate A9534650)
- Columbia Chess Club (USCF Affiliate A6028274)
- Greenville Chess Club (USCF Affiliate A5006023)
- Knights of the Upstate (USCF Affiliate A7510626)
- Myrtle Beach Chess Club (USCF Affiliate A8155025)
- Ninety Six High School (USCF Affiliate H9292677)
- Rock Hill Chess Club (USCF Affiliate A8832103)
If you do not see your club listed, contact your leadership about the possibility of becoming an official U.S. Chess affiliate.
Schedule & Format
5-Round Swiss, G/75;+15 (2-Day Rounds 1 and 2 are G/45;+5)
Three-day section with a Friday start or Two-day section with start on Saturday morning are offered. 2-day Rounds 1 and 2 will be G/45;+5. All other rounds G/75;+15. 2-day and 3-day sections will merge to a single section beginning with Round 3.
3-day Format:
Round 1 (3-Day): 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, 2025 (G/75;+15)
Round 2 (3-Day): 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 (G/75;+15)
2-day Format:
Round 1 (2-Day): 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 (G/45;+5)
Round 2 (2-Day): 1:00 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 (G/45+5)
Round 3 (Merged): 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025 (G/75;+15)
Round 4 (Merged): 10:00 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 (G/75;+15)
- SCCA Annual Meeting from 2-3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 -
Round 5 (Merged): 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 (G/75;+15)
Estimated tournament completion by 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Blitz Championship:
Blitz Championship starts 7:30 p.m $20 on-site. Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. Single open section with class prizes. Rounds ASAP.
6-Round Swiss, G/5+3. Estimated completion by 9:45 p.m. Saturday.
Tiebreaks for State Titles: In the event that there is a tie for the best score in the Championship, U1600 Section, or in the Blitz Championship, a series of unrated G/5+3 tiebreak games in a Round Robin format will be played among the players tied (if only 2 players tied, 2-game match of alternating colors is played--in Blitz Championship a 1-game match is played with alternate colors from last encounter or coin flip). If there remains a tie, this format repeats with those players still tied until a winner is determined. For title/trophy only, tiebreaks do not affect distribution of prize money. For blitz tiebreaks, Blitz Rule 7(d) is modified such that a player's first illegal move results in a 1-minute penalty, standard Blitz Rule 7(d) applying on any subsequent illegal move by that player (i.e. a second illegal move is a loss if opponent has sufficient mating material).
Watch Live
The 2025 South Carolina Chess Championship will be streamed live online, with video on the Columbia Chess Club's Twitch channel, as well as games via DGT LiveCloud, Chess.com, and Lichess. Click "Live" in the site menu for easy access to streams and current standings.
Byes
A single half-point bye is available in Rounds 1-4, no half-point byes in the final round. The half-point bye may be requested as a part of the advance entry or on site before the tournament starts. Thereafter the only bye available is a zero-point bye. The chief tournament director shall have the ability to grant a half-point bye for any round on unusual circumstances.
Accommodations
The Columbia Chess Club is located near Harbison Boulevard and the Columbiana Mall, with 19 different hotels within two miles of the club. We have found that you can get the best accommodations and prices by shopping directly rather than using any group rate we could offer.
Questions?
Email info@columbiachess.org if you have any questions or issues.
HALL OF CHAMPIONS
William Hickman Morton (1864–1950)
1926 South Carolina Chess Champion
Dr. William Hickman Morton became the first South Carolina Chess Champion, winning the inaugural championship on July 26, 1926, held at the Y.M.C.A. in Columbia, SC, where he was also elected the first president of the newly founded South Carolina Chess Association (SCCA). A Spartanburg resident and academic, Morton served as a professor of physics and astronomy at Converse College for 35 years, having studied at Central University in Kentucky, the University of Chicago, and Columbia University. He received an honorary doctorate from Presbyterian College in 1920 and was a respected elder in Spartanburg’s First Presbyterian Church. Morton’s 1926 victory and leadership role established him as a foundational figure in South Carolina chess history. He passed away on February 18, 1950, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
James Henry Rice Jr. (1868–1935)
1927 South Carolina Chess Champion
James Henry Rice Jr. won the South Carolina Chess Championship in 1927, held at the Fort Sumter Hotel--now the Fort Sumter House--in Charleston, becoming the state’s second champion. Born on July 2, 1868, near Ninety Six, South Carolina, at Riverlands Plantation, he graduated from Ninety Six High School and South Carolina College (now University of South Carolina), where he studied teaching. After teaching, Rice worked for the Winchesters Arms Company in South America before transitioning to journalism in 1895, serving as editor of the Columbia Evening News and Colonial Records of South Carolina, and as an editorial writer for The State and Charleston News and Courier. His writing focused on South Carolina’s flora, fauna, sustainable farming, and environmental issues, earning him recognition as an authority on the state’s bird species. A pioneering conservationist, he advocated for wildlife preservation and wetland protection, serving as South Carolina’s first Chief Game Warden (1911–1913), an inspector for the U.S. Biological Survey (1913–1917), and president of the South Carolina Conservation Society, while also being active in the Audubon Society and American Forestry Association. Known as a Lowcountry gentleman yet a “tough cookie,” Rice authored Glories of the Carolina Coast (1925) and The Aftermath of Glory (1934). Rice passed away on March 24, 1935, at Brick House Plantation in Wiggins, South Carolina, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston. A collection of his papers is archived at the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia.