Indiana Online Open: Christmas Day Special 2025
USCF-Online-Rated

Date: Thursday, December 25, 2025 at 6:00 P.M. ET
Location: Played online via chess.com

Format: 4-round Swiss

Time Control: G/15+10

Schedule: 

Round 1: 6:00 P.M. ET (5:00 CT, 4:00 MT, 3:00 PT)

Rounds 2 through 4: As soon as the previous round finishes.
 

Rating: USCF membership required. Tournament will be USCF-online-rated in the quick category. Over-the-board ratings will not be affected. Tournament will also affect chess.com ratings, and pairings will be made according to chess.com ratings. Chess.com staff will conduct a special review of the tournament for fair play violations.

Entry fee: $7/ISCA member, $10/non-member. (Join ISCA)
$1 convenience fee if paying by credit card, not charged to ISCA members.
Registration ends 15 minutes before round 1. Follow directions below.
View Detailed Pre-Registrations (updated periodically)
View Undetailed Pre-Registrations (updated immediately)

Prizes (b/30):
Open: 1st $55, 2nd $35, 3rd $25
U1500: 1st $50, 2nd $30, 3rd $20
In both sections, two class prizes will be created based on the membership of the field. These prizes will be one-month chess.com Diamond memberships.

The rest of the entry fee revenue is used to pay rating fees, transaction fees, labor costs, and other expenses.

Payouts: All prizes will be paid via PayPal or Venmo, with no exceptions. By default, payment will be sent via PayPal to the email address the player used when registering. If this email corresponds to a PayPal account, the payment will be deposited immediately. If it doesn’t, then PayPal will send an email with instructions for obtaining the funds. Players may also request to have their prize sent to their Venmo account. A player who refuses to create a PayPal or Venmo account agrees not to receive a prize. Payouts will not occur until the fair play review has been completed, which typically takes less than a week.

How to participate:

Step 1: READ. Read our primer on ISCA online tournaments. As a participant, you agree to abide by all our policies and fair play procedures.

Read Primer

Step 2: REGISTER. Register for the tournament at the link below. The hard deadline is 15 minutes before round 1.

Register Now

Step 3: JOIN. Using your chess.com account, request to join the “ISCA Virtual Tournament Hall” club on chess.com at the link below, which is our special staging area for our USCF-rated online events. You will not be admitted unless and until you are registered and your USCF membership is current. Do this step soon after registering.

Go to ISCA Virtual Tournament Hall

Step 4: CHECK IN. On the day of the tournament, up to one hour before the first round, click the button below to go to the tournament's page and check in by clicking the big, green "Join" button. Your game will start automatically when the tournament begins. If you have not checked in, you will not be paired.

Go to Open Section
Go to U1500 Section

Questions?
Please send questions to John Herr at johnherr13@hotmail.com
Directors: John Herr