CONTINENTAL CHESS PRIZE INFORMATION
1. How do I get my prize?
WE
RECOMMEND THAT ALL OVER THE BOARD PRIZEWINNERS WAIT TO RECEIVE
THEIR
PRIZES AT THE TOURNAMENT!
Prizewinners may receive
prize checks right at the tournament, after the amount of
their prize has been determined! The IRS also requires that
anyone who wins $600 or more show proof of their Social
Security Number to the Tournament Director, in order to
receive their check.
Those prizewinners who choose not to receive their prize at the tournament may instead provide us with a cellphone number or email address to send the prize through Paypal or Zelle. These prizes will be sent first after the tournament, though it stilI might take a few weeks.
For online tournaments, there is often an additional delay of up to three weeks for fair play checking before final standings are official.
2. Where do you
send my prize?
We use the information you provided when you entered the tournament in advance.
Most people enter online with our shopping cart, and we use that address, unless
you email us and give us a different address. If you didn't provide an
address when you entered, you can send us your address by email to:
Prizes@Chess.US
or Director@Chess.US
and include your name, which section of which
tournament you played, how many points you scored, and your USCF ID number. DO
NOT send your Social Security number by email because it is not secure.
3. What if I left the tournament, and I am supposed to win
a prize of $600 or more, or which brings my total for the year in tournaments
held by Continental Chess to $600 or more, and I didn't give you my Social Security Number?
DO NOT SEND US THIS NUMBER BY EMAIL!
CLICK HERE INSTEAD FOR INSTRUCTIONS
ON HOW TO DO THIS SECURELY.
4. What if I don't have a U.S. Social
Security Number, such as foreign player?
CLICK
HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS. Note that
30% tax is withheld from the net winnings (prize minus entry fee) of nonresident aliens, even for winnings of
under $600.
5. My child is a minor. Shouldf I provide my social
security number instead?
No. Most children have their own Social Security Number (this is also needed for
a child to be claimed as a dependent on a tax return). Even if you could
do this, it would usually not be advantageous, because children usually have
little or no other income, so pay no tax, while many parents would have to pay
tax on chess winnings.
6. Is there anyone I can contact
about this? You could try to contact the IRS.
Click here for the IRS website, which has more
details.
7. Why do I have to wait to get my
prize?
It can take a while to send out all prizes for players who
didn't get them at the tournament. Furthermore, we often have big
tournaments which begin right away, after another big tournament has ended.
Once the first tournament has ended, we have to interrupt paying the prizes for
the first tournament so we can instead focus on running the second tournament.
Sometimes we have a number of tournaments like this in a row.
8. What if I leave early, but I don't
want to wait to get my prize? Do you have an option
where I can leave, so I don't have to wait in line to get paid at the tournament, and still get my own prize immediately?
Sorry, we don't offer this option at present.
9. Can't you just send me
my prize right now, so I don't have to wait, and then send
everyone else's prize later on?
Sorry, we don't offer this option either.