About Us:  La Palma Chess Club (LPCC) was established in 1975. It is a USCF affiliated chess club that offers rated tournaments, free casual play, and free blitz games every Friday night.  Visitors of all ages are welcome.  The club is freeway close and has free parking in a safe neighborhood.  There is free coffee and air conditioning in a large, clean park conference room. We offer good competition for players of all abilities since our member's ratings range from beginner to master.  Chess lessons are available.

Location:  La Palma Central Park, 7821 Walker St., La Palma, CA  90623.  Location map here

When:  The club is open Friday evenings from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM.  All tournament games begin at 7:00 PM.  The club closes promptly at 11:00 PM. The club's current schedule of events is here.

Don't Forfeit!:  If you are in a tournament and can't make it, email Mike Henebry by 4pm at mhenebry@aol.com or call by 5pm at (562) 370-2146.  After that, call the park office at (714) 690-3350 and have them send a message to the club to have you pulled from the pairings.  No shows are very much frowned upon by the club.

Current Tournament:  Standings of the current event here here.

Club Players:  USCF and FIDE ratings and pictures of active LPCC players here.

Pictures:  Pictures of LPCC events along with Club, SoCal, and U.S. Chess Champions here.

Videos:  Fun and instructional chess videos here.

Player Survey:  Results from our 2006 player survey here.  Comments from players here

Games:  See some of the action via java here.

Club History:  Previous tournament cross tables and club champions here.

Fees:  Free for spectators, casual or Blitz play.  No annual club membership fee.  The non La Palma resident entry fee for USCF rated tournament events is $45 for a three month session.  This entry fee normally includes two rated events in a session.  Typically, a session includes a 7-round Swiss and 5-round Swiss, in one or two sections.  Occasionally, the session includes a one-night event consisting of an 8-round USCF-rated G/10 Quick Chess event or a 3-round G/30 USCF-rated Action Chess event.  The entry fee entitles you to play in the three month session. Alternatively, the non resident entry fee for only one event in the three month session is usually $25. The entry fee for any one-night event is included for those that pay $45.  The non resident entry fee is $10 for those playing only in the one-night Quick Chess or Action Chess event. A $5 discount for La Palma residents applies to those paying $45, $25, or $10.

Rules & Policies:  Club rules and policies here.

Typical time controls for rated tournament games:  Currently, the time control is normally G/120 (All moves played within two hours).  On occasion, the club holds G/30 or G/10 events.  Clocks that allow a five second time delay are preferred, and in this case the overall time control is reduced by five minutes resulting in G/1:55 + 5 seconds per move.  Those with a Chronos clock can use mode "DL - SD1" by adjusting the factory default time of G/30 + 5 seconds for this mode.  The club has considered trying other time controls, e.g., "Fischer Mode" time controls.  One example would be an initial time control of 70 minutes plus one minute for each move made. As a result, a 40 move game would last about 220 minutes.  The club would like to know what time control formats you prefer.

Adjourned games:  Since the club switched to G/120, adjourned games no longer occur.

Equipment:  Boards and sets are provided but bring your own clock if you have one.  A few chess clocks are available for players to use if you don't have one.

Book Night:  Occasionally, the club hosts a book night where players can bring in their new or used books to sell or trade.  The is a good opportunity to add to your library or to clean out your shelves.  Also retail book sellers occasionally come to the club.  If you want to have this more often, let us know.

For more information? Call Mike Henebry (562) 370-2146 (mhenebry@aol.com), Leigh Hunt (714) 635-0448 (wlhunt@earthlink.net), or Mike Brady (562) 867-8248.

Officers and duties