Common Questions

Oceanside Chess Club welcomes players of all ages and skill levels, from complete beginners to seasoned masters. Our community is open to anyone with an interest in chess, whether you're looking to improve, compete, or just have fun.

No membership is required for our weekly meetings! Everyone is welcome to drop in. We do, however, gratefully accept donations to help fund our events.

The best way to know about changes to our hours, including holiday hours, is to sign up to our Newsletter. There, we post changes to our hours, any upcoming events, and more!

We will also post any unexpected closures or updates to our hours on our Facebook Page.

Absolutely! The club welcomes and greatly appreciates member participation. We have a variety of positions in which you can contribute listed on our volunteering page.

Additionally, if there are other ways not listed in which you think you can contribute, you can send us an email with the details.

Volunteers may also be nominated to become directors and you will have the opportunity to help organize events and manage club affairs.

Yes, past or present members who have volunteered at the club for minimum of 50 hours or more over the course of 3 months or longer, may be eligible to receive a professional reference. Volunteers must have shown a responsible and reliable work ethic and be in good standing at the time of request.

For more information and to request a professional reference, please reach out to the club 2 work weeks in advance.

We meet every Saturday from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Parksville Library, except for the first Saturday of every month.

Address: 100 Jensen Ave E, Parksville, BC

Just bring yourself! We provide all the chess sets, boards, and clocks.

Tournaments are a great way to challenge yourself in a fun and competitive way with other players. Our tournaments use the Swiss pairing system with time controls typically either 20+5 or 15+10.

In one of our typical tournaments you will be paired with 6 to 7 opponents throughout the event. At the end, players are ranked based on how many games they won. Every game, the Swiss system will try and pair you with someone who is doing similarly well in the tournament. You are also guaranteed to never play the same opponent twice.

For our weekly meeting, we have developed an opt-in internal rating system. That means that you can enter your games and will get a rating and club rank.

This rank is for club use, and is not recorded or used by other organizations like FIDE or CFC. However, it does give you a good point of reference for your approximate strength.

Our tournament are all currently unrated also, however, we will be making some changes and may start hosting rated events in the near future.

Unfortunately, at this time the club does not offer any lessons or coaching. This may change in the future, however, so it is best to stay up to date by registering for out Newsletter.

The Oceanside Chess Website and related services are developed and maintained by one of our members. Unfortunately, from time-to-time there may be issues with them. If you noticed an issue, please to contact us and we will address it as soon as we can.

For more advanced users and fellow developers, the entire project is available on Github, and we welcome pull requests!

Participants in our meetings and tournaments are required to follow our Code of Contact to ensure fairness and good sportsmanship. Full details are available in our Code of Conduct.

Yes! Oceanside Chess Club is a registered non-profit society in British Columbia. All donations over $20 are eligible to receive a tax receipt upon request.

Absolutely! Children of all ages are welcome. We kindly ask parents and guardians to accompany your child if they are under 12 years of age.

No, the club does not have a lost and found. Any lost items will be handed in to the Parksville Library front desk. If you believe you have lost something at the club, please see the Library front desk to inquire.

Yes! The Chess Club meetings are held at the Parksville Library which is wheelchair accessible.