Effective January 1, 2012 are a number of minor changes at USCF. Some that will affect Oregon chess include:
— Time controls: Time control–including delay or increment–is to be included in all advance publicity. E.g., G/30 d/5 (game in 30 minutes with five-second delay), G/60 inc/30 (game in 60 minutes with 30 second increment), or G/5 d/0 (no delay). Adding time to a clock to compensate for no delay or increment is no longer a part of the standard rules but may be done anyway if announced in advance.
— Increase in membership dues (https://secure2.uschess.org/webstore/member.php)
— New three-month trial memberships are now offered but can only be purchased for players by TDs at the start of tournaments ($8 for ages 12 and under, $10 for ages 13-24, and $15 for ages >=25) . Trial memberships cannot be purchased independently by players. The trial memberships are available to both new members and any player whose membership has expired.
— TD may disallow all claims of “insufficient losing chances” in sudden death time controls. [This variation has been in effect since January 1, 2011.]