Is anyone aware of whether USCF makes available a collection of rated games in magnetic form? It would appear that it does not, which seems a shame.
I don’t understand your question. What are “rated games in a magnetic form?”
Presumably this is referring to a collection of playable games, like ChessBase.
But since the USCF doesn’t collect game scores as part of the ratings system, there is no such collection of USCF rated games. (Most of them would be uninteresting and not terribly instructive anyway, as only 1% of USCF rated games are between masters.)
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Right. If you want to research the details of inferior move patterns evidenced by weak/nonmaster class level chess players, and see how those patterns evolve as the Elo ratings rise, the only resource you need is a set of games between masters.
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Ah-ha, but many master games are either uninteresting or way beyond the understanding of the majority of us patzers; while the games between lesser rated players sometimes show true genius!
Check the website of NORTHWEST CHESS Magazine for back issues of the magazine. There are a lot of games from events held in Washington and Oregon in the issues. Also there is a section to the website called GAMES http://www.nwchess.com/articles/games/index.htm
Since the 2012 US Open is being held in Vancouver WA there should be a lot of players from Washington and Oregon and Idaho and BC attending. You might be able to prepare for some of these players by looking at games on this website.
Assuming this is correct, why would it need to be USCF? Games databases have broad ranges of players in the database, many such databases are free.
I think they may be available through Chess Magnet School. 