Block copolymer directed self-assembly (BCP) with chemical epitaxy is a promising lithographic solution for patterning features with critical dimensions under 20 nm. In this work, we study the extent to which lamellae-forming poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) can be directed with chemical contrast patterns when the pitch of the block copolymer is slightly compressed or stretched compared to the equilibrium pitch observed in unpatterned films. Critical dimension small angle X-ray scattering complemented with SEM analysis was used to quantify the shape and roughness of the line/space features. It was found that the BCP was more lenient to pitch compression than to pitch stretching, tolerating at least 4.9% pitch compression, but only 2.5% pitch stretching before disrupting into dislocation or disclination defects. The more tolerant range of pitch compression is explained by considering the change in free energy with template mismatch, which suggests a larger penalty for pitch stretching than compressing. Additionally, the effect of width mismatch between chemical contrast pattern and BCP is considered for two different pattern transfer techniques. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 595-603