Congress 2025
This year will be Scarborough's 48th Congress and will once again be held at the Spa Complex from Friday 24th October to Sunday 26th October 2025.
Our aim this year is to exceed 400 entries so very much hope everyone will want to attend - we received lots of positive comments last year so we want to continue to be one of the biggest congresses in the UK.
To help us achieve this we are making the following changes .....
- An extra section (Challengers) has been added so we now have 6 sections in total.
- Extra prize money - over £6500 in total (subject to entries).
- Entry fees to remain the same as last year.
- Late entries will be accepted but early entries would be preferred.
- We wont be running a Junior Rapidplay this year so juniors will be offered a discount on their entry fee.
- All the Open boards will be aired live over the Internet.
Thanks go to Douglas Vleeshhouwer for his work over the past 2 years but this year we welcome back Lara Barnes and we also have Matthew Carr joining the arbiting team.
All the details are as follows ....
Date
Friday 24th to Sunday 26th October 2025
Venue
The Ocean Room, Scarborough Spa Complex, South Bay, Scarborough. YO11 2HD
Details
5 round Swiss tournament for all playing abilities.
FIDE rated Open & Challengers.
Leaflet to download will appear here soon!
On line entry form can be found here.
Timetable
| Date | Start time | |
| Round 1 | Friday 24th Oct 2025 | 19:00 |
| Round 2 | Saturday 25th Oct 2025 | 09:30 |
| Round 3 | Saturday 25th Oct 2025 | 14:30 |
| Round 4 | Sunday 26th Oct 2026 | 09:30 |
| Round 5 | Sunday 26th Oct 2026 | 14:30 |
Note that BST ends on Saturday 25th October 2025.
Games are defaulted 30 minutes after the start time.
Time Control
All moves to be played in 110 minutes with a 10 second increment after each move.
All moves must be recorded on provided score sheets until your time goes under 5 minutes remaining after which this is optional and remains so even if time remaing goes back over 5 minutes.
Sections
| Prize money | ||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||
| Open | £800 | £400 | £200 | |
| Challengers | under 2050 | £600 | £300 | £100 |
| Major | under 1900 | £600 | £300 | £100 |
| Intermediate | under 1750 | £600 | £300 | £100 |
| Minor | under 1600 | £600 | £300 | £100 |
| Foundation | under 1450 | £400 | £200 | £100 |
There will be £100 rating prizes in each section subject to entries.
The July ECF and FIDE's published rating lists will determine which section you can enter. In the Open & Challengers the highest ECF/FIDE rating will be used. The October published rating lists will be used for pairing at the event. In the event that your October rating means you are no longer eligible to enter the section requested you may be automatically be moved into the higher section - there would be no additional fee payable if this is the case. If your October rating allows you to enter a lower section, you must request this transfer, again the entry fee will remain at the original value.
You can only win one prize - if you are eligible to win a rating prize as well as a main prize then you will be awarded with which ever has the highest payout.
Prize money will be shared if there is a tie.
Entry fees
All players must be ECF Gold members or above at the time of the event otherwise the Pay to Play fee is payable.
In the Open & Challengers sections, non ENG players must have a FIN.
Open £45
Challengers, Major, Intermediate and Minor £40
Foundation £35
We'll accept late entries but any received after Wednesday 22nd October 2025 will incur a £10 late entry fee.
All fees must be paid in full to confirm your entry before the event.
Refunds will be paid subject to a £5 administration fee for any withdrawals received before Wednesday 22nd October 2025
Pairings
Swiss Manager will be used to pair the rounds using Octobers published ratings.
Pairings/results will be published on chess-results website.
Arbiters
Lara Barnes
Matthew Carr
Nigel Hepworth
Jim Burnett
Peter Ackley
Neil Lowther