News

Our next congress is booked for 27th-29th October 2023 at the Scarborough Spa.

A few changes from last year ......

Firstly, we've added extra money to the prize fund - this will now exceed £6000.
The Major will now be FIDE rated along with the Open.
We were requested to allow more time for lunch so the afternoon start time has been adjusted accordingly.
We're not allowing unrated players to enter this year but we will accept ratings from other sources other than the ECF and FIDE.
To reduce administration on the day, we'll only accept entries with full payment. This can be done via bank transfer or by cheque. Paypal payments will be accepted but you would incur an extra fee for this service. A full refund minus a £5 administration fee will be returned if a withdrawal is made before the start of the tournmant.
Finally and most importantly, we're also holding a junior one day event on Saturday 28th October 2023 which will also be an under 11 England team qualifier event. We'll also allow juniors entering the main congress to qualify for this.

An on-line entry form can be found here.

Note a new Yorkshire Rapidplay event being held this year in Leeds - details can be found here.

Scarborough Junior Rapidplay 2023

This year we are holding a new junior rapidplay tournament to help promote junior chess.

It will be a one day event and will be a qualifier for the EPSCA England team trial.

Leaflet can be found here.

An on-line entry form is available here.

Since the Rapidplay is being held at the same time as our congress we'd like to offer an option to compete in both tournaments for a reduced total cost of £25. This would allow you to play in our main congress in rounds 1,4 & 5 taking 2 half point byes in rounds 2 & 3 and then compete in all of the rapidplay rounds on the Saturday. To apply for this option simply send in an entry for each tournament and pay the £25.

Rapidplay details are as follows .....

Date - Saturday 28th October 2023

Venue - Promenade Room, Scarborough Spa Complex, South Bay, Scarborough

Rounds - 6

Time control - 15 minutes plus 10 second increment

Timetable

	Start time
Opening Ceremony	10:00
Round 1	10:15
Round 2	11:00
Round 3	11:45
Round 4	14:00
Round 5	14:45
Round 6	15:30
Prize Giving	17:00

Entry fee - £15

Sections - U18, U14, U11, U9

Prizes - trophies & medals in each section

Tie breaks - if points are equal then sum of progressive scores will be used to determine a winner

Pairings - Swiss Manager will be used to do the pairings and seeding order will be determined by date of birth

All games will be ECF rated so all entrants must have a valid ECF membership - the first year is free - see this link for details

The 46th Scarborough Chess Congress

Date

Friday 27th to Sunday 29th October 2023

Venue

The Ocean Room, Scarborough Spa Complex, South Bay, Scarborough. YO11 2HD

Details

5 round Swiss tournament for all playing abilities.

FIDE rated Open & Major.

Leaflet to download can be found here.

Entries received so far can be found here.

Timetable

	Date	Start time
Round 1	Friday 27th Oct 2023	19:00
Round 2	Saturday 28th Oct 2023	09:30
Round 3	Saturday 28th Oct 2023	14:30
Round 4	Sunday 29th Oct 2023	09:30
Round 5	Sunday 29th Oct 2023	14:30

Note that BST ends on Saturday 28th October 2023.

Games are defaulted 30 minutes after the start time.

Sections

		Prize money
		1st	2nd	3rd
Open		£700	£350	£150
Major	under 2050	£500	£250	£100
Intermediate	under 1850	£500	£250	£100
Minor	under 1700	£500	£250	£100
Foundation	under 1550	£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 & Major 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 1 prize - if you are eligible to win a rating 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 ENG Open & Major players must be ECF Gold or above membership at the time of the event, non ENG Open & Major players must have a FIN. Other sections require ECF Silver or above membership. Otherwise a Pay to Play fee is to be added to the entry fee for your section below.....

Open £45

Major, Intermediate and Minor £40

Foundation £35

No late entries will be allowed at the event. Closing time for all entries is midday on Friday 27th October 2023.

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.

Time Control

All moves to be played in 110 minutes with a 10 second increment after each move.

All moves must be recorded 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.

Pairings

Swiss Manager will be used to pair the rounds using Octobers published ratings.

In the Open & Major, the highest FIDE/ECF rating will be used.

Pairings/results will be published on chess-results website.

Arbiters

Douglas Vleeshhouwer

Nigel Hepworth

Jim Burnett

Peter Ackley

Neil Lowther

Nicholas Mahoney

Peter Purland (Junior event)