Congress 2025 - Tournament Details

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.

6 sections - all ECF rated, Open & Challengers FIDE rated.

Over £7000 in the total prize fund, £1000 first place prize in the Open.

GM's and WGM's given a free entry.

Leaflet to download is here.

On line entry form can be found here.

All Open games will be using smart boards and will be broadcast live over the Internet.

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 2025	09:30
Round 5	Sunday 26th Oct 2025	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 the provided score sheets until your time goes under 5 minutes remaining after which it becomes optional and remains so even if your time remaing goes back over 5 minutes.

Sections

		Prize money
		1st	2nd	3rd
Open		£1000	£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 at least one £100 rating prize in each section but more 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 (£15 adults, £6 juniors). Note that Bronze ECF members would be upgraded to Gold after paying the fee.

In the Open & Challengers sections, non ENG players must have a FIN.

Open - £45

Challengers / Major / Intermediate / Minor - £40

Foundation - £35

£5 discount for Juniors under 18 on 1st September 2025 and seniors aged over 65 on 1st September 2025.

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.

Withdrawals

If you inform us that you are unable to attend for any reason before Wednesday 22nd October 2025, a refund will be made but if this is after 1st July 2025 a £5 administration cost may be deducted.

Pairings

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

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

Our Team

Director/Organiser - Nigel Hepworth

Chief Arbiter - Lara Barnes

Arbiters - Matthew Carr, Nigel Hepworth, Peter Ackley, Jim Burnett, Neil Lowther

2nd Scarborough Junior Rapidplay

Date

Saturday 26th October 2024

Venue

The Sun Lounge, Scarborough Spa Complex, South Bay, Scarborough. YO11 2HD

Details

6 round swiss tournament with an U11 qualifier section for the EPSCA England team trial plus sections to suit all playing abilities.

For juniors wishing to also particate in the main 3 day congress, this can be done by taking two half point byes for the Saturday games and the total cost to enter both tournaments is £25. 

Leaflet can be found here (combined with the main congress).

Time control

15 minutes plus 10 second increment (there's no requirement to record moves)

Timetable 

	Start time
Opening Ceremony	9:50
Round 1	10:00
Round 2	11:00
Round 3	11:45
Round 4	14:00
Round 5	14:45
Round 6	15:30
Prize Giving	16:30

Sections

Open

Major (U1200)

Minor (U800)

U11

Entry fee

£15 (or £25 if also entering main congress)

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 in the U11 section.

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

Arbiters

Andrew Wainwright

Jon Hipshon