Third Lancaster Standard Play Congress 15 – 17 August 2025 - £2,750 in Prizes
Contact: Richard Walsh, Congress Director Email – [email protected]
Welcome to our 5 round ECF rated standard play event. Last year we experimented by making the Open and Major sections also FIDE rated. This proved extremely popular. This year the entire congress will be FIDE and ECF rated. As last year the Open and Major section games will be uploaded onto public databases.
We are pleased to say that we are back where we started - at The Storey which is in the heart of the city. For international visitors why not make a nice holiday out of it. Lancaster is a historic city and also close to the English Lake District. The venue is opposite the Castle. Follow this link to Lancaster attractions and we hope to offer discounts during the congress. https://lancasterbid.org/love-lancaster/ . We are very grateful to Lancaster BID and the Eric Wright Community Fund for sponsoring our congress.
As the event is FIDE rated all entrants must have a FIDE ID and as such must be ECF gold or above members or have a FIDE ID from outside England and an up to date registration with their own national chess association/federation. FIDE ID comes free with ECF gold membership. If you are a gold member and do not have a FIDE ID then we will need your date of birth to get you one and the process will be explained when you enter. Junior gold ECF membership is free for the first year.
The advantages of having a FIDE ID and rating are that you can play in any FIDE rated event in the world – handy for holidays!
Our capacity is 120 entrants. Once it’s full it’s full. On-line entry only.
Prize fund £2,750 subject to entries plus additional prizes subject to sponsorship. This is a not for profit event. Donations are welcome.
Food and drink will be on sale in the licenced café area downstairs from 9 am to 6pm on Saturday and 10 am to 3 pm on Sunday. During this time only food and drink purchased on the premises is allowed.
Sections and prizes
Open – First £700, second £250, third £100. Grading prize £50 U2100.
Major - U1900 First £300, second £150. Grading prize £50 U1800
Intermediate – U1750 First £300, second £150, Grading prize £50 U1620
Minor First U1500 £300, second £150. Grading prize £50 U1200
In addition there will be three £50 diversity prizes. One for the best score by a female player, another for the best score by an under 16 year old and the third for the best score by an over 65 year old.
Opening of congress – 17.45 pm Friday
All standard play games 110 minutes per player – plus 10 seconds per move time increments. FIDE rules time penalties for illegal moves etc will apply
Round 1 – Friday – 18.00 pm
Round 2 – Saturday - 9.30 am
Round 3 – Saturday - 14.30 pm
Round 4 – Sunday – 9.30 am
Round 5 – Sunday - 14.30 pm
Prize announcements and close 6 - 7 pm Sunday
Chief Arbiter – Hambel Willow – FIDE and ECF qualified.
Assistant Arbiter – Damian McCarthy – ECF qualified
Contact details for queries: Richard Walsh, [email protected]
Entry
Entry costs:
ECF Gold or Platinum members affiliated to England - £40
FIDE registered players not affiliated to England - £42 (the extra £2 is to cover the ECF costs of adding their results to their national FIDE ID account)
Entries received after 12 August, if accepted, will require a £5 late entry fee. You are strongly advised to check that there are available spaces for late entries before entering late to avoid disappointment.
Entries so far can be found by clicking on this link.
Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Lancaster Congress 2025
Note it may take a few days before your entry is loaded.
How to enter – UK bank account holders:
Please pay entry fee by direct transfer to the Lancaster Chess Club Account (plus late entry fee if appropriate).
sort code 40-03-33
account number 82357054
Include your initials and surname as a reference so we can match your payment to your entry.
How to enter – non-UK bank account holders:
Payment of entry fees for those with bank accounts outside the UK should ensure that their £42 entry fee arrives as £42 GBP after deduction of all bank charges. You will need the following information to give to your bank to make the transfer:
Name of bank – HSBC
Address of bank – 1 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 1HQ
Address of account associated with HSBC bank - The Treasurer
Lancaster Chess Club
Flat 34, Sir John Lyon House
8 High Timber Street
London EC4V 3PA
IBAN number - GB37HBUK40033382357054
SWIFT/BIC code - HBUKGB4141B
Include your initials and surname as a reference so we can match your payment to your entry.
After payment, please send the following in an email to Richard Walsh [email protected]:
ECF Graded players
Go to the ECF database ecfrating.org.uk and find your details. Click on your ECF Code. Forward a link to this to [email protected] together with which section you wish to enter (open, major, intermediate or minor) and your name and rating. Use the priority list below to determine your grade.
Note – if you do not do this you will be treated as an ungraded player unless we can track your details in some other way.
If you would like to take a half point bye please let Richard know in your entry e-mail and say which round you would like the bye – byes are not allowed in round 5.
Entrants who are ECF gold or above members who do not have a FIDE ID should provide their date of birth and the country they wish to be FIDE registered with. If we do not hear otherwise we will assume England.
FIDE Graded players who are registered outside England
Entrants from outside England should provide their FIDE ID – ideally with a link to it.
Ungraded players
Please email [email protected] the following information:
First Name
Second Name
Sex
Date of Birth
Club if any
Screen shots of chess.com and lichess ratings charts
Link to ECF Membership code on the ECF grading database or FIDE ID
Location of Congress
Location – The Storey, Meeting House Lane, LA1 1TH – only 5 minutes walk from Lancaster station – on left hand side as you walk towards town centre. Parking facilities are not available at The Storey. Pay for parking spaces are available in the city. The venue itself is Disability Friendly.
Accommodation
Basic
Cumbria University, Bowerham, Lancaster LA1 3JD Cumbria University has made available well priced student on-site campus accommodation – £40/night – two nights minimum stay - see link for how to book. Note as this is student accommodation it is basic so please bring your own toiletries. Free parking in visitors car park close to accommodation after 6 pm – before that you will need to get a pay for a permit at the reception area. Check in after 1 pm on Friday. Check out any time on Sunday. If reception is not open go to the security room by the library. There are regular bus services (number 100) to and from Common Garden St stop which is 5 mins walk from The Storey.
As there is limited availability early booking is recommended. There are also a very small number on en-suite rooms at a slightly higher price. If you would like one of these please contact Pilar direct – her contact details and all booking details are shown in this link.
Hotels and self catering
We have obtained discounts on the following accommodation:
- The Borough Hotel – https://www.theboroughlancaster.co.uk/ are offering a 15% discount if you book direct on their website. In order to get the discount use the code LOVECHESS. Note the code is case sensitive.
15% discount from Sleep Inn Group who manage the Crows Nest, Sun Street Studios and a couple of serviced apartments in the centre of Lancaster. To get the discount you should quote: SIG-Chess2025. For availability, please visit https://link.edgepilot.com/s/19dd2981/VocwTi1_bk_PXfhpkokU6w?u=http://www.sleepinngroup.co.uk/ For the discount on the online prices, please contact them on [email protected] . Contact phone number 01524 382888.
Royal Kings Arms Hotel – Lancaster and right opposite the venue https://royalkingsarmshotel.uk/ are happy to offer discounts to entrants along with their families. They have created a code (CLUB15) that you can use to get a 15% discount. Residents at the hotel will be able to use the gym there at no extra cost. All you need to do is to enter the code CLUB15 which should automatically deduct a 15%discount. Bookings can be done via their website (on the top right corner when searching for rooms, there is a promotion plus sign and that is where you must enter CLUB15 to get the discount). Alternatively, you can call the hotel directly and let the reception team know that they are attending the event and would like the 15% discount applied. They have also extended the offer to stretch from start of that week leading to 15th and leading on 7 days after the 17th in case some entrants wish to take advantage to visit different parts of Lancaster and see what the whole area has in store.
Toll House Inn – https://www.tollhouseinn.co.uk/ . 10% discount – only obtainable by phone - 01524 599900
There are other hotels in the Lancaster Here is a list of them with direct links – booking via these will most likely be cheaper than through portals like booking.com as hotels don’t have to pay their charges.
Royal Hotel & Bar – https://theroyalhotelandbar.co.uk/
The Sun Hotel and Bar – https://www.thesunhotelandbar.co.uk/
Domain – https://domainboutiquestays.com/
Go2 Hotels - https://www.go2hotels.com/
Small print
Parental responsibility
Parents are responsible for their children during the congress, the congress organisers and arbiters are not to act as “in loco parents” and are not able to take responsibility for any child’s actions. Or for the actions of anyone that may affect your child. Parents may not speak to their children during their child’s game, or vice versa, without approaching the arbiters first.
Other conditions
Eligibility for grade-restricted sections is determined by the published July ECF or FIDE grading list. This means that which section you enter may be changed by the organisers if your grade changes between the date of entry and the release of the July ratings. Players’ ECF or FIDE ratings from the August 2024 list will be used for determining tournament pairings, and grading prizes.
All sections are ECF and FIDE graded. The following priority is used for section allocation and seeding in the Standard Play event.
ECF Standard Play Grade
FIDE Standard Play Rating
ECF Rapid Play Grade
FIDE Rapid Play Grade
ECF on-line Standard Play Grade
FIDE on-line Standard Play Grade
ECF on-line Rapid Play Grade
Players without a current grade should use any grading previously held from the on-line ECF or FIDE database and provide the link from the site. This may be accepted as their grading subject to approval by the Chief Arbiter. Provisional grades may be used subject to decision by the Chief Arbiter.
Ungraded players are not eligible for a grading prize.
Ungraded players can only win up to £50 for the major, intermediate or minor events. Any unallocated prize money in either event will be allocated to the runner up assuming they are graded.
A player qualifying for two prizes receives only the higher of the two prizes. The exception is the three diversity prizes where winners of these may receive another prize. In the event of a tie for a diversity prize the prize money will be divided between the winners. Prize money is subject to change depending on number of entrants.
In the event of a tie for grading prize, the prize is awarded to the lowest graded player.
Swiss manager dictates the pairings in all rounds and they are not changed to suit individual preferences.
Cancellations – in the event that a player is unable to attend there will be no refund for cancellations after 30 June but please let the organiser know so pairings can be rearranged. No refunds for non UK entrants.
Byes – entrants may take one half point bye in rounds 1-4. The bye may not be taken in the last round.
The Open and Major sections will use duplicate score sheets. Both players must give the top copies to the organisers and sign each of them to confirm the result. The top copies remain the property of the congress.
Cars parked anywhere are done so entirely at the owners own risk.
BY ENTERING, PLAYERS AGREE THAT IN THE EVENT OF ANY DISPUTE, THE ARBITER’S DECISION IS FINAL.
How to find the venue
By road:
Find a parking space in the city centre and walk to the venue. Alternatively park at your accommodation and either walk or (for the student accommodation) the 100 bus to Common Garden Street and walk from there to the venue is an alternative option.
By rail:
Lancaster is on the main west coast rail line from London to Glasgow and has direct links to Manchester Airport. The Storey is 5 minutes walk away.