Fourth Lancaster Standard Play FIDE Congress 14 – 16 August 2026 - £2,440 in Prizes – Sponsored by ChessPick
Contact: Richard Walsh, Congress Director Email – [email protected]
Welcome to our 5 round ECF and FIDE rated standard play event.
The entire congress will be FIDE and ECF rated. The Open and Major section games will be uploaded onto public databases.
We are pleased to say that this time we are at the prestigious Ashton Hall which is part of the Town Hall in the heart of the city. We would like to thank the Mayor of Lancaster and the City Council for making this possible. The Mayor will open our congress. Our entry capacity is 200 – on-line entry only.
We are grateful to Chess Pick for their financial and coaching credits sponsorship of this congress. ChessPick is the simplest way to find and book online lessons with titled chess coaches.
In addition, we will be running a free outdoor Lancaster Chess Festival on Monday 17 August with support from the national charity Chess in Schools and Communities. A link will be added here to details once they have been finalised. This will be a fun event with giant chess pieces and playing opportunities for all levels of abilities.
For entrants from outside the area why not make a nice holiday out of it. Lancaster is a historic city and also close to the English Lake District. Follow this link to Lancaster attractions and we hope to offer discounts during the congress. https://lancasterbid.org/love-lancaster/.
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.
Prize fund £2,440 subject to entries plus additional prize money subject to further sponsorship. This is a not for profit event. Donations are welcome.
Tea and coffee will be on sale at the venue. There are lots of cafes and bars nearby and we are looking to identify ones which will be “chess friendly”. In addition, the venue is very close to Dalton Square so if the weather is nice you can socialise outside. Unfortunately, we do not have an analysis room so the information we give on chess friendly areas will be important. We may have some boards and sets people can borrow to take out – or just bring your own.
Sections and prizes
• Open – First £300, second £150. Grading prize £100
U2100.
• Major - U1900 – First £300, second £150. Grading
prize £100 U1800
• Intermediate – U1750 – First £300, second £150,
Grading prize £100 U1620
• Minor - U1500 – First £300, second £150. Grading
prize £100 U1200
• Three £80 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.
For all diversity and ratings prizes ChessPick will contribute £30 in ChessPick coaching credits
Opening of congress – 17.45 pm Friday. The Congress will be opened by the Mayor of Lancaster.
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 – 6pm
• Round 2 – Saturday - 9.30am
• Round 3 – Saturday - 2.30pm
• Round 4 – Sunday – 9.30am
• Round 5 – Sunday - 2.30pm
Prize announcements and close 6 - 7 pm Sunday
• Chief Arbiter – Hambel Willow – FIDE and ECF qualified
• Deputy Chief Arbiter – Sacha Torregrosa – FIDE and ECF qualified
Contact details for queries: Richard Walsh, [email protected]
Entry
Entry costs:
• ECF Gold or Platinum members - £40
• None ECF Gold or Platinum members with a FIDE ID outside England - £56
– which includes the ECF pay to play fee
• ECF bronze members must upgrade to ECF Gold to enter
• None ECF members who would be eligible for ECF gold membership must
obtain this to enter. Those who would not be eligible, eg due to
residence outside England, must have a FIDE ID from their relevant
Federation/Association to enter. If they do their entry fee will be
£56
Entries received on Wednesday 12 August and Thursday 13 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. The Final deadline is midnight Thursday 13 August. We are not taking entries on Friday 15 August
Entries so far can be found by clicking on this link. Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Lancaster Congress 2026
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 £56 entry fee arrives as £56 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 and find your details. Forward a link with your details to [email protected] together with which section you wish to enter (open, major, intermediate or minor) and your name and rating. We 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. The maximum number of byes for any player is two.
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 and who are not ECF Gold/Platinum members
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 chart
• Link to ECF Membership code on the ECF grading database or FIDE ID
Location of Congress
Location – Lancaster Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, LA1
1PJ
Please note the entrance to ASHTON HALL is on George Street NOT
the Dalton Square side of the Town Hall building.
Pay for parking spaces are available in the city.
The venue itself is Disability Friendly however there are steps up to the playing area. There is a separate accessible entrance on the Dalton Square side of the building. Any entrants requiring this please let the organiser know in advance.
Accommodation
Basic
Cumbria University, Bowerham, Lancaster LA1 3JD Cumbria University has made available well priced student on-site campus accommodation – £42 night – two nights minimum stay - see link for how to book. Note as this is student accommodation it is basic and not en-suite 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 Town Hall/Ashton Hall.
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 are currently seeking discounts on accommodation. As we source these we will add them to this section of the website. Here are some convenient hotels.
• The Borough Hotel - 10% discount using code Lovechess - valid for stays between 10th and 18th August.
• Sleep Inn Group - various options including Crows Nest, Sun Street Studios and a various serviced apartments in the centre of Lancaster. Discounts available for stays between 14th to 17th August – email [email protected] for discounted rates. Contact phone number 01524 382888.
• Domain Boutique Aparthotel in city centre. Email [email protected] for 15% discount off online rates.
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. Parents should arrange to pick their children up from the downstairs reception area when they have finished their games. Seating is provided – this is because there is no analysis room.
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 2026 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.
This time we are going to try out a chess.com/lichess to ECF grade converter developed by Sacha our Deputy Chief Arbiter. This will be used to determine the section the unrated player is in. They will still not be eligible for grading prizes as inevitably it will only give a rough estimate – it is based on a sample of 1,500 players.
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 one other prize. In the event of a tie for a diversity prize the prize money will be divided between the winners. The dates for age limited diversity prizes will be:
• Under 16 on 14 August
• 65 or over on 14 August
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 maximum number of byes is two.
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.
Players arriving more than 30 minutes after the start of any round will be defaulted. There will be no re-pairings.
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 and parking
By road: The cheapest all-day option is the Railway Station car park which is £4.50. Dearer than the Station is Dallas Road council parking £9.50 for 9 hours (24 hours - £14). There is also NCP parking on Dallas road which is £7.95 but limited spaces. Apart from these there are car parks in the city centre but parking can be busy in Lancaster. There is an outdoor pay to park area behind the Borough Hotel. The only free parking is well out of the city centre on side roads - but beware of Residents’ only parking. 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.
By rail:
Lancaster is on the main west coast rail line from London to Glasgow and has direct links to Manchester Airport. The Town Hall/Ashton Hall is about 10 minutes’ walk away.