No entries can be accepted except on an official entry form or online at the Championship website. Additional forms can be obtained from the ECF and Championship websites or by contacting the ECF Office with a stamped addressed envelope.
English players MUST be members of the English Chess Federation. Gold membership is required for FIDE-rated events (other than Rapidplay) and Silver for others.
Silver membership is required for Rapidplay. Members should quote their membership number on the Entry Form.
Other players MUST be a member of their national body.
To avoid late fees, both the entry form and entry fee MUST BE RECEIVED before the ‘late fee’ date.
Note – a £10 surcharge will apply to entries made on the day of an event, if accepted.
Grades/Ratings
The ratings used for each tournament will be in the following order of priority, where the following letters are —
E – ECF / National Rating (January 2017)
Q – ECF Rapidplay Rating (January 2017)
F – FIDE Rating (July 2017)
R – FIDE Rapidplay Rating (July 2017)
| Championship | FE | Under 11 | EQ | Under 140/1750 | FE |
| Major Open | FE | Under 10 | FE | Under 120/1600 | EQ |
| Over 50 | FE | Under 9 | EQ | Under 100/1450 | EQ |
| Over 65 | FE | Under 8 | QE | Weekend Open | FE |
| Under 16 | FE | AM Open | FE | Weekend U150/1825 | FE |
| Under 14 | FE | Under 180/2050 | FE | Weekend U120/1600 | EQ |
| Under 12 | FE | Under 160/1900 | FE | Rapidplay | RQFE |
1) Where a player has none of the above, the organisers will assign an estimate based on all available data on a case-by-case basis, failing which the player will be assigned a rating of 0.
2) The conversion between ECF ratings and National/FIDE ratings will be – Elo = (ECF x 7.5) + 700
3) The ratings allocated by this process will be used in the calculation of any relevant prizes.
Obtaining a FIDE Identification Number
All entrants playing in a FIDE-rated section must have a FIDE ID Number AT THE TIME OF SUBMITTING THEIR ENTRY, unless they wish their FIDE nationality to be England. English players without a FIDE ID number will have one created at the time the rating files are submitted to FIDE.
PLEASE NOTE: At the time of writing, changing this nationality later costs 250 Euros.
Overlapping events
Players may not take part in two tournaments on the same day if the sessions are scheduled at the same time.
EXCEPTION – a player can claim a 0 point bye in round 7 of U11 Championship if he/she is not in line for a possible prize in that section and also playing in another junior Championship, but if the player is in line for a possible prize in the under 11 Championship then he/she must take a 1/2 point bye in round 1 of any other junior event in order to play in round 7 of the under 11 Championship.
Byes
In non-championship events, the preferred way for byes to be claimed is on the entry form where at all possible. Players may request up to 2 half point byes in the Major Open and Rapidplay and one half point bye in other sections. A player will score 0 if a Half Point Bye is requested in the last round. If a tournament permits two Half Point Byes, then a player will score 0 if the second Half Point Bye request is in the last round, or if both the Half Point Byes are requested in the last two rounds.
Please note that photographs will be taken at the event which may be used for publicity purposes both for the current Championships and those in future years. Any objection by an individual to the same being published should be notified to the event organisers. The ECF Data Controller is Gary Willson.
Entry to the Championships is deemed to be acceptance of the conditions shown