The Hampshire Chess Association will hold their Hampshire Chess Congress 2024 on 1-3rd November, at the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham.

The tournament comprises 5 Rounds of games, organised in three Sections: The Open, the Major, and the Minor. There are currently 75 players entered in the tournament. Please note the venue’s capacity is 92 – so enter now!

The venue

The Lysses House Hotel in Fareham is a pleasant and friendly venue that has been used by the Hampshire Chess Association on previous occasions, and also by Castle Chess (they had 3 events there in 2024). The address is: Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 7BQ.

Parking:

The Hotel has free parking for 35 cars, but there is a convenient car park very close to the venue: the Lysses Car Park, Lysses Path, Fareham PO16 7BE, free after 6pm and Sundays, whilst Saturday all day is only £3.50.

Hampshire Chess Congress 2024: details

Sections:

• The Open. £38 Entry fee. FIDE and ECF rated.
• The Major. Under 1900 English Chess Federation rating. £35 Entry.
• The Minor. Under 1600 ECF. £35 Entry.

Note: Entry fees based on ECF Membership of Silver or above. Otherwise add a £9 fee.

Late Fee: for entries received after Monday 28th October additional fee of £5. So enter the HCA Congress today!

Prizes

Each Section has Prizes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, plus a Grading Prize. There are also various Trophies and Cups in the Sections. Overall, there are further Prizes, such as the Gillian Moore Cup for the highest-scoring Hampshire Lady, and the John Dunleavy Memorial Best Game Prize (£100). The cash prizes are open to all players, whilst the Cups and Trophies are for Hampshire players.

For more details on the Prize see the HCA entry form link below:

Hampshire Chess Congress 2024 Timetable

• Rd 1: Friday 19:00
• Rd 2: Saturday 09:00
• Rd 3: Saturday 14:00
• Rd 4: Sunday 09:00
• Rd 5: Sunday 14:00 Prize-giving 10 mins after last round (18:00)

Rate of play

The time control is 90+30: that is, 90 minutes each plus 30 seconds per move.

Byes

A ½-point bye may be taken in any one round except the last if claimed in advance on the entry form.

Who’s Entered?

See who has entered by checking the HCA website – button below

Tournament organiser Rob Sims announces the New Ladder for 2024-25. As in the previous Ladders, players may challenge up to 4 places above themselves. This year the time control is 80+10 (80 minutes each, plus ten seconds per move).

The new chess Ladder 2024-25 started last week and will run until 2nd September 2025.

Organiser Rob Sims announces the new Ladder

Although the winner of the 2023-24 Ladder tournament has not been decided yet, as the final game between Theo and Peter Przybycin has not been played, I am sending out the new Ladder for the 24-25 season which has about 23 club members on it at the moment.

I am expecting a few more to join over the coming month and they will be slotted in on an appropriate rung when possible.

The rules remain the same as previously. If any of you play a game tomorrow evening at club please let me know the result as soon as possible.

Many thanks and good climbing to all

Best wishes

Rob

Click the link button below to go to the Ladder Page, with the latest ladder positions plus the Rules.

Ladder 2024-25 Rules

• Initial positions on the ladder are determined in order of rating.
• All games to be played on the clock, which will be set at 80 minutes each with 10 second increments per move.
• You may challenge anyone who is one, two, three, or four places above you on the ladder.
• A challenge cannot be made more than 7 days ahead of a game. Once a challenge is accepted neither the challenger nor the player being challenged may make or accept another challenge.
• The decision as to who plays white is made at the start of the game by one of the players choosing a black or white pawn from a closed hand.
• You can email challenges to your eligible opponents in advance, but it won’t count as a loss if your opponent is unable to play for any reason. 
• If the lower ranked player wins, the lower ranked player takes the higher ranked player’s position on the ladder, and the higher ranked player moves down one place.
• If the higher ranked player wins, there is no change in the players’ rankings.
  If the game ends in a draw, the lower ranked player takes the position just below the higher ranked player.
• After a ladder game is played, at least one of the players must play a ladder game against someone else before they can play each other again.
• Please report all results of games to me and I will submit them to ECF for grading purposes.
• The top three players on Tuesday 2nd September 2025 will play off to decide the eventual winner. Players in second and third place play each other and the winner plays the player in first place.

Rob Sims September 2024