Southend Adult Community College, Ambleside Drive Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 2UN
28 March – 1 April 2024
2024 MAIN FEATURES
The Southend Easter Chess Festival 2024 comprises the 4th Southend FIDE Rapid on Thursday 28 March 2024 (“Rapid”) and the 66th Southend Easter Chess Congress from 29 March to 1 April 2024 (“Congress”).
Venue
Southend Adult Community College Ambleside Drive, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 2UN
Schedule
- 4TH SOUTHEND FIDE RAPID
- Thursday 28 March
- 6 Rounds, G25+5;
- Three sections – Open/U1700/U1400;
- Round 1 at 10.30 am, finish by 6 pm;
- Rapid entries are now CLOSED. NO entries on the day.
- 66TH SOUTHEND EASTER CHESS CONGRESS
- Friday 29 March to Monday 1 April 2024
- Friday to Sunday (incl): Rounds at 11:00 am and 4:00 pm
- Monday: last round at 11:00 am
- All sections, 7 rounds, G90+30
- Southend FIDE Open
- ‘Leigh-on-Sea’ FIDE and ECF U1900
- ‘Westcliff ECF’ U1600
- ‘Thorpe Bay’ ECF U1300
- Closing date for entries to the Congress: 10.00 pm Thursday 28 March 2024 – NO entries on the day.
- All games take place at the venue given above
- Friday 29 March to Monday 1 April 2024
Pairings and Results
Chess-results.com | Live games (FIDE Open) | Prize winners
The above chess results link takes you to the Congress Open, from which you will be able to navigate to each section of the Fesitval plus the Masters. Initially, however, you will need to click on ‘Show tournament details’ to bring it out of archive.
The Live games link provides the top three boards in the FIDE Open.
The Prize winners link does what it says on the tin!
The Essex Championship 2023-24
The title of Essex Champion will be awarded to the highest placed eligible player in the Southend FIDE Open.
The winner in 2024 was FM Bob Eames (Loughton CC).
The Essex Minor Championship 2023-24
The title Essex Minor Champion will be awarded to the highest placed eligible player in the Leigh on Sea U1900.
The winner in 2024 was Ryan Colclough (Wanstead CC)
Ratings all sections
Ratings for eligibility and pairings, all tournaments, will be those published at 1st March 2024. See further detail in the Ratings section below.
Other Features
- Bookstall by Chess & Bridge who kindly supply the equipment for the Congress
- yElena’s Cafeteria
- Live Games – top three boards in the FIDE Open
Entry Form
Click: Link or Download below for: Entry Form (pdf) – for information only.
PLAYING SCHEDULE RAPID
Thursday 28 March
6 Rounds – 10.30 am Start – Finish by 6.00 pm
Rate of play G25+5
All moves in 25 minutes + 5 seconds per move.
All sections are ECF and FIDE Rapid rated.
PLAYING SCHEDULE – CONGRESS ALL SECTIONS
Friday 29 March – Round 1 at 11:00 am and Round 2 at 4:00 pm
Saturday 30 March – Round 3 at 11:00 am and Round 4 at 4:00 pm
Sunday 31 March – Round 5 at 11:00 am BST and Round 6 at 4:00 pm BST
Monday 1 April – Final Round 7 at 11:00 am BST
Rate of Play, Congress ALL sections – G90+30
All moves in 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move.
Players please note: in accordance with the FIDE Laws of Chess, when the increment per move is 30 seconds or more, all moves have to be recorded, even if your remaining time dips under 5 minutes.
All Congress sections are ECF rated and the FIDE Open and FIDE U1900 are also FIDE rated.
PRIZES
The Prize Fund for the Congress is a guaranteed minimum of £2,700. This guaranteed minimum may be increased as finances allow.
Where ties occur, prize money will be shared. Ties for the Essex trophies will be resolved by the Sum of Progressive Scores and, if necessary, the Sum of Opponents’ Scores.
Prizes per section
Rapid – all sections
FIDE rated sections: Open, U1700, U1400
Minimum prizes each section: 1st £80; 2nd £40; 3rd £20
Congress – all sections
FIDE Open
Minimum prizes: 1st £450; 2nd £250; 3rd £150; Rating £110
FIDE and ECF U1900
Minimum prizes: 1st £300; 2nd £200; 3rd £100; Rating £70
ECF U1600 and ECF U1300
Minimum prizes each section: 1st £145; 2nd £100; 3rd £50; Rating £30
No player may win more than one prize (other than “Additional prizes”, below). If a player qualifies in two categories (e.g. a place prize and a Rating Prize) the larger prize will be paid.
NB These minima may be increased as finances allow.
Additional prizes
The following prizes are additional to the main prize fund.
David Wood Junior Prize
In addition to other prizes the sum of £75 will be awarded by the David Wood Memorial Trust, for the best performances by Essex Juniors (Under 18 on 31 Aug 2023). The sum awarded will usually be split three ways (£25 each) subject to there being three deserving performances.
ENTRY FEES
Rapid – All sections
Entry Fee: £31
Congress – All sections
Entry Fee: £47
Online Entry
You can enter online and pay by card via Stripe, of by BACS or by cheque. Details for each payment method are included in the online form, link below.
Donations
We were once again generously supported by donations from many competitors and others and thank all contributors for their generosity, helping us to cover expenses and maintain standards.
Southend Masters
In addition to the Festival there was also taking place in the College, the 28-player Southend Masters title norms tournament.
You can find the results on chess-results.com and all the Masters games on any of the following links:
Livechess Cloud | Chess.com | Lichess
The picture on the home page of the website is by Brendan O’Gorman, whose Gallery of the 2022 Congress you can find linked from the 2022 page (main menu above). We are grateful to Brendan for use of this splendid image, readily granted without restriction.
Southend Easter Chess Festival 