English Schools Finals 2025

Time and date
The tournament will be a 6-round Team Swiss System tournament. The time limit for each game will be all moves in 50 minutes, plus 10 seconds per move.

Schedule
0950 – Welcome and introduction
Round 1 – Wednesday 25th June 10.00
Round 2 – Wednesday 25th June 13.00
Round 3 – Wednesday 25th June 15.30
Round 4 – Wednesday 25th June 18.00
2030 – Finish for the day
Round 5 – Thursday 26th June 09.00
Round 6 – Thursday 26th June 11.30
Prizegiving – Thursday26th June 13.45

Note: We are considering offering round 1 byes (so the team is assumed to have had a 3 -3 draw). Please email Neill Cooper at [email protected] if this is of interest to you.

Venue
Nottingham University Kings Meadow Campus – www.nottingham.ac.uk/about/visitorinformation/mapsanddirections/kingsmeadowcampus.aspx
Schools participating in the finals will be supplied with a parking permit for this campus.

Accommodation
Nottingham Venues (a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Nottingham) can offer bed and breakfast in the halls of residence on University Park Campus, about 1 mile from the venue of the finals.
£50 + VAT per person per night [the 2024 price] which includes the following –

  • Single study bedrooms
  • Full breakfast in the hall dining room
  • Towels and toiletries
  • Mini-fridge
  • Complimentary parking
  • Wifi

Please contact Maria Rogers at [email protected] for any enquiries and booking university accommodation.

Food & refreshments arrangements
There is a cafeteria and a Costa Coffee in the same building as where the chess is being played. They can cater for the numbers expected and will provide vegetarian options. There will be water bowsers available for filling up water bottles. Please note that the ECF will only provide the venue for chess playing; participating schools have to provide all food, drink and accommodation.

Format of the Finals
The tournament will be a 6-round Team Swiss System tournament, with 2 Matchpoints (MP) for a won match, 1 MP for a drawn match and 0 MP for a lost match. The Tie-Breaks will be: (a) Extended Sonneborn-Berger for Teams (EMGSB) (see Annex 1) (b) Gamepoints (c) Sum of Opponents Matchpoints. These tie-breaks are commonly used in Team Swiss tournaments.
The time limit for each game will be all moves in 50 minutes, plus 10 seconds per move. As this is standard play all players will be expected to record their moves on the supplied score sheets. At the end of each game both players should hand in the top copy of their score sheet at the controller’s desk.
The games will be played on live boards, meaning that they will be broadcast on Chess.com/events and Lichess. The links to these can be sent to parents, your schools and others who are off-site to watch the games. These will be distributed to team captains in the week of the tournament.
Team lists and their results will be reported on Chess-results at tbc
Live games can be followed at any of the following locations: tbc

Prizes
1st – Championship Trophy
2nd – Richard Haddrell Trophy
Plate – Plate Trophy (awarded to the highest-ranked team who lost in the first round)

Other technical details – to follow

Extra spaces
Additional waiting areas for teams and players inbetween rounds will be available, including in the cafeteria, but teams will not have dedicated team rooms. There is a large amount of indoor communal waiting space close to the playing hall.

Dress code
A few teams wear school uniform but most do not. It is up to the school to decide.

Annex 1: Description of Extended Sonneborn-Berger for Teams

This is computed by adding for each opponent a value given by the product of two elements:

  • the total number of MP or GP currently achieved by the opponent (or at the end of the tournament);
  • the number of MP or GP scored against that opponent.

For this tournament, we will use the “Total MP of the opponent opponent” x “GP scored”

Participating teams

  • Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
  • Brentwood School
  • Bristol Grammar School
  • Calday Grange Grammar School
  • Dulwich College
  • Eltham College
  • Eton College
  • Exeter Maths School
  • Haberdashers Askes Boys School
  • Hampton School
  • Harrow School
  • King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys
  • King Edwards School
  • King’s College School
  • Magdalen College School
  • Nottingham High School
  • Queen Elizabeth Hospital
  • Queen Elizabeth School
  • RGS Newcastle
  • St Mary’s Catholic School
  • St Paul’s Girls School
  • St Paul’s School
  • Stephen Perse Foundation
  • The Latymer School
  • University College School
  • Westminster School
  • Westminster Under School
  • Wilson’s School
  • Winchester College
  • York College