Event Report
As in previous years the ECF ran a 24 hour charity online chess marathon. This year it was in aid of the British Red Cross’s Emergency Ukraine Appeal. Once again, the marathon proved hugely popular, with over 500 players taking part from the ECF open club on Chess.com. This year’s event included many grandmasters and international masters, providing a rare opportunity for hundreds of players at all levels to play opponents of the highest standard, including British champions and titled players from England and overseas.
GM Keith Arkell took an early lead during Saturday evening and continued to build on it throughout the night, amassing an amazing total of 811 points with 211 wins out of 253 games played. Keith was followed throughout by IM Brandon Clarke, who lead the chasing pack with a score of 745 which was impressive but not enough to catch Keith.
The top 20 finishers were as follows —
| Fed | Name | Rating | Score | ||
| 1 | ENG | GM | Keith Arkell | 2482 | 811 |
| 2 | ENG | IM | Brandon Clarke | 2544 | 745 |
| 3 | ENG | chessfiction | 2305 | 693 | |
| 4 | UKR | Vladimir Tushinsky | 2186 | 622 | |
| 5 | ENG | IM | Richard Pert | 2517 | 524 |
| 6 | WLS | FM | WelshTiger | 2323 | 502 |
| 7 | SGP | Singapourfeuj | 2183 | 466 | |
| 8 | ENG | Mate Ther | 2141 | 434 | |
| 9 | HKG | Luke Lau | 2282 | 425 | |
| 10 | ENG | Liam Clery | 1998 | 423 | |
| 11 | ENG | Max Pert | 1928 | 417 | |
| 12 | ENG | Robert Starley | 2051 | 407 | |
| 13 | ENG | IM | Matthew Wadsworth | 2532 | 396 |
| 14 | INT | Doge_Dandolo | 1877 | 391 | |
| 15 | ENG | Ramin Guy | 1931 | 382 | |
| 16 | ENG | Andrew Brett | 2130 | 363 | |
| 17 | SGP | WFM | Anita Mui | 2222 | 360 |
| 18 | ENG | Liam Bellwood | 1925 | 339 | |
| 19 | ENG | Viktor Stoyanov | 2451 | 331 | |
| 20 | ENG | Indy Southcott-Moyers | 2174 | 320 |
You can find the full results and details of all the games played on Chess.com at https://www.chess.com/tournament/live/arena/ecf-ukraine-appeal-marathon–2669997
All the games can be found in PGN format at https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ECF_Ukraine_Appeal_Marathon__2023-05-20-17-04.pgn
The whole 24 hours was streamed live and you can play it back at https://www.twitch.tv/ecf_streaming – the stream was organised by FM Jonathan Blackburn and featured numerous chess luminaries.
Event Details
The English Chess Federation will once again be holding a 24-hour chess marathon in support of the British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal.
Chess.com will host the online marathon from 5.00 pm on Saturday 20th May to 5.00pm on Sunday 21st May. You can register for the online marathon here – https://britchess.wufoo.com/forms/ecf-charity-marathon-for-ukraine-2023/. Registration is free but only donors and fundraisers of £5.00 or more will be eligible for prizes. Place prizes will be awarded either over the internet (for licences and e-prizes) or dispatched anywhere in the UK (for physical/book prizes). Players will need to be a member of the ECF Open Club on Chess.com – https://www.chess.com/club/english-chess-federation. Join now to be kept posted on further tournament details and prizes. The marathon will be scheduled as a 24 hour Chess.com Arena tournament running from Saturday to Sunday and with players able to join and rejoin as they wish for the duration of the event.
Everyone can donate with their entry as above or via the Red Cross Tiltify page here – https://tiltify.com/british-red-cross/ecf-chess-marathon-for-ukraine-2023. As well as accepting donations, the Tiltify page will allow you to fundraise via a personal event page as you take part in the tournament should you wish to provide additional support. All donations and funds raised will be paid direct to the British Red Cross appeal to support their life saving response to the crisis.
Live Streaming
FM Jonathan Blackburn will be coordinating this years official commentary stream with a detailed schedule here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ukraine-schedule/. We will have live coverage of the tournament at https://www.twitch.tv/ecf_streaming
Prizes
Prizes will be awarded to the highest placed players in the marathon based on points accumulated across the 24 hours. Players are eligible for a place prize where they have donated £5.00 or more in advance. Places will be as shown on the Chess.com tournament page for eligible players at the end of the tournament. As well as the main place prizes there will be a separate prize for highest placed junior ECF member/supporter and highest placed female ECF member/supporter.
We would like to thank our growing list of prize donors for their generous support, including —
Chess.com – https://www.chess.com – who are hosting the event and matching up to $1000 of donations.
Chessable – https://www.chessable.com/ – who are providing Chessable Pro Memberships and Course vouchers as place prizes
Elk and Ruby – https://www.elkandruby.com – who are supplying various book prizes.
Chess and Bridge – https://chess.co.uk/ – who are providing gift voucher prizes for merchandise from the Chess and Bridge store.