Chessable English Championships 2022

The Chessable English Championships and Chessable English Women’s Championship Finals took place between Thursday 19th May and Sunday 22nd May 2022 at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth-Warwick, 212 Abbey End, Kenilworth CV8 1ED

Congratulations to the Chessable English and English Women’s Championship winners!

Chessable English Championship
1st and English Champion 2022 – GM Mark Hebden (6/7)
2nd IM James Jackson (5.5/7)
3rd IM Peter Roberson (5/7)
4th= GM Keith Arkell, IM Marcus Harvey, FM Adam Ashton, Oskar Hackner (4.5/7)
U18 FM Shreyas Royal (4/7)
Performance prizes to be confirmed

Chessable English Women’s Championship
1st and English Women’s Champion 2022 – WIM Lan Yao (6/7)
2nd – Alaa Gamal (5.5/7)
3rd= Nina Pert, Mae Cataby (4.5/7)
U18 (excluding those placed above) Elis Dicen (4/7)
Performance prizes to be confirmed.

Final round

Round 7 started at 10.00 am on Sunday morning (22nd May) with Mark GM Hebden a point clear of the field on 5.5 out of 6 in the Open Championships, and Alaa Gamal half a point clear on 5 out of 6. Mark Hebden agreed a draw against Keith Arkell in an exchange Caro Kann, which was enough for Mark to win the Chessable English Championship to add to his Chessable English Seniors Championship success earlier in the month. In the Women’s Championship Elis Dicen won her final round game against Alaa Gamal, and WIM LAn Yao won her game against Sarah Sengenberger, with Lan taking the lead for the first time in the event to win the English Women’s Championship for 2022.

This is the second stand-alone English Championships, the first being an 8 player all play all in 1991 won by GM Nigel Short – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/100-year-history-of-the-british-chess-federation/4. We will be looking to run the English Championships, English Womens and English Seniors as a set of championship events in April or May going forwards.


  Pictures by Adrian Elwin and Dennis Dicen

Pairings and Results
Tournament details, pairings and results can be found on Chess Results at the links below —
English Championship – https://chess-results.com/tnr638674.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30
English Womens Championship – https://chess-results.com/tnr638675.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30

Broadcasts/where to watch the games

View the games on the DGT Live Chess Cloud – English Championships | DGT Live Chess Cloud – English Women’s Championships
View the games on Chess24 – English Championships | Chess 24 – English Women’s Championships
View the games on Chess.com – English Championships | Chess.com – English Women’s Championships
View the games on Lichess – English Championships | Lichess – English Women’s Championships

Commentary
Thursday morning Rd 1 – 10am to 2pm- GM John Emms and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary
Thursday afternoon/evening Rd 2 – WFM Shohreh Bayat and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary
Friday morning Rd 3 (commentary starts 1 hour in from 11am to 2pm) – IM Tom Rendle and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary
Friday afternoon/evening Rd 4 – 4pm to 8pm – GM Matthew Sadler and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary
Saturday morning Rd 5 – 10am to 2pm – FM Jonathan Blackburn and Michael Green – https://www.twitch.tv/chesslifestyle
Saturday afternoon – Rd 6 – 4pm to 8pm – GM Matthew Sadler and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary
Sunday morning Rd 7 – 10am to 2pm – GM John Emms and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary
Tiebreaks (if any) – GM Matthew Sadler and WIM Natasha Regan – twitch.tv/ecf_commentary

Eligibility
Players must be born in England or have lived in England for at least the preceding 12 months. In addition if they have a FIDE registration, it must be ENG.

Capacity
We will be implementing a venue-based limit on player numbers across the two championships.

Qualification for the Chessable English Championships
Direct entries will be accepted from eligible players where –

  • They have a FIDE title of GM, WGM, IM or WIM as at 1st March 2022; or
  • They have a rating over 2100 ECF or FIDE in the respective March rating list and have registered for the event and been awarded a rating wildcard entry by the organisers

Further entries will be accepted from all eligible players above the minimum rating of 1900 ECF or FIDE, on a first-come-first-served basis in order of registration, and up to a limit on total numbers for the final.

There will be up to 5 reserved places for general wildcard entries from players who have not otherwise qualified regardless of their rating. An online qualifier event will be organised at the start of May to allow qualification via this route in the event that more than 5 wildcards requests have been received and agreed by the organisers. This will replace the previously advertised April online qualifier.

Qualification for the Chessable English Women’s Championships
Direct entries will be accepted from players  where –

  • They have a FIDE title of GM, WGM, IM or WIM as at 1st March 2022; or
  • They have a rating over 1800 ECF or FIDE in the respective March rating list and have been awarded a rating wildcard entry by the organisers

Further entries will be accepted from all eligible players above the minimum rating of 1600 ECF or FIDE, on  a first-come-first-served basis in order of registration, and up to a limit on total numbers for the final.

There will be up to 3 reserved places for general wildcard entries from players who have not otherwise qualified regardless of their rating. An online qualifier event will be organised at the start of May to allow qualification via this route in the event that more than 3 wildcards requests have been received and agreed by the organisers. This will replace the previously advertised April online qualifier.

Ratings
The higher of FIDE rating and ECF rating will be used in determining potential qualification. In the event that a player has neither an ECF nor a FIDE rating, the organisers will assign an estimate based on available data on a case-by-case basis.

Format and playing schedule
Both of the finals – English Championship and English Women’s Championship – will be played as a FIDE and ECF rated Swiss tournament, with a total of seven rounds over five days. The playing schedule will be as follows for both events –

ThursdayRound 1 – 10:00 to 14:00; Round 2 – 16:00 – 20.00
FridayRound 3 – 10.00 – 14:00; Round 4 – 16:00 – 20:00
SaturdayRound 5 – 10:00 – 14:00; Round 6 – 16:00 – 20:00
SundayRound 7 – 10:00 – 14:00
Sunday – 15.00 – playoffs if required

Time control
Game in 90 minutes per player with 30 second increments from move 1.

Entry fees for either of the finals
£60.00
Players must have Gold or Platinum ECF membership.
GMs, WGMs, IMS, WIMs – free entry
FMs, WFMs – half price entry

Latest date for entries
Monday 16th May for direct entries and registrations, with registrations subject to an earlier closing date if the capacity limit is reached.
Players qualifying by way of their FIDE title will be offered free entry

Rating
The event will be FIDE and ECF rated

Prizes – Open
1st £2,000
2nd £1,200
3rd £600
4th £200
Performance Prizes – 2200 plus, 2000 – 2199, U2000 – £50 each
Additional prize – Best Under 18 player (born 1st January 2004 or later) – £50
English Open Championship trophy for the winner

Prizes – Women’s
1st £750
2nd £500
3rd £350
Performance Prizes – 2000 plus, 1800-1999, U1800 – £50 each
Additional prize – Best Under 18 player (born 1st January 2004 or later) – £50
English Women’s Championship trophy for the winner

Performance prizes are based on best W-We tournament performance for players within the specified category.
The first placed player not already qualified for the Chessable British Championships will qualify for the Chessable British Championships in August as the English nominee. No player may win more than one prize. Unrated players cannot win a performance prize.
In the event of a tie for first place in either championship, the award of the championship trophy and the title will be decided by a playoff.
Ties for second or third place will be determined by tie break using the following methods applied in the specified order  —
(a) Direct Encounter (b) Median-Buchholz (c) Buchholz Cut 1 (d) Buchholz
All place prize money will be shared equally between tied players.

Pairings
Pairings will be made using the Swiss Manager program. Players failing to arrive in the playing area within 30 minutes of the start for each round will be defaulted. Players whose opponents default will be offered a re-pairing if possible.

Refreshments
Only refreshments obtained at the hotel may be consumed on the premises.

GDPR
Personal data collected will be handled according to the GDPR details accessible here [PDF]

Enquiries
Please send email enquiries as follows —
Chessable English Championships – director.homechess@englishchess.org.uk
Chessable English Women’s Championships – director.womenschess@englishchess.org.uk

Tournament regulations
Detailed tournament rules may be found here – 2022 Chessable English Tournament Rules

COVID Safety Guidelines
COVID safety arrangements for the event will be as detailed here – ECF COVID Guidelines Spring/Summer 2022

Entries
Entries are now closed for these events. Entrants lists can be found here

Accommodation
Follow this link to the booking form, then click ‘PROCEED’ and follow the booking instructions. The start date on the page (18th) is for guidance only.

Title Sponsorship
We are very pleased to announce that this year’s British Championships is being sponsored by Chessable as a primary learning partner of the Federation. Chessable are part of the PlayMagnus group and providers of the MoveTrainer® software. For further details see the Chessable website here –

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