Hastings Chess 2008

the Hastings Chess Congres includes more than 10 tournaments

The 83rd Celebration Hastings International Chess Congress will be opened on Friday 28th December by Michael Foster, MP for Hastings and Rye and Councillor Maureen Charlesworth, Rt. Worshipful the Mayor of Hastings. The event will again take place at the excellent Horntye Park Sports Complex. This year’s event is celebrating the lives of the many people who have died within the past four years and whose work greatly enriched the chess scene. They include such people as Tony Banks who was a staunch supporter of chess during his time as Minister for Sport, Lord Callaghan who visited the Congress and followed the event closely each year and Frank Parr who won the 1939 Hastings Premier wearing his RAF uniform and continued to play at Hastings for 60 years.

The congress is once again sponsored by Hastings Borough Council whose continuing support is greatly appreciated. This year the Congress has received additional support from the John Robinson Trust. As well as his many other international chess involvements, John was one of the Hastings Congress control team and this welcome donation will enable the inclusion of a series of Master Classes and coaching sessions for promising juniors during the Congress. Additional chess funding has been received from the English Chess Federation and Friends of Chess. The White Rock Hotel is once again generously supporting the event and is becoming something of a centre for chess visitors. Continuing support also comes from Deutsch Ltd, General Dynamics plc, KC Computers, Medoil plc and the Pig in Paradise.

Entries are coming in from around the world and entries in the Masters Tournament already include grandmasters and woman grandmasters from 25 countries. Many enthusiastic club players from around this country and overseas are also entered in the four and five day Christmas and New Year events which run concurrently. The event also includes the 25th Hastings Weekend Congress. The Masters Tournament and Weekend event both end on Sunday 6th January 2008. A full list of entries can be found on the Congress website.

As well as serious chess, the programme includes the usual popular evening events at local venues. The Congress welcomes spectators and also offers a daily commentary on Masters games by grandmaster Chris Ward. Admission is free. A selection of games will be available “live” on the Congress website www.hastingschess.org.uk .

Christmas Morning Tournament, Christmas Afternoon Tournament, New Year Tournament

Christmas Morning Tournament: Friday 28 December 2007 to Tuesday 1 January 2008
Christmas Afternoon Tournament: Friday 28 December 2007 to Tuesday 1 January 2008
New Year Tournament: Wednesday 2 January to Friday 4 January 2008

The three tournaments are five round Swiss events over five days. They will be in graded sections of approximately 16 players.

Entry fee: £28
Prizes (for each section): £120, £75, £50, plus a grading prize of £30
Rate of play: 40 moves in 100 minutes, followed by all the moves in 20 minutes.

In the Christmas and New Year events; if the range of ECF points in a section is under 15, the grading prize will be replaced by a 4th prize. Any player competing in two of the three Christmas and New Year events may deduct £5 from the total entry fee. Any player competing in all three of these events may deduct £10 from the total entry fee.

Hastings Weekend Congress

Saturday 5 to Sunday 6 January 2008

The Open Tournament will be FIDE-Rated. The rules about membership of a FIDE Federation for the Masters also apply here. The highest placed eligible player not already qualified will be entitled to play in the British Championship 27 July to 9 August 2008 in Liverpool.

Entry fee: £28
Prizes: £300, £200, £100 plus a grading prize of £60 for players below FIDE 2000.

Major Tournament

Open to players below ECF 160 (Elo 1880)
Entry fee: £26
Prizes: £300, £200, £100, plus a grading prize of £50 for players below ECF 145.

Minor Tournament

Open to players below ECF 130 (Elo 1640)
Entry fee: £26
Prizes: £300, £200, £100, plus a grading prize of £50 for players below ECF 115

Under-100 Tournament

For players below BCF 100 (Elo 1400) or with no previous experience of competitive chess before this Congress.
Entry fee £15
Prizes: £100, £75, £50, £25 plus a grading prize of £25 for players graded below ECF 85.

Rate of play: 40 moves in one hour 40 minutes, followed by all the moves in 20 minutes.

Hastings Masters Chess 2008 participants

MALAKHATKO Vadim, BEL, gm, 2603
CHATALBASHEV Boris, BUL, gm, 2581
GEORGIEV Vladimir, MKD, gm, 2576
MAMEDOV Nidjat, AZE, gm, 2575
JONES Gawain, ENG, gm, 2567
NEVEROV Valeriy, UKR, gm, 2558
HEBDEN Mark, ENG, gm, 2542
CONQUEST Stuart, ENG, gm, 2540
TAHIROV Farhad, AZE, gm, 2540
PERT Nicholas, ENG, gm, 2539
PAVLOVIC Milos, SRB, gm, 2536
HOWELL David, ENG, gm, 2527
BINDRICH Falko, GER, gm, 2512
HASLINGER Stewart, ENG, gm, 2502
LALIC Bogdan, CRO, gm, 2500
FLEAR Glenn, ENG, gm, 2493
GORMALLY Daniel, ENG, gm, 2484
WILLIAMS Simon, ENG, im, 2475
SENGUPTA Deep, IND, im, 2447
GREET Andrew, ENG, im, 2441
ROY CHOWDHURY Saptarshi, IND, im, 2418
CIUKSYTE Dagne, ENG, im/wgm, 2411
HOUSKA Jovanka, ENG, im/wgm, 2404
SATYAPRAGYAN Swayangsu, IND, im, 2404
COLLINS SAM, IRL, im, 2401
VIDONIAK Roman, GER, im, 2400
RENDLE Thomas, ENG, im, 2397
KAUFMAN Raymond, USA, fm, 2393
ISLAM Kh. Aminul, BAN, fm, 2390
BOGNER Sebastian, GER, im, 2383
BATES Richard, ENG, im, 2378
DINGER Florian, GER, fm, 2378
KNOTT Simon, ENG, im, 2366
SHAKIL Abu Sufian, BAN, fm, 2361
AFEK Youchanan, ISR, im, 2350
ZOZULIA Anna, BEL, im/wgm, 2347
RUDD Jack, Eng, fm, 2332
PROSVIRIAKOV Vladimir, USA, im, 2319
THOMPSON Ian, ENG, fm, 2309
EAMES Robert, ENG, fm, 2304
MARUSENKO Petr, UKR, im, 2304
HASAN Mehdi, BAN, fm, 2287
FORMANEK Edward, USA, im, 2276
BRISCOE Christopher, ENG, 2273
LEDGER Dave, ENG, fm, 2266
FURMAN Boris, RUS, fm, 2264
KWIATKOWSKI Feliks, ENG, 2237
SNAPE Ian, ENG, 2230
GRANT Alan, SCO, 2223
JACKSON Oliver, ENG, 2219

More participants

The history of Hastings chess festival

The Norman’s introduced chess to Hastings - William the Conqueror was a chess player and once broke a chess board over the head of his nephew, Louis the Fat, having accused him of cheating. Fortunately the arbiters no longer permit this kind of behaviour at Hastings.

The present Congress grew out of the great interest in chess shown in the 1880’s. On 15th June 1882 an advertisement appeared in the local paper which read: “A meeting of those interested in chess will be held at the Albert Temperance Hotel, Queens Road, Hastings on Wednesday 28th June 1882. The meeting was attended by a group of professional and business men who formed the Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club. Herbert Dobell was elected Secretary which proved to be a significant event for the whole chess world. His vision meant that regular regional matches were held and County matches were played at Hastings for the first time.

An annual festival was started which included lectures and exhibitions. The festival was enhanced by leading players of the day including Lasker, Gunsberg, Janowski and Teichmann and especially by J. H.Blackburne, who later became a resident of Hastings.

Official website