The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

organisation in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is affiliated to

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904.

History

From 1904 until 2005, the British Chess Federation (BCF) was the governing body of chess in England. The BCF itself replaced the British Chess Association (BCA) and initially governed chess, its pre-eminent ratings, and rules in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Over time,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

were governed by their own chess federations. Only England came under BCF

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

, and it also administered the

British Chess Championship The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

. In 2004, English chess administrators agreed that it would be factual to replace the BCF with the ECF, a change effective from the start of the 2005/6 season. From the 1990s there has been a movement to incorporate the federation into a

company limited by guarantee In British, Australian, Bermudian, Hong Kong and Irish company law (and previously New Zealand), a company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of corporation used primarily (but not exclusively) for non-profit organisations that require legal pe ...

, for mandatory transparency, likely generating more

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

, increasing membership and while thus slightly adding to the risk of a dissolving action by creditors, limiting in every way the liability of members to the ECF. At the start of the 2005/06 season the English Chess Federation was created. It inherited the BCF's assets and personnel. The BCF persisted for

legacy In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

purposes, and their website remained briefly ''www.bcf.org.uk'' (now defunct) when it was inherited.

Activities

The

British Chess Championships The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

are run by the ECF, and have been held annually since 1904, apart from during

world wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in 2020. In recognition of the change from BCF to ECF, they award additional titles of English Champion and English Ladies Champion. The ECF publishes grades for those players that compete in affiliated competitions in England as part of the

ECF grading system The ECF grading system is the rating system formerly used by the English Chess Federation. A rating produced by the system is known as an ECF grade. The English Chess Federation did not switch to the international standard ELO rating system until ...

. There are currently two ways to qualify for an ECF grade. For a yearly flat fee players may become a member of the ECF directly or, since 2005, through a local Membership Organisation (MO). Where in England MOs are lacking or are not mandatory (much of the south) non-members pay a Game Fee for each ECF game they play. All officials of the ECF are elected annually or tri-annually, without limits on re-election. The current CEO is Mike Truran, current president: journalist and keen chess player

Dominic Lawson Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson (born 17 December 1956) is a British journalist. Background Lawson was born to a Jewish family, the elder son of Conservative politician Nigel Lawson and his first wife socialite Vanessa Salmon. Lawson was educated ...

.ECF Officials
from EnglishChess.org.uk, retrieved 19 December 2021 The ECF selects and finances the English teams for international competitions such as the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

and

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

. By invitation, players may also receive support when competing overseas in events of national importance, such as the World

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

Chess Championships. The ECF sent paper newsletter ''Chess Moves'', free to members. From mid-2016, this was replaced with a monthly e-Newsletter, plus online articles, event reviews and selected members' submissions.

References

Bibliography

* Stephen Moss
Grandmaster crash: the inside story of how English chess pawned its future
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 20 November 2015, retrieved 19 December 2021

External links

* {{authority control Chess in England Chess organizations 2004 establishments in England National members of the European Chess Union Organisations based in East Sussex Sport in East Sussex

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

Sports organizations established in 2004 2004 in chess

History

Activities

See also

References

Bibliography

External links