The 6th SIMON BARTLETT MEMORIAL CHESS CONGRESS

Welcome

The annual Simon Bartlett Memorial Chess Congress
will be held on

Friday 28th February to Sunday 2nd March 2025

At the TLH Toorak Hotel, Belgrave Road,Torquay TQ2 5JS

The colourful congress. Entrants are encouraged to remember Simon by wearing "loud" shirts/tops. The best 2 shirts will win £50 & £25 respectively, judging to take place during the Saturday morning round.

It is a 5 round Swiss congress, 90 min + 30 sec per move
All sections are FIDE and ECF standard play rated.

Sections

Section	FIDE Open	U1975	U1750	U1600
Entry Fee	£40(Must be Gold or above ECF or other National Federation member)	£40(£55 Bronze or non ECF members )	£40(£55 Bronze or non ECF members )	£40(£55 Bronze or non ECF members )
First Prize	£350	£350	£350	£350
Second Prize	£250	£250	£250	£250
Third Prize	£150	£150	£150	£150
Rating Prize	£60	£60	£60	£60
Simon Bartlett loudest shirt prize	1st £50	2nd £25

Note: Unrated players in the rated sections are only eligible to win 50% of any prize money
No competitor may win more than one prize except for the loudest shirt prize.

Entry Fees All sections £40 ECF Gold or above. Bronze/non-members must add £15.00
Juniors under the age of 16 on 1st September 2024 may deduct £5.00

Mobile phones must be switched off in the playing area
FIDE Rules of Chess apply and the Arbiters decision is final. Default time 30 minutes

All games will be FIDE and ECF standard play rated and ratings published on the ECF website. Unless informed otherwise the organisers may use photos taken at the event for publicity purposes.

Venue

The TLH Toorak Hotel is easy to find, being in the TLH complex of hotels opposite the Riviera Centre. The playing rooms are the Arlington Suite and Rougemont Room.
Smoking is not permitted anywhere on the premises.

ANY COVID RESTRICTIONS IN FORCE AT THE TIME OF THE CONGRESS MUST BE ADHERED TO. PLEASE DO NOT COME IF YOU ARE SHOWING ANY SYMPTOMS OF COVID.

Time Table

		Time
Opening Ceremony	Friday	18:50
Round 1	Friday	19:00 - 23:00
Round 2	Saturday	10:00 - 14:00
Round 3	Saturday	15:00 - 19:00
Round 4	Sunday	10:00 - 14:00
Round 5	Sunday	15:00 - 19:00

Missing players will be defaulted after 30 minutes from the designated start time of a round.
One half point bye may be taken in rounds 1-4

Ratings

The January 2025 FIDE/ECF standard play lists will be used for entry/eligibility purposes, the February 2024 lists for pairings. Other lists may be used at the organisers discretion. Players without a grade must give full information regarding playing strength, including their best previous results and/or their highest grade. The organisers reserve the right to transfer entrants to another section.

Rate of Play and Pairings

All games must be completed in 90 minutes plus a 30 second increment per move for each player.

The tournaments will be paired using Swiss Manager computer pairings. Pairings and results will be published on www.chess-results.com

Conditions

The organisers reserve the right to:

• Transfer entrants between sections
• Withhold prizes from ungraded players if they play in sections below their known strength
• Redistribute in whole or in part a prize won by a competitor who has won or shared another prize
• Take any other measures deemed necessary to ensure the smooth running of the congress

Simon Bartlett 1954 - 2017

Simon was born, brought up and educated, in Paignton. He attended a boys’ school and did extremely well, gaining admittance to Bristol University to read law. After a time he decided that this was not for him, and he took a year off in Morocco. He then returned to Bristol University to read chemistry and was awarded a degree in that subject. Apart from a brief period with another company, the whole of his working life was spent with Key Organics, a chemical company in Cornwall. Simon eventually retired at the age of 58 and gave every indication that he was thoroughly enjoying his new life. He played chess for Newquay, Tiverton and latterly the recently formed Bude Chess Club. He was also a regular on the south west chess congress circuit. His last congress was the Torbay congress in November 2016. He was well known for his colourful shirts and that is why we encourage you all to wear "loud" shirts/tops at this congress. He was also a good bridge player and played regularly at his local Camelford club. He was tremendously well-read, retained facts, and had a lively enquiring mind. He was generally a good solid chess player but did occasionally enjoy taking risks and playing tactically. If anyone queried this outlook on the game he would reply “The point about chess is that you are trying to have fun!” He was very knowledgeable on the game and was only to happy to share his knowledge with anyone from beginners upwards. He was a genuinely nice guy and will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him. Our thanks go to his partner Margaret for enabling the purchase of DGT3000 clocks and sponsoring this congress in his memory.

Accommodation
Accommodation can be booked via our private reservation on 01803 400500 at our best available rate with a £5.00 discount per person per night at any TLH hotel.  You must quote the booking id number – ID 52427 (at the start of the conversation) .

The best value deal is usually dinner, bed & breakfast

There is a 2 night minimum stay for all guests.

Accommodation cannot be booked online or with any third party websites – no refunds will be given

Payment terms – a non-refundable deposit of 10% is required at the point of booking
The balance is due a minimum of 28 days before arrival.

We strongly recommend that you have travel insurance to cover cancellation.
Cancellation policy as per the TLH Leisure Resort Brochure and the TLH website https://www.tlh.co.uk/terms-and-conditions

Further information

For further information on the congress, contact John at budechess@gmail.com