The 7th PETER & PEGGY CLARKE MEMORIAL RAPIDPLAY CHESS CONGRESS
Online Entry Here
Welcome
The annual Peter & Peggy Clarke Memorial Rapidplay Chess Congress
will be held on
Saturday 7th October 2023
At Halwill Parish Hall, Halwill Junction, Devon EX21 5XR
Just off the A3079, approx 15 minute drive from A30 at Okehampton.
It is a 6 round Swiss congress, 25 min + 10 sec move
The congress is an ECF rapidplay rated event.
Sections
Section Open Entry Fee£18(£27 Bronze or non ECF members) First Prize£150 Second Prize£80 Rating Prize£40 Ladies prize£40 Junior Prize£40
This is the minimum guaranteed prize fund. It will be increased if there are sufficient entries.
Note: Unrated players are only eligible to win 50% of any rating prizes
No competitor may win more than one prize.
If there are sufficient entries the tournament will be run as two sections with an increased prize fund.
Entry Fees £18.00 ECF silver or above. Bronze/non-members must add £9.00 Juniors under the age of 16 on 1st September 2023 may deduct £3.00
Mobile phones must be switched off in the playing area FIDE Rules of Chess apply and the Arbiters decision is final. Default time 10 minutes
All games will be ECF rapidplay rated and ratings published on the ECF website. Unless informed otherwise the organisers may use photos taken at the event for publicity purposes.
Venue
Halwill Parish Hall was built in 1995 and is situated in Halwill Junction approx. 11 miles/15 minute drive on the A3079 from the A30 at Okehampton. The Main Hall is very spacious with a high ceiling. It has tables and chairs sufficient to accommodate a function of up to 100 people and leads out onto a large balcony overlooking the playing fields and children's play area.The main entrance has no steps and is wheelchair accessible. There is also an accessible toilet with baby changing space. There is a pub and village shop within very close walking distance of the venue.
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.
Car Parking
There is a large, free, newly tarmacked car park which has spaces for 50+ cars.
Time Table
Time Opening Ceremony 09:50
Round 1 10:00 - 11:00
Round 2 11:15 - 12:15
Round 3 12:45 - 13:45
Round 4 14:00 - 15:00
Round 5 15:15 - 16:15
Round 6 16:30 - 17:30
Missing players will be defaulted after 10 minutes from the start of a round.
One half point bye may be taken in rounds 1-5
Ratings
The September 2023 ECF standard rapidplay list will be used for entry/eligibility purposes, October list 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.
Rate of Play and Pairings
All games must be completed in 25 minutes plus a 10 second increment per move for each player.
The tournaments will be paired using computer pairings.
Conditions
The organisers reserve the right to:
- Transfer entrants between events
- Withhold prizes from ungraded players if they play in events 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
Peter & Peggy Clarke
- FIDE and British Master P.H. Clarke (18 Mar 1933 – 11 Dec 2014) will be best remembered as biographer to Tal and to Petrosyan, but he was so much more. Doing national service he was to learn the Russian that was to so shape his writings. For a brief period in the late 1950s, and early sixties, he was the number two player in England. He played, of course, below Jonathan Penrose. At the British Championships he finished second on his first appearance; he was to tie for silver medal on no less than five occasions, appearing, almost without a break for thirty years, a run that ended in 1982. He represented the BCF – as it then was – in eight Olympiads, playing on top board in 1966.The Clarke family moved to the West of England in the late Sixties. PHC played in thirteen WECU Championships, and lost only twice. As a player he could be cautious, agreeing too readily to draws. Accuracy and respect meant more to him than ambition. In his time he beat Larsen, Penrose and Szabo. In 1962 he married BH Wood’s daughter, Peggy.
Margaret Eileen Elizabeth Clarke (29 Oct 1937 - 15 Sept 2018). She was the only daughter of BH Wood OBE, proprietor and editor of Chess Magazine. She tied for first place in the British Ladies Championship in 1966. She became an International Correspondence Lady Master and came 12th in the 1984-92 Ladies World Correspondence Championship. Peggy was a Woman Candidate Master and was also a finalist in ‘Brain of Britain’. Peter and Peggy founded Hexagon Equipment Ltd. But they did not restrict themselves to this, also selling books and running chess tournaments. They had three daughters.
Further information
For further information on the congress, contact John at budechess@gmail.com