We are pleased to announce a brand new main sponsor for the Northumbria Chess Masters, to be held at The Chillingham pub from February 14-18, 2018.
Thanks to generous sponsorship from Capital Bridging Finance Solutions Ltd, we have been able to add new prizes and increase others for the tournament.
The tournament – a nine-round FIDE-rated Swiss – will have opportunities for international title norms, including for GM and IM, and now has a total prize fund of £3,150, including a 1st prize of £1,200. Other prizes are: 2nd £600, 3rd £400, 4th £300, 5th £200, 6th £150, top junior £100, top Under 2400 player £100 and top Under 2200 player £100.
We have confirmed entries from a number of very strong titled players, including 7 Grandmasters: Alexander Donchenko (Germany), Vojtech Plat (Czech Republic), Jahongir Vakhidov (Uzbekistan), Alexander Raetsky (Russia), Bogdan Lalic (Croatia), Daniel Gormally and Mark Hebden (England). We also have entries from 11 International Masters: Justin Tan (Australia), Martin Percivaldi (Denmark), Grzegorz Nasuta (Poland), Gerard Welling (The Netherlands), Andrew Greet, Andrew Muir and Craig Pritchett (Scotland), Alan Merry, Adam Hunt, Ravi Haria and David Eggleston (England).
To allow for the maximum IM, GM, WGM and other norm opportunities, we plan to use the FIDE-approved Baku Acceleration pairings system.
AS OF FEBRUARY 11, 2018, WE HAVE ONLY 3 PLACES LEFT IN THE TOURNAMENT. ANYONE WISHING TO ENTER NOW SHOULD CONTACT THE ORGANISER, TIM WALL, DIRECTLY:
timpeterwall@gmail.com, or call: +44 (0) 750 372 2366.
To enter, you can download the entry form from the English Chess Federation calendar. Online entry and payment via PayPal/bank card is available here on this website.
If you are a titled player (IM/GM/WGM) and would like to enter, please contact the organiser, Tim Wall, directly at:
As well as our main sponsor, we would also like to thank various organisations who are supporting the tournament financially.
These are: the English Chess Federation, the Friends of Chess and the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust, who have made equally generous donations to the event.
These donations have enabled us to offer a limited number of appearance fees to titled guest players (Grandmasters & International Masters) to ensure that there are enough non-English players to allow for title norms, and to offer coaching and financial support to local junior players entering the tournament.
Several local players are hosting a visiting GM or IM during the tournament. If you would like to offer to be a host for a visiting titled player, please contact the organiser, Tim Wall, on 0750 372 2366 or timpeterwall@gmail.com.
Full list of entries received (as of February 11, 2018):
1 GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) 2583
2 GM Vojtech Plat (CZE) 2569
3 GM Jahongir Vakhidov (UZB) 2516
4 GM Daniel Gormally (ENG) 2483
5 IM Justin Tan (AUS) 2479
6 IM Andrew Greet (SCO) 2458
7 GM Mark Hebden (ENG) 2454
8 IM Grzegorz Nasuta (POL) 2454
9 IM Alan Merry (ENG) 2438
10 IM Adam Hunt (ENG) 2416
11 IM David J. Eggleston (ENG) 2409
12 GM Bogdan Lalic (CRO) 2401
13 IM Martin Percivaldi (DEN) 2395
14 IM Ravi Haria (ENG) 2376
15 FM Iain Gourlay (SCO) 2371
16 GM Alexander Raetsky (RUS) 2362
17 IM Gerard Welling (NED) 2320
18 FM Borna Derakhshani (FID*) 2317
19 FM Alex Longson (ENG) 2307
20 Paul Macklin (ENG) 2307
21 IM Andrew Muir (SCO) 2286
22 FM William Claridge-Hansen (ENG) 2282
23 IM Craig Pritchett (SCO) 2275
24 FM Neil Berry (SCO) 2267
25 FM Charles H Storey (ENG) 2262
26 FM Murad Abdulla (SCO) 2260
27 FM Richard Britton (ENG) 2255
28 WFM Natalie Kanakova (CZE) 2245
29 Adam Bukojemski (POL) 2222
30 FM Glenn House (ENG) 2214
31 M. Paul Townsend (ENG) 2214
32 Pavel Asenov (ENG) 2187
33 Edmund Player (ENG) 2172
34 FM Akshaya Kalaiyalahan (ENG) 2136 (junior)
35 Nikolas Tavoularis (GRE) 2168
36 Peter M. Gayson (ENG) 2151
37 WFM Sarah Longson (ENG) 2124
38 James Moreby (ENG) 2112 (junior)
39 Stuart White (SCO) 2107
40 Alan Dunn (NZL) 2046
41 Joseph Dalton (ENG) 2045 (junior)
42 Yichen Han (NED) 1998 (junior)
43 Nick Burrows (ENG) 1965
44 Max Turner (ENG) 1933 (junior)
45 Tim Spanton (ENG) 1901
46 Robert Kane (ENG) 1900
47 Zheming Zhang (ENG) 1900 (junior)
48 Chris Izod (ENG) 1882
49 Robin J Nandi (ENG) 1806
50 Mark Younger (ENG) 1720
51 Peter J Garrett (ENG) 1685
(* FID indicates ‘FIDE’ chess nationality)