UK Chess Challenge 2020 – Side Events
Rules and Dates
As well as the ‘Main Championships’ the following will also be taking place
- Blitz Championships
- 960 Championships
- Variant Championships
Blitz Championships
Time control throughout is 3+1 (3 minutes + 1 second per move).
There are three mixed age categories:
- Under 8s
- Under 12s
- Under 18s
The tournament is in two stages:
- 6 x ‘Preliminary Events’
- Final
Preliminary
The tournaments in this stage are “Arena” tournament with a duration of 60 minutes. ‘Streaks’ and ‘Berserk Mode’ will be enabled. See the lichess Arena page for more information on how Arena tournaments work.
Players may play in as many or as few preliminary events as they choose. Their top 3 Arena scores (the number of points they score in a tournament) will be totalled together to make their FINAL SCORE.
In each age group the top 8 boys and top 8 girls will qualify for the Final. The next 8 highest players regardless of gender will also qualify (so a total of 24 players qualify)
Final
The final is an 11 round “Swiss” tournament. There will be prizes for the top 3 players (plus a top boy or girl prize if there is no boy or girl finishing in the top 3).
Dates
Preliminary 1 – Monday 22nd June (6pm)
Preliminary 2 – Saturday 27th June (2pm)
Preliminary 3 – Monday 13th July (6pm)
Preliminary 4 – Saturday 18th July (2pm)
Preliminary 5 – Monday 27th July (6pm)
Preliminary 6 – Saturday 1st August (2pm)
Final – Saturday 15th August (2pm)
960 Championships
960 is a chess variant with slightly different rules to the standard game of chess. In essence a players first row of pieces is randomly shuffled. Full rules can be found here
The time control throughout the event is 10+5 (10 minutes + 5 seconds per move).
There are three mixed age group categories:
- Under 8s
- Under 12s
- Under 18s
The tournament is in two stages:
- 3 x ‘Qualifier Events’
- Final
Qualifiers
Each qualifier is a 5 round Swiss tournament. To qualify for the final players must achieve the qualification score of 3.5/6. In addition to this in each section the top boy and top girl failing to make the qualification score shall also qualify.
Players may play in as many qualification events as they choose – even if they have already qualified. This is to allow players more practise at this variant.
Final
The final is a 6 round /swiss tournament. There will be prizes for the top 3 players (plus a top boy or girl prize if there is no boy or girl finishing in the top 3).
Dates
Qualifier 1 – Saturday 25th July (2pm)
Qualifier 2 – Saturday 1st August (4pm) * please note the slightly later than usual time
Qualifier 3 – Saturday 22nd August (2pm)
Final – Saturday 29th August (2pm)
Variants Championship
A chess ‘variant’ is a form of chess with different rules. Some are very similar to chess whereas some feel very different! The Variants Championship covers all the variants available on lichess (apart from 960 which has a separate Championship).
There is one open section for each event – but prizes are given for best Under 8, Under 12 and Under 18.
The time control in every event is 5+2 (5 minutes + 2 seconds per move). Each tournament is an Arena tournament with ‘Streaks’ and ‘Berserk Mode’ enabled. See the lichess Arena page for more information on how Arena tournaments work.
There are 7 weeks of the Variant Championships (not consecutive). Each week there is a 60 minute ‘warmup’ event on Wednesday evening at 6pm and a ‘Championship Event’ on Sunday at 2pm. The warmup event does not count towards the Championship Grand Prix leaderboard but it is intended to enable players to get some practice playing what is potentially a new variant.
Grand Prix Leader Board
There are 7 Championship Events each lasting 90 minutes taking place on Sundays at 2pm. Players may play in as many or as few events as they choose. Their top 5 Arena scores will count towards their Grand Prix Leader Board total. Prizes will be given to the top 3 players (plus a top boy or girl prize if there is no boy or girl finishing in the top 3) in each of the following sections; Under 8, Under 12 and Under 18.
Dates
“3 Checks” – week commencing 22nd June 2020
“King of the Hill” – week commencing 13th July 2020
“Horde” – week commencing 20th July 2020
“Racing Kings” – week commencing 27th July 2020
“Atomic” – week commencing 10th August 2020
“Anti chess” – week commencing 17th August 2020
“Crazy House” – week commencing 24th August 2020
Version History
2nd June 2020
22nd June – various tweaks to prize allocation and qualification rules