Question(s) about Pay to Play

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Wadih Khoury
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Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:14 pm

Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Wadih Khoury » Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:49 am

I have a couple of non-ENG, non-ECF players who want to play in my FIDE and ECF rated standard swiss tournament.

I assume this is the clause that comes into play:
Players whose FIDE affiliation is or will be ENG must be (Junior) Platinum or (Junior) Gold members of the ECF. Where they are not then a fee of £11.00 for each such player will be charged to the event. If (and only if) the player was already a (Junior) Silver member that £11.00 will be applied to upgrade their membership to (Junior) Gold and a link for organisers to make an early report of such players is given later.

Players whose FIDE affiliation is not ENG will incur a per capita fee of £1.50, charged to the event, unless of course they happen to be (Junior) Platinum or (Junior) Gold members of the ECF
Does this mean that these players:
  • Don't need to be member of the ECF
  • will have their games rated for FIDE
  • will also have their game ECF rated (critical point since their opponents want the games to be ECF rated)
  • all for £1.50 (and not £11.00+£1.50 = £12.50)
  • I'll just need to ask for a grading code and pay the fee to the ECF?
Thanks in advance for the clarification.

Ian Thompson
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Location: Awbridge, Hampshire

Re: Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Ian Thompson » Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:48 am

It would be helpful if you linked to what you're quoting from.

On the ECF rating question, the ECF only rate whole events, so there's no possibility of some players' games being omitted from rating. The only question is what, if anything, they'll charge for rating the games of non-members.

You don't ask for a grading code. A new one will be allocated when the event is submitted for rating.

Matthew Turner
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Re: Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Matthew Turner » Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:09 am

Wadih,
I think you are correct in all respects. You do need to get a FIDE code for non-English players otherwise they are liable to be designated ENG when the results are submitted and that can be very costly to change at a later date.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:04 am

Ian Thompson wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:48 am
The only question is what, if anything, they'll charge for rating the games of non-members.
When a tournament is FIDE rated it counts as "international". Outside of the USA it's uncommon for Federations to demand that "foreign" tournament players become members of the local federation or even (unlike the ECF) demand additional charges from the organisers.

FIDE charge the local Federation for all participants in long play tournaments. The ECF doesn't pass this on to the organiser for Gold members. In France I don't believe there are any additional fees for English players to play in their FIDE rated tournaments, However all participants in their leagues are required to have a "license". This usually is paid by the clubs, but isn't "free".

Wadih Khoury
Posts: 604
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:14 pm

Re: Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Wadih Khoury » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:13 am

Ian Thompson wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:48 am
It would be helpful if you linked to what you're quoting from.
Link here: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/pay-to- ... e-fee-new/


My question is due to the fact that I only accept Gold members to my next event (FIDE and ECF rated) which broadly makes sense for English players as the pay to play fee is roughly the same magnitude as upgrading from silver to gold.

However, I have a couple of players who have non-ENG federations who want to play. They are not ECF members. One of them even has an ECF grading code. It does not make sense to ask them to register to the ECF if that will be their only game in England.
Should I then charge them an additional £1.50 and that will take care of all grading needs for these players and their opponents?

Matthew Turner
Posts: 3600
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 11:54 am

Re: Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Matthew Turner » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:19 am

I think normally organisers just subsume the £1.50 into the 'general expenses' because often the foreign player doesn't really get any benefit from having their games ECF graded, it is other people who benefit.

Roger de Coverly
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Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Question(s) about Pay to Play

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:25 am

Wadih Khoury wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:13 am

Should I then charge them an additional £1.50 and that will take care of all grading needs for these players and their opponents?
Once you are FIDE rating tournaments, they become international. Generally speaking English organisers running international tournaments don't bother with differential entry fees for foreign players. It's ECF policy rather than FIDE, as FIDE charge the ECF for everyone. Not passing on the FIDE charges is part of the ECF excuse for levying higher membership fees to Gold members.

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