ECF Tourist Tax

[Roger de Coverly]

I was looking through the entry conditions for the London Chess Classic Under 2000
https://www.londonchessclassic.com/fide-u2000
in which

Who can enter?

To enter for the FIDE U-2000, you must have a FIDE rating below 2000 (October or November 2024 rating lists). English players must be Gold or Platinum members of the ECF. Non-English players must provide their FIDE Identification Number (FIN) at the time of entry. If you do not have a FIN, you must apply to your own federation for a FIN. Non-English players must also pay a £15 surcharge.

Should it be assumed that non-ENG players who are also Gold or Platinum members will escape this surcharge? That is likely to apply to the numerous WLS, SCO and IRL players living in England or taking part in ECF rated events. In that case it's an extra fee for visitors to the UK.

That then got me wondering as to whether the same applied to the Open, which by being a Norm tournament will need non-ENG players to help meet the multiple federations requirement.

The link to this is https://www.londonchessclassic.com/fide-masters

Who can enter?

To enter for the FIDE Masters, you must have a FIDE rating of over 2000 (October or November 2024 rating lists). English players must be Gold or Platinum members of the ECF. Non-English players must provide their FIDE Identification Number (FIN) at the time of entry. If you do not have a FIN, you must apply to your own federation for a FIN.

So why the difference in treatment?

Is it a rule that the London Chess Classic made up for the sake it?
Is it a consequence of the ECF's merger of Silver and Gold that the pay to play surcharge for non-ENG players now applies in previously "Gold" events?
Is so then is the difference in treatment explained by the point that the ECF have waived the fee for the potential Norm tournament or that the organisers will absorb it as part of the tournament expenses?

The Isle of Wight next year is a possibly comparable tournament in that it has a tournament with potentially Norms available alongsode a rating restricted one.

In their entry details they say
https://www.iowchess.com/event-details/ ... ress-blitz

Please note, all events are FIDE & ECF rated. All players with an English Chess Federation must hold a membership level of Gold or higher. We will charge you £15 before playing if you do not hold this level after 1st February 2025. This also applies to players who do not have a registered Federation. Please check your membership status as the ECF recently upgraded all Silver members to Gold members.

There seems to be a missing word after Federation. If it's rating that would only catch tourists who are frequent visitors or "foreign" players who usually only played Bronze level chess.

Hastings which is one of the few UK events to regularly attract "tourists" has yet to publish an entry form for this year.

As far as I am aware, the UK would be an outlier if it charged differential entry fees for non domestic players in a FIDE rated event. That the ECF surcharges Congress organisers doesn't mean that the organiser has to pass it on to the participants directly.

[Dave Lightfoot]

I was looking through the entry conditions for the London Chess Classic Under 2000
https://www.londonchessclassic.com/fide-u2000
in which

Who can enter?

To enter for the FIDE U-2000, you must have a FIDE rating below 2000 (October or November 2024 rating lists). English players must be Gold or Platinum members of the ECF. Non-English players must provide their FIDE Identification Number (FIN) at the time of entry. If you do not have a FIN, you must apply to your own federation for a FIN. Non-English players must also pay a £15 surcharge.

Should it be assumed that non-ENG players who are also Gold or Platinum members will escape this surcharge? That is likely to apply to the numerous WLS, SCO and IRL players living in England or taking part in ECF rated events. In that case it's an extra fee for visitors to the UK.

That then got me wondering as to whether the same applied to the Open, which by being a Norm tournament will need non-ENG players to help meet the multiple federations requirement.

The link to this is https://www.londonchessclassic.com/fide-masters

Who can enter?

To enter for the FIDE Masters, you must have a FIDE rating of over 2000 (October or November 2024 rating lists). English players must be Gold or Platinum members of the ECF. Non-English players must provide their FIDE Identification Number (FIN) at the time of entry. If you do not have a FIN, you must apply to your own federation for a FIN.

So why the difference in treatment?

Is it a rule that the London Chess Classic made up for the sake it?
Is it a consequence of the ECF's merger of Silver and Gold that the pay to play surcharge for non-ENG players now applies in previously "Gold" events?
Is so then is the difference in treatment explained by the point that the ECF have waived the fee for the potential Norm tournament or that the organisers will absorb it as part of the tournament expenses?

The Isle of Wight next year is a possibly comparable tournament in that it has a tournament with potentially Norms available alongsode a rating restricted one.

In their entry details they say
https://www.iowchess.com/event-details/ ... ress-blitz

Please note, all events are FIDE & ECF rated. All players with an English Chess Federation must hold a membership level of Gold or higher. We will charge you £15 before playing if you do not hold this level after 1st February 2025. This also applies to players who do not have a registered Federation. Please check your membership status as the ECF recently upgraded all Silver members to Gold members.

There seems to be a missing word after Federation. If it's rating that would only catch tourists who are frequent visitors or "foreign" players who usually only played Bronze level chess.

Hastings which is one of the few UK events to regularly attract "tourists" has yet to publish an entry form for this year.

As far as I am aware, the UK would be an outlier if it charged differential entry fees for non domestic players in a FIDE rated event. That the ECF surcharges Congress organisers doesn't mean that the organiser has to pass it on to the participants directly.

Hi Rodger, this is quite a good point really and I do think organisers are somewhat confused by the changes. I'm the organiser of the Isle of Wight tournament. It's my understanding that players with a FIDE Federation other than England do not need to pay a surcharge. The tournament will be charged £1.50 per player by the ECF to rate the games. I have decided to absorb this cost within the entry price for International players. It's an unnecessary bar to entry and the more International titled players, the better the norm chances are.

Players without a Federation or with ENG will be charged at £12 if they are not Gold+ or Junior. Given most small business transactions carry card fees, and the time it takes to chase someone, we have decided to charge the player £15. Which is about standard and fair enough in my view.

So I agree, I don't know why international players need to pay an extra charge, £3 at most would cover the organisers costs.

"1 – FIDE-rated events

1a Standardplay (as distinct from rapid play or blitz)
N.B. FIDE charges the ECF for the registration and rating of these events

Players whose FIDE affiliation is ENG must be Platinum/Junior Platinum or Gold/Junior Gold members of the ECF. Where they are not then a fee of £12.00 for each such player will be charged to the event. If the player was already a Silver/Junior Silver member the £12.00 fee will be applied to upgrade their membership to Gold/Junior Gold for the remainder of their membership year. The event will be charged a fee of £1.50 for each player whose FIDE affiliation is not ENG, unless they are Platinum/Junior Platinum or Gold/Junior Gold members of the ECF"

[Derrick Walker]

The ECF published (link below) their updated guidance a couple of months ago, and it seems clear from what is published that the £15 will be added to any player who is not an ECF Platinum/Gold member regardless of FIDE affiliation.

An exemption at section 5 would seem to fit the IOW Open, as norm chances are clearly available. Based on what is published it looks like the ECF is taking the hit on the £1.50 - either that or they have not thought the exemption process through.

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/members ... 024-25-v1/

[Roger de Coverly]

An exemption at section 5 would seem to fit the IOW Open, as norm chances are clearly available.

Nine round events are infrequent, but if you had a nine round event which was open but unlikely to attract sufficient of the necessary players to enable Norm chances, would it be exempt? That might apply to Paignton if it was run as a nine-rounder.

The London Classic Open which may well attract visitors to London is applying the tourist tax to the under 2000 section.

There may well not be many players from outside the British Isles playing in tournaments of less than 9 rounds, so it's mostly a tax on Welsh, Scottish and Irish players who aren't also ECF members at Gold level.

[Dave Lightfoot]

The ECF published (link below) their updated guidance a couple of months ago, and it seems clear from what is published that the £15 will be added to any player who is not an ECF Platinum/Gold member regardless of FIDE affiliation.

An exemption at section 5 would seem to fit the IOW Open, as norm chances are clearly available. Based on what is published it looks like the ECF is taking the hit on the £1.50 - either that or they have not thought the exemption process through.

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/members ... 024-25-v1/

Thanks Derrick, you are right and have likely saved me a small fortune there. I've amended the info on the entries page. I'll have to take a hit on any International registered to date but at least it's corrected now. It is confusing for all the rules to change, especially for the super keen like myself who listed the tournament around 10 months in advance haha

[Derrick Walker]

Nine round events are infrequent, but if you had a nine round event which was open but unlikely to attract sufficient of the necessary players to enable Norm chances, would it be exempt? That might apply to Paignton if it was run as a nine-rounder.

That would have to be a question for ECF, but I doubt it. If I was organising an event that had norm opportunities, I would be seeking confirmation that the exemption would apply prior to advertising it.

As to Paignton, I believe that has now been consigned to the history books and the nostalgic memories of those who once participated.

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's a similar question to the one that arose at Paignton 2019, which is whether - as a 9-rounder that had a valid norm time control and an IA as chief arbiter, but only two titled players - it was an event that granted a British Championship qualifying place.

[Roger de Coverly]

As to Paignton, I believe that has now been consigned to the history books and the nostalgic memories of those who once participated.

There's a September Torquay Congress which is just along the road, is at the same time of year and has a similar format. If they wanted, they could upgrade to a nine round tournament at the cost of a double round day or two.

[Derrick Walker]

I know, I am one of the arbiters at the Riviera Congress. It attracts a number of players who are adamant that they only want one round per day or they won't come. Moving it from a friendly tournament that attracts only 2 or 3 juniors, a major attraction for many, to a 9 round norm potential is a major undertaking. Making a couple of days double rounds is the easy bit, the other consequential changes not so much.