Essex Summer Rapid Knockout 2023

Entries

Entries have been received from the following 10 teams:

BARKING A
Barking B
BASILDON
CHELMSFORD
ILFORD – Plate winners 2022
Loughton
Thurrock
WANSTEAD A – Knockout Champions 2022
Wanstead B
Wanstead C

Seeded teams in BOLD UPPERCASE

No entry from Writtle but we welcome near-neighbours Chelmsford’s return to the Essex Knockout. In the early years of the Knockout in its current Rapid format Chelmsford entered in addition to Writtle. Chelmsford reached the 2001 Final (the first competition under the current format of Team Rapid) when they came second to Ilford by a margin. Chelmsford won the Plate competition in 2003 (the first year of the Plate) and came second in the Plate, again to Ilford, in 2006. A number of Writtle members are also members of Chelmsford, so this not so much ‘no Writtle’ as ‘Writtle plus…’.

With five matches in Round 1, there will be only one contested match in Round 2 and three Byes to the Semi-Final.

There will be a Plate Competition for teams which lose in Round 1.

Round 1 of the Plate competition will mirror Round 2 of the Knockout. To preserve the structure which keeps teams from the same Club apart before the Final, the structure of the Plate competition will be identical to the Knockout R2 onwards.

Prizes

In addition to the Sims Cup for the Knockout winners to hold for a year and the Knockout Plate for the Plate winners to hold for a year, the two winning teams will each receive a digital chess timer.

The Draw

The Draw has been published, giving rise to the following R1 pairings:

Match A: CHELMSFORD v Loughton
Match B: Barking B v WANSTEAD A
Match C: ILFORD v Wanstead C
Match D: BARKING A v Thurrock
Match E: Wanstead B v BASILDON

The full competition grid is on the Knockout Tables page.

The ECF LMS

The Round 1 Fixtures have been loaded into the LMS and three dates have been set. Awating the other two.

The link to the KO on LMS is in the next column.

Rules

The Knockout Rules have been amended for 2023 in the following respects:

• Now reflects the use of ECF LMS for pairings and results;
• Makes G20+10 the default time control with G30+0 the alternative (if suitable digital clocks are not available for G20+10);
• Offer and acceptance of fixture dates speeded up now 3 days each way and number of dates cut from 3 to 2;

Full Rule download: EKO Rules 2023

Schedule

Dates for the completion of each round – provisional but inclusive.

Round 1 – By Friday 30 June 2023
Round 2 – By Friday 4 August 2023
SF – By Friday 1 September
Final by Saturday 30 September

The British Championships, normally supported by a strong Essex contingent, run from 20-30 July 2023, so we have allowed a little extra time for Round 2, though there will be only one fixture in the KO and one in the Plate.

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Links

EKO on ECF LMS
EKO 2023 Tables

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FIXTURES

Knockout

Round 1

26 Jun – CHELMSFORD 8-2 Loughton
22 Jun – Barking B 1-9 WANSTEAD A
19 Jun – ILFORD 8-2 Wanstead C
*13 Jul – BARKING A 10-0 Thurrock
27 Jun – Wanstead B 4½-5½ BASILDON

*With Controller’s approval.

Round 2

18 Jul – WANSTEAD A 7-3 CHELMSFORD
ILFORD – Bye
BARKING A – Bye
BASILDON – Bye

Round 3 – Semi-Final

21 Aug – ILFORD 3-7 WANSTEAD A
24 Aug – BASILDON 4½-5½ BARKING A

FINAL

19 Sep – WANSTEAD A 7½-2½ BARKING A

Plate Competition

Round 1

19 Jul – Loughton 6-4 Barking B
Wanstead B – Bye
Wanstead C – Bye
Thurrock – Bye

Round 2 – Semi-Final

9 Aug – Thurrock 1½-8½ Wanstead B
1 Aug – Wanstead C 5-5 Loughton*
*Loughton win on Board Count

FINAL

6 Sep – Loughton 2½7½ Wanstead B