Isle of Wight Rapid & Blitz Championship

Isle of Wight Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2025

Update! Both events will now also be FIDE rated.

The Isle of Wight Rapid & Blitz Championships will take place at the Ryde Esplanade Hotel over the weekend of Saturday 4th October and Sunday 5th October 2025:

• Saturday 4th October – 6 round ECF-rated Rapid tournament

• Sunday 5th October – 9 round ECF-rated Blitz tournament

Eligibility & Titles

The tournaments are open to all players, including those travelling from the mainland.

The highest-scoring local players will be awarded the titles of:

• Isle of Wight Rapid Champion

• Isle of Wight Blitz Champion

To qualify for these titles, players must either:

• Be residents of the Isle of Wight

• Be Isle of Wight residents living away as students

• Or have the Isle of Wight listed as their designated club on their ECF profile.

  
  

Player Guidance

Skill levels will range from new players to local champions.

This event is not recommended for complete beginners, as it will be fast-paced and competitive. If you already play chess regularly, you’ll be fine — and we’ll happily explain any event-specific rules beforehand.

If you’re new to chess and would like to learn, we recommend attending one of the local Isle of Wight Chess meetings here. Snacks and ladders on a Monday* evenings is a great place to practise with chess clocks.

Tournament Entry

Players may enter one or both tournaments, there is a prize for the overall winner across both.

Each tournament is limited to 40 entrants.

Rate of Play

• Rapid: 15 minutes + 10-second increment from move one

• Blitz: 5 minutes + 3-second increment from move one

  
  

If entries exceed 30 players, we may give participants the option to play in either the Open section or a lower-rated section.

Entry Fees

Please note that fees depend on your ECF membership status:

• You must hold the correct membership before the event or purchase the appropriate ticket.

• ECF fees do not apply to the Blitz, so the cost is the same for everyone.

• If you don’t want to buy a Gold membership, you can still play Blitz only.

• Getting Gold membership now will save you £16.50 on the February 2026 tournament.

• We do not keep this extra fee, the ECF invoice for it, so please don't try to get away with the wrong ticket as I will haunt your inbox.

Current ECF Bronze members are not eligible for the discount. Paying the fee will in theory upgrade you for the rest of the membership year, but in my experience this takes months and you will have to pay it again in Feb anyway if you expire before then. ECF Platinum is higher than gold and counts as Gold.

Here's a list of IOW ECF members.

For any players without ECF membership, please follow this link to sign up to the ECF. Players under 25 who haven’t previously been members of the ECF can get their first year of membership free of charge.

Gold member – £37.00 | Junior Gold member – £14.00 | Free Junior Gold member – £0.00 (for the first membership year only) | Free Student Gold member – £0.00 (for the first membership year only)

Entry Fees:

Adult & Junior ECF Gold or higher members (check if still in date)

• Rapid: £12.50

• Blitz: £12.50

• Both events: £20

  
  

Adult Non-Gold ECF members

• Rapid: £29

• Blitz: £12.50

• Both events: £36.50

  
  

Junior Non-Gold ECF members

• Rapid: £19.50

• Blitz: £12.50

• Both events: £27

Prizes:

Rapid

• 1st Place: 

• £25 + Trophy

• IOW Rapid Champion Title

• Optional Wild Card free entry to Isle of Wight Masters 2026 (or section of choice, will refund if already entered)

• 2nd Place: Free entry to the IOW Chess Congress (20th–22nd February 2026, will refund if already entered)

  
  

Blitz

• 1st Place: £25 + Trophy

• IOW Blitz Champion Title 

• Free entry to the IOW Blitz Tournament (18th February 2026)

  
  

Speed Champion 2025⚡⚡⚡♟️

Awarded to the player with the highest combined score across both events, with Rapid scores counting as double.

• Prize: £100, in addition to any other prizes.

  (In the event of a score tie it will go to the lowest rated player)

Round Times:

Rapid Sat 4th Oct 2025

• R1 10am

• R2 11am

• R3 12pm

  Lunch

• R4 2pm

• R5 3pm

• R6 4pm

• Playoff ASAP

Blitz Sun 5th Oct 2025

• R1 11am

• R2 11.30am

• R3 12pm

• R4 12.30pm

  Lunch

• R5 2pm

• R6 2.30pm

• R7 3pm

• R8 3.30pm

• R9 4pm

• Playoff 4.30pm

Final Ranking determined by tie-break - using Buc1 then BucT

• Players tied for 1st will play Armageddon Blitz to decide a winner

• White 5 minutes, Black 4 Minutes

• 2 second increment

• Maximum 4 players (top of tie-break)

• (Four Players)1 vs 4 & 2 vs 3, Winner vs Winner (Three) 2 vs 3, Winner vs 1 (Two) 1 vs 2

• Higher ranked player after tie-break has the choice of colours

• Draw = Black Wins

Tournament Rating Rapid will be found in the following order:

ECF Rapid Rating 1st Oct 2025

FIDE Rapid rating 1st Oct 2025

ECF Standardplay Rating 1st Oct 2025

FIDE Standardplay 1st Oct 2025

Unrated players will be assigned a tournament rating of 1200 

Tournament Rating Blitz will be found in the following order:

ECF Blitz Rating 1st Oct 2025

FIDE Blitz rating 1st Oct 2025

ECF Rapid Rating 1st Oct 2025

FIDE Rapid rating 1st Oct 2025

ECF Standardplay Rating 1st Oct 2025

FIDE Standardplay 1st Oct 2025

Unrated players will be assigned a tournament rating of 1200

Venue & Accommodation

Ryde Esplanade Hotel

16 Esplanade, Ryde, PO33 2ED

The venue is easily accessible by car and public transport, located directly opposite Ryde Bus Station, at the end of the Wightlink FastCat pier and near the Hover Terminal. Parking options include both free and paid weekend spaces in Ryde.

Travel:

• Wightlink are providing the event with a limited number of 50% travel vouchers. This makes a return on the Fast Cat £14.10 for adults and less for seniors/children. Please message before buying a ticket to check on availability - hello@iowchess.com

• The Fast Cat Ferry goes from Portsmouth Harbour Train Station to Ryde (22 mins) and is a short walk or pier train to the venue.

• A discounted day return on the on the Hovercraft is also available at £16.80. 5 avail so please check before booking. Hello@iowchess.com

Hotel Discounts

The Ryde Esplanade Hotel is offering special room rates for players.

• Standard Classic Room (2 people, including breakfast): £75 per night

• To book, quote the code: OCTCHESS

• Telephone: +44 1983 562549

• Email: info@royalesplanadehotel.co.uk

Entries will appear here:

Chief Arbiter: Lance Leslie-Smith

Rapid (Capacity 40):

Link to Chess-Results

Blitz (Capacity 40):

Link to Chess-Results