LCC Weekday Tournament
The LCC Weekday Tournament is a 5-round Swiss tournament held at London Novotel West. The tournament will be split into 3 sections based on rating: Open, U1800, U1400. Entrants to the LCC Weekday Tournament will also able to spectate on the LCC Masters and Challengers at the 2026 XTX Markets London Chess Classic or listen to the live grandmaster commentary once their own games have finished, at no extra charge.
Tournament Rules
Who can enter?
Anyone can enter the LCC Weekday Tournament. Players will be placed in one of the following sections based on their ECF Standard Rating published on 1st November 2026: Open, U1800, U1400.
Venue
All games in the LCC Weekday Tournament will be played at London Novotel West starting at 4pm.
Schedule
Round 1: Monday 30th November @ 4pm
Round 2: Tuesday 1st December @ 4pm
Round 3: Wednesday 2nd December @ 4pm
Round 4: Thursday 3rd December @ 4pm
Round 5: Friday 4th December @ 4pm
Entry fee
Standard entry: £50
Reduced entry for female players and players aged under 25 on 27th November 2026 (British residents only): £25
Free entry for GMs, IMs, WGMs, WIMs, active CSC tutors.
Entry fees rise by 50% on Friday 20th November 2026.
All players, irrespective of their country of FIDE registration, must either be Gold members of the ECF or pay a £20 Pay-to-Play surcharge.
Prize fund
For each section:
1st - £300
2nd - £200
3rd - £100
Women’s prize: £50
British Championship Qualifying Places
The tournament is part of the British Championships Qualifying Grand Prix.
Time Control
90 minutes for the game, with a 30-second increment for each move starting from move one. The default time for this event is one hour after the scheduled start time of each round.
Byes
Players may take one half point bye. Half point byes may be requested (or a request may be cancelled) either:
In advance. Players can request (a) bye(s) when completing the entry form or at any point up to 24 hours before the start of the first round of the tournament.
During the tournament. Players can request a bye for any future round once the tournament begins providing the request is made before 10pm on the evening before that round.
A request for a bye should be made at the Information Desk at the event, or by email to festival@londonchessclassic.com (do not use any other email address to request a bye).
A half point bye may not be taken in the final round of the tournament.
Additional zero-point byes are available on special request in advance to the Chief Arbiter (festival@londonchessclassic.com). Players who miss more rounds than the number of Half Point Byes permitted in the tournament will be withdrawn from the tournament, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise.
Defaults
A player who defaults a game will not be included in the pairings for the next round of the tournament, or any subsequent round, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise.
Pairings
Pairings will be published by 10.30pm on the evening before each round. Pairings will be determined according to the ECF Rating List published on 1st November 2026.
Extra Games
A player whose opponent does not arrive before the default time will win their tournament game by forfeit.
The player who won their game will then be offered the following opportunities for an ECF and FIDE rated game. The arbiters will use their best endeavours to pair such players in the following priority order, against a player whose rating is broadly equal to their own:
A game against a player in the same tournament as them
A game against a player in a different tournament to them
A game against a player who has entered neither tournament, but who is available to play a game that day
The player is entitled to declare that they do not wish to play a game, and the arbiters will exclude the player from the Extra Games process.
Extra Games will be submitted for rating but do not count towards the results of the tournament. The time limit for these games will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Fair play policy
Please read the London Chess Classic Festival Fair Play Policy for rules governing players’ conduct during the games.
Prize Calculation
The prize in all tournaments will be awarded to the player scoring the most points. There will be no tie-breaks applied, and in the event of a tie on points, the prize money will be shared equally between all tied players.
Prize lists
Full prize lists for each tournament will be published online as soon as possible at the end of the tournaments. The event organisers will contact all prize winners as soon as possible to arrange for the payment of prizes by bank transfer.
Ratings
All tournaments will be submitted to the ECF and FIDE for ECF rating and FIDE rating. It is a condition of playing in the London Chess Classic that the data submitted at the time of entry will be forwarded to the ECF and FIDE as required to enable the games played to be rated by the ECF and FIDE.
The ratings used for this tournament will be in the following order of priority:
ECF standard rating
ECF rapid rating
Where a player has none of these, the organisers will assign an estimate based on all available data on a case-by-case basis, failing which the player will be assigned a rating of 0.
All entrants must have a FIDE Identification Number at the time of submitting their entry, unless they wish their FIDE nationality to be England. English players without a FIDE Identification Number will have one created at the time the rating files are submitted by FIDE. Please note: At the time of writing, changing your nationality costs 50 Euros.
Players registered to the Russian or Belarusian chess federations remain banned from FIDE events and will not be able to take part in the London Chess Classic.
Appeals Procedure
Decisions of an arbiter may be appealed to the Appeals Committee provided that
Such an appeal is received in writing within 30 minutes of the arbiter’s decision, and
Such an appeal is accompanied by an appeal fee of £50 which will be returned if the appeal is successful.
The Committee for the Elite Tournament will serve as the Appeals Committee for the Festival.
Parental responsibility
Parents or guardians are responsible for their children during the tournament. The organisers and helpers are not able to act “in loco parentis” and are not able to take responsibility for any child’s actions, or for the actions of anyone that may affect your child. All players under the age of 16 must have a parent or guardian on-site at all times.
Liability
The organisers accept no responsibility for any loss, theft or accident during the tournament.
Right to refuse entry
The Chief Organiser reserves the right to refuse entry without being required to state a reason, and to transfer players between tournaments at any time.
Zero Tolerance to Abuse
The Chief Arbiter is empowered to expel a player from all tournaments entered, either for a number or rounds, a number of days, or in their entirety, who shows dissent by word or action towards an arbiter, or any member of staff connected with the London Chess Classic.
