Players who are of any class of Direct Membership of the ECF may deduct £4 from the entry fee for the Hastings Masters and £2 for each other tournament entered.
Members of the Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club and players residing in the Borough of Hastings may deduct 50% from the entry fee for each tournament entered. Where more than one discount is available, all may be used.

Cheques should be made payable to “Hastings International Chess Congress”. Entries should be sent to the congress Director (address given below). If an acknowledgement of entry is required a stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed. 

A late entry fee of £10 to the Masters and £5 to other tournaments will be charged for entries postmarked after 11 December (or 30 December for the Weekend Congress).

The Director reserves the right to refuse any entry without assigning a reason. Except in such cases a deduction of 20% will normally be made from any refund of entry fee. Refunds will be made only if notification of withdrawal is made to the Director at least 24 hours before the start of a tournament.

ECF grades used in the Congress will be those in force on the first day of the relevant tournament.  FIDE Ratings from the October 2008 List will apply.

Congress Director: Con Power
418 Harold Road,Hastings, East Sussex TN38 5HG
Tel. and Fax: 01424 431970
Email: conpowr@aol.com
A list of hotels and guest houses in Hastings can be obtained on request from this address.

Please note when the Congress Director, Con Power, is unavailable, any queries should be addressed to Pam Thomas, telephone: 01424 445348. E-mail: pae123@aol.com

No-Smoking Rule: Players should note that under UK law smoking is now banned in all inside areas of Horntye Park Sports Complex.

Mobile phones: Players are encouraged not to bring mobile phones or electronic storage devices to the venue. If it is necessary to bring such devices to the venue, they must be switched off at all times and not used for any purpose. Any player whose phone makes any sound during play will be penalised

Evening events: There will be a number of special evening events. Further details will be announced at the start of the Congress.

Provisional Draws: Players are welcome to come along to the White Rock Hotel from about 20.00 on Saturday 27 December, where we hope to publish the provisional draws for the first day’s play at about 22.00.

Information for overseas players

It is better to fly to Gatwick as there is then a direct rail link to Hastings. From Heathrow or Stansted airports players should travel to Charing Cross Station and from Luton Airport travel to London Bridge. Both of these stations have a direct rail link to Hastings.

Those travelling by Eurostar should alight at Ashford International Station for an easy direct connection to Hastings. Other Eurostar passengers should travel to London St. Pancras / Kings Cross and then to Hastings via Charing Cross, London Bridge or Victoria

Overseas players are also advised that they should expect to pay a minimum of £20 per person per night for bed and breakfast accommodation in Hastings.

Please note players are responsible for their own insurance against  damage or loss to person or property

The Hastings Borough Council website (www.visithastings.com) gives information on all aspects of the town including accommodation and travel.

PLAYING VENUE:
HORNTYE PARK SPORTS COMPLEX, BOHEMIA ROAD, HASTINGS TN34 1EX

Horntye Park is probably the best regular best chess venue in the country. It is just over 1km from the town centre. Bus services go from the town centre to the venue. There is adequate car-parking space on the premises.

The playing hall is accessible to players with disabilities. There are toilet facilities for players with disabilities and a lift between floors.

Catering facilities will be available during most of the playing times.

Subject to confirmation on the Congress website the telephone number of the chess office at Horntye Park will be 01424 718950 from 27th December.

NATIONAL CHESS LIBRARY

The National Chess Library now has a new home at the University Centre Hastings.

The first collection to be donated to the library was that of the late Sir Richard Clarke, the renowned statistician who devised the ECF grading system.   Next came that of the grand old man of chess, the late Harry Golombek. Other collections followed building a library of approximately 6,000 books.   The addition of the National Chess Library adds to Hastings’ reputation as the home of English Chess.

The collection has now been catalogued and can be viewed on their website  www.uch.ac.uk/national_chess_library.html.  The Library will be open on Monday 5^th January 2009 between 09.00hrs and 20.00hrs.

HASTINGS JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
These tournaments hosted by Sussex Junior Chess will be held in conjunction with the International Chess Congress on Saturday 3 January 2009 at St Mary Star of the Sea School, 1/2 km from Horntye Park. 

For further details contact:

Margaret Burch, SJC Entry Manager, 19a Ennismore Avenue, Guildford, Surrey. GU1 1SP
Tel: 01483 534061(eve) e-mail: ammjburch@hotmail.com

This event is sponsored by Deutsch Industrial Ltd.

PLAYERS REPRESENTATIVE:
The Hastings Chess Congress Committee includes a Players’ Representative.    Nominations are invited for this post for the forthcoming year.  Nominees must have played in at least two of the last four Hastings Congresses including this one.  Nominations may be made before the Congress in writing or by e-mail.  These will be shown on the Congress website.  Nominations may also be  made at the Congress until 30 December 2008.  Voting will take place during the Congress after that date. See the Congress website www.hastingschess.org.uk for further details.