Ulster Masters 2025

Check-in / Entry fee payments:

Friday 15th November: 7.30pm to 11pm

Saturday 16th November: 10am to 1.30pm | 2.30pm to 6pm

Sunday 5th November: 10am to 1.30pm | 2.30pm to 6pm

Prize giving 6.15 pm.

Sections: subject to change and to be confirmed at the start of the tournament.

Senior (Over 1700)

Intermediate (1699<)

75+30 second increment. Recording of moves is compulsory for entire duration of game.

By entering the competition, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

All players should be seated at their board 2 minutes before the start of each round (but 5 minutes before the start of round 1). All clocks will be started at the publicised start times for each round. A player not at the board will lose the game after 30 minutes has expired.

Phones must be switched off before the start of play. Any mobile phone that makes a noise will lead to an automatic loss for the player, including the loss of rating points. Switched off phones can be left at the arbiter’s table. The only exception to this rule is if a doctor is playing in the tournament, they are permitted to keep their phone on silent (vibrate mode) in the event of a medical emergency and they will leave the playing hall if needed to take a call.

Players must make at least 10 moves before agreeing a draw. The Arbiter will not accept games whereby players have pre-arranged a draw and the three-fold repetition has been executed during moves 1-3. If 10 moves have not been played, the Arbiter may record the result as 0-0, i.e. both players will be scored zero.

Format: Open Swiss

Tie-breaks will be determined by Swiss Master 5.7 Build 8 in the following order: Buchholz, Progressive Score, TPR Mixed.

3 member Player’s Committee TBC after entries received.

As per FIDE guidelines, players should be members of their national federation to compete in a FIDE-rated event. Therefore, with the exception of newcomers or players visiting from overseas, local players should already be paid-up members of the Irish Chess Union [ICU] or Ulster Chess Union [UCU]. The UCU season begins on 1st September, ending on 31st August.

A full list of ICU membership rates are available here:

https://www.icu.ie/shop

UCU membership can be paid in cash on the day at any tournament in Northern Ireland; payments can also be made via PayPayl or Bank Transfer when sent in advance. The UCU Treasurer, Adrian Dornford-Smith, is present at almost all the events for anyone wishing to pay in cash. It costs £25 per season. Concessionary rate is £10 for Under 18s, full-time students, pensioners, unemployed.

Please note, any players without an over-the-board rating should send their Chess.Com or LiChess username so we can create a provisional rating for the tournament seeding. Please note, online ratings can be 200-400 rating points higher than over-the-board ratings. A newcomer without any online activity will be given a standard provisional rating of 1000 and it will appear as 1000p in the seeding list at the beginning of the tournament.”

Entry Fees:

Late entry fee is £30 on the day.

If registered by noon on Friday 7^th November 2025, the early entry fee is £25.

Organiser: Karina Campbell

Arbiter: Andrew Todd

Registration deadline:

12 noon on Wednesday 12^th November 2025