Tim Wall is proposing to start a new North East of England FIDE rated individual championship.
Three sections are planned, open, major (under FIDE 1975 or under ECF 170 if not FIDE rated) and minor (under FIDE 1750 or under ECF 140 if not FIDE rated). Each section would be played as a 6 round Swiss with 2 rounds played on each of 3 Sundays during the season at 3 separate venues in Northumberland, Durham and Cleveland. All players who are resident in, or play for clubs in Northumberland, Durham or Cleveland would be eligible.
The playing schedule would be 10:30 to 14:30 for the Sunday morning games and 15:30 to 19:30 for Sunday afternoon games. The time control would be all moves in 90 minutes plus a 30 second increment from move 1. All games would be FIDE rated.
Players are required to have either ECF Gold membership, in the case of ENG players, or ECF Silver membership in the case of players from other federations.