The Castle Chess Fareham Congress scheduled for 25th-27th September, mentioned in the report of the cancellation of the Northumberland Congress, has now been cancelled, though the Castle Chess and ECF websites do not yet carry the message. Aspiring entrant Vivien Webster contacted the organiser to check, was told of the cancelation, and has kindly relayed the information. Apparently it is to be rescheduled for February in the hope of better times ahead. “Fingers crossed.”

Regarding the Harrogate Congress scheduled for late October, YCA president Jim Burnett has received information suggesting the ECF is likely to contact the organiser (who lives in Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, and so is not within the YCA fold), asking him to cancel it (at least for that date).

Meanwhile, Doncaster Congress organisers, in hope of better times next year, have contacted their usual venue, who are happy to take a booking subject to an agreement that it may be cancelled at short notice, and so plans are likely to be drawn up soon for a reduced Doncaster Congress in around late February 2021. Watch this space, but such plans are of course highly speculative. Nobody knows what the Covid landscape will be like by then.