The 15th 4NCL Congress, held at the same venue from 08/09/2017 to 10/09/2017, had 127 participants. The first, second and third prizes were £400, £200 and £100 respectively in each section, and there was a £50 “performance” prize in each section. (See 2017-09-084NCLDoncaster.htm)

For this April 2018 event, those prizes were increased to £500, £250 and £120, and fourth prizes of £80 were added, with the performance prizes staying at £50. Despite this, entry levels were running low in the run-up to the event, and the organisers requested various parties to advertise the event, around Yorkshire in particular. I received three e-mails from different sources as a result!

Although things turned out better than they might have, participants still numbered only 105, a 17% fall. At £30 per entry (discounting extras for grading), deducting the prize fund of £3,000 would leave £180 for room hire and the various other expenses!

A few more local players might have played in this congress had there not been a Yorkshire league second division match on the Saturday involving Doncaster. Doncaster captain Peter Catt solved that problem by taking a half-point bye in round 3 of the congress, so that he could play in the match!

One Rotherham player who habitually enters chess congresses mentioned he wasn’t entering because the entry fee for the top two FIDE-rated sections was £40 (including the £10 extra payable as he wasn’t a “Gold” EFC member). He’d rather enter John Wickham’s Great Yarmouth Congress (28th-29th April) where, for a “Silver” ECF member entering the U-170, the entry fee would be £27, and there would be more to entertain the wife than in Balby, Doncaster!

So, maybe prize money and FIDE rating are not such great “pulls” as had been hoped.

[sm1]