English Chess Federation

The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England and is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 and was effectively a re-constitution of the extant governing body, the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904. The BCF had been set up to replace the non-functioning British Chess Association (BCA) and initially, not only governed chess in England, but also included Wales and Northern Ireland in its region of activities. Nowadays however, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands are all governed by their own chess federations and English chess administrators agreed in 2004 that it would be appropriate to replace the BCF with the ECF, the change to be effective from the start of the 2005/6 season.

Activities

The British Chess Championship is run under the auspices of the ECF, and has been held annually since 1904, apart from during world wars. In recognition of the change from BCF to ECF, the Championship now awards the additional titles of English Champion and English Ladies Champion.