Saturday 6 March 2021

New Dates For Hastings?

THE modern Hastings international congress has settled into a routine - 2020-21 excepted - in which the main tournament starts on December 28 and usually ends on January 5.
One advantage of this is it allows competitors to travel on December 27, the first day after Christmas on which public transport returns more-or-less to normal.
However, it seems the 2021-22 version could run from Wednesday December 29 to Friday January 7.
At least those are the dates given by the world chess federation, Fide, which has announced Hastings will receive a grant: https://www.fide.com/news/973
Those dates would suggest a main tournament lasting 10 days, which is not unprecedented - the congresses of 2018-19, 2012-13 and 2007-08 ran from December 28 to January 6. What connects 2019, 2013 and 2008 is that in those years January 6 was a Sunday.
No doubt all will be revealed in due course ...

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