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British Chess Federation

What is Game Fee?

There is a wide spread misconception that Game Fee is solely a payment for Grading - this is not the case. Game Fee is in fact the affiliation fee paid by member organisations to the BCF. The general principle behind Game Fee is that funding of the BCF should be apportioned proportionate to the amount of chess played. This means that small organisations pay less than larger ones. Before Game Fee was introduced, member organisations paid an amount based on their presumed level of chess activity. However, it was felt that the actual level of chess activity should be established. Plainly, the number of games graded from the events of a member organisation provides a fair and accurate measure of the amount of chess played. Consequently, Game Fee was introduced whereby the Grading system was used to determine the membership fees. Grading itself is one of the benefits that a member organisation receives from the BCF. Only events that are registered under the Game Fee scheme are Graded.