Age limits for the British Junior Championships

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Paul Bielby
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Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by Paul Bielby » Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:16 pm

It is general practice in English Schools, that the school year runs from September to September A child who was 10 on Sept 2nd, 2010 remains in school year 5, i.e. an under-10, until the end of August 2011. Most Junior Chess Tournaments in this country follow the same pattern - certainly all Northumbria JCA tournaments, EPSCA and UKCC tournaments do this.

However in the 2011 British Championships we have switched to using Calendar years - so two children can be in the same class at school. play chess in the same age-groups in nearly all chess tournaments, but find that they now play in different age-groups for the British. Is this new? It is the first time I've noticed it (I've been giving out the 2011 entry brochure to children in year 5 at school). Is the same pattern likely to apply to other things, such as grading lists?

I assume that this is probably to bring British Junior Championships into line with FIDE junior events. But this will only affect a tiny minority of children playing chess and may upset some children, parents or teachers!

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Rob Thompson
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Re: Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by Rob Thompson » Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:23 pm

It has been like this for at least the two previous years. As far as i am aware, there were no real issues arising as a result
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Alex McFarlane
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Re: Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by Alex McFarlane » Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:51 pm

And the previous dates were meaningless in Scotland and, I think, Ireland. But it is basically to bring things in line with FIDE dates. It did seem a bit odd to have an U10 Champion who couldn't represent their country at that level.

Perhaps of interest to you also Paul is that that date also applies to the Seniors. (And that's not meant to be sarky :D ).

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:52 pm

Alex McFarlane wrote: Perhaps of interest to you also Paul is that that date also applies to the Seniors. (And that's not meant to be sarky :D ).
Have you spotted that BICC/ECF are now a year out of sync with FIDE? For example the 1951 generation aren't allowed in the British Seniors, but can play in the corresponding World and European events.

David Sedgwick
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Re: Age limits for Senior Championships

Post by David Sedgwick » Fri Apr 01, 2011 2:07 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:Have you spotted that BICC/ECF are now a year out of sync with FIDE? For example the 1951 generation aren't allowed in the British Seniors, but can play in the corresponding World and European events.
That's correct in respect of the World Senior Championship being held in in November 2011in Croatia.

However, unless I've misread them, the Regulations for the European Senior Championship, about to start in Italy, and for the European Senior Team Championship, being held next month in Greece, both still require players to be over 60 (50 for women) as at 1st January 2011.

The regulations for this year's World Senior may reflect the fact that it's very late in the year.

Alex McFarlane
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Re: Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by Alex McFarlane » Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:35 am

Thanks Roger.

I too had spotted this with some puzzlement. I assume David's explanation has some validity, though the situation is unclear.

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Re: Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:02 am

Re Senior age limits

try
http://www.fide.com/images/stories/news ... nex_27.pdf

which was approved
FIDE minutes wrote:Annex 26 is the bid from the Croatian Chess Federation to organise the event in Opatija, 6-16 November 2011.
Annex 27 is a proposal of Qualification Commission Chairman M. Markkula on Senior (Women Senior) age limits.
General Assembly approved the bid of Croatia.
General Assembly approved the proposal of Mr. Markkula

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David Shepherd
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Re: Age limits for the British Junior Championships

Post by David Shepherd » Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:08 am

I suspect one problem with using the school year for tournaments is that it encourages players more who are born September to December who have an advantage. Unfortunately when they compete internationally these are the youngest in the year and so they are at a disadvantage. Partly for this reason it is sensible to shift more of the domestic tournaments on to a calendar year basis.

David Sedgwick
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Re: Age limits for Senior Championships

Post by David Sedgwick » Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:07 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:Re Senior age limits

try
http://www.fide.com/images/stories/news ... nex_27.pdf

which was approved
FIDE minutes wrote:Annex 26 is the bid from the Croatian Chess Federation to organise the event in Opatija, 6-16 November 2011.
Annex 27 is a proposal of Qualification Commission Chairman M. Markkula on Senior (Women Senior) age limits.
General Assembly approved the bid of Croatia.
General Assembly approved the proposal of Mr. Markkula
Thanks Roger.

That leaves the World events and the European events out of line. One hopes that that situation won't last long.

Will you be making your Senior debut in Croatia as a result of the change?

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