Game Fee Question

[Paul McKeown]

Referring to https://www.englishchess.org.uk/pay-to- ... e-2023-24/:

Section 2

2 – Congresses/tournaments which are not FIDE-rated

Part 2b reads:

2b Events solely for juniors (age under 18)
This applies to all such events of four rounds or more; events of less than four rounds are outside the scope of this section of ‘Pay to Play’. The provisions of 2a above apply, except that the ‘Pay To Play’ fee is £2.50 rather than £9.00.

What exactly does the ECF mean by age under 18?

Is that at the start of the calendar year, academic year, start of the event or end of the event?

The document seems to omit a definition - apologies if it is there and I have missed it.

Some guidance would be gratefully received.

[Ian Jamieson]

I’ve got nothing to do with ECF but I would have thought the only practical thing ECF can do is accept any sensible definition. (ECF would presumably retain the right not to accept any non-sensible definitions intended to game the system.) There are probably too many different definitions in use by events for ECF to give a comprehensive list of acceptable definitions or to impose any particular definition.

[LawrenceCooper]

"if something is not covered organisers should check for any potential fee issues with the ECF’s Director of Membership by emailing [email protected]"

[Kevin Thurlow]

ECF assigns a birth date of 1st January (same as racehorses) for eligibility, so it would be logical to continue that. I am not suggesting that is what actually happens.

[Mike Gunn]

I believe the system that the ECF used to use was the age of a junior during a season was the age as at September 1st whereas FIDE used the age on January 1st during the year. The ECF approach was based on keeping the same age for a grading year. Of course this may have changed now (assuming I am right in the first place).

[Mick Norris]

ECF byelaws have

“Bronze Concessionary Members” means Bronze Concessionary Members who become Direct Members of the Company pursuant to Article 5(16) who fulfil the following criterion namely who are aged under 18 years at the previous September 1st of the date of admission to membership or the annual renewal thereof

The Game Fee payable by an organisation in respect of every player in a congress which is not submitted to FIDE for rating who is not a Direct Member and for each Bronze Member and Bronze Concessionary Member shall be such figure as set by Finance Council. Such payment shall be treated as an upgrade of each Bronze Member’s and Bronze Concessionary Member’s membership to Silver Member and Silver Concessionary Member respectively

The Game Fee payable by an organisation in respect of every player in a league or internal club competition who is not a Direct Member shall be the appropriate adult or junior bronze membership fee for each such player who has played four or more standard play games in the relevant league or competition during the season to which the submission applies, and will be waived for each player who has played fewer than four standard play games during that period. For the purposes of this clause two rapidplay games shall be counted as equivalent to a single standardplay game and six blitz games shall be counted as equivalent to a single standardplay game