Junior Selection Policy

[LozCooper]

Junior Selection Policy
Events for which the ECF Selects Juniors

The ECF selects juniors to represent England at international individual and team events, which usually include:
• World Junior Championships (male and female U20)
• World Youth Championships (boys and girls U18, U16, U14, U12 and U10) (Note – one player of each sex per age group)
• European Youth Championships (boys and girls U18, U16, U14, U12 and U10) (Note – one player of each sex per age group)
• Glorney Cup (boys U18, team of 5)
• Faber Cup (girls U18, team of 3)
• British Isles Championships U14, U12 teams of 6 (either sex)
• U16 Olympiad 4 players of either sex

If considered appropriate, the ECF may also make junior selections for other FIDE recognised international events.
The so-called ‘boys’ events at the World and European Youth and Junior championships are in fact open to both males and females. Other bodies affiliated to the ECF organise teams and trips to international tournaments, where juniors may be invited to represent England. In particular, the National Chess Junior Squad organises international team matches. The chairman is Peter Purland (currently also Junior Director). These and other selections are not the responsibility of the ECF and will be done on a totally separate basis.

World and European Youth Championships

The ECF aim to send the strongest juniors to represent England against their contemporaries from other national federations. Players invited to the trial for the World Youth Championship must be prepared to play in it if they win the tournament. It is unlikely that a player would be invited to both championships.

The Glorney & Faber Cups are team competitions for, usually, 8 teams from (mostly) Western European federations. Players in U18 and U16 age groups will be considered for selection. Those invited to the World and European Championships are often not selected for these teams, so others can have the opportunity to compete in an international junior event. There are also U14 and U12 events attached to these tournaments. These are for 6 players of either sex.

Age Groups

Age groups for international events are determined by players’ ages on the 1st January of the year in question, which differs from most UK tournaments, when a 1st September cut-off date is used. Age groups are typically every other year: U10, U12, U14 etc. Players are considered for the youngest age group for which they qualify by date of birth.

Please note that in general we do not select players to ‘play up’ a whole age group, even when an exceptional player outranks the players from the next age group up e.g. an U12 who is also the best U14. Juniors selected for the honour of representing England in international championships should aspire to the best result possible, including the winning of medals! Obviously if we had a gold medallist we would review the situation!

The World Junior (U20) is held separately from the World Youth Championships and is an exception to this rule. Outstanding younger players whose playing strength is equal to or higher than those aged 18-20 will be considered for selection. Where appropriate, a player may be invited to both the World Junior in addition to the World or European Youth Championships.
The selectors reserve the right not to make a selection in an age-group, on the rare occasions where it is felt that players of suitable strength and experience are not available. The World and European Youth Championships are exceptionally strong and demanding events and we do not want juniors to become demoralised by bad experiences at these tournaments.

Selection Procedure

We wish to send players to represent England who:
• show enthusiasm for and commitment to their chess
• have already shown significant achievements in tournaments in the UK (and possibly internationally)
• demonstrate continued improvement

As regular tournament play is essential to a players’ continued improvement, we would expect candidates for selection to be playing at least 40 long-play graded games a year and in some cases many more.

This year the Grand Prix is made up of junior events as we are selecting for junior competitions. However, we also feel that playing in adult events is essential for a player’s continued improvement and also, in selected events, playing above your grade can prove a good exercise.

Eligibility for Selection

• All long-term English residents (including those temporarily based abroad) are eligible for selection. There is no requirement to be a UK national.
• All candidates who wish to be considered for selection must be ECF members.
• If a player has previously represented another FIDE member federation, transferring to England may be possible, but the player must advise ECF officials well in advance that he/she wishes to transfer. The time scale for this will be advised on request.
• Any player owing the ECF money will not be selected to represent England.

What do you need to do to be selected?

There will be a single very restricted trial for the World Championships on the first weekend in March (5th & 6th) – U18s please keep this date free) and players for other tournaments and matches will be selected from Grand Prix results in other existing junior tournaments. We will continue to have a group of “selectors” who will monitor the situation and help with the selection where players qualify for more than one tournament and where players in the Grand Prix are tied. We would like to have a broad range of players in representative positions. I will give full details of the Grand Prix at a later date but the tournaments which we will use are as follows.

• British Championships at the University of Kent, Canterbury 25/7 to 7/10 – events to count British Championships, U16, U14, U13, U12, U11, U10. Entry forms from the BCC website or the ECF office
• London Junior 11/12 December (U14, U10) 28-30 December (U16, U12) 2010
Information from Marc Shaw 020 8931 2276. Please enter correct FIDE age group – one to count.
• South of England Championships at Yateley Manor Jan 29/30 2011
Peter Purland 0151 639 1797 [email protected]
• West of England Championships at Swindon February 26/7/2011
Information from Bev Schofield 01793 487575. Again please enter correct FIDE age group to count.
• Junior Squad at Royal Wolverhampton School, Wolverhampton April 16-18 2011
Information from Glynis Purland 0151 639 3331 [email protected]

Where a player has a birthday in the last four months of the year and is eligible for, say U12 by English rules, their score will only count if they enter the tournament with the correct FIDE age. At London Juniors they could enter both weekends but only the “FIDE” score would count.
We would expect all players to enter at least three of the above events as best three scores will count.
This type of system is used by most other European Countries and I hope it will prove successful here. We can but try!
NB Grades are irrelevant to this procedure!

If you are selected to represent England – well done! You have achieved something which all young chess players should aspire to. We hope you have an enjoyable time although it must be stressed that you are going to the tournament to do a job of work not to have a holiday with chess. We want you to do your best and in most cases will arrange for coaching by an IM or GM during the tournament. In the time running up to the tournament you will need to work hard to prepare yourself for what could well be the hardest tournament you will ever play in. This does not mean you have to spend a lot of money on extra coaching but any help you need the Manager of Coaching, Andrew Martin, can advise you.

Members of the Selection Committee

The members of the ECF junior “selection” committee are: Victor Cross, Andrew Martin, Peter Purland and Harriet Hunt. In the event of a player having to drop out late on the selection committee would try to arrange a replacement using common sense!

Contact the Director of Junior Chess & Education

You can contact the Director of Junior Chess & Education (Peter Purland) at:
Tel – 0151 639 1797
Email – [email protected]

[LozCooper]

I thought I'd post this in a new thread so it doesn't disappear amongst the other thread which is growing at an incredible rate. I've copied and pasted it from the ECF site http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=353

[Alex Holowczak]

This type of system is used by most other European Countries and I hope it will prove successful here. We can but try!

This comes as a surprise to me. Is there any evidence of this?

[HLang]

The German system involves a local then a regional qualifying event for a national trial (or at least it did when I last knew of a player who was involved in it, two years ago). Players could qualify for a regional event by playing in a single local weekend junior tournament.

The regional events consisted of 7 rounds in 5 days, with 1 or 2 games per day, e.g.:
http://chess-results.com/tnr11762.aspx? ... turdet=YES

I believe that the actual national trial was held at a similar, or slower, time control over at least a week. In other words, the national selection trial was representative of the kind of playing session length and schedule that would be involved at the European / Worth Youth. The only appearance of a weekender in the process was as an initial screen at a local level.

I think that the difference between this and the current English selection system speaks for itself.

[Alex Holowczak]

The German system involves a local then a regional qualifying event for a national trial (or at least it did when I last knew of a player who was involved in it, two years ago). Players could qualify for a regional event by playing in a single local weekend junior tournament.

The regional events consisted of 7 rounds in 5 days, with 1 or 2 games per day, e.g.:
http://chess-results.com/tnr11762.aspx? ... turdet=YES

I believe that the actual national trial was held at a similar, or slower, time control over at least a week. In other words, the national selection trial was representative of the kind of playing session length and schedule that would be involved at the European / Worth Youth. The only appearance of a weekender in the process was as an initial screen at a local level.

I think that the difference between this and the current English selection system speaks for itself.

To me, that format looks almost exactly like the UKCC, but scaled up a bit in that it's one/two games per day rather than rapidplay, and removing the school-club round.

[Paul Sanders]

Here's what the French do:

"Le sélectionneur national des jeunes complète la liste sur la foi de plusieurs critères: résultats aux championnats de France, mais aussi performances notoires au cours de la saison, ou encore le classement Elo. La place aux championnats de France n'est pas un critère exclusif."

http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Actu.aspx?Ref=1344

So mainly the multi-stage national championships, but also tournament performances, and ELO. Participation in the Championships is not mandatory. And they also have a national elite squad of 4 boys and 4 girls whose training is paid for by the Association.

[Alex Holowczak]

Here's what the French do:

"Le sélectionneur national des jeunes complète la liste sur la foi de plusieurs critères: résultats aux championnats de France, mais aussi performances notoires au cours de la saison, ou encore le classement Elo. La place aux championnats de France n'est pas un critère exclusif."

I think this is pretty much what people are suggesting England should do. France has an awesome number of juniors playing to a high standard; they boast about having so many juniors playing in their national championship. It'd be good to know how they get that many players initially to select from...

[Ian Thompson]

France has an awesome number of juniors playing to a high standard; they boast about having so many juniors playing in their national championship. It'd be good to know how they get that many players initially to select from...

If things are unchanged from ten years ago, French sports clubs, which includes chess clubs, can get significant financial support from local authorities allowing them to employ coaches, at least part-time.

[GraemeTelBuckley]

I don't know if this has come up anywhere, but I believe that Felix Ynojosa and family are no longer living in this country and I question whether Felix should be eligible to take a 'British' place at European or World tournaments in future.

[Ian Kingston]

I don't know if this has come up anywhere, but I believe that Felix Ynojosa and family are no longer living in this country and I question whether Felix should be eligible to take a 'British' place at European or World tournaments in future.

It was mentioned fairly recently: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=43421#p43421

[Krishna Shiatis]

Junior selection is a process which is connected directly with playing in tournaments and training and development. All of these are the many different and important aspects of junior chess and at a national level any strategy for one must also work together with and be directly connected with the others.

From a national perspective, there does need to be one co-ordinated strategy for all. There have been many excellent ideas across all the different threads.

We are discussing this (I guess) because we do want to find ways to improve the system. Not obviously, to criticise anybody.

We have quite rightly begun to look at the competition.

I believe that at the heart of everything (selection, training and development etc etc) is to have the right person leading the way. Somebody cool, somebody intelligent, somebody fun, somebody with a 'serious chess playing' background who gets on well with others (parents and kids).

This being said, what we do need to know and find out is:

What does the future hold for junior chess in terms of the Junior Director (in terms of role)?

How will it all be set up?

The idea to split the role of Junior Director between interested parties has been brought up in earlier threads. I am sure many have seen this.

This does make sense. It would allow more involvement from interested parties and reduce the workload of the Junior Director. This in turn makes the job less onerous and would encourage more people to step forward.

Would the role of Junior Director, then, be partly that of a figurehead who makes executive decisions and oversees the committee under him/her? This is a significant departure from the status quo.

I do have a suggestion regarding this.

I believe that we should have just such a Junior Director. (Shock, horror, put the mad lady in a padded cell and throw away the key!)

He or she, should be a GM. (What? Why?)

I believe that having such a person at the top of junior chess would have the following benefits:

1) They would know a lot about chess.
2) They will most likely have been successful juniors themselves.
3) They have much experience of tournaments both at home and abroad.
4) They will inspire the children.
5) They will have the right contacts – other GMs and chess people – and hopefully persuade them to be a part of our junior programme too (especially on the training side).
6) They have the respect of parents, juniors and others.
7) They will be good at seeing the bigger picture – after all, they do this at the chess board all the time.

Having a GM at the top would bring us in line with the competition, who do have this kind of set-up. I am of course referring to the Russians and Eastern Europeans.

Whoever it does turn out to be, will be the one making decisions in the future about junior selection etc (hopefully with the consultation and help of his/her committee and interested parties) and so we do need somebody who will be excellent at this.

How do we get such a person? Well as I understand, there are quite a few GMs knocking around at the London Chess Classic (If you are reading this, good luck to you all, we are very proud of you!). Perhaps somebody who knows somebody could ask them?

I have added this later as I had another thought on this.

Instead of just one GM at the top, we could actually have three GMs. One as the Junior Director and two as the Deputy JDs. This would be even better. The training programme would benefit greatly from this and if the committee (made up of parents and other interested parties with clearly defined roles) below them did most of the legwork, it would mean that the GMs could still concentrate on their chess.

It would require careful consideration and planning about set-up of such a system at the top of junior chess in England with clear remits and job descriptions- no idea who might be responsible for such a task - but once the structure is there, it would, I believe, work well.

[GraemeTelBuckley]

I don't know if this has come up anywhere, but I believe that Felix Ynojosa and family are no longer living in this country and I question whether Felix should be eligible to take a 'British' place at European or World tournaments in future.

It was mentioned fairly recently: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=43421#p43421

I see Felix has been mentioned but has a conclusion been reached as to whether he is eligible to take a 'British' place or not?

[LozCooper]

I don't know if this has come up anywhere, but I believe that Felix Ynojosa and family are no longer living in this country and I question whether Felix should be eligible to take a 'British' place at European or World tournaments in future.

It was mentioned fairly recently: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=43421#p43421

I see Felix has been mentioned but has a conclusion been reached as to whether he is eligible to take a 'British' place or not?

Under the current selection system Felix would have to qualify at the World Youth trial ad through the grand prix so as he lives in Venezuela it is doubtful if he would be able to qualify anyway. As regards eligibility while he is on the rating list as English he is eligible to play.

[GraemeTelBuckley]

Under the current selection system Felix would have to qualify at the World Youth trial ad through the grand prix so as he lives in Venezuela it is doubtful if he would be able to qualify anyway. As regards eligibility while he is on the rating list as English he is eligible to play.

Thanks for that.

[Adrian Ociepka]

Welcome everyone,

I have read other topic "Open letter ..." and as I see that some of you would like to know what kind of selection policy is in diffrent countries, for example in France or Germany. I dont know how they are doing that , but I'm able to give example how it works in one of the central european countries – Poland .

Before that I should explain some details about juniors chess there in general.

The main juniors event in that part of Europe are National Finals - Polish Juniors Chess Championships. Playing there means prestige, respect the local community from which derives the player and best opportunity to play demanding tournament. All age groups are playing separetly, boys and girs separetly as well (same way in qualify competitions).
All the examples including number of players from carrent 2010 events.

UNDER 8
Open to all players, April/May, 60 minutes per game per player, 9 rounds - 4 days
This year participants: boys – 60 players, girls - 22 players

UNDER 10 & 12
Qalification necessary, March, 90 minutes + 30 seconds, 11 rounds – 9 days
B10 – 58, G10 – 54, B12 - 48, G12 – 49

UNDER 14
Qalification necessary, restricted up to 46 players, April/May, 90 minutes + 30 seconds, 10 rounds – 8 days
B14 – 46, G14 – 46

This is very a special event, because is a part of National Junior Olympics (other sport disciplines as well) and because all the bills pays Polish Goverment, and exactly Ministry of Sport and Tourism via Polish Federation of Youth Sports. That means all players have free food and accommodation in good standard hotel as well as 1 coach per county (in Poland is 16 counties). The drawback is that this event is 1 round shortest then U10 & 12 or U16 & 18 championships.

UNDER 16 & 18
Qalification necessary, March, 90'/40 + 30' + 30 sec., 11 rounds - 9 days
B16 – 50, G16 – 41, B18 - 43, G18 – 41

To play in the Under 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 Finals players must qualify via a qualifying event.
Each player have several opportunities to qualify to the finals:

From current Final to the next
5 best players each age each group qualify to next finals, (for example from G14 - 5 best girls born 97 and 5 best born 96).

‘First Chance Tournement’
June, 90 minutes + 30 seconds, 7 or 9 rounds or round robin (depends on number of entries) – 7 days
Number of qualification places: U10,12,16 – 3 per group; U14 – 1 per group
There is no U18 groups.
Total participants this year: 153

This tournement starts immediately after schools year and is first “holiday” opportunity to get qualification. School year starts 1st of September and ends late June. But there is no so many breaks like in Uk during the year.

Junior Leagues
July, 90'/40 + 30' + 30 sec, 9 rounds – 9 days,
Each team consist: 2 boys U18, 2 boys U14, 1 girl U18, 1 girl U14 + substitutions
There is 3 national leagues:

EXTRALEAGUE – 10 strongest teams, round robin tournement – 63 players this year
1-st LEAGUE – 10 teams, round robin – 72 players
2-nd LEAGUE – swiss system, open to existing 2nd league teams + county team champions, 29 teams in 2010 – 196 players

Leagues are very important team events, but there is no many qualification places for individual Finals. Each winner each board of each league will qualify if the winner did not qualify before. All leagues running at the same time, but at 3 diffrent venues (and diffrent towns).

Semifinals (Inter-counties Championships)
September / October, 90 minutes + 30 seconds or 90 (120) minutes per game per player, 9 rounds or round robin (depends on number of entries) – 7 days,
Number of qualification places: U10 – 5 per group; U12, 14, 16, 18 – 4 per group
Participants: 870

There is 8 semifinals. Two counties meet together in each semifinal. This is the most popular and biggest opportunity for players to qualify to the Finals. Tournements are pretty prestigeous for players, important for clubs and local chess communities. But these tournaments have their wade as well, especially in groups G16 and G18 due to the small number of players (girls) in some cases.

‘Last Chance Tournement’
November/December, 90 minutes + 30 seconds , 7 or 9 rounds or round robin (depends on number of entries) – 7 days
Number of qualification places: U10, 12 – 4; U16, 18 – 3; U14 – depends how many places is still available
Total players: 123

The last chance to qualify over the chess board for the finals for well motivated players.

Wild cards
1 additional player per group (excluding U14) might be nominated by the Vice President for Youth PCF after consulting the Commission of Youth, Youth Chess Academy and Chief of Training Association.


From practical point of viev FINALS are pretty good tournements with competitive chess. Sometimes well motivated players, but simply not good enough are out of the competition year after year. That means that at the top of each age group there is not occasional players.
Now ... who is selected to the Worlds and Europeans.

JUNIOR SELECTION POLICY (shortcut)

1 World and European Youth Chess Championships

1.1 The right to participate in the WYCC, together with financing the full cost of the take-off, including the care of coaching, with the participation of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism are groups of players under the age of 14, 16 and 18:
a) WYCC and EYCC medalists of previous year
b) Polish junior champions, whose international ranking (ELO for 2-4 months before the first round of the championships), ranked in the top twenty list of the previous world championships,
c) the reigning EYCC medalist (if EYCC were held before the WYCC, and between the end of the EYCC, and the first round of WYCC is a minimum of 14 days).
Their full funding must be approved by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism.

1.2 The right to participate in the EYCC with the full cost of financing the take-off, including the care of coaching, with the participation of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism are groups of players under the age of 14, 16 and 18:
a) WYCC and EYCC medalists of previous year
b) Polish junior runners-up, whose international ranking (ELO for 2-4 months before the first round of the championships), ranked in the top twenty list of the previous EYCC,
c) the reigning Junior WYCC medalists (if WYCC took place before the EYCC, and between the end of the WYCC, and the first round of EYCC is a minimum of 14 days).
Their full funding must be approved by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism.

1.3 The right to partially finance the cost of starting from its own resources of Polish Chess Federation and resources of event organizer (if available) are:
a) the players mentioned in clause 1.1 and 1.2 who have not obtained approval of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism
b) the players named in clase 1.1b and 1.2b, who do not meet the requirement of ranking,
c) at the WYCC - Polish Junior Champions U12, U10 and U8,
d) at the EYCC- Polish Junior Runners-up U12, U10 and U8
By partially finance to be understood cover the cost of food and accomodation.

1.4 The right to participate in the WYCC at their own expense are:
a.) The players who finished 3rd or 4th in Polish Championships ,
b.) The players who have attained high sporting results or rankings in other international tournaments, the equivalent of the achievements in the Polish Championships,
c.) Fast progressive and promising players who are members of Youth Chess Academy of Polish Chess Federation

1.5 The right to participate in the EYCC at their own expense are the players mentioned in section 1.4, and those who finished 5th or 6th in Polish Championships

1.6 If Polish Chess Federation has free own resources or will receive from the organizer additional free places can support players listed in 1.4 - 1.5.


2 European Junior Team Championships U18 and World Olympiad U16

2.1 Participation depends on the PCF resources

2.2 European Junior Team Championships U18 - Polish Junior Champion B18 and G18, B18 and G18 with the highest ELO rating, and the players nominated by the Vice President for Youth PCF after consulting the Commission for Youth, Youth Chess Academy and Chief of Training Association.

2.3 World Olympiad U16 - Polish Junior Champion U16, junior U16 with the highest ELO rating, and the players nominated by the Vice President for Youth PCF after consulting the Commission of Youth, Youth Chess Academy and Chief of Training Association.


How it works:
EYCC Georgia 2010 – 16 players
http://chess-results.com/tnr38342.aspx? ... -1&wi=1000
WYCC Greece 2010 – 39 players
http://chess-results.com/tnr39565.aspx? ... -1&wi=1000

Unofficial rule is that if Champion of any age group prefer to go to Europeans, the runner-up will be selected to the Worlds. Sometimes if trip is very expensive (Ministry is always happy to funding less - for the satisfaction of football players) or is risky for health reasons (2 years a go WYCC in Vietnam) most players might choose the second possibility. Georgia this year was’t very attractive, perhaps because of cockroachs.
All of participants (including players, parents, coaches) are part of 1 team. No matter who pays the bills.
One more thing is important in my opinion - selection of coaches. They must be approved by the federation of course. But the first who have to give a name of a coach are the players. Selected players have right to 1 coach per 3 players and they are choosing wich coach is best for them. Usually they known each other very well. Players who pay their own expenses are choosing their own coaches (but they must be approved as well).

I don't wont to judge how good or bad is English selection policy, because I’m resident in this country from just a few years, and I have very little knowledge about junior chess here. From my personal point of viev at least ‘is not very friendly’. The main differences between the two countries are noteworthy.

Chess as a sport
That’s is a fact in most central european countries (perhaps all of them). That’s why funding from Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism is possible. Of course there is a very little money for chess, because nobody is taken this discipline seriously. They prefer to support 100 footballs teams then one youth chess player.

Qualification Events and National Finals – long tournements only
PCF is trying to orginize all system as similar as possible to WYCC and EYCC. Most of National Finals are 11 rounds tournements. This sort of tournements simply helps juniors to play better chess in internationals events. They are not obliged to play not too serious weekenders and doing a lot of analizing work with coaches before Worlds or Europeans.

The role of schools

The UK Chess Challenge began in 1996 and was an immediate success, with 700 schools entering, involving approximately 23,000 children. By 2006 numbers competing had more than trebled to 74,000.

If that’s true it is absolutely fantastic, magical. Nothing like this can't happend in Poland. Chess are not very popular in schools. Schools competitions are not very popular for children and youth chess players. Any idea “chess in every school” is unrealistic simply because there is not, and propably never will be, enough teachers (coaches) with good abilities to teach chess. On the other hand most of National Finals and qualifications events are organized during the school year. I never had a problem with excuse my daughter because of this reason. Schools and headteachers philosophy is: if child is enough smart to play chess will be enough smart to fill the gap in knowledge because of absence.
When I'v send my daughter from London to Poland to play the semifinals two months a go, I recived a respons from her’s headteacher: “I will athorise this term-time absence for Dominika to attend her chess tournement. However, I must inform that I will not be able to authorise this again as she will be entering her GCSE year”
(Un)fortunately she qualify to the finals like every year. And now is in troubles.
By the way – anyone know how to solve that kind of problem? I will be grateful.

Sorry if it’s too long. I hope it will be useful.

Adrian Ociepka