English Chess Forum

The ECF is pleased to announce the U18 and U13 County Championships, to be held for a second year running at Eton College in Windsor on Saturday, 30 June 2012. The venue earns high marks for comfort and playing conditions. Teams who compete this year will surely enjoy the day in iconic surroundings. More importantly, we suspect the U18 Champions, Sussex, and the U13 Champions, Kent, are already looking forward to defending their titles. However, at the very instant you read this announcement, little do they suspect your county’s nascent yet passionate intention to descend upon Eton College with zealous bands of chess warriors to take the prestigious titles and handsome trophies home. So, clear your diary and prepare for a showdown on the last Saturday in June. Come on, Rest-of-England! Take it to them! … in a friendly chess way, of course.

To enter the ECF U18 / U13 County Championships 2012, contact Chris Archer-Lock – [email protected]

Many thanks to the Berkshire Junior Chess Association for organising this event on behalf of the ECF and to Eton College for their support of youth chess.

Is there any general information available yet, such as start times, round times, number of players in each team?

ECF COUNTIES JUNIOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS at Eton College, 26th June 2011
Under 18 (12 bds, 2 rds, 75 min per player per game) 1 Sussex 19½/24; 2 Kent 18; 3-4 Warwickshire, Surrey 15; 5 Buckinghamshire 11; 6 Norfolk 9½; 7 Berkshire 9; 8 Manchester 6; 9 Devon 5. Winner of the inaugural Schools Prize was St Olave's GS Orpington (Kent) with a perfect 6/6 score.
Under 13 Open (6 bds, 4 rds, 30 min per player per game) 1 Kent 14½/24; 2 (on bottom-board elimination) Surrey 14½; 3 Berkshire 13½; 4-5 Sussex A, Manchester 12½; 6 Sussex B 9½; 7 Warwickshire 7
Under 13 Minor (6 bds, 4 rds, 30 min per player per game) 1 Northants 16½/24; 2 Norfolk A 16; 3 Surrey B 15½; 4-5 Berkshire B, Kent B 14; 6 Herefordshire 4½; 7 Norfolk B 3½

Alex Holowczak wrote:Is there any general information available yet, such as start times, round times, number of players in each team?

not yet, work in progress. The format will be similar to last year's but with a few modifications based on the feedback received from participants.

As soon as we have confirmed details (likely to be by end January), we (the organising team) will post it in appropriate locations, and also email it out directly to those county organisers whose contacts we have. Please do let me or Chris Archer-Lock know if anyone else would like to be added to the email distribution.

What in ECFworld is a County? I was checking the main counties championship info on the ECF website and there was a lot of very confusing stuff about Unions and Union qualifying stages.

Is it just as confusing for the U18/U13?

Paul Sanders wrote:What in ECFworld is a County? I was checking the main counties championship info on the ECF website and there was a lot of very confusing stuff about Unions and Union qualifying stages.

Is it just as confusing for the U18/U13?

A County is short for a County Association. Any counties that are affiliated to the ECF as a County (rather than a league and/or congress) are entitled to play in its Counties Championship. (The exception is Greater Manchester, which under the guise of the Manchester Chess Federation, is affiliated as a Constituent Unit.)

In the proper Counties Championship, each Union holds qualifying competitions, and the qualifiers advance to the ECF-organised national stages. This used to be true of the U18/13 equivalent (I'm told), but now we skip straight to an open-entry Jamboree Final, which in 2012 will be held in Berkshire.

The only stuff that this competition inherits from the proper Counties Championship is the eligibility criteria; specifically:
(i) Birth in that county.
(ii) Five years residence in that county at any time.
(iii) Two months immediate previous and present membership of a club either in or affiliated to that County.
(iv) One month immediately previous and present residence in that County.
(v) Present attendance as a teacher or student at a school, college or university in that County.

However, in practice, the organisers of the event on behalf of the ECF are allowed to make variations on this, on condition that the Junior Director agrees. For example, the organisers last year allowed two "foreign" players to play who didn't meet one of the eligibility criteria above. Bizarrely, I fielded players last year who only qualified under (v)!

Jim Wadsworth wrote:As soon as we have confirmed details (likely to be by end January), we (the organising team) will post it in appropriate locations, and also email it out directly to those county organisers whose contacts we have. Please do let me or Chris Archer-Lock know if anyone else would like to be added to the email distribution.

Apologies for the slight delay on publishing the details promised in my previous post...work in progress, delay due to other priorities (chess related and other). Information will be out soon!

Meantime many thanks for your patience.

A few weeks back Alex Holowczak wrote:The only stuff that this competition inherits from the proper Counties Championship is the eligibility criteria; specifically:
(i) Birth in that county.
(ii) Five years residence in that county at any time.
(iii) Two months immediate previous and present membership of a club either in or affiliated to that County.
(iv) One month immediately previous and present residence in that County.
(v) Present attendance as a teacher or student at a school, college or university in that County.

Are you sure about that ? County Junior competitions used to have their own formal eligibility conditions.

E Michael White wrote:

A few weeks back Alex Holowczak wrote:The only stuff that this competition inherits from the proper Counties Championship is the eligibility criteria; specifically:
(i) Birth in that county.
(ii) Five years residence in that county at any time.
(iii) Two months immediate previous and present membership of a club either in or affiliated to that County.
(iv) One month immediately previous and present residence in that County.
(v) Present attendance as a teacher or student at a school, college or university in that County.

Are you sure about that ? County Junior competitions used to have their own formal eligibility conditions.

Alex is correct - when I put together the event rules for last year's ECF U13/U18 event, I copied the above wholesale from the "proper" Counties Championship's rules, and added (as Alex notes in his earlier posting) an item on "foreign" players.

The above will be carried forward 'as is' into the 2012 event's rules (with a modest amendment to the "foreign players" item).

Ok, if that was a planned change to work from the same rules. Presumably there were reasons for the previous differences which no longer apply. Sometimes rules get altered by accidently copying the wrong set.

E Michael White wrote:Are you sure about that ? County Junior competitions used to have their own formal eligibility conditions.

There are some older draft ECF rules at http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/u18bcf.htm, which are not that different to the present ones.

ELIGIBILITY
3 Each player must be under 18 on 1st September of the year preceding the event and must possess one of the following qualifications relating to the county for whom he (or she) plays:-
(a) Birth therein
(b) Attendance at an educational establishment therein
(c) Membership of a chess club affiliated thereto
(d) Genuine residence therein at the date of playing.

SCCU eligibility rules are based on the present ECF ones.

However the independent junior organisations, EPSCA and NYCA, have their own rules for eligibility. In the case of EPSCA because they have organisations as well as counties playing. I think both have extra rules to allow for players whose own counties do not enter a particular event. They are then allowed to play for a neighbouring county.

Entry form and other information now available here.
Look forward to seeing as many teams as possible at Eton in June!

Jim Wadsworth wrote:Entry form and other information now available here.

ECF_CC_publicity-A5-2012-v1.0.pdf

ECF_CC_EntryForm-2012-v1.0.pdf

Look forward to seeing as many teams as possible at Eton in June!

Is there a Word version of the entry form? Some of us have an aversion to hard copies of documents.

Jim Wadsworth wrote: Look forward to seeing as many teams as possible at Eton in June!

A little over a month to go for those wanting to avoid the late entry fee (deadline of 25 May). Many thanks to those counties who have already entered teams...we look forward to receiving the other entries soon

Not long to go to the deadline to avoid late entry fees; and I am delighted to say that entries are coming in thick and fast - numbers look like they will be up on last year's event!