Sunday, 3rd February 2019
Fleetville Junior School, 228 Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 4LW

Championships (u9, u11, u13, u18 minor, u18 major)
6-round ECF graded Swiss
Registration from 9.15am. Play starts at 10.00am.

Stars Barred Tournament (for less experienced players)
6-round ECF graded Swiss
Registration from 12:15pm. Play starts at 1.00pm.

After an absence of two of years, HSCA are delighted to announce the return of the Hertfordshire Junior Chess Championships together with a Stars Barred Tournament in the afternoon for less experienced players.

There is some car parking available at the venue. Morrisons and other local shops are a five-minute walk away from the venue.

Full details and Online Entry are on the Eventbrite Booking website via the link: Hertfordshire Open Junior Chess Champs 2019

Please contact events@hsca-chess.com for any queries.

MAIN CHAMPIONSHIP:

The event is open to all junior chess players, who can compete for grading points and glory, however, only Hertfordshire players are eligible for the titles and trophies.

The Championship will be run in the following sections:

• Under 9 (generally year 4 or below)
• Under 11 (generally year 6 or below)
• Under 13 (generally year 8 or below)
• Under 18 Minor (ECF 100 or below at July 2018)
• Under 18 Major

Ages as on 31 August 2018. Players can play in a higher section if they choose, however, no changing sections is permitted once the Championship has started.

The Championship will be a 6-round Swiss rapidplay tournament (though we reserve the right to run accelerated Swiss in early rounds depending on the profile of entries). This means that all players will play in all rounds.

The time control will be 25 minutes each + 5 seconds per move. All games will be ECF graded.

The timings for the Championship are as follows:

• 09:15 Registration – all participants are required to register
• 10:00 Round 1
• 11:15 Round 2
• 12:30 Round 3
• 13:45 Round 4
• 15:00 Round 5
• 16:15 Round 6
• 17:30 Prize giving

STARS BARRED TOURNAMENT:

The event is open to all junior chess players, and is particularly suitable for less-experienced players and those new to tournament play.

If players register for this event and are, in the opinion of the organisers, too experienced for this event, we reserve the right to reassign players to the main Championship.

The Championship will be a 6-round Swiss rapidplay tournament. This means that all players will play in all rounds.

The time control will be 15 minutes each (no increments). All games will be ECF graded.

The timings for the Stars Barred Tournament are as follows:

• 12:15 Registration – all participants are required to register
• 13:00 Round 1
• 13:45 Round 2
• 14:30 Round 3
• 15:15 Round 4
• 16:00 Round 5
• 16:45 Round 6
• 17:30 Prize giving

The entry fee for the Championship is £12 for entries received by Sunday 27 January 2019.

The entry fee for Stars Barred Tournament is £5 for entries received by Sunday 27 January 2019.

There is a £3 surcharge for non-ECF members to cover the grading fees we would incur for these players. However the ECF offers free silver membership for one year for Juniors who have not previously been members and we would strongly urge all non-members to take up this offer. You can apply for ECF membership here.

There is an additional £5 late entry fee for those registering in the week of the Championship (i.e. between Monday 28 January 2019 and midday on Saturday 02 February 2019 when registration closes).

We will NOT accept entries on the day.

Regretfully, should you subsequently find that your child is unable to participate, refunds are not available, though we would request that you inform the organisers of your withdrawal promptly.

The small print:

This is an open junior championship and any junior can play. The only players eligible for title and trophy are:

• those who live in Herts and/or
• attend a school in Herts and /or
• play for a Hertfordshire-based chess club (e.g. Bishops Stortford, Letchworth, St Albans and Watford) and/or
• play for a Hertfordshire county team.

However, players who would otherwise be eligible for a title, but have most recently represented an EPSCA/ECF team other than Hertfordshire are ineligible for the title. (This exclusion clause does not apply to players who have never played for an EPSCA/ECF chess team).

In the event of ties we will adopt tie breaks in the following order:

• Sum of progressive scores
• Sum of opponents’ scores
• Direct encounter

If ties still cannot be resolved, titles and trophies will be shared.

By entering the Championship / Stars Barred tournament you are consenting to HSCA using your and your child’s personal data for the purpose of running the event and for submitting the games for ECF grading. If you do not agree to this, please do not enter your child.

Please contact events@hsca-chess.com for any queries.