Selection Criteria

 

Ekurhuleni Junior Chess Selection Criteria 2017

Selection Criteria for the Provincial team

Why a selection criteria?

  • To ensure fairness and transparency with the selection of teams
  • To maintain objectivity and simplicity of implementation
  • To motivate chess players to improve their chess and to move up the chess ladder
  • To limiting the effect of clashes with other activities
  • To obtain optimal choice of provincial teams

How does a player get selected?

  • Be a registered member of a club and a paid-up affiliated player with Ekurhuleni Junior Chess. Affiliation form – Annexure A
  • Play 7 Tournaments with a minimum of 4 being internal tournaments
  • Trial Tournaments are compulsory
  • The following circumstances might be considered by Ekurhuleni Junior Chess Management Committee, on application from the parent, guardian, player, coach and/or teacher:
    • Illness or injury if supported by a letter/medical certificate from an adequate qualified person, e.g. doctor, specialist, etc. provided that such a letter/medical certificate is submitted prior to the start of the relevant tournament.
    • Circumstances beyond the control of the player, e.g. death in the family, if supported by a letter from the parent signed by the parent, player, coach and/or teacher.
    • Decisions regarding the final rankings will be made after the President has consulted the committee.  The President will have the right to make the final decision.
  • Chess players will be ranked by using the average of their four best performance rankings of registered tournaments between 01 October 2016 and 29 July 2017 to establish the ranking order of a player in his/her age group and the team they will represent at Nationals. The data as published on Chessa website will be used.
  • Players Under 12  to Under 20

Only CHESSA rated tournaments with a time limitation of minimum 60/60 minutes and where a minimum of 5 rounds were played by the player, will be taken into consideration.

  • Players Under 8 and Under 10

Only CHESSA rated tournaments will be used, however 30/30 minutes will be the minimum time limitation.

  • It must be noted that in order to participate in the South African Junior Closed, a player need to complete 40 rated standard (60/60 or more) games in from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2017. The onus is on the player to ensure that he/she completes enough games through the year. This does not apply to under 8s where the minimum criteria is two rated 30/30 tournaments.
  • The order will be published on the Ekurhuleni website (www.ekurhulenichess.co.za) per age group.
  • Please note that not only the trials, but all tournaments played will affect the player’s ranking. The player’s four best tournaments will be used. The more tournaments the player plays the better the average becomes as bad tournaments are excluded.
  • For Outside tournaments, you as the parent are responsible for advising Ekurhuleni Junior Chess committee by completing the Outside Tournament Notification Form (Annexure B)
  • Teams compete in the following age groups:

U8 (6 Players), U10 to U18 (10 Players),  U20 (6 Players)

In order to qualify for a specific age group a player has to be younger than the particular age for the whole of the year. If a player turns 14 on 31 December he is not under 14 for that year, but under 16.

The explanation for this is that the National chess champs is held in December of each year and the players who qualify to select SA in International events (to be held the following year) will do so the following year.

Such players will then play in the same age group at International level as they did the previous year at National or Provincial level.

The ranking order as of the 1st of August 2017 will be used to determine the final teams. Depending on the number of teams per age group allowed to take part at the SA’s, final teams will be announced in the middle of August 2017. In the case of withdrawals after the team announcement, the next person in the ranking order will qualify for team selection.

Note: At every CHESSA tournament, the Tournament Performance is calculated by the “Swiss Arbiter” software and must be available on request. Ekurhuleni Chess cannot be held responsible for any mistakes made by external tournament directors in this regard.

The following requirements are necessary for a team member to stay in the team:

  1. At least two rated tournament must be played between 1 August 2017 and the SA’s
  2. All financial liabilities must be settled before cut-off dates
  3. Group coaching sessions and course must be completed.

COACHING – We encourage coaching and training throughout the year! The following will however be mandatory:

Official Coaching will be a course per age group that must be completed. The course material will cover the information that a player in the relevant age group must master to do ok at Nationals. Coaching sessions will be arranged to assist children in completing the course. The course will run from August until November and will not take more than 1-2 hours per week’s effort.

An additional 4 coaching days on weekends will be arranged prior to the national event to ensure that children are up to speed. Attending at least 2 days will be expected. There will be two Saturday and Sunday sessions (4days) of which 2/4 of days will be mandatory. Although we strongly recommend that children attend all 4 session we understand that the time of the year can be challenging, hence 2/4.

Management has the right to decide on the board order. Management has the right to make critical decisions to the advantage of Ekurhuleni Chess Union.

Acquisition of Ekurhuleni Colours:

A player will only acquire his/her colours if he/she represents an Ekurhuleni team in the SA Junior Chess Championships. We request the schools to withhold any award or recognition in this regard (if possible) until after participation of the player in the SAJCC.

The Union or Federation reserves the right to award provincial colours to players who qualify to represent it at National level. It is also important to note that the National Chess Championships are contested by Unions (Federations).

Dispute:

Any problems and/or complaints must be submitted as soon as possible, in writing (Email), to the Ekurhuleni management. If not satisfied with the answer or outcome of the query, it can be dealt with according to the Ekurhuleni grievance procedures or taken up with the Gauteng Chess Board.

Affiliation fee:

The R250 annual affiliation fee is to cover CHESSA fees, Gauteng Province fees and the admin of running the committee, email, stationery, web page and phone calls, etc.  Please complete and return the form by no later than 31 March 2017 in order for us to add you to the Ekurhuleni Junior Chess database as an affiliated member. Due to new Affiliation Fee process as per CHESSA only players with a good standing in the region will be accommodated for rating updates and be kept on the CHESSA Database. As per their requirements a list of all players in good standing should be posted on our website. This process will be implemented from 2017 onwards. For this reason all affiliation fees to be paid before 15 March 2017 to the region.

The following documents need to accompany the registration form:

    • Copy of the player’s ID or birth certificate
    • Proof of payment