Juniors in Adult Tournaments

[Michael Flatt]

It is encouraging to see that the number of Juniors competing in adult competitions is on the rise, at least, in my locality. This new generation of Junior school players, supported by their parents, seems to take every opportunity to play and no longer restrict themselves to purely Junior events.

Admittedly, we are spoilt by the number of tournament available locally at Muswell Hill, Golders Green, Hampstead and now Watford. In the recent 3rd Watford Rapidplay around half the entrants were Juniors.

The children I have encountered are scrupulous at observing the rules and have the confidence to stop the clock and clarify some point with the Arbiter. They are growing in experience and playing strength.

Even if these new players put their chess on the back burner during secondary school, when the pressure to do well in their exams is becoming excessive, I would expect a great many of them to return as adult players.

The supply of organisers and inexpensive playing venues is limited and I suspect that might restrict the opportunities for Juniors in other parts of the country. Rather than worry about classifying Chess as a Sport the emphasis should be about creating new opportunities for adults and Juniors to play. In truth, Chess is not an expensive hobby although it can be if you graduate to playing your chess in international tournaments abroad.

[David Robertson]

The supply of organisers and inexpensive playing venues is limited and I suspect that might restrict the opportunities for Juniors in other parts of the country.

Nope. The supply of juniors restricts the opportunities

[Michael Flatt]

Nope. The supply of juniors restricts the opportunities

I wasn't aware of that but looking at the distribution of Junior Clubs in England, available on the ECF website, you are most likely right.

So, the model that the ECF is using to found the ECF Chess Academy is faulty. The plan focuses on the development on the elite players with the assumption that there is a copious supply of Junior players being created by regional chess organisers.

The biggest concentration of Junior clubs outside London occurs around Manchester and the rest of the country is poorly served.
The distribution of adult chess clubs is healthier and not unnaturally the greatest density occurs in the metropolitan areas.

References:
1. Distribution of Junior Chess Clubs. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... dhArtMqhLc
1. Distribution of Adult Chess Clubs. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 97MoNcSLBk

[Adam Raoof]

When looking at statistics don't forget that there are a lot of school chess clubs, and a lot of juniors who belong to "adult" chess clubs. In general we don't have a lot of dedicated junior clubs in Barnet (though we have the hugely popular Barnet Knights) - the kids go from junior events straight to tournament play and join a team in a local club.

[Michael Flatt]

Barnet Knights is rather more than a Chess Club [*correction see below]. It is the Junior Chess Association for North London, incorporating the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, and Harrow, and is affiliated to the English Primary Schools Chess Association (EPSCA).

In Primary schools (predominantly Prep schools) the trend is for after school chess clubs to be run by external providers and parents sometimes have to pay quite significant fees for their children to attend.

The charity, Chess in Schools and Communities, is doing sterling work to introduce chess to children within the normal school curriculum. Schools are invited to attend special events at the London Chess Classic during "schools' week".

Between September and early December there are a great many qualifying tournaments for the London Junior chess Championships, which takes place around Christmas.

References
1. Barnet Kights. http://www.barnetknights.com/
2. Chess in Schools & Communities. http://www.chessinschools.co.uk/mission.htm
3. London Junior Chess Championships. http://www.ljcc.co.uk/
4. Barnet Junior Chess. http://www.barnetjuniorchess.com/index.html
5. Hertfordshire Schools Chess Association. http://hertfordshireschoolschessassociation.com/

*Correction
Barnet Knights is a Chess Club. Barnet Junior Chess is the Association.
Sorry, I got myself confused and I really shouldn't be plugging them as they are Hertfordshire's rivals.

[Marinel Miu]

The supply of organisers and inexpensive playing venues is limited and I suspect that might restrict the opportunities for Juniors in other parts of the country. Rather than worry about classifying Chess as a Sport the emphasis should be about creating new opportunities for adults and Juniors to play. In truth, Chess is not an expensive hobby although it can be if you graduate to playing your chess in international tournaments abroad.

From my experience with the Watford Club and as an organiser, juniors love competitions more than just random games. Example: At the Watford Club when we organise blitz tournaments they simply love it...sometimes is hard to send me back home because is too late for them. They don't want to leave and want to use any opportunity to join the adults competitions.
When it comes to affordable venues, schools at least in Watford are not shy to ask huge amount of money for the venues, in fact they asked so much that I was better of booking the venue with a hotel. If schools who have the facilities for tournaments will open their doors for chess tournaments more and more organisers will probably move their tournaments in there. So far ... pubs, churches and sometimes hotels are the main venues for little chess tournaments.