Qualification criteria for the British Championship

[Alan Walton]

I am a little confused around the performance qualification levels for the British

A boy U11 has to get a 2170+ performance to qualify for the British, whereas any female player under 20 only has to get a performance of 2090+

This seems quite a large difference, should there be a similar age scale on the female side as there is for male players

[Matthew Turner]

Let's face it, the British Championships is pretty much an Open. For most of the players they are paying £200 for a couple of weekenders stuck together.

[Sean Hewitt]

I am a little confused around the performance qualification levels for the British

A boy U11 has to get a 2170+ performance to qualify for the British, whereas any female player under 20 only has to get a performance of 2090+

This seems quite a large difference, should there be a similar age scale on the female side as there is for male players

I think it's great that Amy has qualified. The fact that there were only 3 female participants in this years British (if memory serves) suggests that the qualification requirement is far from being too stringent.

However, it is somewhat ironic that the disjointed approach of the British Championship management team to qualification criteria means that Peter Poobalasingam's TPR of 2395 (gaining 13 rating points) fails to qualify him for next years championships.

[Alan Walton]

Sean,

I think the lack of females wasn't down to the qualification criteria, when there is only one prize for females in the tournament, and with Jovanka already entered, it then comes down to whether the tournament is attractive to enter, and as the entries show it is not

I was going to comment earlier about the male 2400 level performance to qualify, it seems strange that in international 9 rounds you need a massive performance, but at some weekenders you could get a place with a performance of only 2000 if the highest placed non qualifier

[Sean Hewitt]

I was going to comment earlier about the male 2400 level performance to qualify, it seems strange that in international 9 rounds you need a massive performance, but at some weekenders you could get a place with a performance of only 2000 if the highest placed non qualifier

Strange? It's utterly bonkers! I think that whoever came up with that one must have been abducted by space aliens

If you want to improve the strength of the British and shorten it's tail, excluding players who score 6/9 against a field averaging 2270 is not the way to do it.

[Matthew Turner]

I have appended the rating qualification criteria from the ECF website. Bizarrely they still use the ECF to FIDE conversion of multiply by 8 and add 600. I imagine using ECF grades rather than FIDE ratings that Peter P will qualify from Uxbridge.

5) A rating of 218 (2350) or higher in a current British Isles national grading list (not Rapidplay) or any FIDE list between July 2010 and July 2011. If a player is not an IM or a GM, the rating must be active. The table shows the relevant ratings for various categories of players :-

For players born 1989 or earlier active rating of 218 (2350) or higher
born 1990 or later active rating of 215 (2320) or higher
born 1993 or later active rating of 210 (2280) or higher
born 1995 or later active rating of 205 (2240) or higher
born 1997 or later active rating of 200 (2200) or higher
born 1999 or later active rating of 190 (2120) or higher
For females born 1989 or earlier active rating of 190 (2120) or higher
For females born 1990 or later active rating of 180 (2040) or higher

6) For British Isles FIDE Rated tournaments or where the player represents a British Isles federation in an international event of 9 rounds or more: any player meeting at least 7 FIDE Rated opponents with a Tournament Performance of 2400 (or level 50 points higher than that given in the table above) or higher qualifies. Such qualifiers must notify Neville Belinfante within 14 days of the completion of the event, with details of opponents and results.

[Sean Hewitt]

I have appended the rating qualification criteria from the ECF website. Bizarrely they still use the ECF to FIDE conversion of multiply by 8 and add 600. I imagine using ECF grades rather than FIDE ratings that Peter P will qualify from Uxbridge.

5) A rating of 218 (2350) or higher in a current British Isles national grading list (not Rapidplay) or any FIDE list between July 2010 and July 2011. If a player is not an IM or a GM, the rating must be active. The table shows the relevant ratings for various categories of players :-

For players born 1989 or earlier active rating of 218 (2350) or higher

Matthew - Peter is graded 217 and rated 2326 so unfortuantely he is not pre-qualified. As I understand it you cannot qualify based a grading performance, and as discussed his rating performance of 2395 is no longer considered to be good enough.

Having said that, he gained 13 rating points so will be 2339. I assume that he has gained other points this period (but can't check as the FIDE rating website appears to be down) so hopefully he will soon end up over 2350 and qualify that way.

But the point is that a performance such as his last week should qualify a player automatically in my opinion.

[Matthew Turner]

Sean,
I take it from the regulations that Peter would need a 2400 performance to qualify from Uxbridge. However, couldn't he instead try to qualify with a 225 ECF grading performance. Would working his performance out in terms of ECF grade break this barrier?

I think Peter might be losing a couple of points the rest of the Summer, but he has a few more events to come.

[Sean Hewitt]

Sean,
I take it from the regulations that Peter would need a 2400 performance to qualify from Uxbridge.

Correct. Last year it was 2350 and nonsensically they've put it up to 2400 this year.

However, couldn't he instead try to qualify with a 225 ECF grading performance. Would working his performance out in terms of ECF grade break this barrier?

Unless I'm missing something I cannot see anything that allows a player to qualify based on an ECF grading performance (at any level) from a tournament

[David Sedgwick]

Sean,
I take it from the regulations that Peter would need a 2400 performance to qualify from Uxbridge.

Correct. Last year it was 2350 and nonsensically they've put it up to 2400 this year.

However, couldn't he instead try to qualify with a 225 ECF grading performance. Would working his performance out in terms of ECF grade break this barrier?

Unless I'm missing something I cannot see anything that allows a player to qualify based on an ECF grading performance (at any level) from a tournament

Sean, I agree on your second point. I was about to post that myself when you first did so.

On the performance requirement, the intention was to be consistent with the "50 point difference rule" that applies to the IM Title, viz. Norm Requirement 2450, Minimum Rating 2400.

There are various ways of addressing the problem of a weak tail, but one of them is reducing the number of people who qualify by means other than "highest placed player not already qualified" in a qualifying event. If more people have to qualify through this route, then surely the average strength of those who do so will be higher.

[Sean Hewitt]

On the performance requirement, the intention was to be consistent with the "50 point difference rule" that applies to the IM Title, viz. Norm Requirement 2450, Minimum Rating 2400.

I suspected the reasoning was nonsensical so appreciate confirmation that I was right! The two things are completely different and not analogous at all.

There are various ways of addressing the problem of a weak tail, but one of them is reducing the number of people who qualify by means other than "highest placed player not already qualified" in a qualifying event. If more people have to qualify through this route, then surely the average strength of those who do so will be higher.

Possibly (but not necessarily). It all depends on how many players would qualify via the TPR route and of those, how many actually compete in qualifying events and of those, how many then out perform the 'notional' qualifier.

You would need all of this information before making a sensible decision to raise the TPR qualifying criteria. Was this known to those raising the threshold? Can the answers be published here?

[Alan Walton]

One question would be

Would you prefer all qualifiers to qualify by tournament perfomance maybe 2250 FIDE/200 ECF, or by best score in a weekender where a 3.5/5 score could have a 185 performance

Personally I would go by rating, anybody who can perform over 200 in an open deserves a place in the British

The values I have given are changeable, but 2400 seems very high

[Sean Hewitt]

One question would be

Would you prefer all qualifiers to qualify by tournament perfomance maybe 2250 FIDE/200 ECF, or by best score in a weekender where a 3.5/5 score could have a 185 performance

Personally I would go by rating, anybody who can perform over 200 in an open deserves a place in the British

The values I have given are changeable, but 2400 seems very high

I agree with you completely. The values are, as you say, debateable, but the principle is spot on.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Last year the 4NCL offered a qualification route for a 2350 performance over seven games (and something like 2150 for women*)

I don't know whether any arrangements have been made in respect of next season, but should we expect the bar to be raised to 2400 for 4NCL too?

*He adds hastily, remembering which section of the forum we are in

[Alex Holowczak]

Last year the 4NCL offered a qualification route for a 2350 performance over seven games (and something like 2150 for women*)

I don't know whether any arrangements have been made in respect of next season, but should we expect the bar to be raised to 2400 for 4NCL too?

*He adds hastily, remembering which section of the forum we are in

I would have thought so, because that's nothing to do with the 4NCL, it's an ECF requirement to have a TPR over 2400 to qualify. I assume the marks will be raised in accordance with that for the 4NCL.