Tournament Details
Abergavenny Chess Club is organising its second junior chess tournament on Sunday September 27th at Llanfoist Village Hall, Church Lane, Llanfoist, Abergavenny, NP7 9LP. https://llanfoistvillagehall.co.uk/
The Tournament Directors are Partick Bourne and David Llewellyn. All decisions by the Tournament Directors will be final. The Directors will be assisted by several chess playing volunteers, largely from Abergavenny Chess Club.
The tournament has four categories, Under 8, Under 10, Under 12 and Under 16 years of age. The qualifying date for age is 1st September 2026. This should ensure that all entrants are either in the same year at school or the year below.
The Under 16 tournament will start at 10:30 and finish at 17:00. Precise details of round timings are shown on a separate page on this website.
The Under 8, Under 10 & Under 12 tournaments will start at 12:00 and also finish at 17:00. There will be a 30 minute break at around 13:30 in all tournaments. Precise details of round timings are shown on a separate page on this website.
The format allows for late starters and early leavers as long as we know what time you are likely to arrive or leave so we do not “pair” you with another player in that round.
Swiss Pairing System
The tournament will use the “Swiss Pairing System” which means that all players will play in every round. It is expected (but not guaranteed) that each child will play at least 5 games. We use a computer program that generates pairings for each round based upon results from the previous rounds. It will allocate one point for a win, half a point for a draw and zero for a loss. So, if a child has 2 points after 4 rounds, then in round five they are very likely to play someone else with close to a 2 out of 4 score.
Combining Sections
If we have a large entry for a particular age group then we will run it as a separate section, else there will be a single tournament with the highest player in each age category declared the winner for that age group.
Clocks
Clocks will be used in the Under 16 section.
Time limits:
The Under 16 Section: 25 minutes each with no increment.
Touch Move
As this tournament is to introduce newcomers to tournament chess, we will play, as far as it is possible under strict tournament rules. This will mean no talking and if you touch a piece, you will be expected to move it. We will have experienced adults helping newcomers with the rules of tournament play and we hope that there are no disputes and that if there are any, that they will be resolved amicably.
Playing Conditions
The Under 8, 10 & 12 will play in the large hall, the Under 16 section will play in the meeting room. There is also another large hall (Brian Barnes Gallery) which has a kitchenette which we will set up as an analysis area. We only have access to this room from midday. It’s booked to another group.
Please stay within calling distance of the Village Hall as we will call the children into the playing hall as soon as the pairings for the next game is completed. The Village Hall has a small lawn area and a terrace. There is also a playing area with swings and slides. Should your children want to play there, please supervise them.
Round times.
Please see the pages on this website marked “Round times”.
The playing hall will have several volunteers from the Abergavenny Chess Club whose role will be to help children with the rules of chess, in particular how they relate to playing in a chess tournament. It’s not arduous for the children and the volunteers have a great deal of experience helping children in a junior chess environment. We generally ask parents to stay outside the playing hall.
Important
Parents must accompany their children and take full responsibility for them at all times whilst attending the tournament. The organizers are all volunteers looking to encourage the next generation of young chess players, They can not act “In Loco Parentis”. Please ask your children not to run anywhere in the centre or to discard sweet wrappers etc on the floor. Please remember the organisers of this tournament will not accept any responsibility for any loss or injury that occurs at the centre.
Disputes
In the case of disputes, the Tournament Directors’ decision will be final. This is a fun day playing chess and making friends in a largely informal setting, so hopefully there will be no disputes for the organisers to make any decisions about.
Have you thought about volunteering?
A similar tournament that was set up in Harrow many years ago was eventually taken over and organised by some of the parents of the keener players, so please feel free to volunteer!