England U11

How to qualify

Tournaments
English U11
British Rapidplay
London
EPSCA Rapidplay
South of England
West of England
Junior Squad

Results
Under 11 trials
 
British Rapidplay
London
EPSCA Rapidplay
South of England
West of England
Junior Squad

Honours
2009 Trial honours

More details

Further details about the England U11 team trials can be obtained from

Peter Purland
(0151 639 1797) or

Victor Cross
(01803 400972).

England's Under 11 Chess Team

Are you good enough to be part of the England Under 11 Chess Team.  That team is especially for players in the under 10 and under 11 age groups.  Naturally, you cannot simply turn up and play for England, you have to be selected.  You have to show the selectors that you should be part of the team.

Some chess competitions count towards selection.  Do well in one or two of those and you could be invited to the England trials.  There are seven qualifying tournaments you can compete in.  The other pages in this section are introductions to them.  When and where each one is held, how it is organised and who to contact for for more details or an entry form.

If you have done well enough, the final test is the England trials.  Success in those trials means you can join the junior squad.  For each match, the England junior chess team is selected from that squad.

In more detail

Age
The EPSCA team trials are held in April.  To take part in April 2010, you must be 9 or 10 on 1st September 2009, and for the April 2011 trials, you must be 9 or 10 on 1st September 2010.

Qualifier tournaments
There are a number of qualifying chess tournaments.  To show that you are good enough to play in the trials, you have to compete in one or more of the qualifying chess tournaments, and achieve what is called a full norm.

  • If you achieve a good performance in a qualifying chess tournament, you should be awarded a half norm, and you are part qualified.  If you do the same in a second tournament, you become fully qualified and will be invited to the trials.  The exact number of points needed for a good performance varies and will be announced during each tournament.  It will often mean scoring more points in a competition than you give away.
  • If you achieve an excellent performance in just one tournament, you will be awarded a full norm and will be invited to the trials.  An excellent performance means finishing first, or in some cases second.
Even if you have already been nominated, you are strongly advised to play in at least two events.

The seven qualifying tournaments you can chose from are:

English U11 (Nottingham)
British Rapidplay (Halifax, West Yorkshire)
London (London)
EPSCA Rapidplay (Liverpool)
South of England (Camberley, Surrey)
West of England (Swindon, Wiltshire)
Junior Squad (The location changes each year)

The links take you to other pages that tell you more about each event – where it is held, how its organised and who to contact for more details or an entry form etc.  (The menu in the top left corner also has links to these tournament pages.).

Inter-Association players
If you are 9 or 10 and play board 1 for your EPSCA under 11 Inter-Association chess team in the interassociation championships, you can be nominated to play in the team trials.  If the board 1 player is under 9, they are too young to play for England, so board 2 may be nominated instead.  If the board 1 player was part of last year's England team, they are automatically invited to a separate competition, and again board 2 may be nominated instead.

NOTE:
If you play board 1 for you EPSCA Inter-Association team, and then qualify again through the qualifying tournaments, your EPSCA association does not get a second nomination.

Trials for the England under 11 chess team

The England U11 chess team trials are held in April each year.  You have to be invited to take part, you cannot ask for an entry form.

As explained above, invitations are sent to players who were either nominated by their EPSCA association or were successful in the qualifying events.  Players who were part of last year’s England team and are still young enough to play go to a separate competition.

    The team trials involve 6 games, played over Saturday and Sunday.  In each game you have to make 30 moves in 45 minutes, followed by a 15 minute quickplay finish.  There are no byes, so you have to play every game.
How many points you need to score at the trials to ensure you are offered a place on the team will vary each year.  It will depend on factors such as how many players go to the trials, how many finish with a particular score, the number of places available that year, and your performance in the qualifying tournaments.

The players who are selected are entitled to join the Junior Squad.

Junior Squad
Players in the Junior Squad can play for England in matches against countries such as Holland, Wales, and Flanders etc.

Depending on where you were born, or live, you can also be selected for regional teams:  E.g.:

South East England,

South West England,

North England,

The Midlands.

There is also a Rest of England team who play against London.

National Junior Chess Squad
The National Junior Chess Squad includes players up to 18 years old.

Qualifiers

Here are the seven qualifying tournaments you can choose from.  This season's dates are included where known.  The links on the left of this page also take you to the tournament pages.

October
English U11
(Nottingham)

21st November 2010
British Rapidplay
(Halifax, West Yorkshire)

28th December 2010
London
(London)

January
EPSCA Rapidplay
(Liverpool)

January
South of England
(Camberley, Surrey)

26th February 2011
West of England
(Swindon, Wiltshire)

April
Junior Squad

 
2nd April 2011
England U11 Team Trial
See below for details.

About EPSCA

The EPSCA website www.epsca.org.uk
states:

"E.P.S.C.A., the English Primary Schools' Chess Association, exists to advance the education of primary school aged children by teaching, supervising and developing the playing of chess by those children."

"E.P.S.C.A. has another important role - that of selecting and running the England Under 11 and England Girls' Under 11 teams."

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