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#1 Oxford EJCOA Juniors Zonal

Sunday,15th March 2026

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Kennington Village Hall (Photo Gallery)

Kennington Road 
Oxfordshire OX1 5PG

Oxford rail station is about 4 miles from the venue at Kennington Village Hall - Direct buses run from Radley Rail station reaching the venue in about 10 minutes. There is ample car parking at the Kennington Village Hall car park, & free off-street parking 

5-Round RapidPlay Tournament across **5-Sections: 15 minutes + 5 second increment from move #1

5-Sections ECF rated: U8, U10, U12, U14, Combined U16-20

Chess-Results Tournament Page with Entries will appear here closer to the event 

SECTIONS

REGULATIONS & CONDITIONS OF ENTRY:

Players need to be ECF Junior Gold members or above Else they will need to pay the additional ECF Pay-to-Play fee of £6.50 for Rating their games

Before entering the tournament, please check your ECF membership status

If required, obtain your ECF membership at the ECF website

OR pay the Pay-to-Play & Game fees

ECF members at other levels can either upgrade to Gold membership by paying the difference in fees to the ECF directly or pay the ECF Pay-to-Play fee of £6.50 for each ECF rated (junior only) tournament by filling the entry form. *Junior Gold ECF membership is free for the first one year of membership

FIDE Laws of Chess will apply to the tournament games e.g. touch-move etc.. The age limit for each section are based on the FIDE international standard of Calendar year (rather than academic years more often used for junior tournaments in England). All players must declare their date of birth accurately matching the ECF records as the age of the child for entering into the correct age section would be determined as on 1/1/2026 - any incorrect declaration of the date of birth on the entry form may affect their qualification to the finals. The organiser reserve the right to combine **sections due to insufficient entries or as required, but all prizes will still be awarded to the participants of the original individual sections as advertised above - we have combined the U16, U18 & U20 sections into one & whilst players (both genders) from each section will be selected for the Finals at Nottinghamshire, prizes will only be awarded to the top three players in the combined section.

Please note that Entries are only Accepted & updated in Entrants List when the payment is processed online for which an acknowledgement has been received at your end. The organiser will be happy to consider discounted entry fee for those who may be financially constrained. Unrated players will be requested to provide evidence of their playing strength/past grade or rating to enter them in the suitable section - Organiser reserves the right to merge a section for lack of sufficient entries, change the section of player/s or withdraw them

The top girl and boy in each age category will qualify for the National Youth Championship Finals which will be held in Nottingham in July. In the event of a tie, all players in the tie-break will qualify for the finals. It is also possible to qualify for the finals by rating - please see the EJCOA website for more details

QUALIFICATIONS BY RATING

Any player with a published current minimum ECF or FIDE standard play rating (as below) is entitled to enter the EJCOA National Youth Championship Finals directly, & hence should not be playing the Qualifying Zonal:

Under 8: 800
Under 10: 1000
Under 12: 1200
Under 14: 1400
Under 16: 1600
Under 18: 1700
Under 20: 1800
 

Please enter early to avoid paying late fee - the event is limited to 90 players & entries are likely to be closed at 3pm local time on the day before the tournament

PLANNED PLAYING SCHEDULE

Please aim to arrive by 9.40 am to allow a prompt start to the first round. While every effort will be made to adhere to the planned playing schedule, the Organiser does not take responsibility for reason/s affecting the schedule beyond their control

Please note that there are No Scheduled Breaks for Lunch or snacks in between rounds

PRIZES

Trophies will be awarded to the Top Boy and Top Girl in each section provided there are 8 players in each section (U16-20, U14, U12, U10, U8) and medals awarded to the 2nd & 3rd placed Boy and Girl in each section. In case of a tie on points for Place position/s for Trophy & Medals, Tie-break rules will be applied as follows: (1)Direct Encounter; (2) Median-Buchholz; (3) Buchholz Cut 1; (4) Buchholz; (5) Drawing of lots. However, in the event of a tie, all players in the tie-break will qualify for the finals

^Book prizes have been sponsored by Elk and Ruby publishing whose website appears here

REFUNDS

Refund requests on entries fees will be considered up to 7 days before the event start time & an admin fee of £9 will be charged per refund per player. No refunds will be issued less than 72 hours before the event start time for any reason. However, players have an option to roll on their entry fee (minus the admin charge of £9) to the immediate next tournament from the Psyon Chess umbrella on the ECF Calendar if the refund request is made within 72 hours from the event start time; . Full refund will be issued (i) to players in a section that has been deleted due to insufficient entries or (ii) if the tournament is cancelled for any reason by the organiser. The maximum refund / liability of the organiser in any eventuality will be the "entry fee" paid per player

RATING

The latest ECF Rapid Rating (FIDE rating only if no ECF rating available) will be used to determine a player’s ratings as published on the first of the tournament month for pairings. In case neither an ECF nor a FIDE Rapid Rating is available, Blitz / Standard /Estimated Rating from Online platforms (with evidence) may also be used by the Organiser for pairings as required. All sections will be sent for Rapidplay rating to the ECF so that every player has a rating / updated rating after the event

RATE OF PLAY, Requesting Half-Point BYE, No Shows & WITHDRAWALS

Each player will have 15 minutes plus a 5 second increment per move from start

If your opponent has not arrived within 10 minutes of the start of a round (no show), they will be defaulted and you should report to the Organiser’s desk for taking a full-point bye for the default or for re-pairing to play either a tournament game or a friendly ECF rated game as feasible for the round/s

Players may take a Half-Point Bye in advance for Any One Round Except the Last Round if requested on the entry form or with an arbiter / organiser on the day for an upcoming round

Players who do not show up for a round after the default time without an explicit permission from an arbiter /organiser will be considered as withdrawn automatically for all future rounds & removed from pairings for smooth running of the tournament. Reinstatement of the excluded player will be at the discretion of the Organiser / Chief Arbiter at an additional fee of £10

PAIRINGS, SECTIONS & CLOCKS

All pairings will be done using 'Swiss Manager' software; Round #1 pairings will be endeavoured to be published by 10am on the day & pairings for all other rounds published as soon as feasible and displayed on Chess-Results.com. If there is an odd number of players in a section, then one player in the draw will receive a full-point bye for that round and, if possible, will be paired for a friendly game instead. (Players score 1 for a win, ½ for a draw, 0 for a loss)

Please ensure to check that your Rating & Name are correctly displayed on the Chess-Results page at least one day ahead of the tournament & report any discrepancies to the Organiser promptly, but certainly much ahead of the publishing of the pairings for Round #1

Default time is 10 minutes after start (clocks will be started for all players irrespective of their presence), after which Re-Pairing may be made for each player whose opponent has not arrived and for any player otherwise having a full-point bye

In general, sections will not be merged. However, the Chief Arbiter reserves the right to merge sections if there are insufficient number of entries in one or more sections

Digital clocks will be used in all sections and help will be given to anyone unfamiliar with them

FAIR PLAY REGULATIONS

To comply with FIDE regulations - All mobile phones and electronic devices (unless used for medical reasons with information to the Chief Arbiter), including smart watches, must be switched-off at all times in the Playing Hall. They should be put either on the control desk or face-down on the playing table, or in a bag under the desk that must not be moved whilst games are in play. If it is evident that during play, a player’s device is not turned off or a player has such a device on their person or has had access to any such device, the player shall be defaulted & will unfortunately forfeit / lose the game

Any spectators (Players are classified as spectators after finishing their games), Parents/guardians/carers and others who may enter the Playing Hall must also have their mobile phones / electronic devices switched-off at all times

DISPUTES

In the event of a dispute regarding the rules during play, a player should Pause the Clock and summon an Arbiter - any appeal on the Arbiter's decision will be made to the Chief Arbiter within 10 minutes of the incident. The Chief Arbiter's decision will be final & binding in all matters

REFRESHMENTS

Basic Tea & Coffee will be available at the venue to purchase - paying by Contactless Card is the preferable mode of payment as we encourage a cashless system of settlement. Kindly tender exact change when using cash. There are many outlets on the high street nearby offering refreshment choices

DISABLED ACCESS

The venue is Disability friendly - any such person needing help is requested to inform the Organiser in advance

PHOTOGRAPHS

Photographs of players may be taken during the tournament to form the tournament photo gallery. By participating in the tournament, players acknowledge and agree to these conditions. Photographs taken at the event may be used for publicity purposes by the Organiser. It is allowed to take photos only during the first five minutes of each round - if using mobile phones to take photos in the playing hall, please ensure to keep them in flight mode at all times. Any objection to being photographed should be notified to the event Organiser in writing prior to the event

BEHAVIOUR, PARENTAL SUPERVISION and DISCLAIMERS

Please treat the premises with respect and follow all signs and rules as requested

A high standard of behaviour and respect for others and property is always expected. Players entering or leaving the Playing Hall while other games are in progress should do so quietly

Smoking / Vaping including e-cigarettes is NOT allowed in the playing venue; nor is the consumption of alcohol

The Organisers and Arbiters are unable to act "in loco parentis" for children. Parents/guardians/carers are responsible for their children throughout the entire duration of this event. Children under the age of 8 must remain under sole parental supervision throughout. Supervision of children over the age of 8 and teenagers may be shared between adults. However, Parents/guardians/carers should note that they are still ultimately responsible for their children and their behaviour at this event

The Organiser accept no responsibility for any damage, theft or accident to the person or property of any competitor, trainee or other visitor at this event, nor are they responsible for the effects of actions of anyone else attending this event

GDPR - Personal data is held solely for the purposes of our events. This is for administration and to keep you updated on future chess events. We share some data with the English Chess Federation and FIDE for rating purposes. Results, ratings and photos may be used on social media pages or in publicity unless informed otherwise.

Additional CONDITIONS of Entry

The Organiser/s also reserve the right to:

• Transfer entrants between sections & / Or Split or Merge sections depending on numbers
• Refund players (minus any Paypal payment processing fee as applicable) if the tournament needs to be cancelled for any reason beyond the control of the Organiser
• Withhold / reduce prizes from unrated players &/ Or Distribute the prize fund as they deem appropriate in the circumstances
• Refuse entry without assigning a reason & / Or take any other measures deemed necessary to ensure smooth running of the event
• Change / Delay the Start Timings of the Rounds based on the situation on ground
• Spectators and Players who have finished their game (they then become spectators) are generally not allowed to stay in the Playing Hall (area #1) and may be asked to leave the Playing Hall & can be in the adjacent non-playing area - the Organiser does not guarantee any seating for non-players beyond what is available & budgeted at the venue. 

THANK YOU