National Chess Championships are held every year in eight different categories from Under-7 to Under-25. In each of these age groups there is a separate championship for girls, though they can also play in the open category. From this year all National age categories Chess Championship are notified as Rated chess tournaments. Besides this there are the National B and A, National Women’s B and A and some other categories.
Chess is a brain game. In a National Chess Championship the best of the nation’s young brains come to play. There are other means of singling out talented brains at a young age like the National Talent Search Examinations. But in an age-group chess competition, a child is actually playing against another fine brain of his age.
Chess Championships are usually played using the Swiss League System where in all the participants get a chance to play all the rounds. There will be some satisfaction for a child when he wins at least a few games. After losing a few games one may be out of the championship race but not out of the tournament. Not like in the knock out tournaments of other sports wherein if you lose, you are out of the tournament.
In National chess tournaments in India you are selected by qualifying at the State Selection tournament. His is called the Ordinary Entry. However it is a feature of our system it is possible to play the National level Age Category Chess tournament by what is known as the donor Entry. That is, talented chess players who may have missed qualifying because they had to miss the selection tournament for some reason, or who happened to be in bad form there, can get an opportunity to play by paying a higher special entry fee. This system works out to the benefit of both the host association and the talented chess player.
He will learn a vision of himself, where he stands and what he can achieve.
It is advisable for all children to know chess, to give good exercise to their brains. These children should also play few chess games in a week and at least two/three state level chess tournament every year. Wherever possible, good players should strive to take part in a national age group chess championship. There a child will play at least nine games and will know where he stands among best brains of his age in the country.
To get a rough idea of when the National (age category wise) tournaments are held given below are the dates of the tournaments held in 2007.
Tournaments Dates
National U - 7 Boys & Girls Oct 29 - 05 Nov
National U - 9 Boys & Girls Oct 12 -19 Oct
National U - 11 Boys & Girls Oct 23 - 31 Oct
National U - 13 Boys Dec 14 - 22 Dec
National U - 13 Girls Jan 10 - 20 Jan
National U - 17 Boys & Girls Jun 22 - 26 Jun
National U - 19 Boys Sep 22 - 30 Sep
National u - 19 Girls Chess Sep 22 - 28 Sep
National Under - 25 July 01 - 08 July
National Team Championship Mar 09 - 15 Mar
National Women ‘B’ May 21 - 28 May
National ‘B’ Men Jun 10 - 20 Jun
National ‘A’ Women Nov 5 - 15 Nov
National Cities Feb 11 - 15 Feb
Source:
http://www.indianchessfed.org/tournamentcalendar.asp
Players who top each age group category qualify for the Asian and World championships in the age group which is one year ahead. That is, top 2 players in the National Under – 7 championships, qualifies to play in the Asian and World Under - 8 for the next year and likewise for other age groups. G.S.C.A. has to schedule tournaments depending on the dates provided by the All India Chess Federation (A.I.C.F.). Perhaps the A.I.C.F. should consider making a National tournament calendar, so that State associations and in turn the affiliated clubs can follow suit.
If parents know the dates for National as well as State tournaments well in advance, then they as well as players can prepare themselves mentally, physically and financially for the event. Also AICF should fix schedules for National age category selection tournament taking into consideration factors such as exams, festivals, holidays etc. and allot it to state associations at the beginning of the year. With this in mind, GSCA should schedule the Goa team selection dates and allot them to clubs so that there should be at least two months advance notice to the participants.
To conclude, all serious chess players, and more pertinently their parents must make the National Age category tournament a part of their plans for our budding players.
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