KJCA Squads

The pages listed in the menu on the right will show you the current status of each of the KJCA Squads (Under 9, Under 11 Girls and Under 11). Formal Squads are not kept for older age groups, teams are assembled as required from our KJCA player base. To be fully qualified for Squad membership (ensuring that you are one of the first to be offered a place on the Kent team for that age group), you must have met a performance measure and a training measure.

The training measure for Under 9 and Under 11 Girls is to have passed the Institute of Chess exams at level 2 or above. To meet the bar for the Under 11 Squad you must have reached IoC Level 3 or better.

Training is important if you want to succeed in anything and Chess is no different, however competition for places on the county teams is tough and so demonstrated performance is required too!

To be fully qualified, you must have obtained the equivalent of a Full Kent Norm (FKN). An FKN can be earned outright, or can be made up of two Half Kent Norms (HKN). Kent Norms are earned by scoring a certain number of points at KJCA Grand Prix events based on the number of wins (1 point) and/or draws (.5 point) in a 6 round tournament. In the case that the section entered has more or less than 6 rounds, the player's score will be weighted to account for this. Different point scores will earn either HKNs or FKNs depending on which section the player scores these points in. The following table shows what score is required in any given section in order to earn an HKN or an FKN for a particular squad:

If insufficient players are fully qualified to join the Squad, the Team Manager for that team can select any players from the rest of the player base (within age limits of course), in any order they choose. Partial qualification will be noted and will influence this decision, but does not necessarily overrule other aspects that may come into the picture (behavior, attitude, previous performance etc.). Furthermore, although Squad Members are listed in descending order of ECF Grade this is only one factor that is used in selecting board order and will not necessarily be reflected in the ultimate team. Juniors develop far too fast for the ECF grading system to be anything other than a guiding principle. Ultimate authority for the team selection, including board order, remains with the Head Coach and Team Manager.

Note: If you feel you meet the above criteria but can't find your name on the appropriate Squad list, the first thing to check is your Player record (see the player pages and find your name there). If your Player record doesn't show your EPSCA County as Kent, then you haven't declared yourself as eligible to play for Kent and won't show up in the Squad list. Whoever registered you as part of their family account can update this record directly, or otherwise just drop us an email at webmaster@kjca.org and we can update it for you.