2018 British Chess Championship Qualifying Regulations

Entitlement to Play in the British Championships

Only players who fulfil one of the following criteria shall have the right of entry to the Championship sections of the Annual Congresses:

(a) British Citizenship, or
(b) British Overseas Territories Citizenship, or
(c) Citizenship of Ireland, or
(d) not less than one year’s continuous ordinary residence in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ending on the 30th June in the calendar year of the Championship in question, or
(e) not less than one year’s continuous ordinary residence in Ireland ending on the 30th June in the calendar year of the Championship in question, or
(f) not less than one year’s continuous ordinary residence in the Channel Islands ending on the 30th June in the calendar year of the Championship in question, or
(g) not less than one year’s continuous ordinary residence in the Isle of Man ending on the 30th June in the calendar year of the Championship in question

Section A: Qualification from the British Championships

1 – British Champions
2 – British Ladies/Women’s Champions
3 – Top 20 players and ties in the previous year’s British Championship
4 – Top 10 players and ties in the previous year’s Major Open
5 – 2017 British Under 21 Champion
6 – 2017 British Under 18 Champion
7 – 2017 British Under 16 Champion
8 – 2017 British Over 50 Champion

Section B: Qualification by FIDE Title on 1st July, 2017

1 – Grandmasters
2 – Women’s Grandmasters
3 – International Masters
4 – Women’s International Masters
5 – FIDE Masters rated 2300 or higher on the rating list published on 1st July, 2017
6 – Women’s FIDE Masters rated 2100 or higher on the rating list published on 1st July, 2017

Section C: Qualification from National Championships

1 – 2017 English Champion
2 – 2018 Guernsey Champion
3 – 2017 Irish Champion
4 – 2017 Isle of Man Champion
5 – 2017 Jersey Champion
6 – 2017 Scottish Champion
7 – 2017 Ulster Champion
8 – 2018 Welsh Champion

Note: The above is list shows the last National Championship of each BICC member before 1st July, 2018. Some of the dates above are yet to be announced, so they may be in error. Please contact your respective Federations for clarification.

Section D: Qualification from the English Chess Unions

1 – 2017/18 East Anglian Chess Union Champion
2 – 2017/18 Midland Counties Chess Union Champion
3 – 2017/18 Northern Counties Chess Union Champion
4 – 2017/18 Southern Counties Chess Union Champion
5 – 2017/18 West of England Chess Union Champion

Section E: Qualification from FIDE title norm tournaments

The highest-scoring eligible player not already qualified from Sections A-D above from the standardplay Open title norm tournaments at the following events:

1 – 2017 South Wales International
2 – 2017 Scottish Open Championship
3 – 2017 Isle of Man International
4 – 2017 London Chess Classic
5 – 2017/18 Hastings International
6 – 2018 Gibraltar Masters
7 – 2018 Jersey Masters

Players will only qualify if they score a minimum of 60% of the number of rounds in the tournament.

If there is a tie for the highest-scoring eligible player, all tied players will qualify.

Should a player who qualifies via Section E subsequently qualify via Section C or D, then that will take precedence, and the qualification place via Section E will be recalculated taking into account their qualification.

Note: The above list of expected tournaments within the British Isles or British Overseas Territories where FIDE title norms are available is accurate at the time of publication. Other such tournaments may be organised during the period between 1st July, 2017 and 30th June, 2018. If they are, they will also be qualifiers, and will be added to the above list.

Section F: Qualification from the British Championship Qualifying Grand Prix

1 – Top 10 players and ties will qualify from the 2017/18 British Championship Qualifying Grand Prix

Note: The rules for the Grand Prix can be found in a separate document.

Section G: Qualification by Nomination – Wildcards

1 – One wildcard may be nominated by mutual agreement between the English Chess Federation’s Director of Home Chess and the Manager of the British Championships.
2 – Two wildcards may be nominated by the host Federation.

Period of Qualification

Qualifiers from Sections C-F may play either in the Championship they qualify for, or for the immediately following Championship. Players who do not play in the Championship in the year they qualify for will be deemed to have not qualified for the purposes of calculating the following year’s qualifiers. Players who do not play in the Championship in the year they qualify, who then qualify again for the immediately following Championship will be deemed to have lost their original qualification.