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 2018 British Championship
4 – Top 10 players and ties in the 2018 Major Open
5 – Highest-scoring female player and female players who tied with them in the 2018 Major Open, if no female players qualify under A4 above
6 – 2018 British Under 21 Champion
7 – 2018 British Under 18 Champion
8 – 2018 British Under 16 Champion
9 – 2018 British Over 50 Champion
Section B – Qualification by FIDE Title on 1st July 2018
1 – Grandmasters
2 – Women Grandmasters
3 – International Masters
4 – Women International Masters
5 – FIDE Masters rated 2300 or higher on the rating list published on 1st July 2018
6 – Women FIDE Masters rated 2100 or higher on the rating list published on 1st July 2018
Section C – Qualification from National Championships
1 – 2018 English Champion & 2018 English Women’s Champion
2 – 2019 Guernsey Champion & 2019 Guernsey Women’s Champion
3 – 2018 Irish Champion & 2018 Irish Women’s Champion
4 – 2018 Isle of Man Champion & 2018 Isle of Man Women’s Champion
5 – 2018 Jersey Champion & 2018 Jersey Women’s Champion
6 – 2018 Scottish Champion & 2018 Scottish Women’s Champion
7 – 2018 Ulster Champion & 2018 Ulster Women’s Champion
8 – 2019 Welsh Champion & 2019 Welsh Women’s 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 – 2018/19 East Anglian Chess Union Champion
2 – 2018/19 Midland Counties Chess Union Champion
3 – 2018/19 Northern Counties Chess Union Champion
4 – 2018/19 Southern Counties Chess Union Champion
5 – 2018/19 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 – 2018 South Wales International
2 – 2018 Scottish Open Championship
3 – 2018 Isle of Man International
4 – 2018 4NCL International Congress
5 – 2018 London Chess Classic
6 – 2018/19 Hastings International
7 – 2019 Gibraltar Masters
8 – 2019 Northumbria Masters
9 – 2019 Jersey Masters
Players will only qualify if they score in excess of 50% 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, 2018 and 30th June, 2019. 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 2018/19 British Championship Qualifying Grand Prix
2 – Highest-scoring female player and female players tied with her will qualify from the 2018/19 British
Championship Qualifying Grand Prix, if no female player has qualified from F1 above
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.