KJCA is affiliated to the English Chess Federation (ECF) which is the governing body of chess in England.

The ECF administers a grading system for chess and all games played in KJCA Grand Prix are submitted to the ECF for rapid-play grading. 

Every six months the ECF publishes its new grading list and Kent Juniors will be able to see how their performances have effected their grade on the ECF web-site at www.ecfgrading.org.uk/menu.php. 

To give you an idea of what to aim for: our head coach GM Chris Ward has an ECF Grade of 240, the Kent Board 1 at the EPSCA U11 in 2017 had a grade of 136 and the Kent Board 12 at the EPSCA U9 in 2017 had a grade of 69.

You will also see on the ECF grading website whether you are a member of the ECF. 

All young chess players are able to get Silver junior membership free of charge for one year.

The KJCA strongly encourages all players to take advantage of this offer, especially if they are hoping to develop their chess by playing in additional tournaments such as the London juniors or other local and county tournaments.  

Also, as an affiliate organisation, KJCA pay a fee to ECF for grading all our games. If our young players are not members of ECF then the expense to us is higher.

To take advantage of the offer of free Silver junior membership for new members  - Please email the ECF Office [membership@englishchess.org.uk] or call Gary Willson on: 01424 775 222, stating the player’s name, address, and date of birth. Please also identify KJCA as the player’s club.

We hope that everyone has had a fun and relaxing summer break and now looking forward to a new and exciting junior chess season.

The 2017-18 season runs from September 2017 - June 2018 and we will be running our popular series of Grand Prix tournaments and Grand Master led Coaching Days, based on the successful institute of chess exams.

The first GP tournament, which is also a qualifier for the London Junior Chess Championships at U8, U10 and U12, will be held on Saturday 16th September on Tonbridge Girls’ Grammar School. For more details and to register, please go to: http://www.kjca.org/event/162

The rest of this season’s GP tournaments are planned as follows:

GP1 – Saturday 16th September 2017 – Tonbridge Girls’ Grammar School
GP2 – Sunday 22nd October 2017 – Bishop Justus School, Bromley
GP3 – Sunday 19th November – Bullers Wood School, Bromley
GP4 – Saturday 6th January 2018 – Cornwallis Academy, Maidstone
GP5 – Sunday 11th February 2018 – Dulwich College, London
GP6 – Sunday 4th March 2018 – Venue (tbc)
GP7 – Sunday 13th May 2018 - Crofton Junior School, Orpington (tbc)
GP8 Final – Sunday 3rd June 2018 – Bromley High School

Coaching Days

The coaching days this season will be held on:

CD1 – Sunday 8th October – Sevenoaks Primary School
CD2 – Sunday 12th November – Sevenoaks Primary School
CD3 – Sunday 28th January – Barming Primary School
CD4 - Sunday 18th February – Sevenoaks Primary School

As usual, we will be offering the Institute of Chess levels. Please note that we are currently updating the KJCA website to improve the coaching pages so further details and registration will available very soon. If you have any queries, please contact webmaster@kjca.org