01. African Junior Championships

Approved by the 1981 General Assembly.
Amended by the 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997 General Assemblies.

Frequency

A tournament for the African Junior Championship will be organized each year by one of the affiliated chess federations in Zones 4.1 to 4.3, to be designated by the General Assembly, if possible two years before the event is to take place.

Participants

Entitled to participate are chess players from the federations in Zones 4.1 to 4.3 who shall not have reached the age of 20 by January 1st of the year in which the tournament will commence.

The players placed 1-3 in the previous Championship will have a personal right to participate in the tournament if they fulfil the condition of Article 2.

In addition to the players mentioned in Article 3, each affiliated federation in Zones 4.1 to 4.3 will have the right to send one representative. The organizing federation shall have a second place in the tournament, and holds a player in reserve to make an even number of participants, if necessary.

(GA `95) Subject to the agreement of the organizers, the Continental President may allow additional participants subject to payment of their board and lodging for which their federation shall be held responsible.

Without prejudice to previous regulations on number of participants in this championship, each federation shall be entitled to register any number of participants it deems necessary provided the following conditions are met:

1. payment to FIDE of the approved fee of SFr. 200 per player in advance;
2. payment of the full board and lodge of the additional player(s) to the host chess federation;
3. the additional participants shall not be entitled to any other privileges such as payment of pocket money, etc. (if any), already reserved to the original nominee(s) of each federation (GA97)

At least four months before the beginning of the tournament the organizing federation will send an invitation to all affiliated federations in Zones 4.1 to 4.3.

The letter of invitation shall be approved by the Continental President for Africa.

Copies of the invitation shall be sent to him, to the FIDE President, and to the Presidents of Zones 4.1 to 4.3.

At least two months before the beginning of the tournament each federation accepting the invitation shall send its entry to the organizing federation.

Copies of the entry shall be sent to the FIDE President, to the Continental President for Africa and to the President of the Zone to which the Federation belongs.

The entry fee stipulated in the Financial Regulations shall be paid to FIDE.

Playing Schedule

The tournament will not last more than 20 days, including day of arrival and day of departure.

Each 7th day will be a free day.

When the number of participants is 12 or fewer, the tournament will be played in one group, in which each participant plays once against each other participant.

When the number of participants exceeds 12, the tournament will be played in preliminary and final stages, with the players carrying the points they obtained against the other participants, from the preliminaries over to the final.

Playing Conditions

The tournament will be played according to the Rules of Play of FIDE.

The time limit is 40 moves in 100 minutes, then 20 moves in 50 minutes and finally 10 minutes for the remaining moves. From move 1 30 seconds will be added after each move. The games shall be played using the DGT clocks.

Chief Arbiter and his Assistants

The Continental President for Africa will - after consultation with the organizing federation - nominate the Chief Arbiter, as well as the necessary assistant arbiters and other officials.

Protests, including protests against decisions of the Chief Arbiter or his assistants, must be submitted in writing to the Chairman of the Appeals Committee within two hours after completion of the playing session.

Appeals Committee

Before the beginning of the tournament an Appeals Committee shall be selected. This committee will consist of five members and two reserves, chosen by the players from among themselves or the representatives of national federations present. The committee will elect a chairman. The persons chosen for the committee of appeal shall represent seven different federations.

No member of the committee will have the right to decide on questions concerning his own federation. In such cases the member concerned will have the right only to partake in the discussions in the committee.

Designation of the Winner

The order of the players is determined according to the number of points obtained. If at the end of the tournament two or more players are tied for first place, the tie shall be broken by the tie-break system specified in FIDE Competition Rules C.05, Chapter VIII.

In case the above does not produce a decision, the players remaining tied will be proclaimed joint winners of the title African Junior Champion.

(GA `93) The African Junior Champion shall be awarded the title of International Master. (cf. B.01 Art. 1.22 & 1.53.) Clear first place is equivalent to a 9-rd Grandmaster result. (cf. B.01 Art. 1.17 & 1.46.)

(GA `93) The winner of the African Junior Championship will have the right to participate in the same year`s or the following year`s World Junior Championship if he has not exceeded the age limit in the meantime. This privilege may be exercised only once. (cf. D.V.01 Art. 3.)

Financial Regulations and Prizes

The travelling expenses of the participants are to be paid by their national federations while board, lodging and pocket money will be provided by the organizing federation.

The organizing federation shall award prizes to at least 50 percent of the participants.

Before the beginning of the tournament a list of these prizes shall be published together with other prizes to be awarded, and the conditions to be met for winning them.

Moreover, the organizing federation shall award a gold-plated medal to the winner (or winners) of the title African Junior Champion, a silver-plated medal to the player who took second place and a bronze medal to the player who took third place.