2005 World Youth

[jenni]

The 2005 World Youth Championships will be in Belfort, France.

Arrival date 18 July 2005
Departure 30 July 2005

It covers the Open under 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and Girls Under 10, 12 ,14, 16, 18.

The ACF will be calling for applications very soon. There will also be the oportunity, for additional Juniors of the correct standard to be part of the team.

I will be managing the team again in 2005 (unless someone else wishes to volunteer?).

Please feel free to send a PM if you want to discuss your options.

[jenni]

Applications for primary selections close next week. BB's Kevin Bonham is the co-ordinator for these.

Anyone planning to go to Belfort, either as a primary or secondary selection needs to contact me ASAP - I am creating an e-mail distribution list to send out info to interested Juniors and parents.

latest info

The organising committee recommends either getting a train to Belfort or flying into Mulhouse-Bale. Transport will be organised from Mulhouse-Bale and from Belfort station.

Website will be ready "soon".

[Kevin Bonham]

[rant]'Twould be nice if applicants would read the requirements of how to apply before sending in their applications - these were clearly outlined in the Bulletin and I'm getting tired of having to spell things out to people who didn't click on the required link to the by-laws and see what info they had to send.[/rant]

[Brian_Jones]

There speaks the voice of a potential bureaucrat - ever thought of moving to Canberra Kevin!

[jenni]

There speaks the voice of a potential bureaucrat - ever thought of moving to Canberra Kevin!

That is not nice - Canberra has a lot of people who aren't at all bureaucratic


Anyway I understand where Kevin is coming from. I am a bit of a gungho person myself - more important to get things done than dot every i ...

HOWEVER

the last time someone tried to do the junior selections without adhering 100% to every little detail as specified in the bye-law, it resulted in the tiny infractions being used as an excuse to lodge appeals.

Much better to do everything by the book in these rather delicate situations.

[Kerry Stead]

[rant]'Twould be nice if applicants would read the requirements of how to apply before sending in their applications - these were clearly outlined in the Bulletin and I'm getting tired of having to spell things out to people who didn't click on the required link to the by-laws and see what info they had to send.[/rant]

Its all part of the job Kev ... The ones who are really serious about the application, or the ones who have been before will know what to include, but those that are new applicants, or are perhaps not completely serious might not include everything that is needed. Also things like correct ratings need to be chased up - its amazing how many kids put down things like '1600 something'. Yes ... first time I did it was a learning experience ... hopefully we've all moved on and can avoid making mistakes of the past.
Good luck with it Kev ... I'm sure you'll be fine!

[auriga]

That is not nice - Canberra has a lot of people who aren't at all bureaucratic

think its just a cartoon character being cheeky
tell him to go and find zebidee...

[jenni]

It appears the dates for the world youth might have changed by 1 day.

This is in spite of the orgnisers assuring me that the dates were definite.

I am trying to get definite info one way or the other, but it does look like it.

Web page for the comp (still under construction) is

http://www.belfort-echecs.com/?lang=en

[Mischa]

Would like to think...but know no chance.Pity, or lucky...financially I mean.

[jenni]

or lucky...financially I mean.

Yes - its a big ask for parents. We are always very envious of the South African team, who are fully paid for by their federation. They turn up in matching track-suits, caps and even matching backpacks!

I understand they get around 1000 kids play in their nationals. I know they have a much bigger population, but given the socio-economic status of most of them, it is still a huge turnout. Just shows what an historically non-chess playing nation can achieve in a short time.

[jenni]

Apart from the 10 Primary selections, it is possible to apply to be endorsed to play as a secondary selection. The only difference is you pay for your entry fee and accommodation and food.

Obviously only players who are considered of a correct standard will be endorsed. This whole procedure will be more formalised in 2006, but for 2005 what is necessary is for a junior to apply to me to be endorsed by the 31st March. I will get the endorsement from the ACF on your behalf - as a rule of thumb, you should be appearing on the "top" lists for your age groups that are published as part of the ratings.

We will be working to a very tight schedule this year, so people not notifying by 31 March will not be allowed to play.

Please feel free to contact me for any info on this, or on the competition generally.

[Duff McKagan]

It was good to see that Candy-Cane was automatically selected in the girls U-18 division, being the only applicant. The family could do with the expense money being covered and it will be a great experience overseas. I'm sure she will perform to her usual high standards.

[jenni]

It was good to see that Candy-Cane was automatically selected in the girls U-18 division, being the only applicant. The family could do with the expense money being covered and it will be a great experience overseas. I'm sure she will perform to her usual high standards.

Actually this is not entirely true. I do not want to make any major comment on this, but there was at least one other applicant, maybe 2, so it is not a definite for Candy-Cane.

Selectors have been given a few extra days, as some of them were playing at Doeberl and others may have wished to take Doeberl results into account. Selections will be with Kevin on 31st and released very soon thereafter.

[Duff McKagan]

Hmm, that sounds a little fishy. This email was sent out on the 11th March:

>From: "Kevin Bonham" <k_bonham@tassie.net.au>
>To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
>Subject: World Junior Applications
>Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 03:10:36 +1100
>
>Dear World Junior Applicants,
>
>The deadline for responses from players wishing to play in more than one
>division has expired and the applicants and divisions applied for are
>therefore listed below.

Further down the page it reads:

>The following are the applicants for the various divisions.
>
>U18 Open: Vincent Suttor, Gareth Oliver, Jason Hu, Ken Xie
>U16 Open: James Obst, James Cronan, Christopher Wallis, Justin Huang
>U14 Open: Moulthun Ly, Justin Huang, Edwin Wu, Junta Ikeda
>U12 Open: Justin Chow, Zhigen Wilson Lin, Raymond Song
>U10 Open: Edison Tsui, Jake McCook, Yi Yuan
>
>U18 Girls: Vaness Reid (sole applicant and therefore automatically selected
>for this division unless her application for her preferred U16 division is
>also successful)
>U16 Girls: Heather Huddleston, Vaness Reid, Rebecca Harris, Miona Ikeda
>U14 Girls: Tamzin Oliver, Angela Song, Luthien Russell
>U12 Girls: Kayleigh Smith, Molly McGarity, Lara Ong, Luthien Russell, Sally
>Yu
>U10 Girls: Megan Setiabudi, Emma Guo.

From my understanding if applicants did not use the right to apply by the deadline, it is their bad luck. Also if they were not diligent enough to apply for more than one division, it is only the divisions that they applied for that can be counted. One cannot circulate an email with a finalized selection, and then take it back. So again, congrats to Vaness and good luck in France!

[jenni]

Hmm, that sounds a little fishy. This email was sent out on the 11th March:



Further down the page it reads:



From my understanding if applicants did not use the right to apply by the deadline, it is their bad luck. Also if they were not diligent enough to apply for more than one division, it is only the divisions that they applied for that can be counted. One cannot circulate an email with a finalized selection, and then take it back. So again, congrats to Vaness and good luck in France!

Yes but the following e-mail was sent out on 14th March.

"Please note that the list of applications for World Junior divisions is provisional as some email problems have come to light (one of them probably my mistake, the others apparently because of an email being sent but never arriving with me). As these are sorted out it is likely that more players will be added as applicants for divisions higher than their own than those listed in my previous email.

Apologies for the confusion - intend to have a complete and final list of applications within a few days."

Wonderful as e-mail is it still has problems and applicants should not be punished because of problems in cyber-space. Otherwise we might have to return to snail mail. If you had access to the first e-mail I am sure you have had access to subsequent ones? So must know that Candy-Cane is not the only applicant?

So Candy-Cane will have to wait until 31st March (or shortly thereafter), to know whether she has been successful or not. If she has been I am sure the rest of your post will be true and she will represent us well.

I would also like to say that Kevin Bonham has been a superb selections co-ordinator. In all the years I have been involved in this process, I have never seen the applicants as well informed of what is happening and what is involved. Usually it is a black hole into which your children's applications sink and at some point you hear the result. This year we have constantly been kept informed both of who the other applicants are and when we can expect to hear the results.