WORLD CUP FOR UNDER 8, UNDER 10 AND UNDER 12 REGULATIONS

Approved by FIDE Council on 17/05/2023

Applied from 17th May, 2023 

1.       General

1.1     The World Cup for Under 8, Under 10 and Under 12 (hereinafter referred to as “WC”) shall be governed by the General Regulations for FIDE Competitions, except where these Regulations override them.

1.2     WC is organised under the aegis of the Events Commission (hereinafter referred to as “EVE”).

1.3     The competition should be held every year between 1st June and 1st August.

2.       Participation

2.1     The competition shall be played in 6 categories: Under 8 Open, Under 8 Girls, Under 10 Open, Under 10 Girls, Under 12 Open and Under 12 Girls.

2.2     All players who shall not have reached the age of 8, 10, 12 before January 1st of the year in which the Championships are held are eligible to participate in their respective categories.

2.3     The total number of players in each category is 48 (see Articles 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6).

2.4     The following 12 participants in each category have personal rights:

2.4.1     3 places – by FIDE standard rating, on 1st April of the year of competition.

If there is a tie in FIDE standard ratings, the player with the higher rating in the previous published standard rating list will qualify for the event. If the players are still tied, the invitation will be given to the player with the higher published rating in the last rating list where they were not tied, going back month by month.

2.4.2     4 places – one nomination from each continent. The nominations shall be sent by the Continental President’s offices.

2.4.3     3 places – the top 3 places from the previous WC.

Players who are no longer eligible for the same category will instead be eligible for the new category.

2.4.4     1 place – nomination of the FIDE President.

2.4.5     1 place – nomination from the organising federation.

2.4.6     If any player or any continent does not accept the invitation by the deadline specified by the organisers, the places will become additional organiser wildcards.

2.5     The following 28 participants from each category are invited to participate:

2.5.1     18 places – based on the medals table of the previous year’s World Cadets Championship. Federations will score 1 point per medal won. Federations will be able to nominate 1 player for each of the 6 categories.

2.5.2     10 places – based on the participant numbers per Federation of the previous year’s World Cadets Championship. The 10 Federations that had the highest number of participants will be entitled to enter 1 player for each of the 6 categories. In the event of a tie, EVE will allocate the relevant number of wildcards from its allocation in Article 2.6.

2.5.3     If any federation does not confirm the number of players it intends to send by 1st February, or nominates fewer players than they were entitled to nominate, then the places will become additional organiser wildcards. The process for allocating these wildcards shall be agreed with EVE.

2.6     8 places in each category will be nominated by EVE.

2.7     Players who qualify for more than one category are entitled to choose which category they prefer to play in.

3.       Financial Regulations

3.1     The Organisers shall provide free full board accommodation (in twin share rooms) for personal right players mentioned in Article 2.4.

3.2     Personal right players from Article 2.4.1 will get compensation for air-tickets – 600 Euros for players from the same continent, and 1200 Euros for players from another continent.

3.3     The Organising Committee shall provide free full board accommodation (in single rooms) for any Head of Delegation with more than 4 players.

4.       Schedule, System & Time Control

4.1     WC will be played with two stages.

4.2     The time control is 90 minutes for each player plus 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The default time is 30 minutes.

4.3     Stage 1 will be a 7-round Swiss system tournament.

4.3.1     The organiser will create two groups of 24 players: Group A and Group B. The average Elo rating of the both groups must be as equal as possible. Unrated players will be allocated to the groups in alphabetical order.

4.3.2     The ranking is determined by the number of points. The tie-breaks are:

• Direct Encounter (only if all tied have played each other)
• Buchholz Cut 1
• Buchholz
• The greater number of wins
• Drawing of lots

4.4     In Stage 2, players who finish in the same position in each group will play against each other.

4.4.1     The match will be best-of-2 games. In the matches between players who finish in the odd-numbered positions in their group, the player from Group A will be white in Game 1, and the player from Group B will be white in Game 2. In the matches between players who finish in the even- numbered positions in their group, the player from Group B will be white in Game 1, and the player from Group A will be white in Game 2.

4.4.2     If the match is drawn, a best-of-2 rapid match will be played. The time control will be 15 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. The default time will be when the absent player’s time expires. The colours in each game will continue to alternate from the match in Article 4.4.1. Appendix A4 of the Laws of Chess will apply.

4.4.3     In case of another drawn match, sudden death blitz will be played. The time control will be 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. The default time will be when the absent player’s time expires. The first player to win a game will win the match. There will be a drawing of lots to determine which player has white in the first game, and colours will alternate if subsequent games are needed. Appendix B2 of the Laws of Chess will apply.

4.4.4     The winner of the match between the two group winners will be ranked first. The loser of the match between the group winners will be ranked second. The winner of the match between the group runners-up will be ranked third.

5.       Prizes

5.1     The first three ranked players in each category will win Medals, Cups, Diplomas and modern electronic devices (e.g., MacBook air 2022 model, iPhone 14 and iPad 9).

5.2     The first three ranked players in each category will get free full board accommodation (in twin rooms with bath and/or shower) for the World Cadets championship of the same year.

5.3     Participation certificates shall be given to all players.

Annex 1 – FIDE Regulations

Relevant FIDE Regulations can be found here:

FIDE Laws of Chess: https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012023

General Regulations for FIDE Competitions: https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/D0401

Captains and Heads of Delegation: https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/CaptainsHeadsDelegation 

Appeals Committee Procedural Rules:  https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/AppealsCommitteeProceduralRules

Anti-Cheating Protection Measures:  https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/ACCProtectionMeasures.pdf