About SAJCL

Updated July 9th, 2023

About Us

This is the official website for the Junior Chess League Inc in South Australia and it is used to inform you about all our junior chess activities. You will find here all the details about the interschool primary and secondary matches, as well as how to take part in tournaments and – very exciting – make use of chess on the Internet. The SAJCL been promoting Junior Chess in SA for over 60 years thanks to the dedication and passion of Evelyn and Gary Koshnitsky and many other tireless volunteers and we are very grateful to all the support given to us by many schools and teachers.

And as a non-profit local organisation, we endeavour to make chess affordable and accessible to everyone.

 

Chesskid.com

The SAJCL is delighted to be associated with the online chess server called Chesskid and have negotiated a special deal for students in South Australia – instead of the usual $100 annual fee, we can provide it for just $25 which we think will be a huge benefit for all keen students. 

For more details please check here.

 Committee for 2023

Rules

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR CHESS LEAGUE
RULES FOR INTER-SCHOOL TEAMS COMPETITION  

TEAMS

• Each team in the Primary A Grade or Secondary Division 1 and Division 2 teams are to consist of 5 players. Primary B and Primary C teams and Secondary Division 3 teams have only 4 players in a team. 
• Players should play in the estimated order of strength.
•  No player may play in more than one team on the same night.
• Each team to have a captain and acting captain in captain’s absence.
• The Secondary Division 2 and 3 competitions play two games per night.

RESULT FORMS

• Match Result forms to be placed at each match table. The names of each member of teams must be entered on it before the start of play – first names and SURNAMES IN CAPITALS.
•  Both captains or acting captains to sign completed form at end of match after checking that all particulars have been entered correctly:
  1 point for a win, ½ for a draw, 0 for a loss
  OF for a forfeit, OF to both absent players if a double forfeit – NOT a half point each.
  

PLAYERS

• Talking should be restricted to a minimum during play. No conversation between players during game.
• No advice of moves is to be given to a player during the game. The member of the team who gives such advice to another will be in danger of loss of his/her game or a point being deducted from team score.

SPECTATORS

• Spectators are requested to be as quiet as possible. Talking should be away from match tables.
• When watching games spectators must keep well back from the tables and not hover behind any boards. Directors of Play at venues should see that this is observed.

MATCHES

• Start of Play
• The Secondary School Divisions start at 7.00pm. Forfeit time is 7.30pm.
• The Primary School Grades begin at approximately 4.00pm. Forfeit time is 20 minutes after the start. The competitions in the Hills are played in the evenings.
•  
• Finish of Play
  The Secondary Division 1 may continue until 9:30pm. Divisions 2 and 3 continue until 9.00pm.

PLAYING

•  All games must be played according to the Laws of Chess.
•  All games must be played ‘TOUCH AND MOVE’. Opponents must enforce this rule before a reply move is made.
• If a school has two or more teams in the same grade the players may NOT interchange, ie, if a player starts in Division3 Red he/she cannot play in ‘Division 3 White’ or ‘Division 3 Black’.
• Ineligible player(s) point(s) will be awarded to the opposing team regardless of the result.     

RATE OF PLAY

• Clocks are used in the Secondary Division 1 competition – 60 minutes each player plus a 10 second increment added with each move.
• Clocks are used in Divisions 2 & 3 – after half-an hour’s play, any games still going are required to use a clock to finish the game – each player has 10 minutes for the remaining of the game.
• Clocks are used in Primary A Grade – each player has 45 minutes for the whole game.
  When used in all other Divisions the use of chess clocks is at the discretion of the Director of Play.

POSTPONEMENT OF MATCHES

•  No postponement should be made on the day of the match unless by mutual agreement. At late notice reserve players have to play in that team.
• If a school wishes to postpone a match for any valid reason, the Tournament director should be advised of this arrangement at the earliest convenience.

RESERVES

• A RESERVE player may NOT come down from a higher grade of which he/she is a regular member.
• Players MAY NOT play up as a reserve more than 3 nights in the season. After 3 games as RESERVE they may stay as a PERMANENT player in the higher team but they MAY NOT go back to the lower division.
• If a player goes into a higher division as a reserve AT THE LAST MINUTE he/she plays on the vacant board. Other games should start on time.
• If it is known that a RESERVE player will be required, then ALL the players are arranged so that the RESERVE[S] play in the approximate order of strength.AWARDS

TROPHIES
A trophy is awarded to all players who score 100%, playing the maximum possible number of games in any one grade or division.

• Certificates of Merit
  Awarded to all players who have played most their games scoring a high result in their grade or division.
• 5 points or better out of 6 games
  5.5 points or better out of 7 games
  6 points or better out of 8 games
  7 points or better out of 9 games
  8 points or better out of 10 games
  8.5 points or better out of 11 games
  10 games or better out of 12 games
  10.5 or better out of 13 games
  11 points or better out of 14 games

ELEGIBILITY TO PLAY IN SECONDARY DIVISION 1

• Any school with FOUR teams or more entered in the Secondary Competitions must play at least ONE team in Division 1.

CHAMPION SECONDARY SCHOOL SHIELD

To be awarded to the school which obtain the most points from the following table. Any school can count the result of TWO TEAMS in any one Division:-

	Division 1	Division 2	Division 3
1st	24 points	12 points	6 points
2nd	20 points	10 points	5 points
3rd	16 points	8 points	4 points
4th	12 points	6 points	3 points
5th	8 points	4 points	2 points
6th	4 points	2 points	1 point

CHAMPION PRMARY SCHOOL – EVELYN KOSHNITSKY SHIELD

• A 3-round ‘play-off’ competition at the end of Term 3 will determine the winner of the Shield. Eight teams of 10 players to be invited by the Director of Play from the schools which have done the best with two teams during the 2nd and 3rd terms.

 

DIRECTORS OF PLAY

• The director of Play at each venue should wear a name-tag and introduce him/herself to the teams before announcing “start of play”.
• All match RESULT SHEETS must be given to the Director of Play at each venue at the end of the match. They must NOT be taken away by any player. Team Captains are responsible in ensuring this action occurs.

 

APPEALS PANEL

Appeals and complaints can be referred for determination to 3 members of a 6 member Appeal Panel, none of whom is from the schools involved in the complaint. The Director of Play is to be a fourth non-voting member to provide advice as needed to the Appeal Panel and to implement whatever is the conclusion of the appeal/complaint.

 

Team Fees

These fees are set at the AGM each year. In 2021 the fees are:

Affiliation fee per school	$60
Secondary team	$100
Primary A Grade team	$80
Primary B or Primary C team	$70

CHESS CENTRE APPEAL NOW CLOSED – 25th October 2020

               Thanks to the very strong support for our appeal for financial support due to the closure of the Chess Centre for 4 months from the 15th March,  the South Australian Chess Association (SACA) and the South Australian Junior Chess League (SAJCL ) has now formally closed the Appeal.

          We are most grateful to the 60+ donors who have contributed around  $10,000 which has prevented an unaffordable loss due to the Covid-19 restrictions.  The  Landlord Chris Angelopoulos of the Duke Group also cooperated greatly by  providing a helpful rent reduction for the 4 months’ closure period.

       The  South Australian Chess Community has rallied around in true Aussie fashion with donations from players , supporters , friends and a number of schools which has ensured the continued operation of the Chess Centre which is an essential component of chess in South Australia for hosting both Adult and Junior chess events.

      The Chess Centre  was able to re-open in late July and there has been much activity with a resumption of  both the Adult Interclub matches and tournaments,  and the Junior  holiday tournaments and Inter-school matches,  all following a full and carefully considered Covid-19 Management Plan.

   All donations made, large and small, are greatly appreciated and as we  advised during the Appeal Campaign, all donors  will be acknowledged by name and all the 60+  names will be shown as best we can in the chronological  order of the donation received.

  SACA and SAJCL is considering providing  a get together thank-you event for all donors in the near future.

   As President, I  offer  our heartfelt thanks on behalf of the committees of both  SACA and SAJCL for the support and encouragement we have received.  The testing times have brought  our Chess community  together in a remarkable way.

Many thanks

Alan Goldsmith        

President, South Australian Chess Association Inc          

President, South Australian Junior Chess League Inc

Donations Received

A very big THANK YOU to all the following kind people for their great generosity and support.

June 19th		Richard Thorne
June 19th		James Drew
June 19th		Wayne Cursaro
June 20th		Md Ruhul Islam
June 21th		Warren Kramer
June 23rd		Dr Ilya Hubczenko
June 25th		Nick Vass – Ceilings Concepts
July 3rd		Anonymous
July 6th		Bradley Thompson
July 13th		Dr Rob Hoile
July 15th		Dr Andrew Paull
July 15th		Mato Jelic – Chess School SA
July 16th		James Drew
July 17th		Pink & Ku Fang
July 18th		Duane Barness
July 19th		Val Woodburn
July 20th		The Balachander Family
July 20th		The Pattisons
July 24th		Peter Hughes
July 28th		Aaron Perkins
July 28th		The Norwood Chess Club
July 28th		Denis Steffensen
July 28th		Peter Sanders
July 28th		Walter Culture
July 30th		Tom Loughlin
August 3rd		Anthony Fereday
August 12th		Chris Benham
August 14th		George Bartley
August 21st		Alexander Grice
August 22nd		Jocelyn Ho
August 24th		Anonymous
August 24th		Ashley & Kelly Jones
August 26th		PAC
August 28th		St Pius X
August 31st		Blefari
August 31st		Deepti Singhai
Sept 1st		Yes Lee Leong
Sept 2nd		Concordia College
Sept 2nd		Rosalia Heinrich
Sept 3rd		Oliver, Ben Wes, Anthony Western
Sept 3rd		Eric Paprzycki
Sept 3rd		LII
Sept 3rd		Rostrevor College
Sept 14		Dr Gurpreet Kaur
Sept 16		The Hoff Family
Sept 19		Bruce Saint
Sept 21		St Ignatius College
Sept 24		Mitcham PS
Sept 25		Seymour College
Sept 29		Scotch College
Sept 29		Glenunga IHS
Oct 2nd		Lorraine Gormly
Oct 2nd		Peter Serwan
Oct 16th		Concordia College
Oct 16th		Vuong Family
Oct 19th		Judy Harris
Oct 20		James Dalton