London Junior Chess Championships
The London Junior Chess Championships (LJCC) is one of the most prestigious junior chess tournaments in the UK. With roots going back to 1924, the LJCC has helped thousands of children take their first steps in competitive chess. In fact, the 2024 edition marked its 100th anniversary.
Whether your child is just starting out or already an experienced player, the LJCC offers an exciting opportunity to compete, learn, and improve.
🗓 Key Dates
- Finals (2025 Dates): Dates expected in late June.
- Qualifying Events (Under 8, 10, 12): Held throughout the autumn at various venues.
- Based on past editions, finals typically take place around Christmas, with some events held before and some after the holidays. In 2024 there were split into Pre-Christmas (U10 Minor/Major, U14 Minor/Major) and Post-Christmas (U8, U12 Minor/Major, U16, U18/21/Open) categories.
- Age eligibility is determined by your child’s age as of 31 August 2025.
📍 Locations
- Qualifiers: Hosted at multiple venues across the UK.
- Finals: Location not yet confirmed for 2025.
♟ Format
- All events follow the Swiss system—players play every round, and are matched with others on similar scores.
- Players are expected to play all rounds.
- One half-point bye (a round skipped without penalty) is allowed in any round except the last, if requested in advance.
- If your child cannot attend a round, let the organisers know as early as possible.
👤 Who Can Take Part?
- Events are organised into age groups: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18, and U21.
- Your child will play in their age group based on their age on 31 August 2025.
🏅 London Trophies eligibility: To be considered for a London title (except U21), your child must:
- Be born in, live in, attend school in, or have a parent working within the M25 (Greater London).
- Be marked as eligible on the entry form.
🎯 SCCU Prizes: Available to players from counties in the Southern Counties Chess Union (SCCU).
✅ Qualification Rules
🟢 Qualification Required:
- For U8, U10, U12 Finals, your child must qualify either by:
- Rating (ECF):
- U8: 1250+
- U10 Major: 1500+ or 1550+
- U12 Major: 1750+
- Performance in a Qualifier:
- U8: 4 points or more (out of 6)
- U10 Major: 4.5+
- U10 Minor: 3.5 or 4 points
- U12 Major: 4.5+
- U12 Minor: 3.5 or 4 points
- Rating (ECF):
If your child qualifies for a Major event, they cannot play in the Minor version of the same age group.
🙋 Not qualified but keen to play? Contact LJCC Congress Manager Angela Eyton to discuss exceptions.
🟡 No Qualification Needed:
- U14, U16, U18, and U21 sections are open to all eligible players.
⏱ Time Control & Rounds
- Clocks are used in all events, even for the youngest sections.
- Late arrivals may be re-paired or defaulted after:
- U18/21 & U16: 30 mins
- U14 & U12: 20 mins
- U10 & U8: 15 mins
- Games must be recorded, except in the U8 section.
- The exact number of rounds and minutes per game for each section are not yet published.
🏅 Prizes
- Trophies and titles are awarded in all Major events.
- London Titles (excluding U21): Awarded to the highest-scoring eligible London player (must score at least 50%).
- Cash prizes available for top boys and girls if:
- At least 4 players of the same gender are in the section, or
- The player scores at least 50%.
- SCCU Junior Prizes awarded in:
- U10 Major (best U9)
- U12 Major (best U11)
- U14 Major (best U14)
- U21 (best U18)
💷 Cost
- Entry fees expected to be announced in late June 2025.
- Based on 2024 Finals, typical entry fees were £30 for U8 and £45 for other categories)
- Costs may vary for qualifying events and finals. Check with individual organisers or the main LJCC contact.
🧾 Parent Notes
- Supervision is provided only in the chess playing areas. Parents must supervise children elsewhere.
- Player info (name, rating, club) will be published by the English Chess Federation (ECF). Contact them if you want your child’s info withheld.
📬 Contact & Useful Info
- General enquiries and finals: entry@ljcc.co.uk
- Qualifiers: Contact the individual event organisers
- Website: https://www.ljcc.co.uk
⭐ Rate This Tournament
If your child has taken part in this event before, we’d love your feedback!
Leave a review and rate your experience below to help other parents learn more about this fantastic competition.
⚠️ Disclaimer
Tournament dates, fees, and formats are subject to change. Always check the organiser’s official website for the latest information.
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2024 LJCC – experience and feedback
It was our second time in the London Junior Chess Final. Our son played in Under 10 (Marylebone). The location was perfect, very central, next to Regent’s Park. It is quite a challenge to qualify for this tournament as it is one of the oldest and prestigious competition.
Some of the benefits that you don’t get in most other tournaments:
– The games are relatively long (50 min), so children have less time pressure and learn to think deeper.
– The tournament is held in two days, so there is time to rest.
– You play with very strong opponents which is usually a great learning experience, although sometimes can be demotivating if there are too many losses.
– There are quite a few participants in each category, so a child should get exposure to different opponents (style, openings etc).
– The venue for Under 10 was very nice and modern (University of Westminster Marylebone Hall, NW1 5LS) with all the facilities for children and parents including canteen, snack bar, several bathrooms, a book store and multiple waiting areas for parents.
It is a bit more difficult to park since it is a very central location. It is relatively easy to park on Sundays (we parked in the Outer circle of Regent’s park paying by the hour). On Saturday we came by public transport.
I know other age categories play in different locations, so it is worth checking in advance before travelling.
One other personal observation is that the Final is held in December, I think each child is different, but for our son it was a bit challenging to play at the end of the year and also with short day time he did not feel very energetic.
