Who can enter

The 2009 World Junior Tantrix Championship ("WJTC") is open to all players aged less than 16 on 31 December 2008, i.e. born in 1993 or later. There is no minimum ranking qualification for entering the tournament.

You must provide your real name and correct date of birth on entry, though as a junior player, you can choose for only your first name and the first letter of your surname to appear on the results pages, and this will automatically be done for players aged under 13 whether they ask for it to be done or not. The email address you register with will be made available during the tournament in order to make it possible for players to arrange their matches with you.

If you are under 13, please do not enter unless you have made sure that a parent or guardian is aware of all this and is happy for you to take part. Indeed, entrants aged 13 and above are advised to do this as well.

Tournament format and how often you will need to play

There is no specific date or time for each match, instead you arrange games with your opponents and there is a deadline for each round. The exact format of the tournament will depend on the number of entrants, but broadly it will be as follows:

Phase 1: A group phase lasting about 3-4 weeks - during this phase, you will need to arrange mutually convenient times with your opponents to play an average of two matches per week, with each match consisting of three games against the same opponent and hence probably lasting about an hour.

Phase 2: A knockout phase for the players who do best in the group phase - whether this phase will consist of 8 or 16 players and how many will qualify from each group will depend on the number of entrants.

If you qualify for the knockout phase, you may need to play up to one longer match (each lasting about 2 hours, though they can be split over more than one session) for each round that you survive, with the deadlines for each round being about a week apart.

Rules

The standard tournament rules apply, with time penalties if a player takes 15 minutes or more for a game and scoring using the Tournament Point system. Click to see the full rules in English, in French, in German or in Hungarian - they include notes on how to arrange games, what to do if an opponent does not show up and so on. There is now a shortened summary of the rules in English too.

Entry fee / Prize

There is no entry fee for the tournament. To go along with the prestige of being the World Junior Tantrix Champion, the winner will receive the World Junior Tantrix Championship trophy to keep until the end of the year - see the picture on the right. Names of winners are being engraved onto the empty space, so your achievement as the World Junior Champion will be there for all future winners to see!

There will also be certificates to keep for the players who finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Elo ratings

All games played will count towards the Tantrix Tournament Elo Ratings which will be used to decide seedings for future tournaments. See Tantrix Elo ratings for further information.