Study of Russian qualified junior chess players contingent

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Postgraduate student R.V. Akimushkin1
PhD, Associate Professor A.Ya. Gabbazova1
1Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism (SCOLIPE), Moscow

Objective of the study was to study the contingent of junior (school-age) chess players of Russia.
Methods and structure of the study. We applied a statistical analysis to study the rating list of the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) of November 18, 2019.
Study results and conclusions. It was found that nowadays there are just under 169,000 Russian schoolchildren engaged in elite chess. The peak involvement in chess occurs at the age of 9-10 years (30% of the total contingent of qualified junior chess players), and the main contingent of those participating in chess competitions is presented by the 8-12 year-old athletes (65%).
Within each age developmental period (by year of birth), 22-23% of junior chess players in the Russian Federation are girls (22.7% of the entire chess players aged from 6 to 18 years). We called this phenomenon "the female chess playing population", and it requires additional investigation and research.
The junior male chess players demonstrated a stable growth of sports skills at school age, while the female ones were found to have a fall in the progress rates at the age of 11-12 years (in puberty) and at 17 years, which is, apparently, associated with a shift in priorities towards professional self-determination.
Therefore, the study findings can be used to improve the system of sports training of junior chess players, develop relevant directions of scientific research in chess sport and scientific and methodological support of the age- and gender-sensitive educational system.

Keywords: junior skilled chess players, RCF rating list, rating dynamics, age, gender characteristics, classic chess, rapid chess.

References

  1. Gabbazova A.Ya. Issledovanie intellektualnyih sposobnostey shahmatistov vyisokoy kvalifikatsii [Study of intellectual abilities of elite chess players], Sportivny psikholog. 2014. no. 3. pp. 19-23.
  2. Gabbazova A.Ya., Varnavskiy S.A., Ivanova Ya.V. Sravnitelny analiz intellektualnykh sposobnostey shakhmatistov i shakhmatistok vysokoy kvalifikatsii [Comparative analysis of intellectual abilities of highly skilled chess players].Sportivny psikholog. 2017. no. 1 (44). pp. 71-73.
  3. Reyting-list RShF [RCF Rating List]. Available at: http://www.ratings.ruchess.ru/. 18.11.2019