THE GAP CHESS CLUB - TOURNAMENT RULES

(Current: 2 December 2016)

Foreword: These rules shall be used for conducting all tournaments of The Gap Chess Club after 1 January 1997. Amendments to these rules can only be made at a General Meeting of Club Members. For an amendment to be successful it must be met with approval by a majority of Club Members at the General Meeting.  ** Includes amendments passed at The Gap Chess Club Annual General Meetings of 03/12/1999, 06/12/2002, 05/12/2003, 04/12/2004, 10/12/2010, 2/12/2016 **

 

Flood Cup

Best All-Rounder Trophy

Stuart Wilson Trophy (One Hour)

Maiden Trophy

Allegro Tournament (15 minutes)

Handicap Trophy

Lightning Tournament (5 minutes)

Joe Tarnawski Trophy

All other Tournaments

Tie-Breaks

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FLOOD CUP

Rule 1 The DOP (Director of Play) or Secretary will notify members verbally and/or by post and/or by phone of the commencement date.

Rule 2 Participation is restricted to those whom the DOP and/or the committee deem to be present or intending bona-fide club members and players.

Rule 3 An entry fee, to be determined by the committee, will be levied on participants with a discount to apply for juniors, pensioners, unemployed and students. This will be paid to assist in the provision of prizes.

Rule 4 A schedule of rounds will be drawn up before the commencement of the tournament with a gap of no more than two weeks between rounds.

Rule 5 The format of the Flood Cup will be determined by the DOP subject to the approval of the committee. Generally the format shall be:

(i) 6 entries or less: Double Round-Robin

(ii) from 7 to 16 entries: Round-Robin or 7 Round Swiss

(iii) 17 entries or more: 7 or 9 Round Swiss.

Rule 6 The DOP is to ensure that the draw for the next round is decided within two days of the conclusion of the previous round. For the purpose of the draw, the DOP shall use his/her discretion on any adjourned games and will not let these delay the draw of the next round.

Rule 7 Games are to be played on the first scheduled night of each round unless:

(a) there is a prior agreement between the players,

and the DOP is notified, or

(b) a player has a commitment from an earlier round, or

(c) a player has a commitment from an inter-club match.

Clocks will be started no later than 8.30p.m. on the scheduled night unless the circumstances in (a), (b) or (c) have occurred.

Rule 8 A player will be deemed to have withdrawn after 4 consecutive weeks of absence without prior advice. If a player withdraws after playing less than half his/her games (Round-Robin only) all results from his/her games will be removed from the final tournament crosstable (except for rating purposes).

Rule 9 Players should approach the tournament in a sporting manner.

Rule 10 FIDE rules of chess will be used.

Rule 11 The latest ACF ratings will be used to determine tournament seeding. If a player is unrated, he/she shall be allotted a provisional rating to be determined by the DOP.

Rule 12 Games can only be adjourned by the DOP at their discretion. If exceptional circumstances arise and the DOP is absent, the players can agree to an adjournment.

Rule 13 Rate of Play: 70 minutes, plus 30 seconds per move (from move one).

Rule 14 Tie-breaks will apply as per appendix A.

Rule 15 Prizes: First: Flood Cup plus individual trophy.

Runner-up: prize / trophy.

Ratings prizes: to be based upon the number of entries in each rating division.

Rule 16 In the event of a tie the trophy shall be engraved with both names and two personal trophies will be awarded. The major trophy shall be held by each winner for six months.

Rule 17 A panel of three persons, one of whom shall be the DOP, will assess submitted games, and award best game prizes accordingly.

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HANDICAP

The object of this tournament is to provide lower rated players with an equal opportunity of victory.

Rule 1 Except as modified by the following, the rules shall be those of the Flood Cup. This tournament may be combined with the Flood Cup.

Rule 2 The tournament format shall be determined by the DOP subject to approval from the committee.

Rule 3 The DOP shall be responsible for the awarding of handicap points which will favour the lower rated players.

Rule 4 If the tournament is combined with the Flood Cup the Rate of Play shall be as in that tournament. Otherwise, the Rate of Play shall be 90 minutes per player for the first 40 moves, then a 15 minute Allegro finish.

Rule 5 Tie-breaks will not apply.

Rule 6 Prizes: First: Foster Trophy plus individual trophy.

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MAIDEN

Rule 1 Except as modified by the following, the rules shall be those of the Flood Cup. This tournament may be combined with the Stuart Wilson Trophy (One Hour).

Rule 2 No member shall be eligible to enter this tournament if he/she has already won (or come equal first in) any of the following tournaments:

  • Flood Cup
  • Stuart Wilson Trophy / One Hour
  • Allegro
  • Lightning
  • Maiden.

Rule 3 No member shall be eligible to enter this tournament if he/she has an ACF/ELO rating in excess of 1500 at commencement of this tournament.

Rule 4 The tournament format shall be determined by the DOP subject to approval from the committee.

Rule 5 If the tournament is combined with the Stuart Wilson Trophy (One Hour) the time limit shall be 60 minutes per player. Otherwise the time limit shall be 90 minutes per player for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes to finish.

Rule 6 Tie-breaks will apply as per appendix A.

Rule 7 Prizes: First: Granger Trophy plus individual trophy.

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STUART WILSON TROPHY (ONE HOUR)

Rule 1 Except as modified by the following, the rules shall be those of the Flood Cup.

Rule 2 The tournament format shall be determined by the DOP subject to approval from the committee.

Rule 3 Time limit: 60 minutes, plus 10 extra seconds per move (from move one).

Rule 4 Tie-breaks will apply as per appendix A.

Rule 5 Prizes: First: Stuart Wilson Trophy plus individual trophy.

Runner-up: prize / trophy.

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ALL OTHER TOURNAMENTS

NOT SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED IN THESE RULES

Rule 1 The tournament format shall be determined by the DOP subject to approval from the committee.

Rule 2 Except as modified by the DOP and/or the committee, the rules shall be those of the Flood Cup.

Rule 3 Time limit and prizes shall be determined by the DOP subject to approval from the committee.

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BEST ALL-ROUNDER (BAR) TROPHY

Rule 1 The following events must be completed within a given year for the BAR Trophy to be awarded:

1. Flood Cup

2. Stuart Wilson Trophy

3. Allegro

4. Lightning

Rule 2 To be eligible to win the BAR Trophy a player must have competed in, and completed at least half the rounds in, at least three of the four tournaments listed above (refer Rule 1) which were staged during the year.

Rule 3 Points will be assigned according to final placings in the tournaments, as follows:

Flood Cup

1st 30 2nd 24

3rd 20 4th 18 5th 16 6th 14 7th 12

8th 10 9th 8 10th 6 11th 4 12th 2

All other tournaments

1st 20 2nd 18 3rd 16 4th 14 5th 12

6th 10 7th 8 8th 6 9th 4 10th 2

In the event of a place tie, the joint scores will be added together and divided by the number of players tying.

Rule 4 Each eligible player will receive a points total being the sum of the points scores from the four tournaments. The BAR Trophy will be awarded to the eligible player with the highest number of points.

Rule 5 In the case of a tie between two or more players with the same points total, the tie will be broken as follows:

Tie-break total =             (% score in Flood) * 1.5

                              +    (% score in Hour)

                              +    (% score in Allegro)

                              +    (% score in Lightning)

Scores in each tournament = Points divided by Games. Scores in each tournament will not include any play-off games.

Rule 6 Prizes: First: BAR Trophy plus individual trophy.

Rule 7 In the event of a tie the trophy shall be engraved with both names and two personal trophies will be awarded. The major trophy shall be held by each winner for six months.

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LIGHTNING

Rule 1 The format of this tournament shall be round-robin. Each round shall consist of the following number of games against each opponent:

(i) 8 entries or less: FOUR games

(ii) from 9 to 16 entries: TWO or FOUR games (at the discretion of the DOP)

(iii) 17 entries or more: TWO games.

Rule 2 An entry fee, to be determined by the committee, will be levied on participants with a discount to apply for juniors, pensioners, unemployed and students. This will be paid to assist in the provision of prizes.

Rule 3 FIDE rules of chess will be used except insofar as these rules expressly state otherwise.

Rule 4 Time limit: 5 minutes per player to complete all moves.

Rule 5 Tie-breaks will apply as per appendix A.

Rule 6 Prizes: First: prize / trophy.

Runner-up: prize / trophy.

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ALLEGRO

Rule 1 Except as modified by the following, the rules shall be those of the Lightning.

Rule 2 The format of this tournament shall be round-robin. Each round shall consist of TWO games against each opponent. If there are more than 20 entries each round may be reduced to a single game against each opponent and/or qualifying stages may be used.

Rule 3 Time limit: 10 minutes, plus 10 extra seconds per move (from move one).

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JOE TARNAWSKI TROPHY

This trophy will be awarded to the player with the highest number of points:

% of total points obtained in Lightning + % of total points obtained in Allegro.

(note: if there are divisions- top division / final round only)

Note: at his specific request, if Joe Tarnawski obtains the most points, the trophy will be awarded to the player obtaining the next highest number of points.

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Appendix A:

TIE-BREAKS

ALL TOURNAMENTS (except Handicap)

1. In the instance of a tie for first place only, a play-off match is required.
2. Both players play a single play-off game (or if 3 or more tied, all players play a single round of play-off games) using the same time control as in the tournament proper.
3. (a) If an odd number of games is played per round in the tournament proper, the colours used in the play-off are a reversal of the colours used between opponents during the tournament proper (exception: no player should have an excess of two or more of the same colour in the play-off round; the DOP should make adjustments in this instance).
(b) If an even number of games is played in each round a new draw for colours will be made for the play-off.
4. a) For tournaments under 60 minutes: If there is still a tie after the play-off, colours are reversed and a further play-off occurs between the tied players. This process is repeated until there is a decisive result.
b) For tournaments 60 minutes or longer: If the tie-break is inconclusive (i.e. a draw), the tied players are declared joint winners. (note: this is necessary as time restraints would normally preclude the possibility of further play-off)

5. Other placings (i.e. Second to Last) are determined in the following order in a Round-Robin competition:
(a) Neustadtl Score- i.e. the sum of a player's defeated opponent's scores
plus half the sum of the scores of the opponents who drew with the player
(b) The individual results between the tied players
(c) The number of wins.
If the players are still even, they share the ranking in the final table.

6. Other placings (i.e. Second to Last) are determined in the following order in a Swiss competition (following guidelines set out in the FIDE tie-breaking order of preference):
(a) Buchholz Score- i.e. the sum of the final scores of a player's opponents
(note: A player's opponent's score is counted as half for a round in which the opponent did not play. This including forfeits, byes or where the opponent has withdrawn from the tournament).
(b) Median Buchholz - i.e. the sum of the opponent's score, excluding the highest and lowest of these
(c) The individual results between the tied players, but only if they have both or all played each other
(d) The number of wins.
If the players are still even, they share the ranking in the final table.

HANDICAP

Due to the nature of this tournament, no tie-breaks shall apply. Players on equal handicap points share that placing.

 

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