Chess

The competition shall be held in accordance with the General Rules of the Games and those of FIDE. The competition shall be smoke free.

  1. Each team shall, in principle, consist of five players and one reserve. One of the team members shall act as captain.
  2. Should the overall number of registered participants be less than that required for a meaningful competition between five-player teams, the teams may be reduced to four or even three players each, subject to approval at the pre-Games captains’ meeting. In exceptional circumstances, when even this proves impractical, the competition may be conducted under the SWISS system of individual encounters with the players’ individual results being added up to create a team result.
  3. Participants are expected to have a basic knowledge and standard of chess play corresponding to a minimum Elo rating of 1400 (Class C) and some tournament experience, including use of the chess clocks and recording of moves.
  4. Each team shall submit a list of its players by order of merit to the tournament director, for the alignment of the players from the first to the fifth boards. The ranking of the players shall be strictly respected throughout the competition.
  5. At the beginning of the competition, the team captains shall appoint a jury (one representative from each team) to settle any dispute that may arise. The jury members shall be present throughout the competition and the jury’s decisions, by simple majority, shall be final.
  6. The host organization shall provide the services of a qualified tournament director (non-playing) to keep the match records, to ensure the strict observation of the rules and the smooth functioning of the competition, and to convene the jury, if necessary.
  7. The host organization shall provide chess clocks and Staunton-type chess sets.
  8. The host organization shall draw up the schedule of matches in accordance with the General Rules of the Games.
  9. Each team shall play against all other teams.
  10. Each match shall be played on five boards, with each player opposite the adversary of the same ranking (cf. paragraph 4). A reserve may be substituted to play only on the fifth board, with the other players moving up one board as applicable according to the set alignment for the team.
  11. The first-mentioned team on the schedule of matches shall play white on the odd-numbered boards.
  12. Teams shall be aligned on opposing sides. The player with the black pieces shall choose on which side of the board the clock will be placed. A player must move his/her piece and operate his/her clock with the same hand.
  13. Each player shall have 60 minutes at his/her disposal for each game. If a player exhausts his/her time allocation before the end of the game, he/she loses on time if the opposing player still has sufficient material for a checkmate. If a checkmate is not possible, the game will be ruled a draw.
  14. If a player has not arrived 30 minutes after a match has officially begun, he/she shall lose the game by default.
  15. A player may claim, within the 60 minutes allotted to him/her, a theoretical draw in the event of the situation on the board being objectively drawn. If the opponent refuses the draw, the clock shall be stopped and the jury shall be convened to settle the dispute. If the claim is rejected, the clocks shall be restarted and the game completed. A penalty of five minutes may be imposed by the jury for frivolous claims.
  16. The recording of moves is optional, but a player who does not record moves may lose this means of claiming a draw by repetition of moves or of contesting the result.
  17. If a dispute arises, a player may request the intervention of the tournament director to stop the clock and to convene the jury. In this case, the clocks of the jury members shall also be stopped.
  18. Each game won shall count as one point for the winner, and each game drawn shall count as half a point for both players.
  19. The team obtaining the most game points during a match shall win the match. Match points shall be scored as one point for the winning team and half a point for both teams in the case of a draw.
  20. At the end of each round, the tournament director shall communicate the results in writing to the Control Commission, together with the match records duly signed by the captains, who may enter thereon such comments and objections they may consider necessary.
  21. The winner of the competition shall be the team with the highest total of match points (cf. paragraph 19) and the ranking of the other teams shall be according to their respective match point totals. In the case of a tie, the ranking shall be decided according to the number of game points won as a team (cf. paragraph 18). If a tie still persists, the number of games won on the first board, and if necessary, on each successive board, is taken into consideration until a decisive result is obtained.
  22. Trophies shall be awarded to the first, second and third ranked teams.
  23. After the close of the regular tournament by teams, a Blitz competition shall be organized. This is voluntary and in no way contributes to the overall team positions. Participation of players would be individual (not in teams). Each game would be limited to five minutes per player. The organization of the competition and the pairing of players for each round would be conducted under the SWISS system, according to the number of players enrolled. The three highest scorers may be awarded individual prizes – pending the host organisation’s approval. In the case of a tie, the result of the game between the tied players would determine the outcome.
  24. At the end of the competitions, the jury shall meet to announce the results.