CHESS WESTERN PROVINCE

RULES FOR 2008 CLUB LEAGUE

1.                   LEAGUE PARTICIPATION

 

The WP League shall be open to applications from all paid up, affiliated clubs who are in good standing.

 

Clubs wanting to participate in the League must inform the League Secretary of the number of teams that they intend to enter.  This must be done by 16^th June 2008, so that League Fixtures and Pairings can be established in advance.

 

League fees shall be R350 per team in the “A” Division, and R300 per team in “B” & “C” Divisions and R250 in the “D” Division.  League fees must be paid by 16^th June 2008 and must accompany the number of teams entered as above. If a team does not pay a penalty of R50 would be charged, the onus is on the club to approach the Executive Committee if there is a problem.

 

Each Club must notify the League Secretary of the contact details of the President, Treasurer, and Secretary of their club by the 16^th June 2008.  These details are an essential store of information in case of query at any time during League.

 

A full list of the club players must reach the League Secretary on the 16^th June 2008. This list must have the provisional players name, surname and date of birth in board order. Players that are used later will simply be added to the list.-

 

 

2.                   LEAGUE FORMAT

 

The WP League shall consist of the following Divisions:

 

The “A” Division League consists of 12 teams.

The “B” Division League consists of 12 teams.

The “C” Division League consists of 12 teams.

The “D” Division League consists of the remaining teams.

 

The “A” Division, “B” Division and “C” Division shall be played in a Round Robin format.

 

The “D” Division shall play in either a Swiss System or a Round Robin system, depending on the number of teams entered.

 

No club may have more than 2 team in any one of the “A” or “B” or “C” Divisions.

 

3.                   TEAM REPRESENTATION

 

A team shall consist of 5 players.

 

No match may begin unless a team has a minimum of 3 players present.  Any team that fields only one or two players shall lose the match 5-0.

 

Any team which does not arrive for a match within 30 minutes of the scheduled start of the round will lose the match 5-0.

 

Any player who does not arrive for a match within 30 minutes of the schedule start of the round will lose the game.

 

Should there be fewer than 5 players in a team who arrive at the playing venue; the players must occupy the board orders starting from the top.  The only exception to this rule is if a player has confirmed his availability in a team, and is expected to arrive, but only informs his team captain after the scheduled start of play that he is unable to attend.  In this situation, the other games will have already commenced. The captain may make the decision but the top boards must not be left open

 

A team fielding a player or players short will have 1 point deducted from the teams final score, the point will not be added to the opposing team score.

 

Should a team have fewer than 5 players at the commencement of play, and the club also have another team playing in a lower section, players from the lower team may be promoted to the higher team.

 

If a player, team or club repeatedly misses rounds, disciplinary action will be taken.

 

4.                   BOARD ORDER SEQUENCE

 

A team list will be on display for anybody to check whether teams are playing in proper board order sequence.

 

Once the board order sequence has been determined for a club, all players from all teams in a club must adhere to that board order sequence.

 

Any player who plays out of this board order sequence will have his game defaulted.

 

In the event that a particular team has a Bye, then the names of the team members who would have played for that team must still be entered onto an official score-sheet and handed in to the tournament director.  It is not permissible to have the players who are having a Bye to play in a lower team in order to score advantage over their opponents.

 

A player new to the club may enter the list anywhere.  However, once he has played a match in a particular board order sequence, he must remain in that board order sequence for all other matches.

 

A new players may be fielded by a team in the last two rounds of the league.

 

5.                   PLAYERS

 

All players participating in the League must be paid up members of Chessa.

 

No player may be registered to play League for more than one club during a calendar year.

 

6.                   TIME CONTROLS

 

The starting time for each round shall be 19h30 sharp and players must be seated by 19h25.  All clocks will start at the scheduled starting time of 19h30. Each venue will have a wall clock on display to indicate the 20h00 cut off time, when a player has to be at his/her board.

The tournament supervisor/director will follow the clocks on display and not the individual watches of players.

 

The time controls for each division shall be:

 

“A” and “B” and “C” Divisions: 36 moves in 90 minutes, with a 15 minute incremental time to the finish.

 

“D” Division: 60/60

 

7.                   SCORING

 

Scoring shall be as follows: 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.

 

Should a team withdraw from the League, then all scores for that team shall be set to zero, and all scores against that team shall be set to 5.

 

A player who has a default from his opponent shall score 1 point.

 

No bonus points shall be awarded.

 

 

 

8.                   PROMOTION / RELEGATION

 

At the end of the League Competition, promotion and relegation status in each Division will automatically be determined from the scores achieved during the League competition.

 

The top two teams from each section will be promoted to the next higher section, while the bottom two teams will be relegated to the next lower section.

 

Should a team finish in the top two places and already have two teams in the League above, then promotion will be given to the third placed team.

 

In the event that a team does not meet the minimum requirement of playing 8 out of the 11 matches, then the team shall be automatically relegated to the next lower league.

 

In the event that a tie-break is needed for promotion / relegation because two or more teams have finished on the same score, then the tie-break will first consider the individual match score between the two teams, and award the benefit to the team with the higher score.  If the individual match scores are also equal, then the next tie-break will be the scores that each team scored against the team that finished top of that division.  If these are also equal, then the tie-break will proceed comparing the scores against the teams that finished 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, etc until a tie-break is achieved.

 

9.                   TOURNAMENT COMMITTEE

 

The Executive shall appoint a tournament committee.  This committee must include the League Secretary.

 

A member of the Tournament Committee shall remain until the last game is finished in every round.

 

All fully completed results sheets in triplicate must be handed to a member of the Tournament Committee by the end of the round. (1 copy from each team captain)

 

Should any disagreement occur at the board or a ruling be required in terms of the Rules of Chess or the League Rules, please ask for assistance from a member of the Tournament Committee.  Disagreements that occur must be handled maturely and not in a manner that causes a disturbance for other games in progress.

 

Any dispute/appeal must be handed in writing to a member of the Tournament Committee by the end of the round.

 

An appeals committee appointed by CWP Executive in accordance with the CWP constitution shall handle appeals involving the rules of chess.

 

10.                EQUIPMENT

 

Each team will supply 3 standard Staunton sets, 3 boards, as well as 3 working clocks for each match.

Tables will have name cards that indicate (eg. Belhar vs. Steinitz)

Equipment must be set up a minimum of10 minutes before the start of the round.

 

The Tournament Committee will supply results for each round.  Only official results slips may be used.

 

11.                GENERAL RULES

 

All games shall be played in accordance with the Rules of Chess as laid down by FIDE.

 

There will be no postponements of matches, and all matches must be played at the official venue on the indicated date and time.  It is the clubs duty to notify the League Secretary if, for any reasons, they cannot attend a round.  They must endeavour to do so, giving the League Secretary 24 hours notice, which is enough time to notify the opposing team.

 

Within 30 days of the end of the League the League Secretary shall submit to the Ratings and Registration Officer a full set of results for rating purposes.

 The official result must be filled in before the match.