Introduction

This document is effective from 18th May 2024

These Rules will be used in conjunction with the FIDE Laws of Chess and FIDE Tournament Rules where the latter are applicable.

Section A: General Rules for the Tournament

Rating and Grading

The tournament will be submitted to FIDE for rating. It is a condition of playing in the Guernsey International Chess Festival that the data submitted at the time of entry will be forwarded to FIDE as required to enable the games played to be rated by FIDE.

Allocation of Ratings

The ratings used for tournament will be in the following order of priority based on available rating.

F, E, R, Q

where the letters have the following meanings:

F            FIDE Rating (September 2024)

E            National Rating (September 2024)

R            FIDE Rapidplay Rating (September 2024)

Q            National Rapidplay Rating (September 2024)

Where a player has none of these, the organisers will assign the players in alphabetical order, after rated players.  

The ratings allocated by this process will be used for pairings and in the calculation of any relevant prizes. (See Prize

Calculation below for more information.)

Obtaining a FIDE Identification Number

All entrants must have a FIDE Identification Number at the time of submitting their entry, unless they wish their FIDE nationality to be Guernsey. Players without a FIDE Identification Number will have one created with registration to GCI at the time the rating files are submitted by FIDE. Please note: At the time of writing, changing

FIDE registered nationality at a later stage will cost 50 Euros notification fee payable by the player to FIDE. Additional transfer and compensation fee charges may also apply as set out in the FIDE handbook for titled and higher rated players. Players with a FIDE registration of RUS or BLR will not be eligible to enter events as per current FIDE policy.  They may however use FIDE’s fast track procedure to change their FIDE affiliation to FID as a basis for entering and providing they are otherwise eligible.

Section B: Tournament Specific Regulations

Playing Schedule

Registration Required                                                Yes, by 12:00 on Friday 12^th October 2024

                                                                                      (see Section E: Registration for more details).

Format                                                                          Swiss System

Time Control                                                               40 moves in 100 minutes, thereafter all remaining moves in a further

40 minutes, with a 30 second increment starting from move one.

Pairings

Pairings will be Published for each Round as soon as available and no later than one hour before each round.

Section C: Prizes

Cash prizes in pounds sterling.

Chessable prizes delivered electronically.

Challengers Tournament subject to a minimum of 40 entries. If there are less than 40 entries the organisers retain the right to transfer the Challengers Tournament entrants to the Open Tournament.

Grading prizes, Ladies prizes, Junior prizes, and veteran cash prizes subject to the number of qualifying entrants in each category in either tournament. 1^st prize will be awarded if there are 3 or more entrants in the category, 2^nd prize will be awarded if there are 5 or more entrants in the category, 3^rd prize will be awarded if there are 6 or more entrants in the category.

There is only one Chessable prize per category, and the winner will be decided by the tie-break criteria.
For each category  with a cash prize the following prizes will be awarded.
1^st Prize: 1 year PRO Chessable membership and a Chessable course voucher value of €200

2^nd Prize: A 6 months PRO Chessable membership

3^rd Prize: A 3 months PRO Chessable membership

Section D: Ranking

Ranking will be based on the points scored.

Where a place in a group is tied between two or more players, the following tie-breaks will be used for ranking purposes:

(a)  Sum of progressive scores

(b)  Median Bucholz

(c)   Most Wins

(d)  Draw by lot

Notwithstanding the above prizes will be shared equally for players finishing on equal points. (See Prize calculation)

Section E: Entry Fees

Free Entry

Entry is free for Grandmasters (GM or WGM), and International Masters (IM or WIM) entering before 15^th July 2024.

Entry Fees

The entry fee for any other case will be as follows:

–       Adult Early                   £85

–       Adult Standard            £95

–       Adult Late                    £105

–       Junior Early                  £65

–       Junior Standard           £75

–       Junior Late                    £85

Entry Fee Deadlines

Early                                                                                 Till 1st of March 2024

Standard                                                                          Till 14^th of September 2024

Late                                                                                  From 15^th of September 2024

Whilst there is no formal closing date for entries The tournament organisers reserve the right to refuse any entry.

Section F: Prize Calculations

The place prizes in all tournaments will be awarded to the player scoring the most points.

There will be no tie-breaks applied, and in the event of a tie on points, the cash prize money will be shared equally between all tied players.

The rating prizes will be calculated using the ranking in section D. A player is only eligible for a rating prize if:

–          The player has not defaulted any games in the tournament, and

–          The player had not withdrawn from the tournament (see the section on Byes below)

Players allocated a rating of 0 (see Allocation of Ratings in All Sections above) are not eligible for rating prizes.

Where there is a tie for a rating prize, the prize shall be won by the lowest-rated player involved in the tie.

Where a player wins a place prize and a rating prize, the player will win whichever prize is of the higher value.

Each player can win only one cash prize, the higher value one.

For additional prizes based on age, players are only eligible for the lowest age additional prize they are eligible for. For example, a player eligible for the Under 10 prize cannot also win the Under 12 prize. The calendar year definition is used for all age prizes; for example, an Under 18 is born after 15th October 2005.

Prize lists – Full prize lists for each tournament will be published online as soon as possible at the end of the tournaments.

The event organisers will contact all prize winners as soon as possible to arrange for the payment of prizes.

Section G: Byes

Half Point Byes may be requested (or a request may be cancelled) either:

–          At the time of entry, or

–          At any point before the pairings are published for each tournament. Where the pairings are published as soon as they are available, the request should be made no later than the conclusion of the last game in the round of the tournament being played. Such requests should be made only to the information desk at the event.

A player will score 0 if a Half Point Bye request is in the last three rounds.

Players who receive conditions cannot request a Half-Point Bye, and any bye requires confirmation by the organiser.

Players who miss more rounds than the number of Half Point Byes permitted in each tournament will be withdrawn from the tournament, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise.

Section H: Registration, Defaults & Pairing Alterations

Registration

Players must register in advance of the Guernsey International Chess Festival by the deadline specified above in the Guernsey International Chess Festival of Section B. This can be done by completing the registration form on the Guernsey International Chess Festival website.

If there is any question about registration, an e-mail shall be sent to festival@gcf.org.gg– Please note: Do not use any other e-mail address you may have for one of the event organisers, as the people who access them will not necessarily be accessing e-mails as the publication deadline approaches.

Players who do not register will not be included in the published pairings for Round 1.

Please see the Late Pairings section below about players in this situation. 

Defaults

A player who defaults a game will not be included in the pairings for the next round of the tournament or any subsequent round, unless the Chief Arbiter decides otherwise. Should this be decided, the Chief Arbiter reserves the right to apply a bond of £50, which will be returned at the end of the tournament if the player takes part in all remaining rounds. A player who defaults a second game in the tournament will be expelled from it, and shall not have the bond returned to him.

All re-arranged games listed below will be rated by FIDE.

Late Pairings

The Organisers may permit players to enter (or register) after the pairings have been published for Round 1 of a tournament. In general, these players will score 0 points in the rounds they have missed. However, the player may be paired against another player in this category, who has entered the same tournament, and that game shall be played as though part of the tournament. Should any players remain after this process, then they will be considered available for any of the pairing procedures below once the default time for the relevant tournament has elapsed.

Re-pairings

A player whose opponent does not arrive before the default time will be offered a re-pairing against someone in the same tournament as them. The player will have the following choices:

(1)                Accept the re-pairing

(2)                Decline the re-pairing, and have a 1 point bye.

If the player decides to accept the re-pairing, then the game will be played as though part of the tournament. The time limit for the game shall be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Section I: Appeals Procedure

Process

Decisions of an arbiter may be appealed to the chief arbiter and/ or Appeals Committee provided that

–          Such an appeal is received in writing within 30 minutes of the arbiter’s decision, and

–          Such an appeal is accompanied by an appeal fee of £100 which will be returned if the appeal is successful.

–          The Appeals Committee’s decision is final and binding in all matters.

Publishing the Appeals Committee

A list of members of the Appeals Committee will be published before the start of Round 1 of the Event.

Section J: Spectators and the Press

For the purposes of this section, all members of the Press are considered to be spectators.

Use of Cameras/Video Equipment

Spectators are welcome to take photographs and/or video footage of the tournament for the first 10 minutes of each round of the event and with the exception of any players who have asked for their photographs not to be taken.

Spectators must use either a camera or video equipment. The camera’s flash should be switched off. Mobile phones can only be used by the permission of an Arbiter.

The above regulations notwithstanding, the tournament’s official Press Officers are entitled to take photographs and/or video footage at other times during play with the permission of an arbiter.

Expelling Spectators

All arbiters are empowered to enforce the entirety of Section J, and may not be appealed against. They are empowered to ask spectators or the Press to leave the playing area immediately should they be in breach of these regulations. Should a spectator refuse this request, or show dissent by word or action to the arbiter, then the spectator’s accreditation may be revoked. In the case of a member of the Press, this includes the revocation of their Press badge.

Section K: Miscellaneous

Mobile Phones

During play mobile phones and other electronic devices must be completely switched off and placed in a bag below the table or on the table in front of the player. A player must not have any such device about their person or carry it with them during play. Players are advised that they may wish to use the free cloak room service provided by the venue in order to store their belongings during play.

A player will be immediately forfeited if during the game any such device either

(a)  makes any sound; or

(b)  is found to be switched on; or

(c)   is found to be about their person or being carried by them.

Anti-Cheating

Players may be scanned before or after their game.

Fair Play

The tournament is open to amateur players and therefore the prohibition of electronic devices in the playing venue is waived. However, under no circumstances shall a player be allowed to carry a mobile phone or other device capable of processing or transmitting chess analysis, whether switched on or off, working or not, on his body during play.

This includes, but is not limited to, carrying a device in a bag or in a pocket of a coat or jacket. Any player found carrying a device shall immediately be forfeited in the game. A second offence during the tournament shall imply an immediate ban from the tournament.

The tournament organisers and the arbiter will investigate any written report of cheating with due regard to FIDE guidelines.
 

Anti-bullying

The tournament organisers and the arbiter will not tolerate bullying and will deal proactively with any incident.

Parental Responsibility

Parents or guardians are responsible for their children during the tournament. The organisers and helpers are not able to act “in loco parentis” and are not able to take responsibility for any child’s actions, or for the actions of anyone that may affect your child.

Liability

The organisers accept no responsibility for any loss, theft or accident during the tournament.

Zero Tolerance of Abuse

The Chief Arbiter is empowered to expel a player from all tournaments entered, either for a number or rounds, a number of days, or in their entirety, who shows dissent by word or action towards an arbiter, or any member of staff connected with the Guernsey International Chess Festival.

Pairing Method

Swiss-Manager Unicode-Version 2023.

Draw Offers/Agreed Draws

FIDE Laws of Chess provides that players can offer or agree to a draw when both players have made at least one move.

Prizes

The tournament organisers reserve the right to amend the published Prizes in the light of entries. Any changes in the prizes will be confirmed not later than the Official Opening of the Tournament.