Rules of ChessLaws of Chess The Laws of Chess cannot cover all possible situations that may arise during a game, nor can they regulate all administrative questions. Where cases are not precisely regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision by studying analogous situations which are discussed in the Laws. The Laws assume that arbiters have the necessary competence, sound judgement and absolute objectivity. Too detailed a rule might deprive the arbiter of his freedom of judgement and thus prevent him from finding the solution to a problem dictated by fairness, logic and special factors.
General rules for Swiss Systems for individual tournaments a) The number of rounds to be played is declared beforehand. Two players shall not play each other more than once.
Quickplay Finish If the player, having the move, has less than two minutes left on his clock, he may claim a draw before his flag falls. He shall summon the arbiter and may stop the clocks. If the arbiter has rejected the claim, the opponent shall be awarded two extra minutes time. The decision of the arbiter shall be final. A. Tiebreak System The choice of the Tiebreak System to be used in a tournament shall be decided in advance taking into account the type of the tournament (Swiss, Round Robin, Teams, etc.) and the special structure of players expected to participate in the tournament. For instance the application of Tiebreak rules using the ratings of players is inappropriate in tournaments where the ratings are not available or not consistent or not necessarily correct (e.g. Junior/Senior tournaments) For different types of tournaments the Tiebreak Rules recommended are as listed below:
(a) Individual Round Robin :
(b) Team Round Robin System:
(c) Individual Swiss Systems :
(d) Team Swiss Systems:
1. Tiebreak Rules using the Player's own results
2. Tiebreak Rules using a team's own results
3. Tiebreak Rules using the Results of Opponents
4. Tiebreak Rules using Ratings
The role of the Arbiter The arbiter may award either or both players additional time in the event of external disturbance of the game.
The recording of the moves It is forbidden to write the moves in advance. If a player has less than five minutes left on his clock at some stage in a period and does not have additional time of 30 seconds or more added with each move, then for the remainder of the period he is not obliged to meet the requirements of recording moves. Immediately after one flag has fallen the player must update his scoresheet completely before moving a piece on the chessboard.
If no complete scoresheet is available, the players must reconstruct the game on a second chessboard under the control of the arbiter or an assistant. He shall first record the actual game position, clock times and the number of moves made, if this information is available, before reconstruction takes place. At the conclusion of the game both players shall sign both scoresheets, indicating the result of the game. Even if incorrect, this result shall stand, unless the arbiter decides otherwise.
The game is drawn when a position is reached from which a checkmate cannot occur by any possible series of legal moves. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing this position was legal. Date Limit for Age & age Specification in Junior Tournaments 1. For the purpose of complying with the age-limit of a junior or youth competition, the age of the participant shall be based on the year in which he was born. 2. The year specifying the age limit is calculated by subtracting the age limit of the competition from the year in which the competition is held. Example:
Time Control There is a single time control for all major FIDE events: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.
Swiss system The Swiss Pairing System is designed to maximize the fair treatment of the players. This means that players having the same score should have met as equal opposition as possible during a tournament. The approach is the attempt to equalize the strengh of the opponents of all players in a given score group. Therefore the pairing of each round will tend to pair players who have high Sonnenborn-Berger (or Buchholz or Median) with players having low Sonnenborn Berger (or Bucchholz or Median) in the same score-group. The ratings of the players should be taken into consideration only when the Sonnenborn-Berger (or Buchholz or Median) is equal (e.g. in the first two rounds); otherwise, only current data of the tournament itself should be the basis for measuring the "strength" of the players and making the pairings thereafter. Unfinished (or temporarily non played) games shall be considered as draws for pairing purposes. "R" is the rating of a player "SG" (Score Group) is the group of players having the same number of points. Two players who have played each other shall not be paired again. Before making the pairings in each round, players in every SG (including "floaters" from another SG) shall be arranged in the order of their (1) Sonneborn-Berger (SB); (2) Buchholz; (3) Median (4) rating. The player with the highest SB shall be No. 1 in the SG. Players with the same SB shall be arranged in the order of their Buchholz and so on. For accelerating pairing, in the first two rounds, an ‘imaginary’ point shall be added to the score of each of the players in the top half of the initial list of participants (arranged in the order of their R). This imaginary point shall then be deducted before making the pairings of the third round. A player who has already received a point without playing shall not receive a bye. The player from the lowest SG, who has the lowest SB, will get the bye. If there are players with the same lowest SB in the lowest SG, then the player with the lowest Buchholz will get the bye and so on. The bye has no color. In the first round the color assigned to player No.1 shall be decided by drawing a lot. All other odd numbered players in the top half of the initial list shall receive the same color. The difference of the number of black and the number of white games shall not be greater than 2 or less than –2. A player shall not have the same color three times in a row. In each SG priority shall be given to pair the highest player (i.e. the player with the highest SB) with the lowest player in that SG that he has not already played. The second highest player shall be paired with the second lowest player, etc. In each SG priority shall be given to pair the highest player (i.e. the player with the highest SB) with the lowest player in that SG that he has not already played. The second highest player shall be paired with the second lowest player, etc.
The act of moving the pieces Each move must be made with one hand only.
The completion of the game The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The game is said to end in ‘stalemate’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the stalemate position was legal.
The chess clock At the time determined for the start of the game the clock of the player who has the white pieces is started. if a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by the player. However, the game is drawn, if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves.
Irregularities If during a game it is found that the initial position of the pieces was incorrect, the game shall be cancelled and a new game played. If during a game it is found that an illegal move, for the first two illegal moves by a player the arbiter shall give two minutes extra time to his opponent in each instance; for a third illegal move by the same player, the arbiter shall declare the game lost by this player. However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate theplayer’s king by any possible series of legal moves.
The conduct of the players The player having the move is not allowed to leave the playing area without permission of the arbiter. During play the players are forbidden to make use of any notes, sources of information or advice, or analyse on another chessboard Without the permission of the arbiter a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue, unless they are completely switched off. If any such device produces a sound, the player shall lose the game. The opponent shall win. However, if the opponent cannot win the game by any series of legalmoves, his score shall be a draw. |
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