Allocation of Ratings in All Sections

The ratings used for each tournament will be in the following order of priority, where the following letters are:

E – ECF Grade
Q – ECF Rapidplay Grade
F – FIDE Rating
R – FIDE Rapidplay Rating
B – FIDE Blitz Rating

Where a player has none of these, the player will either be rated 0, or the organisers will assign an estimate based on all available data on a case-by-case basis.
The Organisers reserve the right to use other National Elo ratings (e.g. a Welsh domestic rating instead of an ECF grade) on a case-by-case basis.

 

Championship FE Major Open FE Over 50 FE Over 65 FE Over 50 U150 EF Over 65 U150 EF Under 16 FE Under 15 FE Under 14 FE Under 13 FE Under 12 FE Under 11 EQ Under 10 EQ Under 9 EQ Under 8 QE

Under 180 EF Under 160 EF Under 140 EQ Under 120 EQ Week 1 AM Open FE Week 1 PM Open FE Week 2 AM Open FE Week 2 PM Open FE Weekend Open FE Weekend U150 EF Weekend U120 EQ Rapidplay Open RFQE Rapidplay U150 RFQE Rapidplay U120 RFQE Blitz BRFQE

Championship Play-Off Format

In the event of a tie at the end of the Championship, there will be a playoff, held immediately after the prizegiving for the other events.
The n tied players will seeded, from 1 to n, based on their tournament performance rating (TPR) for the tournament. This TPR will be calculated using the assigned ratings outlined above in this document.

Where n > 8, only the top 8 players will qualify for the playoffs.

Where players are tied on TPR, then the winner of the head-to-head game between the players, if one was played, shall split the tie: The winner of the game shall be placed higher. If this game was a draw, then the higher seed shall be determined by lot.

Playoff Match Formats

The playoffs will be run on a knockout basis, and matches within this format will be played in one of the following formats:

Format 1 – Two players are tied
Round 1 Two games, G/20 + 10’
Round 2 If still tied, two games, G/5 + 3’
Round 3 If still tied, an Armageddon game, white G/5, black G/4, 2’ from move 61.

Format 2 – More than two players are tied
Round 1 Two games, G/10 + 5’
Round 2 If still tied, an Armageddon game, white G/5, black G/4, 2’ from move 61

A coin toss will be performed before each round. The winner of the toss can choose to have white in the first or second game of that round. The player will have black in the other game. In the case of the Armageddon game, the winner of the toss can choose to have white or black in that game.

In the Armageddon game, the black player shall need only to draw the game to win the match.

The playoff match will end on the first occasion that a player is winning the match at the end of a round.

Players are entitled to a 10-minute break between each game within a match, and a 20-minute break between each match.

Pairings for the Playoff Matches

The pairings for the playoffs will be determined by the seeding established above …

3-player	SF: 2 v 3 Final: 1 v Winner SF
4-player	SF: (1) 1 v 4 | (2) 2 v 3 Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
5-player	QF: 4 v 5 SF: (1) 1 v Winner QF | (2) 2 v 3 Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
6-player	QF: (1) 3 v 6 | (2) 4 v 5 SF: (1) 1 v Winner QF2 | (2) 2 v Winner QF1 Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
7-player	QF: (1) 2 v 7 | (2) 3 v 6 | (3) 4 v 5 SF: (1) 1 v Winner QF3 | (2) Winner QF1 v Winner QF2 Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
8-player	QF: (1) 1 v 8 | (2) 2 v 7 | (3) 3 v 6 | (4) 4 v 5 SF: (1) Winner QF1 v Winner QF4 | (2) Winner QF2 v Winner QF3 Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

Prize Money

Where a Championship playoff is required, 90% of the prize money won by players involved in the tie will be shared between the players in the tie. The remaining 10% of the prize money will be awarded to the player who wins the Championship after the playoff.

Rules for all Tournaments

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.

Cross-pairings: Should a re-pairing against someone in the same tournament not be possible, then a player may be offered a cross-pairing against a player who has entered a different section running concurrently. The player will have the following choices:
(1) Accept the cross-pairing
(2) Decline the cross-pairing, and have a 1 point bye.
Games involved in cross pairings will only count towards grading and each player will get 1 point bye in their tournament.

Filler pairings: Should neither a re-pairing nor a cross-pairing be possible, then the player may be offered a game against a filler. This will be a player who is not playing in any tournament going on at the time, but is nevertheless able to play a game at that time. The player will have the following choices:
(1) Accept the filler pairing
(2) Decline the filler pairing, and have a 1 point bye.
If the player decides to accept the filler pairing, then the game will count as though part of the tournament only if the filler is eligible to play in the tournament. The time limit for the game shall be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Note: For clarification, all filler pairings offered to players in the Championship proper are considered to be eligible, whether or not they have qualified.

Defaults: A player who defaults a game will not be included in the pairings for the next round of the tournament, unless the Chief Arbiter and Organiser together decide otherwise. Should this be decided, the Organiser reserves the right to apply a bond, equivalent to the tournament entry fee or £100, whichever is lower, 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.

Byes: Requesting a half point bye does not ensure a player will not be awarded a pairing-allocated bye at some point during the tournament. Players do not need to attend if they have been awarded a bye, however if they do attend, they may play as part of a re-pairing, cross-pairing, or a filler pairing as above. In this case, the player has the right to refuse this pairing and take the pairing-allocated bye.

Mobile Phones

Arbiters have been instructed to apply a revised version of Article 11.3.b of the FIDE Laws of Chess with effect from 1st October 2014. At these Championships the following provisions will apply:

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.

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.

Zero Tolerance to 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.