Bury and Rochdale Chess League Match Rules
The purpose of the league is to provide players in the region the opportunity to play competitive chess. This is intended to be a friendly league, with rules kept to a minimum, but with players keeping to the spirit of the league as well as the letter of the rules. The laws of chess are to apply to all games.
1. REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS
a)Any club with more than one team shall be required to register two players for each team other than for the lowest ranked team and those players shall not be permitted to play for a team lower than the team for which they are registered. Players of a higher strength than the registered players may not play for a lower team.
b)All players must be registered with the ECF. If a non-registered player does play, then any levy imposed by the ECF shall be paid by his club.
c)In the past some players have played for more than one club in the same season. This is acceptable, provided that the teams are in different divisions, they are not one of the registered players defined in a) and that the Grading Secretary is notified and agrees. Once a player has represented one team in the cup, he may not play for another team in the cup that year.
2. FIXTURES
a)Clubs are issued with fixtures prior to the commencement of the season. It is recognised that there are other commitments and therefore clubs may need to re-arrange games. This should be done prior to the season if possible, but in any event the Grading Officer should be advised of any alterations. If it is necessary to postpone a game due to situations beyond control, such as adverse weather or sudden serious illness, this should be done with the maximum notice possible. If possible the home team should give three possible alternative dates, one of which should be chosen. The grading officer should be notified of the corrected date.
b)If a team have more than one team in the same division, they must play each other, before they play anybody else. If the teams play each other twice, this applies to both halves of the year.
3. TEAM LISTS
a)Each captain shall show his team list to the other captain before the commencement of the match.
b)A team should put its players in order of strength, which should be grading order as per the August list. If form justifies otherwise, there can be a 10 point leeway in the grading.
4. CHOICE OF COLOUR
The captains shall toss for choice of colour, with the winner of the toss choosing white on boards 1 and 4 or white 2 & 3.
5. STARTING TIMES
a)Matches shall start at 7.30 p.m. unless previously agreed otherwise.
b)Any board not filled 30 minutes after the agreed starting time shall be lost by default.
6. CLOCKS
a)Clocks shall be used.
b)The time control shall be at least 28 moves in 60 minutes, followed by an allegro finish for which 15 minutes is added. If both captains agree, the time control shall be at least 35 moves in 75 minutes, with a similar allegro finish.
7. SCORING
a)Game points shall be 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, 0 for a loss. Match points shall be 2 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss.
b)If the game points are equal in a knockout match, the team lowest board shall be deleted until a result is obtained. A knockout match shall be drawn only if all games are drawn.
8 NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS
a) The captain of the winning team shall send the result to the Grading Officer.
b)In the case of a drawn match, the home captain shall send the result card.
9 DISPUTES
a)This is intended to be a friendly league, but it is accepted that competition can cause disagreements. If a dispute cannot be resolved between the captains, then this should be referred to the Grading Secretary, who may wish to involve other officials.
b)The officials responsible for resolving any dispute are the Chairman, the Secretary and the Grading Officer. If the dispute involves one or more of those officials or his club, then he should step down from making a decision on this occasion.
c)It is therefore desirable that the three officials named above be from different clubs.
d)If b) means that there are inadequate officials to make a decision, the Trophy Officer should be requested to assist in the resolution.
10 TROPHIES
a)The trophies shall remain the property of the league, although replicas may be provided to be retained by the club/player.
b)The trophies shall be presented to the winners at the league AGM for the purposes of photographs, but shall then be retained by the Trophy Officer.
c)Individual winners from each division shall receive a trophy/replica. This will be the player with the highest percentage results, provided that the player has played at least 75% of possible games for the team including league and cup games.
d)In the event of there being a tie, the trophy will go to the player on the higher board.