Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The DHLC Classical Tourney 4 (G60+30s) is set to begin!!
Well, here we are after a not so brief hiatus, ready to start our fourth Classical Tournament. I appreciate everyone's patience and it is exciting to see so many returning players as well as new signups coming to play. We have groups of 1500+, U1500, U1300, and U1100. (Note - I placed myself in the U1100 group just to give one more player to the group to allow for a bye week for a player. I will only play if there is a vacancy.)
This is a long announcement but it is worth reading.
First, the rules. Some new ones this time around, those will be highlighted in GREEN text.
- Time control for this tourney will be 60 minutes plus 30 sec increment.
- All byes will now be just a ½ point. Only one requested bye per tournament will score a ½ point.
- This tournament will be 6 weeks, each round 1 week except for round 5 which will last 2 weeks to allow for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.
- All first round games must be completed and posted by Monday, 31-Oct at 18:00 EDT (Monday, 31-Oct 22:00 UTC). Remember this when scheduling. Also remember that you may be playing a player in a much different time zone, take that into account when you offer times.
- We play negotiated chess games. This implies that each pair of players must find a mutual, suitable day and time to start their game. VERY IMPORTANT – if an agreeable time cannot be reached you can settle on a scheduling draw. However, both sides must make a good faith effort to reach a playable time.
- Failure to attempt to negotiate a playing time in good faith will results in a 1 week, 0-point bye and a “yellow card”. Two weeks in the same tourney will result in a “red card” and removal from the tournament.
- It is a good idea to start negotiating as soon as possible to allow the maximum amount of time to come to an agreement. All negotiations must take place in the chess.com messaging system unless both players agree to use a different method.
- We recommend that the players make each other aware of all their availability (PA) at the very beginning of their discussion. In our discussions, we will only consider the starting time of the game, and not its duration. Make sure that you have enough time to play a long game that would reach the endgame. For instance, a 60min + 30sec increment, 60 move game (60 moves per side), will last for 3 hours, if both players use all their time.
- A round lasts 1 week and starts Monday @ 10:00 PM US ET (Tuesday @ 3:00AM UTC) and ends on Monday @ 6:00 PM US ET (10:00PM UTC). We use the US Eastern Time (US ET; New York) or UTC/GMT if both players are familiar with that time in any discussion. (One week per round except for round 5, see above)
- All players need to be aware of when time changes happen in their country. In the US this will happen at 2am on 6-November in areas that observe it, other countries (if they change) may be different. PLEASE ENSURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS WHEN YOU NEGOTIATE/SCHEDULE FOR THAT WEEK. (A very useful link from @chevezo for finding time in different time zones for scheduling - https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html Thanks @chavezo!)
- Both players will post the day and starting time for a game in the comments of the Announcement associated to the pairings. A "thumbs up" to the posted game time is considered an acknowledgement/second posting of the accepted game time. Then there is no need to do anything else.
- Both players have the responsibility to show up for the game on time. It is suggested that you "Friend" the person before the game to make it easy to challenge/find your opponent. We recommend that the players arrive in LIVE chess 5 minutes before the beginning of the game. The players have a 10-minute period of grace in case they are late. After the period of grace has passed, the non-faulty player can claim the win by posting in the Comments associated to the pairings announcements. Please send a screen capture that shows what time it is, proving that the opponent did not show up.
- If there are any disputes/issues with negotiating or your opponent not showing for the game, screenshots are always needed. Please submit screenshots when informing/requesting no-shows/no negotiations. Any disputes need to be done via DM to me, not in the comments of the round
- The winner of the game must post the result of the game, as well as a link that leads to it, in the Comments associated to the pairings announcements.. In case of a draw, both players must post.
What follows are among the things that are forbidden and considered as cheating.
Using an engine.
Being helped by another person.
Using databases and books.
Testing variations during the game.
Behaving in such way as to disturb the other player, e.g., making multiple draw offers.
Any player who is found guilty of one of the offenses explained above is liable to be suspended, or even banned.
A question that is often asked in these types of tournaments:
Q. Can I use a real chessboard?
A. It is permitted to use a physical chess board to play the game (and probably is a good idea as well!) if the player does not use it to test variations during the game. A piece touched must remain a piece played, just like in OTB chess. The player should make sure that the sound of his/her computer is turned ON so that the player is aware when the opponent plays a move.
Now, on with the pairings!
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!
DHLC Classical Tourney #4 1500+ Pairings
DHLC Classical Tourney #4 U1500 Pairings
DHLC Classical Tourney #4 1300 Pairings
DHLC Classical Tourney #4 U1100 Pairings
That's all I have for now, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask, either here or by sending me a direct message. I will do my best to respond/answer within just a few hours (unless I am sleeping ...)
