2018 Rules

Please read the rules for 2018, they remain basically the same as 2017.  Please comment with any suggestions.   Thanks.

The rules for the 2018 Season

 


1a. All teams must represent a county, a region, a city or a town in the UK and Ireland.  Players can choose to represent any team of their choice.  There are no restrictions concerning being born, living or working in the team's area.  

1b.  Players can be members of two or more county groups, but a player cannot play for more than one team in the county championship in a single season, even if they are in different divisions. It is the responsibility of the team admins to make sure that their members are aware of this rule and to report when it is broken. Once a player has played for one team that is his/her team for the rest of the season and any results gained for any other team will be forfeited if the controller of the division is made aware.  If it is unclear who the first team the player played for eg they play for two teams in the same month, then all their results will be forfeited. 
 

2.The league will be divided into 3 divisions, divisions 1, 2 and 3. Teams will be allocated to divisions using their finishing places in the 2017 season. All new teams will start in division 3.  It is the aim that two teams will be promoted and relegated from each division at the end of the season. 
 But this may change if new teams join or teams leave the competition. 

3a .There will be a knock out cup competition in 2018.  Teams need to inform the controller if they don’t wish to take part. Each round will start as soon as all the results are in from the previous round. Once a team has an unassailable lead the result can be declared. Please report results promptly. 

3b.  If a match is drawn, the result of the last board will be eliminated, and so on until their is a winner.

  If board elimination still doesn't provide a winner (i.e. all games end 1-1) then the team with the most time outs in the match will lose.  Finally if the teams still can't be separated then a team will be chosen at random to progress to the next round as a replay would hold up the rest of the competition.  The only exception to all the above is...If a draw occurs in the final round of the cup, both teams share the title of Cup Champions.

4. The controller will be responsible for organising the fixtures and compiling the results. In the first instance, any issues or disagreements should be discussed on the county council forum for all to see in an open manner, rather than contacting the controller directly. The controller’s decision after discussion is final. If an issue affects the controller’s team then the matter will be need to be decided by impartial members of the council. Ideally, each division will have its own controller who doesn’t have a team in that division.


5. The deadline for new teams entering the competition will be the 1st December 2017. Any new teams entering the competition will compete in division 3.


6a. The minimum number of players for division 1 matches will set to 6. The minimum number of players for division 2 and 3 matches will be 4. Teams who qualify for division 1 can elect to play in division 2 if they don’t think they can field 6 players consistently. 
There will be one match per month, the fixtures will be published in December 2017.  Challenges should be sent at least 2 weeks before the match is due to start and the matches should be locked by the final Saturday of the month. Either team can send the challenge. All matches should have a start time (eg the final Saturday of the month) included, so the match will start automatically on that date. If a team does not have enough players on the day the match is due to start then they will be given one extra week to find the extra players. After this week is up the opposing team can choose to claim the match by default.

6b.  Everyone in a county group should have the opportunity to play in matches.  No player should be removed from a match once they have registered, unless they have a timeout percentage higher than 25%.  If a player is removed for this reason it should be noted in the notes below the match details.  If a team is found to be removing players unnecessarily or to gain an advantage they will forfeit the match. 



7. Matches should be set to 2 concurrent games at, ie play your opponent with white and black at the same time, this speeds up the completion of matches and bring it into line with the international group competition. The aim will be that all matches will be completed by 30thNovember 2018, in order to start a new competition in 2019.

8. If matches are still in progress on November 30th, then the controller will review the remaining matches and predict the likely result based on the position. If the matches involve the controller’s team or will affect the league position of the controller’s team then another member of the council will be asked to judge. 


9.The time limit will remain 3 days per move.


10.  2 points will be scored for a win, 1 for a draw.


11.  If teams have an equal number of points at the end of the season, then the following in order will be taken into account to determine finishing places: a) The match result(s) between tied teams, if a team has beaten all those teams they have tied with, they will finish above them in the league. b) The total number of games won minus the total number of games lost in the season, by each team. The team with the highest score will take the top position. c) The total number of timeouts in a season, the time with the least will finish top if points a and b can't separate the teams.


12. If a player is found to be cheating by chess.com, then they will forfeit all their games for the season and results will be reversed where necessary.  All reports of cheating or suspected cheating should be sent to chess.com.


13. Results will be declared once a team has unassailable lead, but these results can be overturned if a player is found to be cheating. However, once the last result of the season in each division is declared no other results in that division can be overturned, even if a player is found to be cheating after this date. In the cup competition results can't be overturned once a team has been progressed to the next round.


14. All players and teams should play in a sporting manner and make the championship should promote friendship and encourage others to join.

Sorry, I have made an amendment already.   Please read rule 3b, this is try to clarify what happens when a cup match is drawn.   After board elimination, the number of timeouts will be used, then a team will be chosen at random to progress once all the above options are exhausted.  Please comment if you can think of any better solutions.

I would suggest using Board Count as a first tie-breaker (the points scored on each board, multiplied by the board number, all summed; lowest board count wins), then Board Elimination, then the lowest number of timeouts, and then a Live match to decide if possible (only then is a random draw done, we should try as hard as possible to have the result decided by chess and not by luck). I would also propose to shorten the cup time control to 2 days; we've seen how long the tournament can drag on if one game goes the entire distance (e.g. Hampshire vs Dorset). Many OTB cup tournaments that are run alongside leagues have a shorter cup time control than the league time control.

I would also suggest a bracket be drawn up in advance, so that teams can easily set up their matches and see who they are due to play next. And have it random draw as well, with no byes for the top teams from the previous year (maybe exclude them from the prelim round draw if a few prelims have to be played).

I'm not sure a live match tiebreak is really feasible though.  Managing to get more than a couple of members of a team online for a given time and with enough time to play anything more than a Blitz game seems highly unlikely for many teams.

Definitely; against a live match tiebreaker.  Happy with the rest.

Hi, please read the latest update - see rule 6b.

3b has also been updated.  The cup will continue to be a 3 day a move event.  Board elimination will continue to be the main way of settling draws it is just a lot simpler than Board count- I would have to create and use a spreadsheet each time.  Number of Timeouts will continue to be the 2nd option and a new 3rd option will be to award the team with the lowest combined rating the win as they outperformed themselves. Then in the very unlikely event, a random team will be chosen  if they still can't be separated. 

However, usually board elimination settles any drawn matches.  I hope everyone will be happy with the above.

  All the rules will take effect on Dec 1st 2017- the new rules will apply the remaining 2017 cup matches after this date as well.

I will determine the structure of the 2018 cup once the registration deadline of Dec 1st is here.

thanks all Matt

Doesn't having the lowest rating promote sandbagging in order to gain an advantage? I would prefer if it wasn't used for this reason. Maybe the most wins as Black, and then most points as Black for additional tie-breakers? IMO anything reasonable should be used to avoid having to use lots to decide.

(I am totally aware that this is incredibly, incredibly unlikely to happen, but I would prefer to have a provision in place)

It is extremely unlikely the lowest combined rating rule will be needed.  I dont think any team would put out a lower rated team in the hope the match would be settled in this manner.   I thought about the most black wins rule but if every game is drawn then wouldnt that be equal for both teams?   The chances of lots being needed must be close to a million to one after the other rules are applied. 

When does the average rating get taken from?  Since these matches can go on for months ratings will fluctuate a lot and people who timeout often do so in many games and see their rating plummet which would skew the average ratings too.

And also for cheaters, if their accounts are closed they lose all their games on timeout, which also lowers their rating even more.

Thanks for the above comments, I can see the average ratings idea needs a re think and will be removed.

So we are left with the following ways of deciding drawn matches:

a) board elimination - which will settle most matches.

b) most time outs lose.  

c) random team goes through. 

Any other ideas?  Live match decider is unpopular.   

Matt - what is the minimum for cup matches?  I thought 4??

Yes 4 for cup matches

Hmm, funny I only really noticed the very first rule in the list now which surprises me somewhat.  Is it just because there is no way of enforcing it that we don't impose any restrictions on which team people can play for?

I doubt many people are that bothered to just go and represent a random county anyway, but I have always asked anyone joining Lancashire Lads and Lasses what their connection to the county is.  I always take what they say on face value though anyway so if they really want to lie their way in they can.

I just found it strange, on noticing the rule just now, that we don't at least try to insist that people have some connection with the county they play for - whether born, family connection, living, working or anything else.

Not that I'm complaining about it as such, I've not noticed any teams being packed with high rated mercenaries!  I had just always thought people had to have a connection with the county and I guess I must have skimmed over the first rule.

Basically it is impossible to inforce and I have had to deal with complaints in the past where a player lived 2 miles the wrong side of a county border.  In general people will only play for a team they have a connection to.  

Fair enough!