Matt,
Were you not available to advise Boris at the start of coronavirus ? The clarity of your rules and post are excellent !!
Cheers Alan
Matt,
Were you not available to advise Boris at the start of coronavirus ? The clarity of your rules and post are excellent !!
Cheers Alan
If we end up with more than 40 teams and have to expand to five divisions, which is better, three tiers or four?
This year's Third Division seems to have a very competitive edge to it. All the teams seem to be fielding reasonable numbers and there are a lot of close matches. I would say putting these teams together with new teams with uncertain numbers would be counter-productive. Therefore I would go for four tiers with Division Three staying much as it is and the new teams making up Divisions 4A and 4B.
Yes, I think that makes a lot of sense. The plan for now will be for the new teams to start in Division 4.
Rules updated to include division 4. The minimum number of players for division 3 will increase to 5. The minimum for division 4 will be 3.
I think the new team’s should play in a 4th tier with the best being promoted to the 3rd to join the established teams for 2022
It’s will probably be too late but what about the winner of the NTL getting a spot in division 3 as a prize. I think this probably won’t happen as the NTL will probably overlap the beginning of the cc season before a champion is found. But just an idea.
I had the same idea, but as you say we're unlikely to have a winner from the NTL by the start of the new league.
Will East Midlands be replaced in Division 3 by one of the splinter teams (Leicestershire & Rutland, Notts, Derbys, or Northants), or will TEMs Division 3 berth go vacant making Division 3, 8 teams?
It's likely division 3 will go down to 8 teams. The new splinter teams will have to start in division 4. It is a shame the new teams league won't finish in time or that would have been the ideal solution to find the 9th team.
Below is an update of the rules for the 2021 competition that will start with the cup competition in August 2020. There are few changes to those of 2020.
The minimum number of players for Division 1 will go up to 10, Division 2 will be 6. Division 3 will go up to 5. Division 4 will be 3. There may need to be a Division 4a and 4b and possibly 4c depending on entries.
There will be a common start date for each round of the league matches- Challenges should be sent only after the instruction is received in a news item. This will usually be sent on the 26th of the previous month and the start date for matches will be set at 7th of the month.
RULES 2021
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 but all teams should make every effort to only field players who have a connection. (eg live/lived in that area, worked in that area or have relations/ close ancestors from that area in all matches.)
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 league and cup competitions 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. 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 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 divisions. Teams will be allocated to divisions using their finishing places in the previous season. All new teams will start in the lowest division. Teams in the highest positions will be promoted and teams in the lowest positions will be relegated. At present, its the aim for three teams to be promoted and three to be relegated per division. But this may change if new teams join or teams leave the competition.
3. The Admins of the County Championships 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 Admins The Admins’ decision after discussion is final. If an issue affects an Admin’s team then the matter will be need to be decided by impartial members of the council.
4. The deadline for new teams entering the league competition will be the 30th November of the previous season . Any new teams entering the competition will compete in lowest division. The deadline for entering the cup will be July 31st of the previous year. The aim is to start the cup in August of the previous year. At this point the new season will start and once a player plays in any league or cup match from this point that is their declared team.
5a. The minimum number of players for division 1 matches will set to 10. . The minimum number of players for division 2 will be 6. The minimum for division 3 will be 5. Division 4 will be 3. Teams can elect to play in a lower division if they feel they can’t field the minimum number of players.
5b. Usually there will be one match per month, the fixtures will be published in December. Challenges should be sent only after the instruction is received in a news item. This will usually be sent on the 26th of the previous month and the start date for matches will be set at 7th of the month. (See appendix) An exception to this will be the first fixture in December, and there maybe a month will more than one fixture. Either team can send the challenge. 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.
5c. 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%. Or if they are a multiplayer, eg they are registered for another team. If a player is removed for either of these reasons 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.
6. 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. (See appendix) The aim will be that all matches will be completed by 30th November, in order to start a new competition next year.
7. If matches are still in progress on November 30th, then the Admins will review the remaining matches and predict the likely result based on the position. If the matches involve the Admin’s team or will affect the league position of the Admin’s team then another member of the council will be asked to judge.
8.The time limit will remain 3 days per move.
9. 2 points will be scored for a win, 1 for a draw.
10. 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)Head to Head -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 win percentage- The total number of games points scored divided by total games played times by 100. The team with the highest percentage 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. Any game with a red 0 counts as a timeout.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13a. All players and teams should play in a sporting manner and make the championship should promote friendship and encourage others to join.
13b. If a player representing a team in the championships does not follow the principles above (eg they are rude to another player or make public unfounded accusations of cheating) the team concerned will receive a warning and any further infringements will result the team in question being asked to remove the said player from their team or leave the championship.
14. There is an under 1600 competition which will start mid-season. Teams can choose or choose not to sign up for this competition separately each year. This competition is separate to the main league and cup. A player can’t play for two different teams in this competition but may play for a different team in the main league and cup. The minimum number of players is 4. All other rules will apply to this competition.
15a . The Knock Out Cup Competition. This will now start August in the previous year. The minimum number of players is 4. Each match in each round will start as soon as possible. Once a team has an unassailable lead the result can be declared. Results can’t be overturned even if a player has been found to have broken the fair play rules, once it has been declared. Please report results promptly.
15b. 4 months after the start of a cup match if a team hasn’t achieved an unassailable lead and the Teams's next round opponent has already been decided, then the match will be judged on the current position to allow the next round to proceed.
15c. If two teams are drawn to play each other in the cup and they already have a league match in the registration stage against each other, if both teams agree then this match can become a ‘double header’ and count towards both competitions. If either team does not wish for this to happen then a new match must be created.
15d. If a match is drawn, the result of the last board will be eliminated, and so on until there 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, unless both teams agree to a live match to settle the result with the time control to be agreed between the two teams. 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.
15e) Teams may be provided with a bye to the next round. This will usually be determined by their performance in the previous year’s cup competition.
Appendix
Sending a challenge information
League Matches
Under 1600 Matches
Cup Matches