Southampton Chess Club

Guidelines for June Evenings

April 2015

A. Pairs Chess

The tournament will consist of multiple rounds where players partner together, playing moves alternately against an opposing partnership. The suggested time control is 10 or 15 minutes per team.

At the start of each round new partners and opponents will be assigned based on the scores accumulated by individuals. The points obtained from games will be shared equally between the partnership i.e. both players will get 1 point for a win, 1/2 for a draw and 0 for a loss.

Pairing Ideally, each game should have 4 players, however it is likely that the number of players will either not be divisible by 4 or new players may arrive after the tournament has started. In such cases, a player may not be paired individually (without a partner) more than once. Examples of possible pairing combinations for given numbers of players:

Remainder = 0 Remainder = 1 Remainder = 2 Remainder = 3 (e.g. 12 players) (e.g. 9 players) (e.g. 10 players) (e.g. 11 players) 1 & 12 v 4 & 7 1 & 8 v 3 & 6 1 & 8 v 3 & 6 1 & 10 v 11 2 & 11 v 5 & 8 2 & 7 v 4 & 5 2 & 7 v 4 & 5 2 & 9 v 5 & 6 3 & 10 v 6 & 9 9 bye 9 v 10 3 & 8 v 4 & 7

Additional rules • Players may not suggest moves, give hints or discuss strategy with their partners while the game is in progress (discussing a game-plan beforehand is acceptable). • For a game to be drawn by agreement, the draw offer must have been accepted by all players. • A claim for a win on time may be made by any player.

B. Fischer Random (Chess 960)

The rules for the Fischer Random tournament are similar to that of a standard blitz tournament. Except that the starting positions of the pieces are determined by the players beforehand.

Piece Placement

At the start of each game the players will follow this piece placement procedure:

1. Place pawns as per normal 2. White places a Bishop (Black places a Bishop opposite). 3. Black places a Bishop on a different colour square to his first (White places a Bishop opposite). 4. White places a Knight (Black places a Knight opposite). 5. Black places his second Knight (White places his opposite). 6. White places his Queen (Black places his Queen opposite). 7. The remaining 3 pieces are placed with the King between the two Rooks. The rules are the same as per normal chess, except for castling.

Castling Rules Provided the king and the intended rook have not moved, you may castle by moving the king and the rook to their castled positions in standard chess if none of the squares they would pass through are occupied by other pieces.

I.e. white castling queenside would move his king to c1 and his queenside rook to d1 (if the squares in between are vacant except for the king and rook).

When castling players should inform their opponent to prevent confusion.

C. Handicap Blitz

The Handicap Blitz is a time handicap tournament under standard blitz rules.

Each round has a total time of 10 minutes, which is allocated between the players based on the difference in strength.

Time for Weaker Player Time for Stronger Player Grading Point Difference (minutes) (minutes) 9 1 100+ 8 2 50 to 99 7 3 25 to 49 6 4 10 to 24 5 5 0 to 9

D. Speed Chess

The speed tournament consists of a fixed time limit in which all games must be completed. There are no structured rounds, unlike most other tournaments. The winner is the player with the highest score at the end of the allotted time. The final scores will be calculated using 2 points for each win and 1 for each draw.

Conduct of Play • Each player who is not currently involved in a game may challenge another under blitz time controls (determined by the organiser). Challenges may not be refused without good reason. • The challenged player will have the choice of colours, except for the first game where the lower graded may decide. • After a game is completed, both players must mark their results in a tally under the appropriate column (win, draw or loss) next to their name. • No player may play the same opponent twice in a row (you must wait for someone else to become available). • At the end of the allotted time the score board is closed, and unfinished games considered void.

It is called a speed tournament as the optimal strategy is to dispatch your opponents as quickly as possible in order to amass the most points.

The tournament may have more than one time period to allow for suitable breaks.