Masters Tournament Regulations 0 Preamble The Tournament Regulations are obligatory for all parties concerned. 1 Organization The Caleta Hotel is hosting the 14 th Gibraltar Chess Festival: all games and other events related to the Masters Tournament are hosted in the Caleta Hotel, Sir Herbert Miles Road, Gibraltar. Festival Organizer : Brian Callaghan Tournament Director : Stuart Conquest 2 Tournament Dates & Schedule The 14 th Gibraltar Chess Festival will be held from January 25 th (Opening Ceremony) to February 4 th (Closing Ceremony) 2016. Below is the schedule for the Masters Tournament: Day Date Time Program Monday January 25 20:30 Opening Ceremony Tuesday January 26 15:00 Round 1 Wednesday January 27 15:00 Round 2 Thursday January 28 15:00 Round 3 Friday January 29 15:00 Round 4 Saturday January 30 15:00 Round 5 Sunday January 31 15:00 Round 6 Monday February 1 15:00 Round 7 Tuesday February 2 15:00 Round 8 Wednesday February 3 15:00 Round 9 Thursday February 4 11:00 Round 10 Thursday February 4 17:00 Play-Off for First Prize if required Thursday February 4 20:30 Closing Ceremony and Gala Dinner with Prize Giving Participants must bring their invitation. 3 Playing Venue The games will be played in 2 separate places in the Caleta Hotel: - Augustus Suite (1 st Floor) boards 1 to 75 - Nunos Restaurant Room (-2 Floor) boards 76 to 130
4 Participation The 14 th Gibraltar Chess Festival, Masters Tournament, is open to all players regularly entered into the event (this includes the obligation to have a FIDE Identification Number, given by their National Chess Federation before the start of the event). The right is reserved to refuse any entry. Players must register before 19:30hrs on 25 January 2016 or have confirmed their entry at the Caleta Hotel in order to be included in the first round pairing. The Masters Tournament shall be FIDE rated as Standard, in case of play-off, games shall be FIDE rated as Rapid Play or Blitz (see Art. 9 below). English and Gibraltarian players must be ECF Gold members and their games shall be ECF graded. 5 System & Rate of Play The Masters will be a 10 rounds Swiss system tournament. Pairings will be managed with help of Swiss Manager pairing software. Players who wish to take up to two half-point byes in rounds 1-7 may do so, provided they give adequate notice (ie by informing the arbiter by 19:00 on the previous day), but the second requested bye makes a player ineligible for a prize. No player may request a bye in the last three rounds. The rate of play will be 40 moves in 100 minutes plus 20 moves in 50 minutes plus 15 minutes for all remaining moves with 30 seconds per move added from the start. 6 Rules & technical The current FIDE Laws of Chess, 84 th amendments to: FIDE Congress Tallinn 2013, shall be applied, with the following Article 6.7: Players arriving 30 minutes or more after the start of a session shall lose the game, unless the arbiter decides otherwise. Article 9.1: Draws by mutual agreement in fewer than 30 moves are not allowed. There must be no pre-arranged or tacit agreements to draw games of any length, by repetition or otherwise. Offenders will be reported to the Tournament Director and penalties may involve loss of prize money. Article 11.3b: [Excerpt] During play, a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone and/or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue. If it is evident that a player brought such a device into the playing venue, he shall lose the game. The opponent shall win. As any electronic devices are banned from the playing venue, players and spectators are expected to leave such devices at the cloakroom located on the 1 st floor, before they enter the room. 7 End of the game Analysis is not allowed in the playing area. Chess sets are available for analysis on the ground floor of the hotel. At the end of the game, players are requested to complete and sign the scoresheets in accordance with the FIDE laws of chess and hand them to the arbiter.
8 Results and Pairings During the playing session, results of finished games will be regularly published on the playing area s information board by the arbiters. Technical information (list of players, results, pairings, etc.) will be displayed in the hotel lobby and close to the playing areas and available on the official website of the festival: www.gibraltarchesscongress.com Pairings will be published within 2 hours after the end of the previous playing session. Pairings of round 1 shall be published after the Opening Ceremony. 9 Tie Break System The Masters First Prize and Women s First Prize may not be shared. All other prizes will not be subject to a tiebreak and shall be shared equally where players have the same score (or the same relative rating achievement for Rating Band Prizes). First Prize Play-Off: In the event of a tie for first place, a tiebreaking playoff will be held to determine the winner of the first prize. A maximum of 4 players can be qualified for this play-off. The qualifiers will be determined by the best performance ratings of the tied players. 1. The tiebreak will start at 17:00 on February 4 th 2016, or if the qualifiers cannot be determined, as soon as possible afterwards. The organizers reserve the right to modify the time controls for the playoffs if time is insufficient. 2. The play-off will take place in the form of knockout matches. At least one arbiter will supervise each game, hence Appendix A3 and B3 of the Laws of Chess will apply. 3. If 3 players are tied, the player with the highest performance rating will be seeded directly into the final of the play-off. If 4 players are tied lots will be drawn to determine the opponents. The players draw for color before the first game. 4. Each match will take place as follows: - 2 games of rapid play - 10 minutes + 5 seconds per move added (Fischer). - If the score is tied after 2 games, then 2 games of blitz 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move will be played with opposite colors from the first match. - If the score is still tied a sudden death game will be played with obligation to win with white with the time control 4 minutes + 2 seconds per move for white and 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move for black. Lots will be drawn just before this final game and the winner will choose his colour. 5. The winner takes the 20,000 first prize. The loser(s) will have their prize money divided amongst the players with whom they are tied, including those who did not participate in the playoff. Women s Award: If there is a tie for the top women s prize, the tie is resolved in favour of the woman with the highest performance rating.
10 Gibraltar Masters Prizes Open to all Prizes for best relative rating achievement 1 st Prize 20,000 Rating Band 1 st Prize 2 nd Prize 2 nd Prize 16,000 2550-2649 3,000 2,500 3 rd Prize 14,000 2450-2549 2,500 1,500 4 th Prize 10,000 2350-2449 2,000 1,000 5 th Prize 8,000 2250-2349 2,000 1,000 6 th Prize 6,000 2150-2249 2,000 1,000 7 th Prize 4,000 2050-2149 2,000 1,000 8 th Prize 3,000 Under 2050 2,000 1,000 9 th Prize 2,000 10 th Prize 1,500 A player may not win more than one 11 th Prize 1,500 complete prize from this table. 12 th Prize 1,500 13 th Prize 1,000 Only FIDE rated players my compete for 14 th Prize 1,000 rating band prizes. 15 th Prize 1,000 A player not appearing for their last round game is ineligible for a rating prize. Best relative rating achievement is calculated as follows: W-We as explained in FIDE Handbook B01 Open to All Women 1 st Prize 15,000 2 nd Prize 10,000 3 rd Prize 5,000 4 th Prize 3,500 5 th Prize 2,500 6 th Prize 2,000 7 th Prize 1,500 8 th Prize 1,500 9 th Prize 1,000 10 th Prize 1,000 11 th Prize 500 12 th Prize 500 Best Game Prize 1,000 Players who wish to enter for the Best Game Prize should inform the arbiter with appropriate details about the game (round, players names and/or board number). SENIORS: (60 or over on January 1 st 2016) 1 st 1,000 / 2 nd 500 JUNIORS: (Under 18 on January 1 st 2016) 1 st 1,000 / 2 nd 500 11 Arbiters Team Chief Arbiter for the Masters Tournament will be IA Stephen BOYD, assisted by the following team: IA Jesus Garcia Valer (ESP) IA Albert Vasse (NED) IA Ana Srebrnić (SLO) IA Margit Brokko (EST) IA Matthew Carr (ENG) 12 Appeals Committee Players can appeal an arbiter s decision, provided it is done under the following conditions: the appeal must be given in writing to the Chairman of the Appeals Committee, not later than 1/2 hour after the end of the round, accompanied by a deposit of 50. Chairman of the Appeals Committee for the Masters Tournament will be Stewart REUBEN (ENG). Further details available as an Annex. Written in Gibraltar on January 26 th 2016, Tournament Director GM Stuart CONQUEST Chief Arbiter IA Stephen BOYD
TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL 2016 APPEAL COMMITTEE Stewart Reuben will be in the chair for the Appeal Committee The following are nominated as members: Irina Krush Three of the above will be asked to serve for any appeal. Obviously nobody can be on the committee if they are involved. If it is still impossible to form an Appeal Committee of three, then the numbers will be made up of International Arbiters not involved in the original dispute. If Stewart is unavailable, then one of the other International Arbiters will take his place. Voting will be by the three members of the committee. If one should abstain and the other two disagree, then the chairman will have a casting vote. Any comments or suggestions should reach Stewart before the start of the first round in the Masters on Tuesday.