4NCL Newsletter
September 2005
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A new season is imminent and the league continues to grow. There are now 68 teams which is a continued endorsement of the elite status of the 4NCL in the British and International chess scene.
Please find below some important items that have arisen recently which I would like to draw your attention to.
1/ The draw for Divisions 1,2 + 3 has been posted on the web-site. Once again seedings were used in Division 1. Hopefully this will ensure an exciting climax, as has been achieved in recent years.
2/..Division 4 will be a Swiss and the draw for the 1st round will be published no later than two weeks before the first Division 4 weekend. The draw for subsequent rounds will be published as soon as possible before the next round.
3/ There is a new venue for the 1st,2nd and 3rd Divisions...The Paragon Hotel in Birmingham. This has excellent facilities but check-in to the rooms will only be allowed at 3pm on the Saturday. However a luggage room will be provided.
4/ In response to various comments from Captains the rules for 2005/2006 were closely re-examined at the recent Board meeting. After careful consideration the following changes were made:
8.5 to be reworded to state that Welsh grades, where available, will be used instead of the notional FIDE rating in Division 4.
2.3 to be altered such that the match point/game point penalty will be applied if three games are defaulted.
7.1 to be modified to state "....must include at least one male and one female player."
It is important to note here that the Board reconfirmed earlier decisions taken with regard to Division 4 and posted on the 4NCL website in March, i.e.
(a) BCF grades will be used to determine board order.
(b) Game rather than Match points will be used to determine team placings.
5/ The recent tightening of the FIDE requirements for rating games was also thoroughly discussed at the Board meeting. In particular, the new requirement that both parties to a game need to be members of their national federations for the game to be FIDE rated means that bona fide members of national federations will not have their games rated if their opponents are not national federation members.
In the light of the potential problems that will now emerge it was decided that National Federation membership would be a requirement for anyone playing in the 4NCL, with effect from the start of the 2006/2007 season.
6/ The 2005/2006 rules encapsulating the various points above are now on the 4NCL website here.
Best wishes,
Paul Littlewood (4NCL Chairman)
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