| 1 | Management |
| 1.1 | Each year the Management Board shall announce the arrangements for the following season including the entry fees, the official closing date for the receipt of team entries and registration lists, and the name and address of the person appointed to receive entries. |
| 1.2 | The Chairman shall arrange meetings for team captains/managers, as and when required, at which matters of current interest and future policy shall be discussed. |
| 2 | Team Registration Lists |
| 2.1 | Entry to the League shall be effected by payment of the designated fees and the submission of a list of the players the team wishes to register for the season. |
| 2.2 | Each team's entry fee shall cover the registration of up to sixteen players in Divisions 1-3 and up to twelve players in Division 4. A registration fee of £5 is required for each player above the team's allocation. |
| 2.3 | Where a team enters the League but does not submit a list of its players by the due date, the Management Board may, in the interests of the League, deem the team's list of players for the previous season to have been carried forward. |
| 2.4 | Clubs entering more than one team in the League may, at their discretion, play on a combined squad basis (in which case the 80 point rules under sections 8 and 10 below apply) or on a split squad basis (in which case players having once played for their nominated team may no longer play for another team, subject to the rules under section 5 below). The decision to play on a combined or split squad basis is irrevocable for the season in question. |
| 3 | Additions to the Team Registration List |
| 3.1 | Additional names may be added to a team’s list of registered players and shall be sent to the Registrations Secretary either by letter or e-mail. |
| 3.2 | The date of application shall be taken as either the postmark of the letter or the date of the e-mail. |
| 3.3 | Subject to the completion of formalities the player will become fully registered 14 days later. A player registered on a Saturday therefore completes the 14-day qualification period two Saturdays later. |
| 3.4 | If a player has not been registered in accordance either with rules 2.1/2.2 or rules 3.1/3.2/3.3 the player will be considered to be a Wildcard. |
| 4 | Wildcards |
| 4.1 | A Wildcard is a player who is not registered for any team in the League. |
| 4.2 | A registration fee of £10 shall be paid for each Wildcard. The Wildcard fee is levied on a per player basis according to the number of individuals appearing as Wildcards for a team over the course of a weekend. |
| 4.3 | A Wildcard will become fully registered 14 days after (a) notification of and (b) payment for the Wildcard is received by the Registration Secretary. |
| 4.4 | A team in Division 1 or 2 may play one Wildcard in each match. |
| 4.5 | A team in Division 3 or 4 may play up to two Wildcards in each match provided at least one of the Wildcards plays in the bottom half of the team (Division 3 boards 5–8, Division 4 boards 4-6). |
| 5 | Transfers during the Season |
| 5.1 | A player who is named on a team’s list of players may transfer to another team provided he has not played during the current season. |
| 5.2 | The transfer request must be agreed by the player, by the two relevant captains and by the Registrations Secretary. |
| 5.3 | The team to whom the player is moving must fulfil all the requirements for additional registrations, including the payment of a £10 administration charge. |
| 5.4 | The player will become registered for the new team 14 days after a valid application is received. The player may play as a Wildcard for the new team (but for no other team) in the intervening period. |
| 5.5 | A player named on a team’s list of players is not available as a Wildcard for other teams. |
| 5.6 | No transfer request under rule 5.1 will be considered after Round 8. |
| 6 | Fixtures |
| 6.1 | The League's fixtures shall be played over eleven rounds and over five weekends with one round being played on Saturday and one round on Sunday. A third round shall be played on the Monday of designated Bank Holiday weekends. |
| 6.2 | The first-named team in each pairing shall have the white pieces on the odd-numbered boards and black on the even-numbered boards. |
| 6.3 | Divisions 1-3 shall be played on an all-play-all basis. Division 4 shall be played as a Swiss tournament, with pairings made daily after the end of each round using game points as the basis of pairing. |
| 7 | Match Arrangements |
| 7.1 | In Divisions 1, 2 and 3 each match shall be played over eight boards and each team must include at least one male and one female player. In Divisions 2 and 3, on three occasions only during the season, a female player may be replaced by a male junior who must (a) be under sixteen years of age on the date of the match in which he plays (b) play on bottom board on a basis compliant with the 80 point rule under rule 8.3 and (c) be graded no higher than FIDE 2000 / BCF 150. |
| 7.2 | In Division 4 each match shall be played over six boards. |
| 7.3 | The starting times shall normally be 2 pm on the first day of the weekend, 1 pm on the middle day of a three-day weekend and 11 am on the last day of the weekend. |
| 7.4 | The rate of play shall be 40 moves in two hours, then 20 moves in one hour and an extra 30 minutes for each player to complete the game. This is a seven-hour session. |
| 8 | Team Lists |
| 8.1 | Team lists must be submitted to the Arbiter at least two hours before the start of each round. The list must give the names and ratings of each player and the board order. |
| 8.2 | A team list may be amended without penalty provided this is done before the two-hour deadline. |
| 8.3 | Where a player does not have a FIDE rating, an equivalent rating will be used. A BCF rating will be converted to a FIDE equivalent using the relevant BCF conversion formula. Where there is a difference of more than 80 FIDE rating points between two players, the higher rated player must play on a higher board than the lower rated player. This rule applies across first, second, third etc teams for teams playing combined squads (but not split squads), and is applied discretely to male players and to female/under 16 junior players as separate "pools". The exception to this occurs when a team has more than one female player. In this case the female not playing on the designated female/under 16 junior board is treated as a male and so must satisfy the 80-point rule for the male pool. |
| 8.4 | As an overriding requirement, and in addition to the requirements of rules 7.1 and 8.3, teams must adhere to the 80 point rule on an overall basis (i.e. as if the separate male/female "pool" arrangements do not exist) as far as it is possible to do so without breaching rules 7.1 and 8.3. |
| 8.5 | In Division 4 only, for the purposes of rules 8.3 and 8.4, BCF grades wherever available shall be converted to notional FIDE ratings using the relevant BCF conversion formula. Official FIDE ratings shall be used only where BCF grades are not available for conversion. Where Welsh grades are available, these shall be used instead of notional or official FIDE ratings. For the avoidance of doubt, games in all divisions will be submitted for both FIDE rating and BCF grading purposes, and rule 8.5 has relevance only for the purpose of establishing board order in Division 4. |
| 8.6 | If an ineligible player is fielded in a match, the individual game concerned shall count for rating/grading purposes but shall be scored as a zero for the defaulting team, regardless of the game’s result. However, the board concerned shall not count towards the match point/game point deduction penalty under rule 12.3. If no player at all is fielded on an individual board in a match, the game shall be scored as a zero for the defaulting team and the board concerned shall count towards the match point/game point penalty under rule 12.3. |
| 8.7 | Any complaint about the composition of a team must be made before the scheduled start of the round. |
| 8.8 | Where both captains and the Chief Arbiter agree in advance, penalties under the 80 point rule may be waived, if this is in the best interests of the 4NCL. |
| 8.9 | Known defaults must be on the lowest board of the lowest team. |
| 8.10 | Team lists will be published one hour before the start of play. |
| 8.11 | If the late submission of a team list causes the match sheet to be published late, the arbiter may – at his discretion – deduct time from the clock of each member of the offending team. |
| 9 | Reserves |
| 9.1 | Prior to the two-hour deadline for the submission of team lists a team may nominate one male and one female as reserve players. |
| 9.2 | A nominated reserve may replace an absent player provided this is done not more than 55 minutes after the scheduled start of the round. |
| 9.3 | The clock of the reserve shall be adjusted to show the elapsed time subject to a minimum of 30 minutes. |
| 9.4 | The improper use of reserves may result in the Management Board imposing a penalty as it sees fit on the offending team. |
| 10 | Split weekends |
| 10.1 | The 80-point rule spans both weekends. |
| 10.2 | No player may play twice in the same numbered round. As an example, a player appearing only on the Saturday of the first split weekend may not play on the Saturday of the second split weekend, but may play on the Sunday. |
| 11 | Promotion and Relegation |
| 11.1 | In Divisions 1 and 2 the bottom three teams will be relegated.
In Divisions 2 and 3 the top three teams will be promoted.
In Division 3 the bottom four teams will be relegated.
In Division 4 the top four teams will be promoted. |
| 11.2 | End of season team placings in Divisions 1-3 will be decided in the first instance on match point totals. If at the end of the season teams in Divisions 1-3 are tied on match points, the tie shall be broken in favour of the team having (a) the greatest number of game points (b) the result(s) of the match(es) between the teams still tying (c) board count (d) elimination from the bottom board upwards (e) the toss of a coin. Tie breaks shall be applied in order until all ties are broken. |
| 11.3 | End of season team placings in Division 4 will be decided in the first instance on game point totals. If at the end of the season teams in Division 4 are tied on game points, the tie shall be broken in favour of the team having (a) the greatest number of match points (b) the greatest sum of opponents’ scores (c) the toss of a coin. |
| 11.4 | In the event that existing teams decide not to renew their entries, teams in the relevant division that would otherwise have been relegated at the end of the 2004/2005 season will not be relegated (starting with the relegated team finishing in the highest position, and so on down the relegated teams). In the event that the number of teams not renewing their entries exceeds the number of relegated teams, extra teams will be promoted from the lower division after applying the provisions in the first section of this rule, and so on down the divisions as necessary. |
| 12 | Other |
| 12.1 | The Chief Arbiter, or in his absence the Senior Arbiter for the weekend, shall be empowered to administer the rules of the League. |
| 12.2 | An appeal against a decision may be made to the Management Board. Notice of such an appeal must be made in writing and received within seven days of the original decision. |
| 12.3 | A team will be penalised one match point (Divisions 1-3) or three game points (Division 4) for every three boards it defaults during the season. |
| 12.4 | A £100 fee will be payable where a change to a team name is made during the season. |
| 12.5 | The Board may apply penalties as it sees fit for any flagrant or premeditated breaches of the spirit as well as the letter of the rules. |
| 12.6 | In all cases the decisions of the Management Board shall be final. |
| Approved by the 4NCL Board on 4th September 2005 |
