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 entries and registration lists, and the name and address of the person appointed to receive entries. |
1.2 | The Chairman shall arrange meetings for captains/managers, as and when required, at which matters of current interest and future policy shall be discussed. |
2 | Registration Lists |
2.1 | A club shall enter the League by payment of the designated fees and the registration of one or more squads of players who are expected to play during the season. Each squad may provide the players for one or more teams. No team may contain players who are not registered in the appropriate squad. |
2.2 | The registrations list shall be sent by letter or email to the registrations secretary, and contain the following information for each player: (a) full name (b) FIDE code (if rated) (c) ECF grading code (if ECF graded) (d) nationality (e) estimated or foreign grading/rating (if neither FIDE rated or ECF graded) (f) ECF membership number (if player’s nationality is English). |
2.23 | 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. |
2.34 | Where a club enters the League but does not submit a list of its players by the due date, the Chief Arbiter may, in the interests of the League, deem the squad’s list of players for the previous season to have been carried forward. |
2.45 | If a squad provides players for more than one team, the 80 point rules under sections 8 and 10 below will apply. |
3 | Additions to the Registration List |
3.1 | Additional names may be added to a squad’s list of registered players and shall be sent to the Registrations Secretary either by letter or e-mail. The information required in 2.2 above will also be required for additional registrations. |
3.2 | The date of application shall be taken as either the postmark of the letter or the send date of the e-mail. |
3.3 | The player will become fully registered 14 days after both (a) notification of and (b) payment for the registration are received by the Registration Secretary. 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 2.1/2.2/2.3 or rules 3.1/3.2/3.3 the player will be considered to be a Wildcard. |
3.5 | A fee of £5 shall be paid for each registration above a team’s allocation under 2.23 above. |
4 | Wildcards |
4.1 | A Wildcard is a player who is not registered for any squad in the League. |
4.2 | A 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 squad over the course of a weekend. |
4.3 | A Wildcard will become fully registered 14 days after both (a) notification of and (b) payment for the Wildcard are 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 not more than one of the Wildcards plays in the top half of the team (Division 3 boards 1-4, Division 4 boards 1-3). |
5 | Transfers during the Season |
5.1 | A player who is named on a squad’s list of players may transfer to another squad 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 squad to which 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 squad 14 days after a valid application is received. The player may play as a Wildcard for the new squad (but for no other squad) in the intervening period. |
5.5 | A player named on a squad’s list of players is not available as a Wildcard for other squads. |
5.6 | No transfer request under rule 5.1 will be considered after Round 8 fixtures have been completed in all divisions. |
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 match 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, an all-male team may be fielded, provided that the player on the bottom board (a) is under sixteen years of age on the date of the match and (b) is graded under ECF 150 and (c) is rated under FIDE 2000. A team may not play a female player and a nominated junior player in the same match. |
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 by midnight of the night before at least two hours before the start of each round. The list must give the names of the players in board order. |
8.2 | A team list may be amended without penalty for circumstances beyond captains’ control provided this is done at least two hours before the start time of the round in questionbefore the two-hour deadline. |
8.3 | In all divisions FIDE ratings will be used to determine the order of strength of a team. For a player without a FIDE rating, an ECF grade will be converted to an equivalent FIDE rating using the appropriate conversion formula. For players who are not English and do not have FIDE ratings, their national ratings will take precedence over ECF grades. For Welsh players, Welsh ratings will take precedence over ECF grades. All games in all divisions will be submitted for both FIDE rating and ECF grading. |
8.4 | Where there is a difference of more than 80 FIDE rating points under rule 8.3 between two players in the same team, the higher rated player must play on a higher board than the lower rated player. In squads with more than one team a player is only eligible for a lower team if his rating under rule 8.3 is not more than 80 FIDE rating points higher than the rating of any person playing in a higher team in the same numbered round. |
8.5 | When applying the 80 point requirement for squads with more than one team under rule 8.4, the male and female player “pools” are considered separately (NB nominated junior players under rule 7.1 are considered part of the female player “pool” for this purpose). It should be noted, however, that all teams must comply with the 80 point requirement for all players in the team regardless of sex. It should also be noted that for the purposes of applying the 80 point rule across squads with more than one team, lower teams in a squad may not have a higher average FIDE rating than higher teams in the same squad. |
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 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 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 Chief Arbiter imposing a penalty as he deems appropriate 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 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 match point totals. If at the end of the season teams in Division 4 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 highest sum of opponents’ match points (c) the highest sum of opponents’ game points (d) 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 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 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. |
12.7 | All participants in the 4NCL National Chess League shall consent to their name, sex, nationality, title and grade, and if required their telephone number(s), email address(es) and postal address(es) being shown on the 4NCL website, such consent being a requirement of the Data Protection Act. Those wishing to withhold their consent shall not be permitted to play in the league. |
12.8 | All players in the 4NCL National Chess League are required to be a fully paid up member of a national chess federation. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that all players’ games are eligible for inclusion in the FIDE rating list in accordance with FIDE regulation B.02.16.1. A player who is not in compliance with this requirement may play in a match, but will be treated as an ineligible player (but not a default) in accordance with rule 8.6. Wildcards are the only exception to this requirement, and may therefore play in the League at the weekend for which they are nominated as Wildcards without being required to be a fully paid up member of a national federation. Thereafter, however, once Wildcards become registered players under rule 4.3 they fall under the requirements of rule 12.8 in the same way as any other registered player in the League. |
12.9 | In Divisions 1-3 no more than two teams in any squad will be permitted to play in the same division. |
12.10 | A player may ask his/her captain if he/she may offer or accept a draw. The captain may agree, refuse or tell the player to refer to the match result sheet. In no circumstances may the captain look at any game between receiving the request and giving his/her decision. |
12.11 | A team, once it has had its entry accepted, is not entitled to a refund of entry fees should it subsequently withdraw. |
Approved by the 4NCL Board on 23 July25th February 2006 |