| 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 the players who are expected to play during the season. No team may contain players who are not registered in the appropriate squad. |
| 2.2 | The registrations list shall be submitted as per the tournament entry form and contain the following information (a) full name (b) Date of Birth (c) ECF grading code if applicable. |
| 2.3 | Each team's entry fee shall cover the registration of up to ten players. |
| 2.4 | If a player appears on the registration list of more than one team at the start of the season, the player in question will be registered to the team for whom he/she first plays. |
| 2.5 | With their captains’ permission, juniors are permitted to play in both 4NCL divisions 1-4 and junior 4NCL |
| 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 5 days after registration is received by the Registration Secretary. |
| 3.4 | A Wildcard is a player who is not registered for any team in the League. A fee of £5 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 in a team over the course of a weekend. A team may play one Wildcard in each match. |
| 3.5 | 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. |
| 3.6 | Unless he/she has applied for a transfer, a player named on a team’s list of players is not available as a Wildcard for other teams. |
| 4 | Transfers during the Season |
| 4.1 | 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. |
| 4.2 | The transfer request must be agreed by the Registrations Secretary. |
| 4.3 | The squad to which the player is moving must fulfil all the requirements for additional registrations, including the payment of a £10 administration charge. |
| 4.4 | The player will become registered for the new squad 3 days after a valid application is received. |
| 4.5 | If a team withdraws from the league, players who have played only for that team become free agents and may choose to play either for other teams in the squad if applicable or to join another team/squad. |
| 5 | Fixtures |
| 5.1 | The League's fixtures shall be played over six rounds and over two weekends with two rounds being played on Saturday and one round on Sunday. |
| 5.2 | 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 | Match Arrangements |
| 6.1 | Matches shall be played over four boards. |
| 6.2 | The starting times shall normally be 11.45 for the 1st round on Saturday, 15.00 for the 2nd round on Saturday, 12 midday for the round on Sunday. |
| 6.3 | The rate of play shall be 90 minutes per person for all moves. This is a three-hour session. |
| 6.4 | Coaching will be provided for all competitors as per the entry form. |
| 7 | Age Handicap |
| 7.1 | The age handicap is based on the difference between teams' ages. On submission of team details, average age will be calculated in years and completed months, ignoring fractions of a month both in individual players’ ages and in the overall average. |
| 7.2 | Match score table:
Score by team age | Average age difference in years |
older | younger | 0-1 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3+ |
0.0 | 4.0 | y | y | y | y |
0.5 | 3.5 | y | y | y | y |
1.0 | 3.0 | y | y | y | y |
1.5 | 2.5 | y | y | y | y |
2.0 | 2.0 | d | y | y | y |
2.5 | 1.5 | o | d | y | y |
3.0 | 1.0 | o | o | d | y |
3.5 | 0.5 | o | o | o | d |
4.0 | 0.0 | o | o | o | o |
y = win for the younger team
d = draw
o = win for the older team
The Junior 4ncl will use match points:
2 points for a won match,
1 point for a drawn match
0 points for a loss.
End of season team placings 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 highest sum of opponents’ match points (c) the highest sum of opponents’ game points (d) the toss of a coin. |
| 8 | Team Lists |
| 8.1 | Team lists must be submitted to the Arbiter by midnight of the night before each round. The list must give the full names of the players clearly in board order. |
| 8.2 | A team list may be amended without penalty for circumstances beyond captains’ control provided this is done before the two-hour deadline. |
| 8.3 | ECF grades will be used to determine the order of strength of a team. |
| 8.4 | Any complaint about the composition of a team must be made before the scheduled start of the round. |
| 8.5 | Known defaults must be on the lowest boards. |
| 8.6 | Team lists will be published one hour before the start of play. |
| 8.7 | If the late submission of all or part of a team list causes one or more pairings to be published late, the arbiter may, at his discretion, deduct time from the clock of each member of the team whose name was not published on time. |
| 9 | Reserves |
| 9.1 | Prior to the two-hour deadline for the submission of team lists a team may nominate one reserve player. |
| 9.2 | A nominated reserve may replace an absent player provided this is done not more than 30 minutes after the scheduled start of the round. |
| 9.3 | The clock of the reserve shall be adjusted to show the elapsed time. |
| 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 | Other |
| 10.1 | The Chief Arbiter, or in his absence the Senior Arbiter for the weekend, shall be empowered to administer the rules of the League. |
| 10.2 | 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. |
| 10.3 | 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. |
| 10.4 | All participants in the 4NCL National Chess League Junior Championship shall consent to their name, sex, nationality, title, grade, and image 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. |
| 10.5 | 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. |
| 10.6 | A team, once it has had its entry accepted, is not entitled to a refund of entry fees should it subsequently withdraw. |
| 10.7 | In all cases the decisions of the Management Board shall be final. |
