Balkan Youth Online Individual and Team Chess Championships (31/10 – 1/11/2020)

REGULATIONS

1. PARTICIPATION

1.1. Balkan Chess Federation, affiliated to FIDE, organizes Balkan Youth Online Individual and Team Championships in five age categories U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18 (open and girls separately), in the period 31 October – 1 November, 2020;

1.2. The event is open to all chess federations affiliated to FIDE from the Balkan countries;

1.3. Each federation has the right to nominate up to 3 players per each age category. Balkan Chess Federation has the right to accept direct entries in case a national federation does not register players;

1.4. Each National Federation will appoint one Captain/Representative for the technical meeting and for the communication during the event. Four out of the Captains, preferable FIDE titled arbiters, will be appointed in the Appeals Committee during the Technical Meeting;

1.5. By signing in the tournament, the National federations and players confirm to have read and accepted these Regulations of the Championships.

2. REGISTRATIONS

2.1. Registrations are made by the National Federation filling the special registration form and sent it to balkanchessfederation@gmail.com;

2.2. Players will register and play with their own names;

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2.3. The players who register for the event will be ranked by the FIDE rapid rating and in case they don’t have then the FIDE Classic or Blitz rating. The tournament will not be calculated for FIDE rating;

2.4. The entry fee is 20 euros per player to be paid directly by the National federation to the technical organizer:

IBAN: RO56BUCU1031215953308 (for payments in EUR)

Bank: ALPHA BANK, ROMANIA. BIC: BUCUROBU

Beneficiary: Asociatia Sportiva Mind Games & Events

Beneficiary address: Strada Sirenelor nr.35, sector 5, Bucuresti, Romania

2.5. Registration deadline is 27th of October 2020.

3. SYSTEM OF PLAY

3.1. The event will be played in Swiss system 7 rounds or in Round robin system, depending on the number of registered players in each category, with time control of 25 min + 5 sec per move per player;

3.2. Each of the 10 categories will be played individually with category winner. For teams, the best player 5 collective results (one player per category with the highest score) decide the National winner team in open and in girls’ section;

3.3. Tiebreaks (for individual and for team rankings)

For individual tournament:

a) Results of direct encounters between the tied players (if all the tied players have met each other, the sum of points from these encounters is used). The player with the highest score is ranked number 1 and so on. If some but not all have played each other, the player with a score that will not be equaled by any other player (if all such games had been played) is ranked number 1 and so on;

b) Buchholtz cut 1;

c) Buchholtz;

d) The greater number of games with black;

e) The greater number of wins.

In case of Round robin sections:

a) Direct encounter

b) The greater number of wins

c) Sonnerborn-Berger

d) Koya System.

3.4. Players from the same federation will not be paired together the last round;

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3.5. Appeals can be submitted by 15 minutes after the end of each game by the team captains and will be examined only by the end of the day, except otherwise decided by the Appeal Committee.

4. VENUE AND FAIR PLAY RULES

4.1. The playing server of the event is www.tornelo.com. The official standings are displayed by the event’s page on www.chess-results.com;

4.2. Players will compete from their homes or can choose any location;

4.3. Players have to download and install ZOOM Client for Meetings from the link: https://zoom.us/download. Players agree to turn on the „Share my Screen” function (in ZOOM) during all games, with video and sound functions ON. If a player is not logged into ZOOM chat at the published start time of the match or turns OFF the webcam, could result in a loss of the game;

4.4. Teams’ captains have to ensure communication with their players via the event’s ZOOM connection. Any communication must be prior approved by an arbiter;

4.5. No other electronic device (except the player’s PC/Laptop), any chess source nor external help is permitted in the rooms and during the games;

4.6. Anti-cheating detection software is provided by tornelo.com and other systems decided by the organizers;

4.7. Streaming on any broadcast platforms like Twitch, YouTube or any similar, is not permitted from participants during their tournament games;

4.8. The organizers have the right to change the schedule, update the regulations, or decide for any matter that is not mentioned in the current regulations.

5. SCHEDULE*

Thursday 29 October, 20:00 CEST, Technical Meeting

Saturday 31 October, CEST 09:00 Round 1, 10:30 Round 2, 17:00 Round 3, 18:30 Round 4

Sunday 1 November, CEST 09:00 Round 5, 10:30 Round 6; 12:00 Round 7

*the number of rounds in each category depends on the number of participants/type of the playing system Swiss or Round robin and will be announced during the Technical Meeting.

 6. ADDITIONAL RULES

6.1. Server failure/downtime: in the event of a server failure or malfunction during the course, the organizers will take appropriate actions according:

6.1.1. In case of interruption in rounds 1-6, the games shall continue from the position in which they were interrupted or may restart depending on the length of the interruption. All  4 completed games remain valid. If the interruption occurs in the round 7, the organizers have the right, depending to the technical problem and the time required to resolve it (maximum 2 hours), to declare the standings final, and the tournament will not be rescheduled;

6.1.2. If a player disconnects during the game, that player is allowed to reconnect until his remaining time has elapsed, in which case the player loses on time. The arbiters may adjust the clocks according to their decision or restart a game from move 1. While either player is disconnected from the chess platform, players must stay connected on ZOOM and are not allowed to move from their seats, or come in contact with any person except the Team Captain and Arbiter. Should a player experience a disconnection issue, it is advisable to take a screenshot showing the position on the board and the clocks and immediately try to contact the arbiters via ZOOM;

6.2. The platform Tornelo has a „Call the Arbiter” button available for the players. The button stops the clock and its only purpose is to call an arbiter in some specific cases (threefold repetition, fifty moves rule, any urgent cases), as in over the board games. Misuse of the button after the first warning could result in the forfeit of the game;

6.3. The organizers are not responsible for any technical problems arising during the rounds, but will be able to pair any player in the following round;

6.4. A player can be forfeited for the violation of the Fair Play rules by the arbiter or by the Appeals Committee in case of appeal;

6.5. In any case not described above, the arbiters will decide the course of the action. Arbiters decisions can be appeal and the decisions of Appeal Committee is final.

7. TOURNAMENT OFFICIALS

7.1. Chief Arbiter: IA Tania Karali (GRE), Deputy Chief Arbiter FA Lucian Jugaru (ROU), other arbiters will be appointed;

7.2. Appeal Committee: Chairman Ion Serban Dobronauteanu (ROU), 4 members will be appointed in the Technical meeting among the Team Captains of the participating federations.

8. PRIZES

8.1. The first team in open section is the “Balkan Youth Team Online Champion 2020”; the first team in girls section best is the “Balkan Girls Team Online Champion 2020”;

8.2. The first winner in each age category (open and girls) is the “Balkan Youth Online Champion 2020” in the respective category;

8.3. The first 3 winners in each category (team and individual) will receive e-medals and certificates;

8.4. All participants will receive e-certificates.