2022 Solo World 4 Player Chess Championships

The 2022 Solo World 4 Player Chess Championship (W4PCC) is the fourth online Rapid Free-For-All (FFA) world championship of four player chess (4PC). Players compete for a $1,000 prize and a Solo World Champion title.

The championship features a series of Qualifier Arenas, with the first arena starting on June 4. The Arenas take place at 00:00 12:00 16:00 and 20:00 UTC every Saturday and Sunday from June 4 through June 12*. Qualifier Arenas are followed by a Preliminary Round, Best-of-5 Matches (First to 1.25) during the weekend of June 18, which brings 16 players down to the Final Four. The Final Four players will compete during the weekend of June 25-26 in Best-of-9 Matches (First to 2.25) starting at 18:00 UTC each day.

*One of the Sunday June 12 Arenas will be deleted depending on the return of the Defending World Champion, @icystun .

Players who qualify:
1) The Defending World Champion, @icystun
2) 15 winners of the Qualifier Arenas

Requirements for participation:
An account registered before 1st May 2022 (Exception: Titled Players)
No recent severe infractions on Chess.com, before or during the championship
You must play on your main account if you have multiple staff-approved accounts

Rating Requirements: 2200+ Standard Rapid FFA to play in the Qualifier Arenas at the time one is in progress.
Position: Old Standard
Time Control: 1 minute time bank with 7 seconds of added increment per move (1|7)
Arena Scoring: 2-0-0-0 with tie first being equally divided.
NOTE: Arenas are not joinable until after the start time of each Arena; Arenas do not finish midgame unlike live. If there is a few minutes left on the clock, it is still highly encouraged to click Join; Join is unclickable only after the clock expires, active games playing when the clock expires continue, and the arena doesn't end until all games finish.

Player names will be hidden (Anonymous) until the end of each game, pawns will promote on the 8th rank relative to the color's back row to a 1-point queen, and the games will be unrated.

1) Defending World Champion
The Defending World Champion (the winner of the previous World 4PC Solo Championships) will be selected to play in the Preliminaries at a time he/she and the Tournament Director agree upon, and the finals will be scheduled in advance based on the agreements as well. The Defending World Champion agrees that if he/she participates in a Qualifier Arena, he/she will lose the spot as a Defending World Champion and must qualify through Arenas. In the event that the Defending World Champion declines to participate (or plays in one of the Arenas), no arenas on Sunday, June 12 will be deleted (See Section 2) Arenas). In the event that Defending World Champion withdraws after the Arenas finish, the second place of the June 11 arena during that time initially chosen by the Defending World Champion will be his/her replacement.

This year's Defending World Champion will play in the Preliminaries at 16:00 UTC Saturday, June 12, 2021 versus the Top 3 in the Leaderboard, and the Finals are scheduled Saturday, June 26, 2021 and Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 18:00 UTC. The Defending World Champion must continue to meet basic eligibility requirements.

2) Arenas
This championship will consist of anonymous, 1-point queen promotion on the 8th rank, 1 minute with 7 second increment (1|7) FFA games. There will be 15 Qualifier Arenas, duration 2 hours each. The minimum rating requirement for these arenas is 2200. Arena times are as follows (UTC):
June 4 - 00:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00
June 5 - 00:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00
June 11 - 00:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00
*June 12 - 00:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00

*One of the Sunday June 12 Arenas will be deleted depending on the return of the Defending World Champion, @icystun .

Participants may play in as many arenas they like. 15 players will be selected from these arenas to play in the 2022 W4PCC Solo Preliminaries as follows:

• The winner of each arena will be selected to play on Saturday, June 18, 2022 at the time in UTC of the arena in which he/she qualified.
• Players must agree to terms and conditions messaged to them by the W4PCC Director.
• These players must provide their first and last name and country of origin on their profile, and must provide a webcam/screen-share if requested at any time during the semi-finals or finals.
• Players can play in as many Qualifier Arenas as they want until they Qualify. Qualifiers must agree to cease playing further Qualifier Arenas. Playing in arenas further WILL result in disqualification (unless joined once on accident, in which case, please let the W4PCC director know immediately).
• The top 10 players of each arena will be made publicly known, and eliminated players may be called upon during the preliminaries or finals as a replacement.
• In the event that a qualifying player does not want to, or cannot play in a prelim, the next online player in that arena the player qualified from will be asked to take their place. This means that the top 10 players of each arena have a chance of playing in the preliminaries if they are online at the time of the preliminaries. Replacements will have their scores set to match the withdrawing player's score in the event that a player withdraws mid-match.
• In the rare event that no players participate in an Arena, that slot will be filled by the highest rating of players online.

Preliminaries

Preliminaries are in a Best-of-5 (first to 1.25) anonymous, Old Standard, unrated, 1|7, 1 point Queen, Dead-King-Walk, En Passant, FFA Winner-Takes-All (Solo) match. The winner of each game will receive 1 whole point; the rest will receive zero. First place ties will be split amongst game-winning players. Here is the overview of when these preliminaries will take place:

Bracket 1: *00:00 UTC Winners: Saturday, 06/18 at 00:00 UTC.
Bracket 2: *12:00 UTC Winners: Saturday, 06/18 at 12:00 UTC.
Bracket 3: *16:00 UTC Winners: Saturday, 06/18 at 16:00 UTC.
Bracket 4: *20:00 UTC Winners: Saturday, 06/18 at 20:00 UTC.

*One of the Sunday June 12 Arenas will be deleted depending on the choice of the Defending World Champion, @icystun . @icystun will compete against the three winners of the time of his choice.

• Players may be allowed to declare a short break at the discretion of the Tournament Director in addition to the 5 minutes between games. Players must hit Rematch.
• Players will have to hit rematch within 5 minutes of the games ending. If the players fail to hit rematch, an administrator will reinvite them all and request that they accept. If they fail to accept within 3 minutes (or if they abort a started game) they will be Disqualified and a replacement player will be selected within 5 minutes.
• In the event of a tiebreak for advancement to the final, the player who won the most recent game will win. In the rare event that all five (5) games are tied, the player who last moved right before the Draw is declared will be declared a Finalist.
• Upon qualifying for the Preliminaries, players must meet and agree with Championship / Prize Money Eligibility Terms & Conditions more than 24 hours prior to the Preliminary match. A reminder that playing in arenas further WILL result in disqualification (unless joined once on accident, in which case, please let the W4PCC director know immediately). In the event that a qualifying player does not want to, or cannot play in a final, the next ranked online player in the Arena this Withdrawn player came from will be selected, and then the highest rating online if none of the top 10 Arena players are available. This means that the all eligible players may have a chance of playing in the Preliminaries if they are online at the time of the Preliminaries, and players prioritized above them are not selected. Replacements will have their scores set to match the withdrawing player's score in the event that a player withdraws mid-match.

The Final
 
The 2022 Solo W4PCC World Champion will earn a Prize! This will be a first-to-2.25 (best of 9)  anonymous, Old Standard, unrated, 1|7, 1 point Queen, Dead-King-Walk, En Passant, FFA Winner-Takes-All (Solo) match in which first-place ties of a game split amongst winners of that game. Please note that the following times are SET:

• Day 1 will start at 18:00 UTC Saturday, June 25. (5 game Cap)
• Day 2 will start at 18:00 UTC Sunday, June 26. (Games 6-9 if necessary)
• Players will be allowed to declare one (1) 10-minute-extra break (Timeout) in this entire final each in addition to the 5 minutes between games.
• Players will have to hit rematch within 5 minutes of the games ending. If the players fail to hit rematch, an administrator will reinvite them all and request that they accept. If they fail to accept within 3 minutes (or if they abort a started game) they will go through the following penalty process: 1. Timeout deducted 2. Disqualification and a replacement player will be selected within 5 minutes.
• In the event of a tiebreak, the player who won the most recent game will win. In the rare event that all nine (9) games are tied, the player who last moved right before the Draw is declared will be declared the Champion.
• Upon qualifying for the Final, players must meet and agree with Championship / Prize Money Eligibility Terms & Conditions within a week of qualifying/being selected.
• In the event that a qualifying player does not want to, or cannot play in a final, the next ranked online player in the Bracket/Category this Withdrawn player came from will be selected. This means that the all eligible players may have a chance of playing in the final if they are online at the time of the final, and players prioritized above them are not selected. Replacements will have their scores set to match the withdrawing player's score in the event that a player withdraws mid-match.
• The first player to equal or exceed 2.25 will be the 2022 Solo W4PCC Champion and will earn $1000.

Prize Money: The 2022 Solo W4PCC World Champion will provisionally be awarded $1000 from chess.com. Please understand this may take days to process. Only one player will be awarded prize money, and that player must agree to use the email directly linked to his/her chess.com account to find the link to the Prize Money when Awarded. Please note that the link may appear in your junk/trash/spam folder, so be sure to check those soon after you win the Championship!
 
Preliminaries and Finals and most of the Qualifier Arenas will be broadcasted on https://www.twitch.tv/fourplayerchess .
We look forward to seeing you play in the championship! Best of luck to all players trying out! If there are any questions or errors or concerns or useful feedback, do not hesitate to message me or discuss in this forum.

Luke Romanko, W4PCC Director

Discussion Forum
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