Please find the updated rules for the 2022 season, which will come into force for all 2022 competition starting with the Cup which will start in August 2021. Updates are in red.
There will be 5 divisions in the league next year, which will start in December 2021. The division a team is allocated to will be based on the finishing places in 2021. The minimum number of players per match in each division maybe amended near the time.
RULES 2022
1a. All teams must represent a county, a region, a city or a town in the UK and Ireland. Players can choose to represent any team of their choice but all teams should make every effort to only field players who have a connection. (eg live/lived in that area, worked in that area or have relations/ close ancestors from that area in all matches.)
1b. Players can be members of two or more county groups, but a player cannot play for more than one team in any of the county championship competitions in a single season, even if they are in different divisions. It is the responsibility of the team admins to make sure that their members are aware of this rule. Once a player has played for one team that is his/her team for the rest of the season and any results gained for any other team will be forfeited. If it is unclear who the first team the player played for eg they play for two teams in the same month, then all their results will be forfeited.
The league will be divided into divisions. Teams will be allocated to divisions using their finishing places in the previous season. All new teams will start in the lowest division. Teams in the highest positions will be promoted and teams in the lowest positions will be relegated. At present, it’s the aim for three teams to be promoted and three to be relegated per division. But this may change if new teams join or teams leave the competition.
The Admins of the County Championships will be responsible for organising the fixtures and compiling the results. In the first instance, If there any issues or disagreements then please contact a super admin or admin of the County Championship by private message who will get back to you ASAP. in the county council forum for all to see in an open manner, rather than contacting the Admins.The Admins’ decision after discussion is final. If an issue affects an Admin’s team then the matter will be need to be decided by impartial members of the council.
The deadline for new teams entering the league competition will be the 30thNovember of the previous season. Any new teams entering the competition will compete in lowest division. The deadline for entering the cup will be July 20th of the previous year. The aim is to start the cup in August of the previous year. At this point the new season will start and once a player plays in any league or cup match from this point that is their declared team.
5a. 5a. The minimum number of players for division 1 matches will set to 10. The minimum number of players for division 2 will be 6. The minimum for division 3 will be 5. Division 4 and 5 will be 3. Teams can elect to play in a lower division if they feel they can’t field the minimum number of players. If a team fails to register the minimum number of boards by the match start time then they shall have an additional 48 hours to recruit in order to avoid forfeiting the match. If both teams fail to register minimum numbers then the match shall be declared void.
5b. Usually there will be one match per month, the fixtures will be published in December. Challenges should be sent only after the instruction is received in a news item. This will usually be sent on the 26th of the previous month and the start date for matches will be set at 7th of the month. (See appendix). Please do not start fixtures before this date. An exception to this will be the first fixture in December, and there maybe a month will more than one fixture. Either team can send the challenge.
5c. Everyone in a county group should have the opportunity to play in matches. No player should be removed from a match once they have registered, unless they have a timeout percentage higher than 25%. Or if they are a multiplayer, eg they are registered for another team. If a player is removed for either of these reasons it should be noted in the notes below the match details. If a team is found to be removing players unnecessarily or to gain an advantage they will forfeit the match.
Matches should be set to 2 concurrent games at, i.e. play your opponent with white and black at the same time, this speeds up the completion of matches and bring it into line with the international group competition. (See appendix) The aim will be that all matches will be completed by 30thNovember, in order to start a new competition next year.
If matches are still in progress on November 30th, then the Admins will review the remaining matches and predict the likely result based on the position. If the matches involve the Admin’s team or will affect the league position of the Admin’s team then another member of the council will be asked to judge.
8.The time limit will remain 3 days per move.
2 points will be scored for a win, 1 for a draw.
If teams have an equal number of points at the end of the season, then the following in order will be taken into account to determine finishing places: a)Head to Head -The match result(s) between tied teams, if a team has beaten all those teams they have tied with, they will finish above them in the league. b) The Sonneborn-Berger tie break will be used which is computed by summing the conventional score of each defeated opponent, and half the conventional score of each drawn opponent. c) The win percentage- The total number of games points scored divided by total games played times by 100. The team with the highest percentage will take the top position. d) The total number of timeouts in a season, the time with the least will finish top if points a and b can't separate the teams. Any game with a red 0 counts as a timeout.
If a player is found to be cheating by Chess.com, then they will forfeit all their games for the season and results will be reversed where necessary. All reports of cheating or suspected cheating should be sent to Chess.com. Results of self closed accounts will not be overturned.
Results will be declared once a team has unassailable lead, but these results can be overturned if a player is found to be cheating. However, once the last result of the season in each division is declared no other results in that division can be overturned, even if a player is found to be cheating after this date. In the cup competition results can't be overturned once a team has been progressed to the next round.
13a. All players and teams should play in a sporting manner and make the championship should promote friendship and encourage others to join.
13b. If a player representing a team in the championships does not follow the principles above (e.g. they are rude to another player or make public unfounded accusations of cheating) the team concerned will receive a warning and any further infringements will result the team in question being asked to remove the said player from their team or leave the championship.
13c.
13c.No Admin or member shall publicly accuse or infer that another player or team is/are cheating.
i) Evidence of a member violating game Fair Play rules should be provided to Chess.com without delay for the Cheat Detection team to decide if any actions are required.
ii) Evidence of a team's or team member's non-complience of these rules should be submitted, in confidence, to the competition admin's and their decision on any infringement is final.
There will two limited rating competitions (eg under 1600 and under 1200) which will start mid-season. Teams can choose or choose not to sign up for these competitions separately each year. The limited rating competitions will not be treated separately for multiplayers in 2022 onwards. A player can only play for one team in any of the county championship competitions in a season.
14b) All rating limited matches that are subject to minimum board numbers will be monitored for complience and any team that does not register the minimum required, in the correct rating range, will forfeit the match. If both teams fail to comply then the match will be void.
The board numbers will be monitored prior to match starts. Due to the inconsistancy of Chess.com's handling of the match registrations where players ratings change to 'out of range' after registering, the league admins will make their best judgement of which team was out of complience and award the match appropriately. Should any team believe the decision is in error they may submit evidence and appeal to the TD for assessment. The decision of the TD is final.
15a . The Knock Out Cup Competition. This will now start August in the previous year. The minimum number of players is 4. Each match in each round will start as soon as possible.If the match is incomplete andOnce a team has an unassailablereached a lead of two points and is considered unassailable then the result can be declared. The two-point margin will mitigate, to an extent, the possibility of a result being reversed due to member closures.
Results will notbe overturned once the next round match has started. However, if a previous match result is reversed whilst the new match is in registration the Tournament Director has the option to declare the next round match void.
Once the next round match has started the previous results will not be overturned even if a player has been found to have broken the fair play rules. once it has been declared.
In the case of the cup final match the result will not be declared until the match is complete or the 4 month rule (15b) is invoked.
Please report results promptly.
15b. 4 months after the start of a cup match if a team hasn’t achieved an unassailable lead and the teams's next round opponent has already been decided, then the match will be judged on the current position to allow the next round to proceed.
15c. If two teams are drawn to play each other in the cup and they already have a league match in the registration stage against each other, if both teams agree then this match can become a ‘double header’ and count towards both competitions. If either team does not wish for this to happen then a new match must be created.
15d. If a match is drawn, the result of the last board will be eliminated, and so on until there is a winner. If board elimination still doesn't provide a winner (i.e. all games end 1-1) then the team with the most time outs in the match will lose. Finally, if the teams still can't be separated then a team will be chosen at random to progress to the next round as a replay would hold up the rest of the competition, unless both teams agree to a live match to settle the result with the time control to be agreed between the two teams. The only exception to all the above is...If a draw occurs in the final round of the cup, both teams share the title of Cup Champions.
15e) Teams may be provided with a bye to the next round. This will usually be determined by their performance in the previous year’s cup competition.
Appendix
Sending a challenge information
League Matches
Match Name: "CC22 [Div ] [Round] [Team 1] [Team 2]" (e.g., “CC22 Div 1 R1 Yorkshire vs Sussex”)
Rule 14b added to cope with the software glitch which allows rated limited matches to start with below the minimum number of players. Hopefully in time chess.com will solve the glitch.
Rule 10 updated to decide the final places in a league when scores are tied. The 2nd deciding factor will now be the Sonneborn-Berger score. See above for details. This is a system used by the World League.
Hello all,
Please find the updated rules for the 2022 season, which will come into force for all 2022 competition starting with the Cup which will start in August 2021. Updates are in red.
There will be 5 divisions in the league next year, which will start in December 2021. The division a team is allocated to will be based on the finishing places in 2021. The minimum number of players per match in each division maybe amended near the time.
RULES 2022
1a. All teams must represent a county, a region, a city or a town in the UK and Ireland. Players can choose to represent any team of their choice but all teams should make every effort to only field players who have a connection. (eg live/lived in that area, worked in that area or have relations/ close ancestors from that area in all matches.)
1b. Players can be members of two or more county groups, but a player cannot play for more than one team in any of the county championship competitions in a single season, even if they are in different divisions. It is the responsibility of the team admins to make sure that their members are aware of this rule. Once a player has played for one team that is his/her team for the rest of the season and any results gained for any other team will be forfeited. If it is unclear who the first team the player played for eg they play for two teams in the same month, then all their results will be forfeited.
5a. 5a. The minimum number of players for division 1 matches will set to 10. The minimum number of players for division 2 will be 6. The minimum for division 3 will be 5. Division 4 and 5 will be 3. Teams can elect to play in a lower division if they feel they can’t field the minimum number of players. If a team fails to register the minimum number of boards by the match start time then they shall have an additional 48 hours to recruit in order to avoid forfeiting the match. If both teams fail to register minimum numbers then the match shall be declared void.
5b. Usually there will be one match per month, the fixtures will be published in December. Challenges should be sent only after the instruction is received in a news item. This will usually be sent on the 26th of the previous month and the start date for matches will be set at 7th of the month. (See appendix). Please do not start fixtures before this date. An exception to this will be the first fixture in December, and there maybe a month will more than one fixture. Either team can send the challenge.
5c. Everyone in a county group should have the opportunity to play in matches. No player should be removed from a match once they have registered, unless they have a timeout percentage higher than 25%. Or if they are a multiplayer, eg they are registered for another team. If a player is removed for either of these reasons it should be noted in the notes below the match details. If a team is found to be removing players unnecessarily or to gain an advantage they will forfeit the match.
8.The time limit will remain 3 days per move.
c) The win percentage- The total number of games points scored divided by total games played times by 100. The team with the highest percentage will take the top position. d) The total number of timeouts in a season, the time with the least will finish top if points a and b can't separate the teams. Any game with a red 0 counts as a timeout.
13a. All players and teams should play in a sporting manner and make the championship should promote friendship and encourage others to join.
13b. If a player representing a team in the championships does not follow the principles above (e.g. they are rude to another player or make public unfounded accusations of cheating) the team concerned will receive a warning and any further infringements will result the team in question being asked to remove the said player from their team or leave the championship.
13c.
13c. No Admin or member shall publicly accuse or infer that another player or team is/are cheating.
i) Evidence of a member violating game Fair Play rules should be provided to Chess.com without delay for the Cheat Detection team to decide if any actions are required.
ii) Evidence of a team's or team member's non-complience of these rules should be submitted, in confidence, to the competition admin's and their decision on any infringement is final.
14b) All rating limited matches that are subject to minimum board numbers will be monitored for complience and any team that does not register the minimum required, in the correct rating range, will forfeit the match. If both teams fail to comply then the match will be void.
The board numbers will be monitored prior to match starts. Due to the inconsistancy of Chess.com's handling of the match registrations where players ratings change to 'out of range' after registering, the league admins will make their best judgement of which team was out of complience and award the match appropriately. Should any team believe the decision is in error they may submit evidence and appeal to the TD for assessment. The decision of the TD is final.
15a . The Knock Out Cup Competition. This will now start August in the previous year. The minimum number of players is 4. Each match in each round will start as soon as possible. If the match is incomplete and Once a team has an unassailable reached a lead of two points and is considered unassailable then the result can be declared. The two-point margin will mitigate, to an extent, the possibility of a result being reversed due to member closures.
Results will not be overturned once the next round match has started. However, if a previous match result is reversed whilst the new match is in registration the Tournament Director has the option to declare the next round match void.
Once the next round match has started the previous results will not be overturned even if a player has been found to have broken the fair play rules. once it has been declared.
In the case of the cup final match the result will not be declared until the match is complete or the 4 month rule (15b) is invoked.
Please report results promptly.
15b. 4 months after the start of a cup match if a team hasn’t achieved an unassailable lead and the teams's next round opponent has already been decided, then the match will be judged on the current position to allow the next round to proceed.
15c. If two teams are drawn to play each other in the cup and they already have a league match in the registration stage against each other, if both teams agree then this match can become a ‘double header’ and count towards both competitions. If either team does not wish for this to happen then a new match must be created.
15d. If a match is drawn, the result of the last board will be eliminated, and so on until there is a winner. If board elimination still doesn't provide a winner (i.e. all games end 1-1) then the team with the most time outs in the match will lose. Finally, if the teams still can't be separated then a team will be chosen at random to progress to the next round as a replay would hold up the rest of the competition, unless both teams agree to a live match to settle the result with the time control to be agreed between the two teams. The only exception to all the above is...If a draw occurs in the final round of the cup, both teams share the title of Cup Champions.
15e) Teams may be provided with a bye to the next round. This will usually be determined by their performance in the previous year’s cup competition.
Appendix
Sending a challenge information
League Matches
Under 1200 Matches
Under 1600 Matches
Cup Matches