9th Internet Chess Tournament

“Ciudad de Dos Hermanas”

 

I   HOW TO PARTICIPATE

The tournament will be held on-line at the Internet Chess Club (ICC), www.chessclub.com Internet’s virtual chess club. Registration is free.

Use of computer chess engines and databases while playing is strictly prohibited.  Assistance from other players is also prohibited. Players can have only one account enrolled in the whole tournament.

a) Free membership in ICC

You can get a 7 days free membership on ICC while using BlitzIn 2.7, Dasher 1.2 or later versions. In addition, if you are signed up for the Dos Hermanas tournament, you are allowed a free trial for the duration of the tournament, even if you are not eligible to free trials on ICC.  In that case, after registering, log in as a guest to ICC and ask an administrator to give the free trial to the account you registered with. We strongly recommend that you try playing on ICC and perhaps play in one of ICC's many informal tournaments to familiarize yourself with the software.

Please connect to the ICC at least a few minutes in advance of the tournament, and watch for instructions on how to participate in the tournament.  You will be prompted with a pop-up box when it is time to start each game. Each round will take roughly 10 minutes, so you can expect a 12-round qualifying tournament to take about 2.5 hours. ICC management reserves the right to hold a break, up to 15 minutes duration, after a certain round, if deemed necessary. Show up on time. The tournament director may allow late joining after the start, but there will be no half bye points for missed rounds.

The procedure to become a member of ICC is simple, and only requires a few minutes. To play at the ICC, special software is required (BlitzIn 2.7 or Dasher 1.2); to obtain it, go to the following link and follow the instructions:

http://www.chessclub.com

Once you have downloaded and installed the software, you must register yourself in ICC, following the instructions that you will find in the program.

If you already own a permanently free GM/IM account on ICC, you have to use that account and not make a new free trial.

b) Registrations

Once you have become an ICC member, you must fill in the registration form at the official tournament page: http://www.doshermanas.net/  You should be registered at least one hour before the first qualifier you intend to play starts. After that, you can still register, but only play in later qualifiers. The registration form will be closed one hour before each qualifier starts, and will be opened again as soon as the qualifier starts. Only one registration is necessary. Once registered, a player can take part in as many qualifiers as he wishes until he is qualified.

II TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

The tournament will run from March 28th to April 5th, 2008.

Tournament table / time schedules

Note: Times are ICC server time,  that is New York Time. By March 9, the U.S. will switch to daylight savings time, while Europe switches on March 30 only. That means that the time difference between Central European Time and server time will be five hours for qualifiers S 28 A, S 28 B, S 29 A and S 29 B. The time difference between Central European Time and server time will be six hours for the remainder of the tournament. The starts of qualifiers will be thus 20:00 and 01:00 Central European Time, respectively, on March 28 and March 29, and 21:00 and 02:00 Central European Time, respectively, from March 30 on.

You can check current ICC server time and compare to your local time by typing “date” while on ICC.

III   PLAYING SYSTEM

a) Tournament system:

In the qualifying stages, a twelve round Swiss system will be used. The final will be a K.O. between the 32 qualifiers. Qualifiers will be sorted by the January 1st 2008 FIDE rating list, and paired 1-32, 31-2, 3-30, etc… Those players that do not have a FIDE rating will be placed after all others and sorted by their ICC Blitz rating they had when they played their first qualifier. The grid will display the following pairings (top to bottom) and qualifies who go through to the next round will be paired accordingly: 1-32, 16-17, 8-25, 9-24, 4-29, 13-20, 5-28, 12-21, 2-31, 15-18, 7-26, 10-23, 3-30, 17-19, 6-27, 11-22.

b) Game rate:

The playing rate will be 3/0(three minutes for the whole game). In the Final stages, using K.O. system, "mini-matches" of four games will be played (also using 3/0). If a tie occurs, two further games will be played. If still tied after those, yet another two games will be played. If still tied then, the tournament director will toss a coin to determine colours in a single tiebreak game. If that single tiebreak game ends as a draw, another will be played with opposite colours, until there is a won game. In the final of the last two, the match will have six games. Any match in the finals ends before four (six) games are played, if one player has 2.5 points or more (3.5 or more in the final of the last two).

c) Tournament development:

Twelve Swiss tournaments are played in six days. The following weekend the Finals are played, with the 12 winners of the Swiss qualifying tournaments, and the 20 best players (non-winners).

Tie-breaks:

1) In the qualifiers, the tie-breaks will be (in this order):
a) Sum of scores of opponents, adjusted such that if an opponent does not play a round   for whatever reason, 0.5 is added to the sum b) Average rating of opponents c) Draw lots

2) When calculating which of the non-winners should advance to the 32-player KO            based on their performance in the qualifying tournaments, the criteria will be:

The rating used in those tiebreakers is the ICC Blitz rating at the start of the qualifier.
These criteria will also be used to award all special prizes.

IV PRIZES

Main prizes

1º         2.000 euros
2º         1.300 euros
3º-4º        700 euros

Special prizes

For the special prizes, the sum of points of all the 12 qualifying events will be used. To check the sum of points while qualifiers are running, type on ICC:

/tell pear ser b dosher

a) Best ICC Amateur member from all over the world (<1800 ICC blitz rating).

1º            250 euros
2º            150 euros

To be eligible for the best ICC Amateur member prize, you need to have an ICC blitz rating of less than 1800 at the start of the first qualifier you play in, your ICC blitz best rating must not exceed 2000, you must have played 50 rated games on that account. Free trials are not eligible. ICC reserves the right to deny these prizes to persons who seem to have achieved higher ratings on other ICC usernames they have used in the past.

b) Best ICC FIDE Rated members (No FIDE title) from all over the world

1º            250 euros
2º            150 euros

Free trial accounts are not eligible for these prizes. ICC reserves the right to deny these prizes to players whose true identity cannot be verified without doubt.

c) Special “Peón de Rey” magazine prizes

- Special prize to the best ICC Spanish amateur member (<1800 ICC Blitz rating): two nights full accommodation to come to Dos Hermanas (Spain) from April 17th to 21st to see the Top 4-player event with tour of the best players in the world, plus 250 euros cash for travel.

- Best “Peón de Rey” magazine Spanish amateur subscriber (<1800 ICC Blitz rating): two nights full accommodation to come to Dos Hermanas (Spain) from April 17th to 21st to see the Top 4-player event with tour of the best players in the world, plus 250 euros cash for travel.

To be eligible for the Special “Peón de Rey” magazine prizes, you need to have an ICC blitz rating of less than 1800 at the start of the first qualifier you play in, your ICC blitz best rating must not exceed 2000, you must have played 50 rated games on that account. Free trials are not eligible. ICC reserves the right to deny these prizes to persons who seem to have achieved higher ratings on other ICC usernames they have used in the past.

d) Other special prizes given out by ICC

Twenty-six 6-month subscriptions to ICC to different worldwide chess groups

- 12 by raffle
- 12 for accumulated scores
- 2 for Peón de Rey subscribers
- 2 for the best players who reside in Dos Hermanas

e) Other prizes given out by the "Peón de Rey” magazine

Twenty 6-month subscriptions to the Peón de Rey magazine, for players who come to see the Top 4-player event (from April 17th to 21st at Dos Hermanas).
 
A 6-month subscription to the Peón de Rey magazine for the five best Spanish ICC amateur players (<1800 ICC Blitz rating).

A 6-month subscription to the Peón de Rey magazine for the five best Latin American ICC amateur players (<1800 ICC Blitz rating).

To be eligible for the prizes labelled “<1800 ICC Blitz rating”, you need to have an ICC blitz rating of less than 1800 at the start of the first qualifier you play in, your ICC blitz best rating must not exceed 2000, you must have played 50 rated games on that account. Free trials are not eligible. ICC reserves the right to deny these prizes to persons who seem to have achieved higher ratings on other ICC usernames they have used in the past.

Total prize fund: 7.700 Euros (Legal tax from the first four prizes will be deducted).
 

 

V TECHNICALITIES

a) Game rules

Play is according to the rules and features of the ICC. BlitzIn 2.7, Dasher 1.2 or a higher version must be used in this event. Some features of which you should be aware include:

(1) The ICC timestamp mechanism, which stops both player's clocks while a move is in transit over the internet.
(2) If a player gets disconnected the game is typically adjourned and should be resumed as soon as that player returns.
(3) Draw offers and draw claims may be made by clicking the Draw button prior to making a move.

The ICC tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from a tournament, refuse to allow a player to join a tournament, or end a free trial granted for the tournament, for any reason including but not limited to:  failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's internet connection is not reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a player is receiving assistance, suspicion that a player has used multiple accounts during the tournament, or the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC rules in the past. 

Their reasoning need not be given, and there is no appeals process.  We appreciate the cooperation of all participants in keeping this contest friendly, honourable, and running smoothly.

Participants must use the same computer during the whole tournament, unless they are observed by an approved proctor.
 
Players who are found to have given a false real name or other false information at registration can be ejected from the tournament.

ICC may request, at any time during the event that an approved proctor observes the tournament games of any participant at the location given in the registration. If a participant cannot, either because of his remote location, or any other reason, have an approved proctor attest his/her play, ICC reserves the right to disqualify that player.

In case a player is disqualified from the tournament, the ICC tournament directors can, at their discretion, rule that the game of that player in the running round is lost for him, and won for his opponent. However, results by that player in prior rounds will not be reverted.

Qualifier winners will not be able to participate in any other qualifiers, as they are already qualified directly to the finals.

            b)  Registration form 

All information provided via the registration form may be used for publicity purposes by the Patronato Municipal de Deportes, EDAMI and ICC. Your address and telephone number will just be collected by ICC for the purpose of proctoring, and not be used for other purposes.