League details for 2010

From Shaun Tracey:

Joe Farrell and I would like to thank you for entering your club in the City Summer Rapidplay League again this year, and we welcome Drunken Knights to the league.

The rules for the league can be found below.

Fixtures
Clubs will play all but one of their matches on the same evening (Wednesdays) at the same time (7.15pm), at the same venue (Golden Lane). The first match for each club is on Wednesday 9th June, and thereafter there will be weekly matches on Wednesdays until mid-August.
View fixture list for 2010

Note on fixture dates:
Wednesday 14 July is the date of the London League AGM so the rapidplay will be held on Tuesday 13th July instead.

Match sheets
Please use the revised sheet, which has some small but significant amendments which will help us with the process of grading. In particular, all games need to be scored individually, and there is also a section to indicate colours.
View match result sheet

Fielding ungraded players - Reminder
Ungraded players need to be approved in advance by Shaun Tracey. Please note that we can call upon any provisional grading material held by, for instance, Brian Smith (i.e. not simply the July 2010 lists when they come out).

Costs
£40 per team. Please make cheques payable to 'Shaun Tracey', as Shaun will then pay Golden Lane and the ECF grading fees.

Sponsorship & assistance
Norman and yElena Went, of Spectrum Chess fame, have kindly offered sponsorship of the League. This includes a generous cash donation plus free entry for members of the winning team into any Spectrum Chess congress over the following year (e.g. Portsmouth in September; Tunbridge Wells in November; details at www.spectrumchess.com ). Thank you again to Norman and yElena for their very kind support.

Thank you to Brian Smith and the London League for continued use of their sets and clocks.

Thank you to Ian Hunnable who kindly graded the games last year (and, in that connection, the delay in grading was entirely our fault rather than Ian's). Ian has offered to help again this year, and that is much appreciated.

Thank you also to Adam Raoof and Michael Bennett for their general assistance.


RULES

The rules for the league are set out below. These are largely the same as last year, though note that there will be no flexibility about individuals playing for more than one team, and no flexibility about grading bands except as agreed between team captains before the match. Please also note the order of precedence for determining grades.

Format
- 4-board teams.

- each player plays two 30-minute games against the same opponent, one with black and one with white.

- clocks will be started at 7.15pm (if at least 1 of the 2 players of a game is present) and 8.30pm.

- if neither player is present at the start of a game, white's clock should not be started. Rather, the lost time should be divided equally between the players as soon as one of them arrives. From that point on, the clocks should be started in the usual way.

- each match will be scored according to the total game scores i.e. there will be 8 games. So 1 point for each game won, half a point for a draw, in the usual way.

- each team may use any number of players throughout the league. However, players may only play for one team. Any games a player plays for other teams apart from the first team they play for will be regarded as unnotified defaults.

- any club which enters two teams is not required to 'seed' their teams, since both of their teams will simply need to comply with the grading bands.

Grading
board 1 - Open
board 2 - U180
board 3 - U165
board 4 - U150

- if the grading bands present a real problem for a club to field a team, captains may agree to adjust the bands for both teams for that particular match. That way, both sides will be able to field stronger (or weaker) teams if required. This should be done at least 72 hours in advance of the match.

- a player's grade for the purposes of playing in this league will be determined as followed, in order of precedence:

ECF rapidplay grade (January 2010 list)
ECF rapidplay grade (July 2009 list)
ECF standard grade (July 2009 list)
FIDE rating (using the conversion: Grade = [FIDE rating - 650] / 8)
National Elo rating (using the conversion: Grade = [National Elo rating - 600] / 8)
Provisional ECF rapidplay grade (July 2010 list)
Provisional ECF standard grade (July 2010 list)
Estimated grade as submitted by the team captain in advance

- the name of any ungraded player and an estimated grade for them should be submitted to Shaun Tracey at least 48 hours in advance of the first time they are fielded. The estimation of the grade should be supported by details of the player's most recent rapidplay and slowplay results, up to a total of 30 games. They will then be approved to play on in the appropriate grading bands.

- if a player plays on a board for which they are not eligible due to the player's grade being too high for the grading band, that game will be regarded as an unnotified default.

- except in the case of improving Juniors (under-18s) players should be fielded in grade order: the highest graded on board 1, down to the lowest graded on board 4.

- the results will be graded, hopefully in the January 2011 list.

Defaults
- defaults should be notified to the opposing captain at least a day in advance.

- where a default is notified, the opposing team will score 2 points (i.e. 1 point for each game that would have been played) and the defaulting team will score no points for that player.

- where a default occurs without having been notified by the previous day, the defaulting team will also suffer a 1 point penalty in addition to the position outlined above.

- when a player defaults in the first round, the opponent can claim a win in the second round also unless the opponent or an eligible substitute is present at the start of the second game.

Disputes

- as organisers, Joe Farrell and Shaun Tracey may use their discretion in settling any disputes. They may also consult strong players and/or experieced officials as they see fit.

- for the avoidance of doubt, Joe will not take any decisions concerning Metropolitan, and Shaun will not take any decisions concerning Hackney.

- an illegal move will, if claimed immediately, entitle the 'innocent party' to two minutes on their clock. The position should be returned to its pre-illegal move state. If the illegal move has not been claimed immediately, players should consult the organisers or an arbiter, who will exercise their discretion as to whether the position should be returned and/or whether any time should be added.