Rules

General Tournament Rules
  1. The number of rounds and time controls for tournaments are listed in the schedule.
  2. The Premier tournament will be ACF and FIDE rated, and will be constituted as a FIDE Title Tournament. The Major will be ACF and FIDE rated, and all other tournaments will be ACF rated.
  3. The organisers reserve the right to transfer players across tournaments they may be eligible for. Should this need to occur the player will be consulted and a full refund of entry fees will be made if the player does not wish to transfer.
  4. The Swiss Manager program will be used for pairings.
  5. All mobile phones and electronic devices are banned in the tournament hall.
  6. Draws in under 30 moves allowed only with consent of the arbiter.
  7. Organisers reserve the right to refuse entry to a player.
  8. There is no smoking in the playing hall, analysis/lecture area or any other part of the premises under the control of the tournament organisers.
  9. There is no analysis in the playing hall.
  10. All players are to attend the prize-giving ceremony. Players eligible for a prize who do not attend the presentation will incur a 20% handling fee.


Policy on Short Draws

Draws by mutual agreement in under 30 moves are not allowed without the agreement of the arbiter. No pre-arranged / tacit agreements to draw are allowed (of any length, by repetition or otherwise). Genuine draws by repetition or stalemate are acceptable.



Tie Break

When required for the tournament, the tie-break systems in descending order of priority are:

  1. Median Buccholz - Sum of opponent scores minus the highest and lowest scores
  2. Buccholz - Sum of opponent scores
  3. Sonneborn-Berger - The sum of the scores of the opponents a player has defeated and half the scores of the players he has drawn with
  4. AOR - Average of opponents ratings

Unplayed games - For tie-break purposes, the result shall be counted as a *draw* against the player himself.



Myer Tan Grand Prix Points

The Myer Tan points will be allocated as follows for the Doeberl Cup.

  • Open - Premier Tournament
  • Junior - Premier Tournament
  • Womens - Premier Tournament
  • Girls - Major Tournament
  • Under 2000 - Major Tournament
  • Under 1600 - Minor Tournament
  • Unrated - Minor Tournament

Note: Where points are not exhausted in the primary tournament that points are attached to, the remaining points will not be awarded.



Player Sign-In

Players are expected to arrive prior to the sign-in closure time for each tournament. There will be a sign-in table for them to indicate that they are present for the first round. Players who do not arrive before the sign-in closure time but who have pre-paid will not be included in the first round pairings. Should they arrive prior to the first round start time they will be paired, where possible with other players who may not have made the sign-in timeframe. The organisers cannot cater for every contingency but will attempt to be as flexible as possible whilst still aiming to begin each round at the scheduled start time.



Mobile Phone Usage

We will be enforcing a strict No Mobile Phone usage during the event policy.

All mobile phones and other communication devices are to be switched off in the tournament hall. This includes PDAs, MP3 players and any other devices that can receive external transmissions.

A breach of this rule will result in the automatic loss of the game in the case of a player (if a game is in progress), or the exclusion from the tournament hall until the start of the next round (in the case of player who has finished their game), or for the rest of the day (in the case of a spectator).



Appeals and the Appeals Committee

In the case of an appeal against an arbiters decision, the tournament director will form an appeals committee consisting of 3 players from any of the events tournaments. These players will be chosen for their impartiality and their knowledge of the rules of chess.

The player lodging the appeal shall lodge a $50 bond, which will be refunded if the appeal is successful, or if the appeal committee decides to refund the bond in the case of an unsuccessful appeal.



Players Rights and Responsibilies

All players have the right to expect

  1. The tournament directors are reliable and have a knowledge of the laws of chess, as per FIDE standards.
  2. That all prizes will be awarded as advertised
  3. That any special rules pertinent to this tournament will be announced and/or posted
  4. The starting times of the rounds will be posted, and that the rounds will start reasonably on time
  5. The tournament director (or assistants) will be available at all times in the event of questions or problems
  6. The round results will be posted in a timely manner
  7. That upon request the tournament director will initiate the appeals process

All players are expected

  1. To conduct themselves in an orderly fashion
  2. To compete in the spirit of good sportsmanship
  3. To be present at the start of every round, if possible
  4. To refrain from analysis or audible talking in the playing hall while other games are in progress
  5. To notify the director in advance if they are unable to play a round or rounds
  6. To promptly report results in a manner required by the tournament director
  7. To read all the pertinent information posted by the tournament organisers
  8. To obey the FIDE laws of chess

Note: The Senior tournament will only go ahead if there are sufficient entries. In the event that it does not proceed, players may be moved into Premier/Major/Minor divisions.