Fighting chess a must at Dresden Olympiad

No short draws at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden 2008
details about the rules at the Chess Olympiad
by Chessdom.com

Official Olympiad Website: http://www.dresden2008.org/
Please download the Bulletin 2 in PDF format.

The Chess Olympiad will have interesting innovations and strict rules. One of the most peculiar is the “no short draw” rule implementation. According to article 3.1 from the Players and Captains section, “Draws are NOT allowed before the completion of Black’s 30th move. This shall be superseded by Article 9.1 of the Laws of Chess. In case of doubts, the Chief Arbiter’s interpretation shall be final and without appeal.”

The basic Swiss pairing system shall be Burstein System in 11 rounds, with one section for the open teams and one section for the women’s teams, considered as separate competitions. Expect more details about the rules at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden today on Chessdom.com!

Do not forget to follow the announcements of the team compositions, as they are being updated frequently at the Dresden Chess Olympiad teams section.

Schedule

November 12 Opening Ceremony 8 pm
November 12 Arbiters Meeting 10 pm
November 12 Ranking of Teams 11 pm
November 13 Captains Meeting 9 am
November 13 Publication of Team
Pairings for Round 1 9.45 am
November 13 Submission of Round Team List for Round 1 10.15 am
November 13 Publication of Individual Pairings for Round 1 11.45 am
November 13 Round 1 3 pm
November 14 Round 2 3 pm
November 15 Round 3 3 pm
November 16 Round 4 3 pm
November 17 Round 5 3 pm
November 18 Free Day
November 19 Round 6 3 pm
November 20 Round 7 3 pm
November 21 Round 8 3 pm
November 22 Round 9 3 pm
November 23 Round 10 3 pm
November 24 Free Day
November 25 Round 11 (Last) 10 am

2. Team Compositions

2.1 According to a decision made by the Athens Presidential Board Meeting in June 2008 all participating federations are required to submit their Team Lists by providing the Fixed Board Order (FBO) before 12 September 2008. After this date, no substitution of players and no change of board order shall be allowed.

2.2 Any team whose captain (or deputy) is not present at the Captains Meeting will be excluded from the initial ranking of teams and shall not be paired for Round 1. Teams arriving with less than 2 players will not be paired.

2.3 If any specific Round Team List (RTL) is not submitted on time, the team must only use its top 4 players.

The order of the players, as indicated by the FBO (Fixed Board Order) Team List cannot be altered; hence reserves must play on the bottom board only. If the board order in which a team plays differs from the board order of FBO Team List, the team’s score for that round shall be reduced by one game point for every deviation from the correct sequence. (Example: for playing 1-2-4-3, two points are forfeited; the score shall not, however, be reduced below zero.) The use of any player who does not figure in the FBO Team List will cause the round to be forfeited 4:0.

3. Players and Captains

3.1 Metallic objects, electronic devices and mobile phones cannot be brought into the playing area.

3.2 Captains and Players playing in a particular round shall be allowed to enter the playing area provided they wear the appropriate Accreditation Badge.

3.3 The player having to move is not allowed to leave the playing area without permission of the Match Arbiter.

3.4 Players are not allowed to leave the playing venue without permission from the Match Arbiter. The playing venue is defined as the playing area, rest rooms, refreshment area and other places as designated by the Chief Arbiter.

3.5 All players must conduct themselves in accordance with sporting fairness and decency, and must take care neither to distract nor to annoy their opponents. They should endeavor to settle all disputes by mutual accommodation.

3.6 Draws are NOT allowed before the completion of Black’s 30th move. This shall be superseded by Article 9.1 of the Laws of Chess. In case of doubts, the Chief Arbiter’s interpretation shall be final and without appeal.

3.7 No analysis is permitted in the playing area. Analysis for finished games is allowed in the analysis room. It is not allowed to move sets and clocks from playing area to the analysis room.

3.8 Prior agreement between players as to the result of individual games or of a match shall be penalized with the utmost severity. If any such agreement is proven to have taken place, the points apportioned by it shall be annulled and the matter shall be referred to the Appeals Committee for the fixing of the penalty.

4. Captains

In the exercise of his functions the Captain has the right of access to the area reserved for the players, but it is his duty to ensure that the members of his team who are not involved in the current match or have finished their games do not enter or remain in this area. When the match of his/her team has finished, the Captain will be considered as a spectator and he/she will leave the playing area.

At the end of the playing session, the Captain is responsible both for reporting the result to the Match Arbiter and for delivering to them legibly written score sheets of the finished games and to sign the Match Protocols.

During the games the Captain must refrain from interfering in any way. He is, however, entitled to advise his players on the offering or accepting of draws or resigning of games, provided that he makes no comment on the actual position on the chess board, and confines himself to giving brief information which can in no way be construed as an opinion about the progress of the game. The exchange of information between Captain and Player must take place in the presence of an Arbiter.

The Captain is permitted to appoint a deputy to exercise his functions, but must inform the Chief Arbiter of this in writing. In matters relating directly to the play, the Captain alone is entitled to lodge or present demands made by his players.

5. The Advisory Panel

5.1 In the Chief Arbiter’s initial discussion with the captains, the latter shall elect an Advisory Panel.

5.2 This panel shall be composed of 5 persons, as follows: • the members may be Captains or Players; • they should be chosen from all 5 rating categories, which are made according to the average rating of each team’s 4 highest rated players; • the 5 members shall nominate their own chairman.

5.3 The task of the Advisory Panel is to give advice to the Chief Arbiter and Tournament Director whenever they request it. Equally, the Appeals Committee or the FIDE President may take advice from the panel before arriving at a decision.

5.4 Request for this advice should be addressed to the chairman of the panel.

6. System of Play

The basic Swiss pairing system shall be Burstein System in 11 rounds, with one section for the open teams and one section for the women’s teams, considered as separate competitions. Every match shall be played over four boards.

7. Start and Finish of the Sessions

7.1 Five minutes before the start of each round, the Chief Arbiter must announce the approaching start of the session by a double acoustic signal; whereupon all Players are to be seated at their designated matches.

7.2 The beginning of the playing session shall be announced by the Chief Arbiter or by a single acoustic signal. At this instant, any Player who is not seated at his/her Match shall be defaulted immediately. Where both Players are absent at the beginning of the playing session, both Players shall lose the game by default.

7.3 Once the signal for the start of the round has been given, the clock of the player with the white pieces shall be started by his opponent or an Arbiter.

8. Laws of Chess

The general FIDE Laws of Chess shall be applied with their supplements and interpretations as laid down by the FIDE Rules Commission. The specific regulations for the Chess Olympiad in FIDE Handbook shall also be in force.

9. Time Control

The time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes and 30 minutes to finish with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the first move.
10. Scoring

10.1 Each team’s place in the order of classification shall be decided by the number of Match Points it has scored.

10.2 Ties shall be resolved as follows: The position of teams that finish with the same number of Match Points shall be determined by application of the following tie-breaking procedures in sequence, proceeding from (a) to (b) to (c) to the extent required:

(a) by the sum of Sonneborn-Berger Points which are calculated as follows: Match Points of each opponent, excluding the opponent who scored the lowest number of Match Points, multiplied by the number of Game Points achieved against this opponent;
(b) by the sum of Match Points of all the team’s opponents, excluding the lowest one;
(c) by the number of the Game Points scored

10.3 For tie-break purposes, a Bye is counted as a drawn match against the team itself, an unplayed match – if the opposing team does not appear on time – is counted as a match won by 3-1. Individual Board Prizes Players assigned to the same board number in their respective team lists shall be in competition for individual board prizes namely; gold, silver and bronze medals. For the purposes of this award, the player’s Performance Rating shall be compared. If the Performance Rating is equal, the tie shall be broken by

(a) the number of games, and if this is also equal by
(b) the player’s Performance Rating after deducting the result against the lowest rated opponent, and if this is also equal by
(c) the player’s Performance Rating after deducting the results against the two lowest rated opponents and so on.
Only players who have played a minimum of 8 games shall be eligible for Board Prizes.

12 Qualification for World Team Championships The 3 highest placed teams in the Open Section are entitled to participate in the World Team Championship in Turkey, 2009. The 5 highest placed teams in the Women’s Section are entitled to participate in the Women’s World Team Championship in Singapore, 2009.

13 Procedure in case of infringement of the rules, disputes and improper conduct

13.1 In matters relating to the play:
• the initial decision shall be taken by the Arbiters.
• an appeal against this decision may be addressed to the Chief Arbiter.
• the second, provisionally binding decision, shall be taken by the Chief Arbiter.

13.2 In administrative matters
• the initial decision shall be taken by the Deputy Tournament Director.
• an appeal against this decision may be addressed to the Tournament Director.
• the second, provisionally binding decision shall be taken by the Tournament Director.

13.3 Any ruling by the Chief Arbiter or Tournament Director shall take effect immediately; any proceedings which were suspended shall then be resumed.

13.4 Written protests against a decision of the Chief Arbiter or Tournament Director are permissible and shall be settled by an Appeals Committee.

14 The Appeals Committee

14.1 The FIDE President, as the highest executive officer of the Chess Olympiad, shall have the support of an Appeals Committee, of which he himself shall select the three members.

14.2 The President shall appoint one of the members as chairman.

14.3 The following may be the subject of rulings by the appeals committee:
• protests against decisions of the Chief Arbiter or Tournament Director;
• complaints of improper conduct by participants in the Chess Olympiad;
• any other matters which the committee considers important and worth debating.

14.4 Procedure of appeals Any protest against a decision by the Chief Arbiter or the Tournament Director must be typed and presented to the Appeals Committee in triplicate, together with the sum of 100 Swiss Francs or the equivalent in local currency, as a deposit from the signatory. If the appeal is granted, the sum shall be returned immediately. Those entitled to lodge appeals are the team captains and the chiefs of delegation. Where appropriate, the appeal may be accompanied by written statements from the witnesses. The deposit must be handed to the chairman of the Appeals Committee. If the appeal is refused, the deposit is forfeited to FIDE. Requests to the Appeals Committee by organizers of the Chess Olympiad may be made without payment.

14.5 Upon submission of the appeal, the committee shall proceed to examine the evidence. For this purpose it may take statements from anyone as required, consult members of the Advisory Panel, and conduct other forms of investigation. The decision of the Appeals Committee should be reached as quickly as possible.

14.6 The Appeals Committee should endeavor to find acceptable solutions in the FIDE spirit. It may resolve disputed issues with or without disciplinary action. In the case of gross unsporting offenses or other misconduct, the following principles apply:

• The Laws of Chess provide for the penalization of players who break the rules; the FIDE interpretations of the laws state that “Arbiters are requested to impose, in cases where clear contravention of moral principles of the game is demonstrated, penalties as severe as the loss of the game”.

• If a participant fails to comply with the Laws of Chess or the relevant regulations, disobeys the controllers Assistant Arbiters, commits breaches of chess etiquette or conducts himself improperly inside or outside the tournament building, the following steps may be taken.

14.7 Code of penalties For minor offences or petty infringements
• admonishment
• correction
• demand for an apology to the offended party.

If a participant fails to make the apology demanded of him, which must be presented to the offended party in writing, the Appeals Committee shall instead impose a fine, the amount of which shall have been stipulated in a postscript to the original verdict. For serious offenses
• written warning
• fine
• conditional or definitive disqualification. The Appeals Committee shall decides whether an offence is “serious” or “minor”. All fines are to be remitted to FIDE through the administrator, who should be notified by the committee. The Federations shall take responsibility for their players.

15. FIDE Officials and Olympiad Principals

Tournament Director – Dr Dirk Jordan (Germany)

Chief Arbiter – Mr Ignatius Leong (Singapore)

Deputy Chief Arbiter (Open) – Mr Klaus Deventer (Germany)

Deputy Chief Arbiter (Women) – Dr Michael Shadarevian (Qatar)

Senior Arbiters Open – Ms Sava Kisova (Serbia), Mr Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh (Iran), Mr Ralph Alt (Germany), Mr Ralf Wadewitz (Germany)

Senior Arbiters Women – Mrs Elisabeta Pohlironiade (Romania), Mrs Carol Jarecki (British Virgin Islands)

Appeals Committee – Mr Jorge Vega (Costa Rica), GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Georgia), Prof Vanik Zakarian (Armenia)
Technical Administration Panel – Mr Ignatius Leong (Singapore), Mr Almog Burstein (Israel), Mr Werner Stubenvoll (Austria), Mr Christian Krause (Germany), Mr Heinz Herzog (Austria)

http://www.dresden2008.org/