4th ICCF Webchess Open Tournament

Saturday, May 22, 2010: ICCF is delighted to announce the start of the 4th WebChess Open tournament on the server. This announcement will be posted at the ICCF website and distributed to all national federations. The following Frequently Asked Questions setup clarifies all information applicable for this edition.

1. What is the Webchess Open Tournament?
It is a tournament open to all correspondence chess players around the World, with or without any previous ICCF experience.

2. Who is in charge?
Frank Geider (FRA), World Tournament Director (WTD) has appointed Valer-Eugen Demian (CAN), ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner (NTTC) as the responsible ICCF Officer for this tournament. Please direct all general inquiries to him at: vdemian@shaw.ca
Guido Bresadola (ITA) has been appointed Central Tournament Leader (CTL). He is in charge of registration, pairings and other tournament related issues. His email address is: guido.bresadola@tiscali.it

3. How and when to enter?
Multiple entries are allowed. Go to the ICCF Webserver main page www.iccf-webchess.com click on “New Events”, find the tournament in the main list and click “Enter”. It allows you to register with a click of a button using one of the three methods available:
a) Contact your national federation (NF). Provide your ICCF-ID (if you have one) and a valid email address you will use for this tournament. Your national federation will forward your entry to CTL Guido Bresadola (ITA).
b) Qualified players may use Direct Entry (DE).
Third method available for new players to ICCF:
c) New players to ICCF are allowed to enter 1 section for free. They should send their contact information: name, email address and country to Valer Eugen Demian NTTC. If they wish to enter more than one section, all extra entries should be paid for as described above.

4. When does the registration close?
Registration is open immediately (as soon as DE is setup) and it closes on June 30th, 2010.

5. How much does it cost?
The payment is linked to the method of registration used:
a) Registering via your NF. Receiving payment of the event fee and confirmation of your registration are handled by your NF.
b) Registering via Direct Entry.  All information is provided through the DE registration process. Simply click the enter button and follow the prompts.
c) New players to ICCF play 1 section for free.

6. Who is considered a new player to ICCF?
a) Players without ICCF ID or,
b) Players with ICCF ID but who never played a rated game in the past.

7. What is the time frame?
The tournament will be played in three stages: preliminaries, semifinal and final.
Preliminaries will start in mid July 2010, with an approximate end date in July 2012. The other 2 stages will be scheduled accordingly at a later date. ICCF reserves the right to stop all games affecting qualification after 2 years of play and adjudicate them.
Reference information:
1st WebChess Open tournament - preliminaries started Feb 1st, 2005, all groups finished; semifinals started Nov 15th, 2006, all groups finished; final started May 5th, 2009.
2nd WebChess Open tournament - preliminaries started June 15th, 2006, all groups finished; semifinals started Jul 25th, 2008, one on-going group; final pending.
3rd WebChess Open tournament - preliminaries started May 20th, 2008, six on-going groups; semifinal pending.

8. How will I play?
Preliminaries will consist of groups of 7 (seven) players each. All games will be rated. The latest ICCF Playing Rules Webserver will apply for all stages as applicable. You can read them online at
www.iccf-webchess.com
by clicking on “Online Help” ? “Server rules”.

9. How do I qualify from preliminaries?
Only the section winners will qualify for the semifinal stage. Ties will be broken according to the ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 5.

10. What are the prizes available?
The ICCF Executive will decide on the prizes available for the final stage at a later date.

11. The list of valid entries has been posted here:
http://www.asigc.it/temp/4th%20wot.htm

We welcome with open arms regular ICCF players as well as new ones, eager to test their skills with us. It is our hope you will enjoy the experience on our server and will use this opportunity to make new friends around the World.

Play Webserver chess with ICCF! Join your National CC Federation and the ICCF community!

AMICI SUMUS!

Frank Geider
World Tournament Director (WTD)

Valer-Eugen Demian
Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner (NTTC)

Guido Bresadola
Central Tournament Leader (CTL)