Regulations for the 2009-2010 Women’s FIDE Grand-Prix

Regulations for the 2009-2010 Women’s FIDE Grand-Prix

Introduction

1.1.

Following  the  approval of  the Presidential Board  in Athens 2008, Global Chess BV  and  FIDE have worked on  the Regulations  for  the Women’s World Championship Cycle  for 2009/2010. Global Chess will be responsible for locating one or several title sponsors for the six tournaments and for the Challenge  match  at  the  end  of  the  Series.  The  host  city  may  seek  alternative  sponsorship  from business industries not in conflict with the main business activity carried out by the title sponsor.

1.2.

Governing  Body:  the  World  Chess  Federation  (FIDE).  For  the  purpose  of  creating  the regulations, communicating with  the players and negotiating with  the organisers,    the President has nominated   a committee, hereby called the World Chess Championship Committee  (WCCC) who will co-operate with Global Chess BV.

1.3.

FIDE,  or  its  appointed  commercial  agency,  retains  all  commercial  and  media  rights  of  the Grand-Prix, including internet rights.

1.4.

The body responsible for any changes to these Regulations is the FIDE Presidential Board.

2.

Format of the Women’s Grand Prix 2009-2010

The Grand Prix will be a series of six  tournaments held over  two years  (2009-2010)  in  leading world cities. The bidding process for the final selection of cities will commence in June 2008 and be finalized by Dresden Congress, November 2008.

The timing of evaluating and contracting host city offers will be very important particularly at the start of the series. Offers to host and contract three tournaments over the next six years (i.e. three cycles – for 2009/10, 2011/2 and 2013/4) will be given preference.

18  top world players will be  selected  to compete  in  these  tournaments. Each player agrees and will contract  to  participate  in  exactly  4  of  these  tournaments.  Players  must  rank  their  preference  of tournaments once  the  final  list of host cities  is announced and  the dates are allocated  to each host city.

FIDE reserves the right to assign players to tournaments according to the organizational needs and the players for each tournament will be announced before the cycle begins.

Each  tournament  will  have  12  players  playing  over  a  schedule  of  seventeen  days.  The  months allocated for the organisation of the Grand Prix tournaments are March, June and September of each respective year. These months have been selected to ensure there is no conflict with any other major event.

3.

Qualifiers for the Grand Prix 2009-2010

The  players  who  qualify  for  selection  to  play  in  the  Grand  Prix  will  be  chosen  on  the  following prioritized basis :

3.1

QUALIFICATION.  The FIDE World Championship in 2008 will be used to determine four qualifiers for the 2009/10 Grand Prix Series. These will be the final four players who have qualified to the semi final stages of the World Championship.

3.2

RATING.  Based on an average calculation  to  two decimal places, of  the October 2008 rating  list and the October 2007 rating  list  in the year prior to start of the cycle, six qualifiers will be selected. If players have the same average rating, the number of games played between January 2008 and September 2008 (rating period) will be used to determine ranking.

To  ensure  active  participation  in  the  future,  a  minimum  of  twenty  five  (25)  games  is  being recommended  in  the  four  rating  lists  including  and  prior  to  the  October  rating  list  in  the  year  of qualification  i.e. 2008, 2010 or 2012.    If any player does not accept  to play  in  the Grand Prix  series, then the selection process using the average rating plus number of games played in the rating period will be adopted, until the number of qualifiers required for the Grand Prix is completed.

3.3

PRESIDENT NOMINEES.   The FIDE President may nominate two players and they must be rated among the top 40 players in the world as per the October 2008 rating list. Nominated players must  not  be  from  the  same  country  although  they may  come  from  countries  where  players  have already qualified under prior criteria.

3.4

HOST CITY NOMINEES.    One player may be nominated by each host city and must be rated not less than 2300 in the last rating list prior to the final nomination or selection of players. If the host city does not have a player rated at least 2300 then the highest rated player from the Federation of the host city will be invited to play, subject to her rating not being lower than 2250.

The WCCC will coordinate with Global Chess and with all  the host cities,  in  the allocation of players, should there be a conflict in the number of players in their ranking of preference of host cites. FIDE is not  obliged,  but will  do  its  utmost  to  respect  the  players’  preferences,  and will  balance  the  player allocation to a host city according to predetermined criteria such as average tournament rating, piece colour, continental representation, etc.

4.

Tournament Format

4.1

In each tournament the 12 players shall play a round robin tournament of 11 rounds. The drawing of colours shall be done in rating order.   The drawing of numbers/colours in the opening ceremony will be split into “whites” and “blacks”, based on the announced colours prior to the series start, in order to balnce as much as possible the number of total whites/blacks that a player receives during the whole Grand-Prix.

4.2

If a player withdraws after completing 50% or more of the games,  the rest of her games are lost by default. In case a player completes less than 50%, all her results are annulled.

4.3

Time control: for each player 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move one.

4.4

During the game a player may only talk to an arbiter or communicate with a steward. Appropriate sporting behaviour is expected from all participants and FIDE rules of conduct are to be strictly followed at all times.

Players will not be allowed to offer draws directly to their opponents. Any draw claim will  be permitted only through the Chief Arbiter in the following cases:

• a triple-repetition of the position (article 9.2 of the Laws of Chess),
• a perpetual check,
• in theoretically drawn position and
• the 50 moves rules (article 9.3 of the Laws of Chess).

The Chief Arbiter may consult with the Technical Adviser before accepting any claim by players for a draw. The Chief Arbiter is the only authority who can acknowledge the final result of the game in these cases.

4.5

The Technical Adviser must have  the  title of GM  (or WGM  if a woman),  rated not  less  than 2400, who  has  held  the  title  for  at  least  five  years  and  is  an  active  player  as defined  by  the  rating system.

4.6

Tie breaks for each tournament:

All  prizes  and GP  ranking  points  are  shared  equally,  in  cases  of  any  tied  position/s. No  tie  break system  will  be  utilised  for  the  individual  GP  tournaments.  The  process  of  determining  the  overall winner of the series, in the case of a tie, is defined in Article 7.2

5.

Tournament Schedule

5.1

5.2

Upon reasonable request of the organisers, or the WCCC after consultation with Global Chess, the FIDE President may vary the schedule.

6.

Confirmation of Participation

6.1

When  FIDE  has  confirmed  the  name of  organiser,  venue  and  dates,  the  participants will  be able to download the copy of the Player’s Undertaking (which contains the player’s obligations) from the FIDE web site and shall send their signed Undertaking to FIDE within one week. This is the player’s responsibility. All participants have to sign and send the Player’s Undertaking to the FIDE Secretariat, by  the  deadline,  which  will  be  announced  by  FIDE,  on  the  FIDE  website,  after  the  official announcement of the Grand Prix series.

6.2

Players that fail to provide a satisfactory reason for withdrawal from the Grand Prix during or even  before  the  series,  after  they  have  signed  the player's  undertaking, may be  excluded  from  the next World Championship cycle, apart from any other action that FIDE may reserve the right to take.

6.3

In  the  case of  any withdrawal prior  to  two weeks before  the  commencement of  the  series, FIDE will replace the player who has withdrawn with the next highest rated player in the rating list as calculated in Article 3.3. This player will accept the withdrawn player’s GP tournament schedule in its entirety.

6.4

If a player withdraws from the GP for any reason whatsoever, less than two weeks prior to the commencement of the GP series or even during the series, then FIDE reserves the right to select one or  more  players,  as  may  be  required,  to  compete  ‘hors  concours’  in  the  withdrawn  player’s  GP tournament schedule. The replacement players selected will be from the top 40 players and will only compete  for  the prize money within  the  specific  tournament. They will not earn  ranking points and their  results  will  be  used  for  any  potential  tie-break  as  specified  under  Article  7.2.2.  The  players selected will be varied from tournament to tournament and no replacement player will participate in more than one event.

7.

Prize Money & Grand Prix Points

7.1

The  recommended  prize  money  which  will  be  offered  by  host  city  organisers  for  each tournament  is 50,000 Euros and  is  split 40,000 Euros as direct prize money  for  the  tournament and 10,000 Euros towards an accumulated prize fund for the players at the end of the series:

In the case of any tie in any tournament, the Grand Prix ranking points and prize money will be split equally. The  overall winner  of  the Grand  Prix will  be  the  one who will  score  the most  number  of cumulative points. The cumulative score will be calculated from the best three results for each player. The  winner  of  the  Grand  prix  agrees  to  play  a  match  against  the  World  Champion  as  per  FIDE regulations by not later than September 2011.

7.2

Tie Break for Overall Winner :

With  the objective of determining a  clear,  single winner  to play  in  the Challenger Match and  in  the case  that  two  or more  players  have  equal  cumulative  points  at  the  top,  the  following  criteria  (in descending order) will be utilized to decide the overall G.P. winner:

1. 4th result not already taken in the top three results;
2. No. of actual game result points scored in the four tournaments;
3. No. of 1st places [in case of a tie - points given accordingly];
4. No. of 2nd places [in case of a tie - points given accordingly];
5. No. of wins;
6. Drawing of lots

7.3

Accumulated Prize Fund

9 prizes will be awarded from the minimum accumulated prize fund of €60,000 (Euros) as follows :

In the case of any joint overall ranking, the respective accumulated prizes will also be split equally.

7.4

FIDE Contributions

The organiser will pay FIDE an additional sum of 20% (10,000 Euros), over and above, the above total host city prize fund (50,000 Euros).

8.

Financial details

8.1

FIDE or its appointed commercial agency has exclusive financial rights to the event and is free to exploit  them commercially. This  includes entering  into advertisement agreements, either with  the Organizers  or  Sponsors,  requiring  players  to wear  clothes with  the  branding  of  sponsors  if  this  has been requested from the players before they sign their undertakings.

8.2

The  television  and  Internet Web  transmission  rights,  including  video  and  film  rights,  shall belong  to  FIDE  or  its  appointed  commercial  agency  and  the  income  divided  on  the  basis  of  an agreement between FIDE or its appointed Commercial Agency and the Organizers.

8.3

FIDE  or  its  appointed  commercial  agency  shall  have  the  exclusive  rights  for  live  games  on Internet.

8.4

All costs related to the anti-doping test procedure, if FIDE decides it is required, including the medical facilities and doctors, will be covered by the local Organising Committee.

8.5

Organisers would need to guarantee the following minimum organizational costs which are:

(i)  Travelling expenses for 12 players + 5 officials will be reimbursed up to 500 euros per person for  people  travelling  in  economy  class  from  the  same  continent  and  up  to  1,100  euros  for  people travelling in economy class from other continents. Budget for 17 tickets i.e. 12,500 Euros.

(ii)  Full Board and lodging costs for 17 people, at 140 Euros per day, for 15 days / nights (i.e. 2,100 Euros per person) in hotels classified not less than 4 Star, i.e. around 35,700 Euros.

(iii)  Stipends  for  the 5 FIDE Principals  (Chief Arbiter x 2,000 Euros, Deputy Arbiter x 1,500 Euros, Technical Adviser x 1,500 Euros, Chairman Appeals Committee x 1,500 Euros and Press Officer x 1,000 Euros). Estimated cost of this is 7,500 Euros.

8.6

The organisers must also provide a budget for the provision of adequate facilities for :

(i)  Server and design costs for the tournament website and games transmission. All games will be transmitted under a sub domain http://hostcity.fide.com where hostcity will change according to the host city where the tournament will be held;

(ii)  Tournament  hall  and  organisations  rooms  in  the  venue  with  appropriate  lighting  and standards expected for world class tournaments;

(iii)  Press centre and facilities plus media team to cover the event;

(iv)  Transfer of players to / from venue and to / from Airport;

(v)  Drug testing, if required;

The  budget  organizational  cost  for  this  is  estimated  at  around  30,000  Euros  and  organisers will  be expected to submit detailed budgets of proposed expenditure in their bid offers.

8.7

Any additional financial contributions, that any host city may wish to offer, in their bids, over and above,  the prize  fund, FIDE contribution and organisational costs, will be allocated between the accumulated prize fund, FIDE and Global Chess, respectively, in the ration 50% - 30%-20%.

9.

Arrangements for the Playing Hall.

9.1.

The WCCC  shall ensure  the playing hall and  its environs meet  the  requirements of  the FIDE Regulations for the Organization of Top Level Tournaments (FIDE Handbook C.01).

9.2

The playing venue shall be decorated with the FIDE flag,  IOC flag, the flags of the host nation and the participating players’ Federations and the sponsors' brandings.

9.3.

After the WCCC agrees with the Organisers on the arrangements in respect of the tournament hall,  facilities,  accommodation  and  meals,  transportation,  telecommunication,  ceremonies,  no objections from the participants shall be acceptable.

10.

Interviews, functions and mode of dressing.

10.1.

Interviews with people other than players can be arranged directly.

10.2.

The  players  are  expected  to  cooperate  reasonably with  the media. General  interviews with them can be arranged through the Press Officer.

10.3.

The players are required to make themselves available for short interviews  immediately after each game. In general, both players shall be available for the daily press conference.

10.4.

Players are  required  to be present at all official  functions approved by FIDE President or his representative  during  the  Tournament  including  official  receptions  and  the  opening  and  closing ceremonies.

10.5.

Players are  specifically  requested  to note  the  requirements of FIDE Regulations C.01  (Article 8.1) in respect of their dignified appearance at all times during the event.

11.

Photography and Television.

11.1.

Only photographers and camera crews expressly authorized by the Organising Committee may work in the playing venue.

12.

Principals

12.1

The Principals are:

• FIDE President and a FIDE Representative;
• Chief Arbiter and his Deputy.;
• Chairman of Appeals Committee
• Press Officer; and
• FIDE Medical Commission nominee.
• Technical Adviser

12.2

The  FIDE  President  and  the  FIDE  representative  will  be  hosted  by  the  organisers  for  the duration of their stay.

13.

Tournament and Playing Conditions

13.1.

Apart  from  the  players  and  arbiters,  no other  person  shall  be  allowed  in  the  actual  playing area during the games, except with the permission of the Chief Arbiter.

13.2.

During  the  playing  session  (lasting  from  10 minutes  before  the  start  of  the  round  until  the departure of players), the following additional regulations shall be in force:

13.3.

The players are not permitted to bring  into the playing venue technical and other equipment extraneous  to  play,  which may  in  any way  disturb  or  upset  the  opponent.  The  Chief  Arbiter  shall decide what constitutes extraneous equipment liable to offend the opponent.

13.4

The  players  shall  shake  hands  (or  shall  greet  each  other  in  a  normal  social  manner  in accordance with  the  conventional  rules of  their  society) before  the  start  and after  the end  of each game.  If a player fails to meet these requirements and after being asked to do so by the Chief Arbiter, then she will lose the game immediately.

13.5

Organizers  shall  provide  in  sufficiency,  free  of  charge,  coffee,  tea  and  soft  drinks  for  the players and principals. It is advisable that the same offer shall apply for the press members.

13.6

The  Organisers  shall  provide  score  sheets  according  to  the  specifications  provided  by  the WCCC.    At the end of each game the players' original score sheets shall be given to the Arbiter, who shall hand them over to FIDE  in due course. Refusal of either player to sign the score sheets shall be penalized  according  to  Article  13.4  of  the  Laws  of  Chess.  After  the  players  have  signed  the  score sheets, the Arbiter shall countersign to confirm the results.

13.7

All players are required to attend a Players’ meeting at a date and time to be decided by the Chief Arbiter.  If  he/she deems  it necessary,  the Chief Arbiter may  call other Players' Meetings. The drawing of lots will take place during the first Players’ meeting or in the Opening Ceremony.

13.8

Appointment of Principals. The FIDE President after consultation with the WCCC shall appoint the FIDE Representative, the Chief Arbiter, the Deputy Chief Arbiter, the Press Officer, the Chairman of the Appeals Committee and the Technical Adviser.

13.9

During play either the Chief Arbiter or the Deputy Chief Arbiter must be present in the playing area.

13.10

The Chief Arbiter may,  in consultation with  the WCCC,  the players and after  the approval of the FIDE President,  issue additional written regulations to  lay down the exact playing hours and take care of other details not covered by these regulations.

13.11

Immediately after the end of the event, the Chief Arbiter shall draw up a report in the English language  and  send  it  without  delay  to  the  FIDE  Secretariat.  The  report  shall  be  supplemented  by adding two copies of the bulletins of the event.  The report shall contain the result of each individual game  as  well  as  the  final  standings  of  the  event.  In  addition,  the  report  shall  contain  a  general description of the course of the event.

14.

Appeals Committee.

14.1

The Chairman of the Appeals Committee will be a member of the FIDE Presidential Board and he/she will be appointed by the FIDE President. For the other 2 spots,  two players and  two reserves will be chosen during the Players’ meeting. The three members of the Appeals Committee and the two reserves must be from 5 different federations.

14.2

No member of the Appeals Committee shall sit in judgement in a dispute involving a player or party  from her Federation except where the dispute  is between two players or two parties from her Federation.

14.3

All protests must be submitted in writing to the Appeals Committee not more than two hours after  the  relevant  playing  session,  or  the  particular  infringement  complained  against.  The Tournament Director shall call a meeting of the Appeals Committee as soon as possible.

14.4

The Committee may decide on the following matters:

1. an appeal against a decision by an arbiter,
2. a protest against a player's behaviour,
3. a complaint alleging false interpretation of the regulations,
4. a request for the interpretation of specific regulations,
5. a protest or complaint against any participant, or
6. all other matters which the Committee considers important.

14.5

If  possible,  the  Committee  shall  reach  a  decision  not  more  than  two  hours  after  the submission  of  a  protest.  The  appeals  process  shall  include  written  representations  and  a  written decision. The Committee shall endeavour to find binding solutions that are within the true spirit of the FIDE motto, Gens Una Sumus.

14.6

Each protest must be accompanied by a deposit fee of €500 (five hundred Euros) or a written statement that this fee can be deducted from the prize fund if the protest is rejected. If the protest is accepted, the fee shall be returned. If the protest is rejected, then in this case, FIDE reserves the right to withhold the deposit fee.

14.7

The  decision  of  the  Appeals  Committee  arising  from  any  dispute  in  respect  of  these regulations shall be final.

15.

Opening Ceremony for each tournament

A short Opening Ceremony shall take place and all participants are required to take part.

Closing Ceremony of each tournament

The  Closing  Ceremony  shall  take  place  according  to  schedule.  The  Organizer  shall  provide  three trophies to the first three placed players.

In each tournament, if two or more players tie for first place, the tie to decide the awarding of the trophies will be broken (in descending order) by

1. Direct encounter
2. Sonneborn Berger Score
3. Koya System

The FIDE Anthem,  the anthem of  the winner’s country and  the anthem of  the host country shall be played.

17.

Payment of Prize Money and Stipends

17.1.

The prize fund and stipends shall be paid by direct bank transfer in Euros from FIDE’s bankers UBS, Lausanne.

17.2.

FIDE shall not be responsible  if any national tax has to be deducted from the prize money or for any tax obligation of the participants in their respective countries.

17.3.

At  any  time  in  the  course  of  the  application of  these  regulations,  any  grounds  that  are not covered or any unforeseen event shall be referred to the President of FIDE for final decision.

Penalties

18.1

Should a player be  in breach of conduct of any of these regulations she may be subject  to a maximum penalty of €1,000 for any instance of breach.

18.2

Should a player be  in repeated breach of any of  these regulations, FIDE reserves the right to expel  the player  from  the  tournament  and  subject  the player  to  a maximum  fine of €2,000.  In  this case, the expelled player will not have any right to any prize money, irrespective of his standing at the time of expulsion.

18.3

Should a player withdraw from a tournament or the GP series without proper  justification to the WCCC,  then a penalty of €5,000 will be  imposed on  the player and  the player may be excluded from the next World Championship cycle.