BFCC Open Championship Rules
from 1st January 2001 (F11, S104 and P512 onwards)
- The BFCC shall organise an Open Championship in all-play-all sections.
- The BFCC Executive Committee shall appoint a Tournament Director to organise and run the tournament.
- Entry is open to chess players residing in the British Isles. There is no membership qualification.
- Entries for 7-competitor preliminary sections may be made at any time. Each section shall start whenever sufficient entries have been received. Each competitor may enter more than one section.
- Competitors shall play one game against each of the others in the same section. The commencement date and colours in each game shall be notified in the pairing notice. All games shall be played to completion. Results shall be published in the Federation's Information Circular.
- The two highest scoring competitors in a preliminary section qualify for a semi-final section of 9 players. So far as is feasible, semi-final sections shall be arranged so that competitors who were paired in preliminary sections shall not be paired together. The two highest scoring competitors in a semi-final section shall qualify for a final of 15 competitors.
- Games shall be played in accordance with the ICCF Playing Rules (for individual tournament games played normally by post) in being at the commencement date except as may be otherwise provided in these rules.
- Moves shall be sent in the algebraic or a mutually agreed notation. Scoresheets or scorecards may be used only if both players agree; they must understand that this method of transmission does not provide positive proof of the moves played or the dates of transmission or receipt.
- Impossible, illegal or illegible moves shall be referred back to the sender for correction and ambiguous moves for clarification. Additional reflection time shall count for the guilty player as if for separate moves but no other penalty shall normally apply.
- Players claiming that the time limit has been exceeded need only send to the Tournament Director in the first instance, the card or scoresheet on which the opponent has indicated an accumulated time in excess of the permitted number of days.
- If a first claim for exceeding the time limit is upheld, then the player who has exceeded the time limit shall be deemed to have lost the game.
- Ties shall be broken by the Sonneborn-Berger system but prizes shall be pooled and shared. Ties involving qualifications not broken by the Sonneborn-Berger system or individual results shall result in the competitors concerned qualifying.
- The winner of the final section shall hold the title of BFCC Open Champion until the winner of the next final is determined. The title of British CC Master shall be bestowed for life upon the BFCC Open Champion.
- Players shall have the option of using first or second class mail for the transmission of moves but first class mail shall be used for correspondence with the Tournament Director.
- Any matters concerning the organisation and running of the tournament not covered in these rules or the Playing Rules shall be decided at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
- Competitors may appeal against decisions of the Tournament Director to the BFCC Secretary whose address shall be shown on the pairing notice. Such appeal shall be posted within seven days of receiving the decision in question. The appeal shall be referred to the appropriate committee of the BFCC whose decision shall be final.
- The BFCC reserves the right to decline an entry or entries without stating a reason or entering into any further correspondence.
