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CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE CHESS
RULES

GENERAL RULES
1    The competition is organised by Coulsdon Chess Fellowship (which is a trading name of Creating Community Facilities, a non-profit making company) and all entries are at the discretion of and under the auspices of the CCF Tournament Controller. 
2    The decision of CCF is final in all matters.
3    At all events, legal responsibility for the safety of each player is that of their parents/carers.  CCF, the child's school and it's staff plus the chess trainer from the school, cannot accept any responsibility in respect of the supervision and/or responsibility for the safety of any competitor.
4    All matches shall be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess, except where indicated.

ELIGIBILITY RULES
1    Players must represent the school that they are registered with for their full education, except in special circumstances where they are a member of a recognised out of school chess club which has been allowed to enter the competition; CCF shall adjudicate in such matters.
2    Schools (and their players) must play in the CCF zone geographically allocated to them by CCF; this is decided by the location of their school.  No player or school may change or play in a different zone for any reason.
3    Players must be aged Under 11 as at 31 August at the start of any given season (which is considered to run from September to May).  However, special permission may be granted by CCF for a player who is "behind" a year at school and are still in year 6 (according to the nationally recognised school year system). 

ENTRY RULES / SELECTION PROCESS
1    Players must enter by the deadline quoted for their region.   This is to allow suitable time for board orders to be arranged and the necessary paperwork to be transported to the organisers.  No entries will be accepted on the day. 
2    All entries should be made direct to the CCF office, with date of birth and full contact information provided for each child (including address, telephone number(s) and email address).  Where schools coordinate their entries as opposed to the individual players, they are reminded that such information shall be mandatory and parents shall be asked to give permission for the information to be passed to us.
3    All entries are taken on the basis that no guarantee can be given by ANYONE as to whether a team will function, or whether the player entered will be in a team or in the Schools' Individuals' Challenge section. 
4    CCF cannot accept responsibility for entries lost or not processed, due to the fact that staff on the day are under immense pressure - an dsuch entries will have to be considered as attempted entries on the day, which will not be accepted.  CCF list all entries on the web site (the booking page) to ensure that everyone can check whether their entry has been processed.  Players turning up on the day who are not listed as entered will not be able to play.

TOURNAMENT RULES FOR EVENTS
1    Players will be allocated to teams or the Schools' Individuals' Challenge by CCF, who where possible will liaise with the chess trainer, teacher or contact at each school.  No school/trainer has the right to insist on any change to board order, or to prevent a change made by the CCF Controller, who will act in the best interests of the competition.
2    Players must play in their allocated position for the duration of the tournament and may not change board order and/or section of the competition unless specifically instructed to do by the tournament controller.  If they leave early, the other players will not move up boards - but a substitute may be inserted on their board directly from the Schools' Individuals' Challenge section, if possible.
3    Captains are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of teams results; players in the Schools' Individuals' Challenge section for their individual matches.  Incorrect reporting of results cannot be changed retrospectively unless the Chief Arbiter rules, but this will only happen if he/she feels that tournament has not advanced significantly that changing the result would be unfair on the other teams in the light of the different "pairings" that would have been made.

IN THE PLAYING HALL
1    Aside of the CCF arbiting team, only players still playing their matches (and their team captains) may stay in the playing hall once their game is completed and once the board and clock have been re-set (which must be done immediately the result has been reported to the team captains).  Anyone found in breach of these rules may be deducted a point, whether a player or otherwise.
2    Nobody other than an appointed tournament official may interfere in any match for any reason.  Teams will be penalised 1 point whenever this rule is broken (this includes pointing anything out in the game (ie. check, checkmate, stalemate, clock not pressed) - if an arbiter feels a gesture or action has broken this rule, a point shall be deducted.
3    At the end of a match, both captains must hand the result in together so that the tournament controller can cross check the result with them.  Any captain failing to obey this rule runs the risk of incorrect results being reported (under the rules of chess, a result stands once reported).
4    Players are not allowed to make unnecessary noise.  Talking is not permitted.
5    Any supervising teacher/coach is welcome to apply (in advance) to CCF for permission to remain in the playing hall whilst play is in progress, but the right to do so remains with CCF and is subject to provision of a current DBS check and the presentation of suitable photgraphic ID.  Permision can be withdrawn at any time if the Tournament Controller feels it appropriate.

TOURNAMENT SCORING - SWISS SYSTEMS
1    Scoring shall be on the basis of 3 points for a team win, 2 points for a team draw and 1 point for a team loss.  0 shall only be scored in the case of all 4 boards being defaulted.
2    Final positions shall be decided on:  1) Most Points, 2) Most Board Points (ie. a 4-0 win is better than 3-1, etc), 3) Best Progressive Score (add tied teams' match points score after each round and the higher score wins), 4) Direct Result (if they have played) including Board Score and Bottom Board elimination if appropriate.

TOURNAMENT SCORING - ALL-PLAY-ALLS
1    Scoring shall be on the basis of 3 points for a team win, 2 points for a team draw and 1 point for a team loss.  0 shall only be scored in the case of all 4 boards being defaulted.
2    Final positions shall be decided on:  1) Most Points, 2) Most Board Points (ie. a 4-0 win is better than 3-1, etc), 3) Direct Result including Board Score and Bottom Board elimination if appropriate, 4) Play-Off if required (as directed & decided by the controller).

QUALIFICATION FOR THE FINALS
1    CCF will annually set the criterae for how many teams qualify for the finals from each zone.  Each zone will always be guaranteed a minimum of 1 team per final in whatever format we announce.
2    A total of 8 teams will be invited for each of the team finals.  The team finals are:
        *    Champions' League        -        for the best team(s) in each zone
        *    Europa League                 -        for the next best Team(s) in each zone
        *    State Cup                            -       for the next best State School 1st team(s)
        *    Chessfa Cup                      -        for the next best non-1st team(s) from each zone
3    Where a school wins the Schools' Individuals' Challenge Final zonal events, the players that represented them will be invited for finals' day.  If they turn the invitation down, they will not be replaced, unless they are part of a wider squad involving teams that have qualified and the school has dropped below the stated minimum number of players required.
4    The final qualification table for each zone will be decided on the aggregate scores of the Autumn Term (1st Leg) and Spring Term (2nd Leg) events.  Positions will be decided on:
        1    Total Match Points across the Autumn & Spring events.
        2    Total Board Points across the Autumn & Spring events.
        3    Best aggregate "progressive score" across the Autumn & Spring events.
        4    If any teams are still tied, the direct result(s) of those teams will be taken into account across the 2 legs.
Every player who represented the teams during the qualification rounds (which can be anything from 4-8 players) will be invited to play on finals' day.  The designated team manager (as recognised by CCF) will be asked to allocate who plays in the teams and who plays in the Schools' Individuals' Challenge Final.  Where a team has less than 5 players, CCF will invite the "next" player on the list (based on the board numbers of those who played "lower down" in their rankings.  Once such a list is exhausted, any unused places may be offered on a first come, first served basis to anyone else (remembering that players who only represented "first" teams (or teams higher than a non-1st team qualifier) cannot play for a lower team.
5    A non-1st teams qualifying for a "higher" final may choose to play in the Chessfa Cup Final if they prefer.  This must be communicated to CCF within 1 week of the date of qualification. 
6    Where teams fail to provide enough entrants by the stated entry deadline, CCF reserves the right to scrap their invite and pass it to the next eligible team on the final table for their zone.  Where there is no eligible team, CCF may look to the next eligible teams in other zones as it feels appropriate.

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