"Although dozens and dozens of chess sites have sprung up in recent years, one site in particular is emerging as preeminent: the Internet Chess Club." — Atlantic Monthly
The Internet Chess Club presents the second edition of the UPI Computer
Shop Championships, sponsored by the Spanish computer shop "Tiendas UPI"
(Professional Computer Union).
In the final match, GM Neuris Delgado (Neurisdr) won 3.5-2.5 to
GM Rufat Bagirov (urolog). A total of 646 players took part in the
global competition.
There will be eight qualifier tournaments, every Saturday at 3pm ICC
server time. These qualifier tournaments will be 9-round Swisses.
The playing rate will be 3/1 (3 minutes per game with a 1-second
increment after each move).
The dates are: July 22nd and 29th, August 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th,
September 2nd and 9th.
The eight winners of the Swisses will progress to the KO (elimination)
final stage which will be held on Saturday September 16th at 3pm ICC
server time. They will be joined by the eight best players with most
accumulated points in the eight Swisses, making a total of 16.
These 16 players will participate in a KO to find the clear winner.
You can see the standings of most accumulated points by typing:
/tell pear ser b upi2006
The round prior to the quarterfinals, quarterfinals and semi-finals
will be played by means of a mini-match of 4 games, playing rate 3/1.
If a tie occurs, a fifth game will be played: White with five minutes
and Black with four minutes, without time increments, with White
obliged to win ("Sudden Death"). The tournament director will
determine colours in the Sudden Death game by tossing a coin.
The final will be held at a distance of 6 games with the same
playing rate, plus the Sudden Death game, if tied. Any match in the
finals ends before four (six) games are played, if one player has
2.5 points or more (3.5 or more in the final of the last two).
Qualifiers will be sorted by the July 1st 2006 FIDE rating list,
and paired 1-16, 15-2, 3-14, etc… Those players that do not have
a FIDE rating will be placed after all others and sorted by their
ICC Blitz rating they had when they played their first qualifier.
ICC management reserves the right to send proctors to finalists.
The absolute winner will receive an exclusive Tiendas UPI laptop
computer along with 1.000 euros in cash.
In addition, ICC and CET (Chess Education and Technologies) are
awarding membership extensions and Weekly Internet lessons
(English or Spanish) for the winners of the following three
rating sections (most accumulated points in all qualifiers).
UNDER 2300 SECTION/UNDER 2000 SECTION/UNDER 1700 SECTION
- 1st: One year ICC + one year Weekly Internet lessons
- 2nd: Six months ICC + six months Weekly Internet lessons
- 3rd: Six months ICC + six months Weekly Internet lessons
- 4th: Three months ICC + three months Weekly Internet lessons
- 5th: Three months ICC + three months Weekly Internet lessons
In addition ICC will raffle 12 six-month membership extensions
between all members who finish at least one qualifier.
Free trials can participate, but will not be eligible for any prize.
1) In the qualifiers, the tie-breaks will be (in this order):
a) Sum of scores of opponents, adjusted such that if an opponent
does not play a round for whatever reason, 0.5 is added to the sum
b) Average rating of opponents
c) Draw lots
The rating used in those tiebreakers is the ICC Blitz rating
at the start of the qualifier.
2) Regarding the series (most accumulated points) qualification for
finals, if two or more players have the same amount of points from
all qualifiers, the best placing in a single qualifier, according
to the tie-break 1) will decide who moves on. The same applies for
the three rating section prizes depending on most accumulated points.
If two or more players have both the same total accumulated points
over all qualifiers and the same placing in their respective best
qualifier, the tournament director will draw lots to decide who
moves on to the final, or wins the rating section prize.
Eligibility to sections
In order to guarantee a fair event, for the class prizes the
following eligibility criteria must be met:
1) Rated under the section limit at the start of all qualifiers
the player participates in.
2) No best rating above the section limit plus 200 points at any
point during the qualifier stage (i.e. a player with a Blitz
best of 2250 would not be eligible for the U2000 section,
even if his current rating is below 2000. He could be eligible
for the U2300 section, though).
3) Established Blitz rating with at least 50 games rated in the
Blitz category played before the start of the first qualifier
a player participates in.
All ratings restrictions relate to ICC Blitz rating. Rule 2 extends
to all previous accounts a player has had on ICC (that is,
if a previous account has a Blitz best of 2250, the player
will be ineligible for U2000 prizes, even if his current
account satisfies criteria 1)-3) above).
In no event will a free trial be eligible for any rating section prize.
In addition to the above eligibility criteria, the tournament director
can deny eligibility for rating section prizes to certain participants
who he suspects have intentionally lowered their ratings ('sandbagging').
Note that no proof is necessary. We also reserve the right to impose
further restrictions on such a player, like a tournament floor and/or
restrictions on rated games if we suspect that a player is sandbagging.
Other restrictions and rules
Please connect to the ICC at least a few minutes in advance of the
tournament. To participate in one of the qualifiers, you will need
to type "tell pear join", or use the button in the event list.
No preregistration is necessary. In the final, participants will
be auto-joined as they show up. You will be prompted with a
pop-up box when it is time to start each game. Each round will
take roughly 20 minutes, so you can expect a 9-round qualifying
tournament to take about 3 hours. ICC management reserves the
right to hold a break, up to 30 minutes duration, after a
certain round, if deemed necessary. Show up on time. The tournament
director may allow late joining after the start, but there will
be no half bye points for missed rounds.
If you need to leave before the tournament is finished, make sure to
type "tell pear leave !" before disconnecting. Players who disconnect
frequently during the tournament resulting in someone else receiving
a bye in the next round will be forfeited and could be declined entry
in further qualifiers or other ICC tournaments.
Players, who use assistance of any kind (human or computer chess programs)
will be expelled from the tournament and face consequences for violating
ICC rules. Note that suspicion suffices, no proof is necessary. Players who
were caught violating tournament rules and/or ICC rules in the past can also
be disqualified from the tournament at the sole discretion of Tomato managers
or ICC admins.
Players who delay the tournament for any reason, including but not limited to:
latestarting games, constantly disconnecting, lag, declining challenges can be
removed from the tournament at the sole discretion of the manager.
Players, who lag can be declined entry to a tournament. The determination
of acceptable lag level depends on the time control and is at the sole
discretion of the manager.
A recent version of Blitzin must be used to take part in the tournament.
The tournament director can make exceptions from this rule at his sole
discretion.
Postage and packing of the computer will be discounted from the cash prize.
The difference will be transferred to the winners bank account.
Please note that the laptop comes with a Spanish keyboard,
software and manuals.
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ICC Help: UPI2006