ICC Help: STtourney *** MONTHLY STANDARD TOURNAMENTS! *** Play one round each Tuesday (4 Rounds each Month) *** WIN P R I Z E S! *** ***ATTENTION: The tournament is run on automated bots. *** Automated bots used: Pear -- for Open Sections. Automato -- for U1500 Sections. I. TOURNAMENT FORMAT: Four-Round Swiss - Rated Games Time Control: 60 0 II. SECTIONS: Six Sections: Three different times with two sections in each: (All times listed are ICC Server Time) 2pm: Open U1500 - * (If 8 or more players join at the start of the tourney) 8pm: Open U1500 - * (If 8 or more players join at the start of the tourney) 11pm: Open U1500 - * (If 8 or more players join at the start of the tourney) There are six sections to make playing convenient for people in different time zones, and to allow you to play against others near your rating. * (The U1500 Sections must have 8 players to run that section ... If not all players can join the Open Section - All prizes will still be awarded) ** To play in the U1500 sections, your ICC standard rating must be below 1500 and your "Best" Standard Rating must be below 1800 at entry. Provisional rated players may only enter the open section. At the TM's discretion, you may be entered into the open section regardless of your current standard rating based on other ICC ratings and performance. ** III. PRIZES: Open section: First Place -- Three months ICC membership Best U2000 -- Two months ICC membership Best U1700 -- Six weeks ICC membership U1500 section: First Place -- Two months ICC membership Best U1300 -- One month ICC membership Your ICC Standard rating at entry determines your prize eligibility. If you are provisional at that time, you are not eligible for any class prize, only for First Place in the Open Section. Class Prizes are not awarded to players who have a recent "Best" Standard Rating that exceeds that Class Rating by 300 points or more. (The Chief TM will determine if Best Standard Rating is still relevant) Prize distribution in each section is as follows: First Place: Divided by all 1st place winner(s) regardless of rating. Best-U2000: Divided by best equal score players rated 1700-1999. Best-U1700: Divided by best equal score Open players rated under 1700. Best-U1300: Divided by best equal score U1500 players rated under 1300. ** You must be an active player to win a prize. If you forfeit without returning before the tourney ends you are not eligible for any prize. (You can request a "0" point Bye with a message to STtourney) ** *** You may play any or all of the tourneys each month (2pm, 8pm, or 11pm) however you can only win one Prize per month. *** IV. ENTRY: !!! You enter (Join) before your section start time !!! ICC Channel 32 is the STtourney Channel so please add that channel by typing: "+ch 32". Tourney information is announced in this channel (including when the Tourney is Open for entry). The Section TM will also monitor this channel for STtourney questions. All Open Sections are managed by the Pear Bot "+ch 227" All U1500 Sections are managed by Automato Bot "+ch 226" * JOINING * When the tourney is announced as "Open" in Channel 32, join by typing: /Tell Pear Join - (To Join the Open Section) /Tell Automato Join - (To Join the U1500 Section) * Verify * To check your tourney status in any bot tourney type: /Tell 220 Status You should see: (. Waiting ) - If you see: (Noisn't one of my players) or ( # Forfeit ) ... you should inform the TM in channel 32. Once entered you are registered for the entire month unless you are forfeited out or withdrawn (on request). If you are forfeited or withdrawn, a "#" sign will appear to the left of your handle in the players list (See above). In this case, try /tell pear latejoin or /tell automato latejoin If this does not seem to work, notify your Tournament Manager (TM) by typing: /Tell 32 Help, I can't join. Players are also added to the STtourney Group so the TM can send group messages with tourney information. If you are in the tourney but not yet added to the Group, ask the Section TM to add you. If you do not want Group messages ask the section TM to remove you or message STtourney asking to be removed from the group. V. DATE/TIME OF GAME AND STARTING A GAME: All games are scheduled for Tuesday. Playing Time depends on your section and is ICC Server Time. Type: /date on ICC to see the current server time and compare it to your own time to avoid misunderstanding. *Procedure For Playing*: Show up 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time of your game. Please join and Verify as listed above. The Open Section robot "Pear" or U1500 Section robot "Automato" will spoof you with a match command against your opponent at starting time. You just have to "accept" the prompt (click it) to start your game. If your opponent is not present the Section TM will notice this and forfeit your opponent when necessary (please be patient). The same process applies if your opponent is here, but is not accepting. VI. PAIRINGS AND RESULTS: Pairings are posted by the tournament robot at the start of each round. You will get a Bot Prompt to start your game. ***** Notice ***** To avoid players being stood up by a No-Show, Only those players who are on ICC at game start time will be paired! VII. STANDINGS: During the round, you can see standings by typing the following command: /Tell pear grid - (if you are in an Open section) /Tell automato grid - (if you are in an U1500 section) You can also see the standing on the web by clicking on the links in the TM accounts: /finger St2pm-TM - /finger St8pm-TM - /finger St11pm-TM The completed standings and winners are linked in the StWinners account: Type: /finger Stwinners VIII. RULES: a. USCF rules will be used for cases not handled automatically by ICC code (within the limitations of internet play). b. BYES Latejoin is allowed prior to round four. Players get a half-point Bye for the first round if latejoining before the start of the 2nd round. All other rounds have a "0" point Bye. * In case of uneven number of players, one player will receive a full-point Bye for that round. The manager of the tournament cannot set who will receive such a Bye; it is done automatically by the Bot. * c. FORFEITS Any player who does not appear for a round will be forfeited from the tourney. Re-Entry after a missed round is possible if you: - Show up 15 minutes before to the next round starts and type: /Tell 32 TM, Please add me back into the tourney *** You need to do that BEFORE the next round is paired. *** * NOTICE * Only players present at game time will be paired. If you are in the tourney but not present you will be forfeited at game start time. If you not an active player in the final round, you can't win a prize (notify STtourney for "0" point bye requests). d. RESCHEDULING Rescheduled games are no longer possible. e. DISCONNECTIONS If a player disconnects, he or she is usually given 15 minutes to reconnect. Players who do not return within 15 minutes or suffer numerous disconnections will forfeit the game (at the TM's discretion). Every effort must be made to finish the disconnected game per ICC rules however that result will not replace STtourney result. If your opponent disconnects frequently during the game please notify the TM. The TM will forfeit any player for frequent disconnects if it is disruptive. f. COMPUTERS And/Or OTHER ASSISTANCE Absolutely no aid from computer-playing programs is allowed. If ICC management suspects (we do not need to prove) computer use, you may be banned from all future Standard Tourneys. Also, people who have ever been "busted" by the ICC computer detection group are ineligible to play, even if they are no longer using computer programs on the ICC. You may not receive assistance from other chess players during your games. You may not have someone else play on your ICC account for you. Either of these violate not only the STtourney rules, but also the ICC user agreement, and may result in banning from the ICC. g. REQUESTING SET-GAME / FORFEIT WINS All forfeits and set-games are at the managers discretion however the Bot does the pairings so they can't be changed . h. NO-SHOW POLICY In general, the manager will forfeit players who are not present at game start time to avoid having others wait for a No-Show opponent. This forfeit is without penalty but to re-join a player must latejoin a later round or ask the TM for help in re-joining the tourney. In particular, if you missed your game in the previous round, but want to play in the current round, make sure you inform the TM in time (*** Before Pairings are made at game time***). Otherwise you will not be paired for the current round. i. DR Points Note that there are so called "dr-points" that can be given to players who are forfeited from the tournament for disruptive behavior. When a player accumulates too many dr-points, he/she can be denied entry to STtourney and other tournaments on ICC for a duration of one or more weeks. We also reserve the right to ban players from future STtourneys, even if the player has not accumulated the amount of "dr-points" which normally leads to them being banned from tournaments on ICC. j. LEAVING / WITHDRAWAL If you wish to leave the tourney for any reason type: /tell Leave ... if leaving after a completed game so you can play in another Bot tourney, please let the Section TM know and make sure you are joined again before the next round begins. The tournament manager oversees the tournament. He/she can make rulings on particular games or forfeit players from the tournament at his/her discretion. This applies in particular to situations of late starting, lag problems, or disconnected players. TOURNAMENT Managers: Chief TM: chesskix Admin TM: BillScotty Section TMs: (2pm - chesskix) - (8pm -Birdsman) - (11pm - Andrey) *** Don't forget to watch Channel 32 "+ch 32" for announcements. ***