We are delighted to announce the following sponsors of Cork Chess Congress 2003
CHRISTIES FLOOR COVERINGS DONNYBROOK DOUGLAS CORK Tel:021 4892240 
RULES OF
THE CORK CHESS CLUB
1. INTERPRETATION
1.1 In these rules, “the Club” means the Cork Chess Club, “Member” means a member of the
Club, “Committee” means the Committee of the Club, “Officer” means any Officer of the
Club, and “ICU” means the Irish Chess Union.
2. GENERAL CONDUCT
2.1 Whilst attending premises used by the Club, members shall conduct themselves properly,
shall avoid excessive noise, and shall not behave in any manner likely to bring the Club into
disrepute.
2.2 Smoking is not permitted in the playing room of the Club.
2.3 All members shall vacate the premises used by the Club for meetings by midnight on
each Club night.
2.4 The Committee shall have the right to impose sanctions for breaches of these rules as they
deem fit.
3. CLUB COMPETITIONS - GENERAL
3.1 The Club shall run each year the competitions set out in Rules 4 and 5 below, and such
other competitions as the Committee may decide from to time.
3.2 Members wishing to play in Club competitions must also be current members of the Irish
Chess Union
3.3 All games shall be played in accordance with FIDE rules.
3.4 Unless otherwise specified by the Committee, the time control for all games in Club
competitions shall be one hour forty-five minutes each for all moves, with allegro rules
applying after Black’s fortieth move.
3.5 Games played in Club competitions shall begin by 8:15pm. If only one player is present at
that time, that player must start the opponent’s clock at 8:15pm. If both players are late, then
the elapsed time after 8.15pm shall be deducted evenly from both clocks in order to ensure that
the game ends by 11.45pm.
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3.6 In the event of a tie in any competition, firstly the median Bucholz score as applied by
the computer programme used in the competition, and secondly the result of the individual
encounter between the tied players shall be applied as a tie-break system.
3.7 All games shall be completed by the date set out in the draw for that game, and any not so
completed shall be deemed to have been drawn, unless one player can clearly demonstrate that
the failure to play the game in time lies with the opponent, in which case that player shall be
awarded the win.
3.8 Any disputes shall in the first place be referred to the Secretary, and if the matter is not
thereby resolved it shall be referred to a players committee to be appointed by the Club, whose
decision shall be final..
4. CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
4.1 The Club shall run a Senior Club Championship and a Junior Club Championship each
year, as detailed in Rules 4.2 and 4.3 below,
4.2 The Senior Club Championship shall be open to all members, and shall be decided by a
seven round Swiss tournament, to be run from September to May.
4.3 The Junior Club Championship shall be limited to those members whose ICU rating is
1200 or less on the thirtieth September each year, and shall be decided by a five round Swiss
tournament, to be run from October to May.
4.4 All results in the Senior and Junior Club Championships shall be submitted to the ICU for
rating.
4.5 Normal Swiss tournament rules shall apply to both these competitions, and the draw shall
be made using the Swiss Perfect pairing programme or another similar programme designed
for this purpose and approved by the Committee.
5. KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
5.1 The Club shall run a random knockout competition each year which shall be open to all
members.
5.2 The draw shall be based on thirty-two players, and if less than thirty-two members enter
then the balance of places shall be made up by “A.N Other”. If more than thirty-two members
enter, then the lowest rated entrants shall first play each other in an elimination round in order
to arrive at thirty two players.
5.3 A random draw shall decide play before each round (including any elimination round) with
the first named player having White.
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5.4 In the event of any game being drawn, a 15 minutes a side game shall be played to decide
the winner, and for this game colours shall be decided by lot. If both players agree, this game
may be skipped and they may proceed to Rule 5.5.
5.5 If the 15 minutes a side game is drawn, or if it is skipped, then sudden death 5 minute blitz
games shall decide the winner, the first game colours being decided by lot with colours
alternating in any subsequent games.
6. MUNSTER LEAGUE TEAMS
6.1 The Club shall enter such teams in the Munster Leagues as the Committee shall decide.
6.2 The Secretary shall, in consultation with the other Officers, co-ordinate the management
and selection of the teams, and appoint team captains. The team selection shall, as far as
possible, be based on rating order, with the Secretary, in consultation with the team captains,
having some discretion. The team captains shall be responsible for arranging matches as
required and shall inform the Secretary of fixtures and results so that no conflict of playing
dates arises.
6.3 Membership of the Club’s Munster Leagues Teams shall be limited to those members who
attend the Club regularly and who enter one or both of the Club Championships.
7. SUBSCRIPTIONS
7.1 The annual subscription set by the Annual General Meeting of the Club, and the
membership fee of the ICU where appropriate, shall be paid by all then current members at or
within one month of the Annual General Meeting.
7.2 Any person joining the Club after the 31st December in any year shall be entitled to do so
on payment of fifty per cent of that years subscription.
7.3 Subject to Rule 7.4, any member who has not paid the Club subscription and ICU
membership fee by the beginning of the first round of a Club competition shall not be entitled
to play in that round of the competition but shall be entitled to a half point bye for that round.
If the said subscription and fee shall not have been paid by the beginning of the second round
of the competition, then that member shall not be allowed to play in the competition.
7.4 The Officers shall have power to waive the strict application of Rule 7.3 for any member
who is experiencing personal difficulty in making the required payments, provided that a
satisfactory arrangement is made for payment over a period.
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Adopted by the Annual General Meeting of the Cork Chess Club held on ................
Signed.................................................. Signed..................................................................
Chairman Secretary
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