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CCF CHESS CLUB - WORLD CUP 2008-9
the new alternative to Inter-Club Chess

This event is new for 2008-9 and is the official alternative activity for club members who would rather play internal chess than home and away matches.  There is no entry fee for this event beyond being a full member of the club.

WHAT'S THE IDEA?
The idea behind it has a lot to do with the extra work that running teams gave CCF office staff last season.  We ran 8 teams in the Surrey Long Play Leagues plus 2 cup teams and 2 speed chess teams.  We also ran 3 teams in the Croydon Leagues.  Out of a total of 15 teams (albeit that some teams had more games than others) Scott and Daniel ran 8 of the teams between them.  With the normal problems of getting people to reply and persuading people to play away, it was felt that a return to the previous system of those committed to home and away games playing inter-club chess was better, but there was then a need to provide an alternative for those that were not committed in the same way, who would appreciate  something based back at CCF.  So the World Cup of the CCF Chess Club was born.

HOW IT WILL WORK IN PRINCIPLE
*  Scheduled nights will be those that are used for playing our Surrey and Croydon League matches and will only be open to those NOT playing the inter-club scene.  Consequently, players playing in this event will not be involved in the inter-club scene (except in absolute emergency).  
*  The time control will be the same as for the long play club championship - except where rapid play and/or blitz extra replays are organised in the knock-out phase.
*  CCF will reserve the right to default any player who cannot play a match by a certain deadline.  This is not something we will use lightly but will do so if it is necessary to ensure the completion of the event.  Sometimes it may be cruel, but we will do our best to accommodate everyone. 

GROUP PHASE OF THE TOURNAMENT
* Players will be drawn completely randomly into groups of 5 players (we will "fiddle" the draw to keep members of the same family apart as appropriate).  Where there is a number not divisible by 5, CCF have 2 players on standby who can play if necessary to make it work.  The "last" group may therefore be just 3 players playing a double round all-play-all (still 4 matches each).
*  Prior to Christmas, players will play the other players in their group once (or twice in a group of 3) with colours decided by the draw.  Win = 4, Draw = 2, Loss = 1, Default = 0.  
*  League positions will be decided on 1) Most Points, 2) Direct Result(s) between the players tied, 3) Best grading performance (plus or minus) compared to a player's grade (or CCF estimate - which will have to be accepted as read for this event because there will be no time for play-offs).

QUALIFICATION AND FORMATS FOR PHASE 2 
To explain how players qualify for the various 2nd phase competitions, please read the different tournament formats below.  We have given formats and exact logistics for a range of potential numbers of entries but these are easily adjustable to suit any number.

EXAMPLES OF TOURNAMENT FORMATS
The aim of the competition is that the field is split into 3 sections for 3 separate knock-out phases.  An entry of 48 is perfect in that 3 lots of 16 is a perfect number for a knock-out phase as 16 halves to 8, which halves to 4 which halves to 2 and you then get 1 winner from that.  The basic idea is that "extras" above this "funnel number" will qualify for the main World Cup and we have an extra round for some of the qualifying players.  See below:

48 PLAYERS:    there will be 9 groups of 5 players plus 1 group of 3 players (10 groups in total).  MAIN WORLD CUP: The 10 group winners plus the best 6 players finishing 2nd from the 9 groups of 5 will qualify for the main World Cup knock-out phase.  That totals 16.  PLATE: The remaining 3 players who finished 2nd in their group will join the 2nd placed player from the single group of 3 players, plus all of the 3rd placed players and the best 3 players finishing 4th in their group (total 16) for the "plate" tournament knock-out phase.  SAUCER: The remaining 6 players who finishing 4th in their group, all of those who finished 5th plus the player that finished 3rd in the group of 3 will play in the "saucer" knock-out tournament.  

49 PLAYERS:    CCF will add 1 extra player to make 50.  See below.

50 PLAYERS:    there will be 10 groups of 5 players.  MAIN WORLD CUP: The 10 group winners plus the best 8 of the 10 players finishing 2nd will go into the main World Cup knock-out phase.  The "worst" 4 of the 2nd place players will be randomly drawn against each other into a preliminary round to knock 2 out and reduce the number to 16 after which we have the perfect number for a knock-out phase.  PLATE: The remaining 2 players who finished 2nd will join all of the players finishing 3rd plus the best 4 players who finished 4th to make 16 for the plate knock-out phase.  SAUCER: The remaining 6 players who finished 4th will join the 10 players who finished 5th for the Saucer knock-out phase. 

51 PLAYERS:    CCF will add 2 extra players to make 53:  See below.

52 PLAYERS:    CCF will add 1 extra player to make 53:    See below.

53 PLAYERS:    There will be 10 groups of 5 players and 1 group of 3 (11 groups in total).  MAIN WORLD CUP:  The 11 group winners plus the 10 players finishing 2nd in the groups of 5 players (21 total) will go into the main World Cup phase.    The 10 players who finished 2nd will be randomly drawn to contest a preliminary knock-out round to reduce the total number still in the main event to 16.    PLATE: The 10 players who finished 3rd in groups of 5 plus the 2nd place finisher in the group of 3 will join the best 5 players who finished 4th in the groups of 5 players to make 16.  SAUCER:  The remaining 5 players who finished 4th plus the 3rd placed player in the group of 3 will join the 10 players that finished 5th in the groups of 5.

54 PLAYERS:    CCF will add 1 extra player to make 55:    See below.

55 PLAYERS:    There will be 11 groups of 5 players.  MAIN WORLD CUP:  The 11 group winners, the 11 runners-up plus the best 3rd placed players will make a total of 23.  There will be 7 preliminary round matches involving the "least" 14 of the qualifiers to bring the number down to 16.  PLATE: The remaining 10 players finishing 3rd plus the best 6 players finishing 4th will make 16.   SAUCER:  The remaining 5 players finishing 4th will join the 11 players who finished 5th.

NOTE:  The numbers in the main knock-out event would be allowed to continue to increase up to 32 in the first knock-out round.  After that, we would increase the numbers (and therefore have the preliminary round) in the Plate event.......and then the Saucer.  That would cater for up to 96 players (ie 3 groups of 32 players).  After that, we would start increasing the main event qualifiers again......

NOTE:  In all knock-out phases, in the "main" opening round (ie not including the preliminary round), the draw will be seeded so that the 8 "better" qualified players will play one of the 8 "lesser" qualified players, with the "better" player being given choice if colour (which they must declare before the end of December).  The draw will also be "fiddled" so that nobody plays anyone from their own original group in the 1st phase of the knock-out event.  The draw will decide who plays who for the rest of the event (ie. no further draws will be made).

COLOURS:  Colours for the knock-out phase matches will be decided by the controller, who will consider the balance of colours so far had by each player in the competition.  This will be done considering 1) equalisation, 2) alternation (in the knock-out phase), 3) mutual agreement, 4) random draw.  In the first main round of the knock-out phase, where both players have had the same number of colours to date, then choice of colour will be given to the "better" qualifying player.

REPLAYS
Where a replay is required in the knock-out phase, this will be reverse colour to the first game.  Where a 2nd replay (or more is required), this will be rapidplay and/or blitz as directed by the controller, unless mutual agreement of both players and the controller can be reached for an alternative solution.  The controller shall direct after that and will rule as necessary to ensure deadlines are met.

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