02. African Team Championships

Regulations for the African Team Championship
Approved by the 1993 General Assembly.

Frequency

A tournament for the African Team Championship shall be organized once in two years (odd) by one of the affiliated chess Federations in any of the African Zones either acting on its own or in co-operation with sponsors to be designated by the General Assembly, if possible two years before the event is to take place.

Participation

All Chess Federations in the African Zones shall have the right to participate in the African Team Championship.

Each Federation shall have the right to be represented by a team of four players, two reserves and a chief of delegation. The organizing federation shall hold in reserve a second team, which shall take part in the competition if there is an odd number of teams in the first round and the results of the two host teams which ever is lower on the overall team results shall not be included in the final ranking table but only for rating purposes.

The team captain may be one of the players or any of the reserves.

All the players including the reserves are required to have been members of their national teams as stipulated under the FIDE Regulations.

Chief of Delegation represents the federation and takes, full responsibility for the conduct of the players, including the administrative supervision of the team and liaison with the organizing federation.

The FIDE Continental President is to be invited at least one week to the commencement, to attend the championship and shall be officially responsible on behalf of FIDE for the entire championships including its preparation and conclusion. He shall be adequately briefed and shall approve all protocol and ceremonial arrangements in relation to the Championships. The briefing should inter alia, cover program of events, attendance of public figures and leading corporate sponsors, list of speakers, the playing of the FIDE Anthem immediately after the National Anthem of the Host Country at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and arrangements made for the players comfort at the playing venue and hotel in keeping with FIDE Regulations.

Organization

At least 6 months before the beginning of the tournament the organizing federation shall submit to the Continental President for Africa a draft invitation and any special regulations/conditions for approval.

Registration - On receipt of such approval, the organizing Federation shall apply to the FIDE secretariat for registration of the tournament and pay the necessary fees due to FIDE.

Invitation - At least four months before the start of the tournament the organizing Federation shall send invitations together with the regulations which have been approved by the Continental President for Africa to all affiliated federations in the African Zones.

Copies of the invitation are to be sent to the FIDE President, Continental President for Africa and to the Presidents of the African Zones.

Confirmation of Entry - At least two months before the beginning of the tournament each Federation accepting the invitation will send its entry to the organizing Federation with copies to the Continental President and Zone President concerned.

Entry fees - Each participating Federation shall pay the Stipulated entry Fee as contained in the Financial Regulations direct to FIDE.

Expenses

The travelling expenses of the teams are to be paid by their Federations

The organizing Federation is responsible for the living expenses of the participating teams during the days of arrival, play and departure.

The organizing Federation is also responsible for the chief Arbiter including travel costs and full accommodation.

The FIDE Continental President shall be invited to attend the Championships at the organizing federation`s expense for hotel, meals and internal transport.

The Chief Arbiter shall be appointed by the FIDE Continental President in consultation with the organizing Federation.

Duration of Championships - Not exceeding 14 days including days of arrival and departure.

Submission of team lists - At least one month before the start of the tournament, every participating Federation must notify the organizers of the following details:

Tournament Regulations

The matches shall be played under FIDE rules. The first session of each round shall be six hours with two time controls. 40 moves in the first two hours and 20 moves per hour there after, before adjourning.

The playing conditions shall conform to the recommendations for the organization of top-level tournaments, as approved by the FIDE Congress.

If the number of participating teams is ten or less the tournament shall be run on all-play-all basis where each team shall play one match against every other team.

If the number of participating teams exceed ten, the tournament shall be held on the Swiss system in nine rounds, on the model of the Olympiads.

Each match between teams shall be played over 4 boards.

Team Captains

The basic duties and rights of a team captain are defined in the FIDE Competition Rules.

The team captain must list the players of his team in a fixed board order (board 1-6), upon the time appointed by the Chief Arbiter before the start of the first round. The board order cannot be changed during the tournament.

Before the start of a round, the team captain must deliver to the Chief Arbiter a sealed envelope containing a list of his players who are to take part in the round in question. If this is not delivered by the appointed time, the team may only use its top four players.

In the exercise of his functions, the team captain has the right to access to the area reserved for the players.

At the end of the playing session, the captain is responsible for reporting the result to the arbiters and delivering to them legibly written scoresheets of the finished games.

During the games, the captain must refrain from interfering in any way. He is, however, entitled to advise his players to make or accept an offer of a draw. He should not comment on the actual position on the chess board and confine himself to giving brief information which can in no way be construed as an opinion on the progress of the game. The exchange of information should be done in the presence of the Arbiter.

Committee of appeal

Before the beginning of the tournament an Appeals committee shall be selected to adjudicate on such matters as protests of decisions of the Chief Arbiter or any of his assistants, complaints of improper conduct by participants in the tournament and any other relevant matter worth debating.

The committee shall consist of a chairman and four members from five different Federations elected by the team captains. Likewise two reserves from separate Federations from those of the regular members shall also be elected and shall participate whenever the occasion warrants it.

The Appeals Committee shall decide on protests provided such protests from Captain or Chief`s of delegation are submitted in writing to the Chairman of the Committee or any member of the Committee within two hours after completion of the playing session.

The protest shall be submitted to the Chairman with an accompanying fee of 100 Swiss Francs or its equivalent in any convertible currency that can be remitted to FIDE.

Request to the Appeals Committee may be made without payment.

The Chief Arbiter and one or more of his assistants, or any individual, involved in the case under discussion shall be invited to the meeting of the Appeals Committee in order to explain what happened and give reasons for the decision(s) or conduct.

No member of the Appeals Committee shall have the right to vote on any matter concerning his own Federation. However every member is entitled to participate in the discussion.

If the protest is rejected by the Appeals Committee the protest fee paid shall be forfeited to FIDE. If upheld the fee shall be returned.

A decision of the Appeals Committee is final, and takes immediate effect.

The Appeals Committee shall keep a record of all proceedings and submit a final report to the Continental President at the end of the tournament.

Classification

The final positions of the teams shall be established by the number of game points scored by each team.

When the Swiss System is used, the position of teams that finish with the same number of game points shall be determined by application of the following tie-breaking procedures, in sequence:

1. By the game scores of all the team`s opponents;
2. By the match points;
3. By the result of the matches between teams in contention for first place, these teams shall play a match against each other at a fast time-rate (15 minutes per player for the entire game).
4. By lot.

When the round robin system is used, the following tie-breaking apply, in sequence:

1. The match points;
2. The match result between themselves;
3. The Sonnenborn-Berger points;
4. If a tie still results between teams in contention for first place, these teams shall play a match against each other at a fast time-rate (15 minutes per player for the entire game).
5. By lot.

Prizes

Both the winning and the team finishing second shall receive trophies.

Every member of the winning team (players, reserves and captain) shall receive a gold medal. Similarly, members of the team finishing second and of the team finishing third shall receive silver and bronze medals, respectively.

The players who obtained the best individual results on their respective boards shall receive gold medals. To be eligible, players numbered 1 to 4 should play at least 60% of the games while reserves (numbers 5 and 6) should play at least 50% of the games.

Additional prizes may be offered by the organizer or by the sponsors. Conditions of their award shall be announced to the participants before the start of the tournament.

The winning team shall be declared the African Chess Team Champion until the next event and where the championship falls within the selection schedule by FIDE for the World Team Championship, the winning team shall represent Africa at the Championships (D.II.08 Art. 1.62).

Qualification for Rating

An unrated player who scored at least 4.5 points and at least 50% in the games he played, shall be awarded a FIDE rating of 2205 or his performance rating if this is higher.

Reports

On Completion of the tournament, the Chief Arbiter and the Chairman of the Appeals Committee shall deliver to the FIDE Continental President an official written report on the course of the contest with support documents. Copies of these reports are to be extended to the organizing Federation.

Within two weeks after the closing ceremony the organizing federation shall submit a rating report to FIDE.