General

1. It is a condition of entry to The Bunratty International Chess Festival that all players accept these terms and conditions and associated General Data Protection Regulations GDPR
2. All Irish participants must be current members of the ​Irish Chess Union(​ICU​). They must be in good standing with the ICU and if they are also a member of a provincial union they must be in good standing with said union. Anyone who's membership has been revoked from either union shall not be allowed to enter the tournament until such time they are reinstated by the union in question.
3. All entries are taken subject to the approval of the tournament director and these terms and conditions; the tournament director's decision is final in these matters.
4. All players over 18 years of age are deemed to allow publication of photographs of them taken at the event by the organisers for publicity purposes unless they inform the organisers otherwise.
5. Entries may be accepted after the draw is published but they will be paired together as they enter, however if this leads to an uneven number the last entry will only receive a ½ point.
6. Prizes may be amended subject to numbers of entries. Prizes to be paid by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) ​following the festival and in accordance with rule 7 with the exception of players living outside the EU where a cheque will be issued.
7. Prizes must be claimed by the 31st. May of the year of the event.
8. Players who are normally resident in the Rep. of Ireland may have their prizes withheld if they are not a paid-up member of the Irish Chess union.
9. No Player may win more than one prize. If an unrated or estimated player wins any section s/he will only receive 50% of the prize money.
10. Players please note that any non-ICU member entering The Bunratty International Chess Festival who cannot provide adequate proof of his/her rating may not qualify to win any cash prize. This is at the discretion of the committee and does not apply to the Masters event.
11. All place(1st. - 3rd.) prize money will be shared equally amongst tied players.
12. Where there is a tie for first place in any section then a blitz play off will take place to decide the title; the following rules will apply;

    a. Only the top two players listed in order of Median Buchholz score(and Buchholz if further tie-break is necessary) will contest the Blitz match

    b. The Blitz match will be sudden death, first player to win a game, wins the match

    c. The time control for the Blitz games will be 3:00 minutes per game per player + 2 seconds per move

    d. Players will draw for colour before game 1, reversing the colours for all subsequent games if required

13. The title holder of the Challengers, Major & Minor in any year may enter next higher section irrespective of their chess rating in the following year. However they must notify the Tournament Director in written form of their request to move up a section in advance of entry
14. The Tournament Director shall decide which section a player may enter. In deciding this he shall use the following criterion:(but not necessarly in this order):

    a. Their current ICU Rating.

    b. Their FIDE Rating.

    c. Their National Federation Rating. (if verified)

    d. Any other matter he believes is in the interest of fair play and the orderly running of the tournament.

15. The Tournament Director shall use the latest published rating lists (usually the February list for ICU and Feb 1st for FIDE) in his determanition of the above. Live lists are not considered.
    (Players with a rating within 50 points may request to play up. Players with a FIDE rating of over 2000 may play in the Masters.) However they must notify the Tournament Director in written form of their request to move up a section in advance of entry.

Competition Terms

16. A players' committee will be appointed before the start of the tournament.
17. The Tournament Director or Arbiter reserves the right to transfer players between tournaments at any time.
18. The latest official ICU rating list shall apply to ICU members and the latest FIDE list to overseas players. (However an ICU player may apply to have his FIDE rating used for entry to the Masters)
19. Pairing will be done in accordance with the FIDE Swiss pairing rules using the FIDE approved Swiss Master pairing program. Published pairings will not be changed unless: "They are in breach of one of the absolute pairing rules specified by FIDE".
20. Players may request a "Travelling Bye" in all but the last round.
    • Before round 1 of the tournament all requests for "Travelling Bye" should be sent by e-mail to info@bunrattychess.com
    • After round 1 all "Travelling Bye" requests should be made to the Section Arbiter before the end of the previous round.
21. Re-pairing may take place where possible, and at the controllers/arbiter discretion, up to 30 minutes after the start of any round. Any player refusing to play a re-paired game will be deemed to have lost by default.
22. Decisions of an arbiter may be appealed to the Player' Committee provided that such appeal is received in writing within 30 minutes of the end of the game.
23. Players will be defaulted if they are not present at their board within 1 hour of the published start time of the first round. The default time in all subsequent rounds is 30 minutes.
24. Should a player not turn up for a particular round and fail to inform the controller they shall be withdrawn from the tournament.
25. Players are reminded of Law 11.3 (Laws of Chess) regarding Mobile Phones.

Time Controls

26. Time control in all sections:- 1hr. 30 minutes per player for all moves + 15 seconds increment from move 1.
27. When a player has less than 5:00 minutes on the clock, they must mark on the score sheet "T" which will indicate to the arbiter that they have reached this point. They no longer need to record the game, even if the clock subsequently goes back above this time, however, if they do not record the moves, they forfeit the right to claim a draw under the 50 move or the 3 fold repetition rules.
28. A player whose time runs out will lose the game, provided the opponent could, from the final position, checkmate with any possible series of legal moves (see laws of chess 6.9). The series of moves do not have to be logical, just legal!
29. Should a player be unable to use a supplied clock the Section Arbiter may allow the use of another clock with appropriate time controls.

Playing Conditions

30. Sets and clocks will be provided for all players.
31. At the end of each game players must set the board up correctly (i.e. White Rook on a1).
32. Sets and Clocks must not be removed from the playing room.
33. Clocks must be left at the side of the board where placed by the Arbiter.
34. Spare sets will be available for analysis subject availability.
35. No analysis may take place in the playing rooms, board & sets will be available in the lobby area.