Austin Lockwood Thursday, September 28, 2017
The tournament will be played by webserver. ICCF standard time control 10 moves in 40 days with duplication after 20 days is used; 45 days leave per year, no special leave). Linear conditionals can be entered. It will be organized in three stages. Usually each group consists of 11-13 players in the preliminary round, 9-13 in the semi-final round and 9-15 in the final round. Each player plays one game with every player of his group simultaneously.
The event will be rated with title norms, which are usually possible at the semi-final and final stages.
Entries
Players may enter in the usual way through WCCF or via the ICCF Direct Entry system.
Entries via WCCF are £9.00 and should either be sent via PayPal on the WCCF website or by cheque to the treasurer.
Allocation of players to the preliminary and semifinal groups will be made as random as possible; however, geographical distribution as well as an achievement of reasonable equality of the average rating, will be taken into account.
Tournament Organization
The tournament will start on 2017-12-15.
Registration will begin immediately and will close on 2017-11-10 to allow for pairings.
All preliminary groups will finish on 2019-06-30.
Any unfinished games that will decide promotional positions in the group will be adjudicated.
The semi-finals are expected to start on 2019-09-01 at the latest.
The final is expected to start on 2021-09-01 at the latest.
Prizes
As confirmed at the ICCF Congress 2013, the total prize fund for this event will be 6,000 EUR with, for the first time, prizes also awarded to winners of the Preliminary and Semi-final Sections (such prizes, each to the value of approximately 25 EUR, will be in the form of online vouchers or other chess material with tie-breaks to be applied if necessary to determine section winners).
In the Final medals and certificates will be awarded to the top 3 players (if necessary tie-breaks will be applied to determine the top 3 places). Also in the Final cash prizes of 1,000 EUR, 600 EUR, 300 EUR and 100 EUR will be awarded to the top 4 players. Tie-breaks will not be applied in respect of these cash prizes and instead those players scoring equal points will equally share any prize money due.
Qualification
The number of promotions will depend on total entries received, but it is initially assumed that the first two players of each preliminary section will qualify for the World Cup semi-final. The winner of each semi-final section will qualify for the World Cup final.
Although the number of preliminary groups which each player may enter is unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semi-final groups or more than one place in the final.
In addition, those players who qualified for World Cup 21 and 22 Finals will also be entitled to play in the semi-final stage of World Cup 23 and the winners of WC 21 and 22 Finals will be eligible to participate in World Cup Final 23.
The following qualifications can be achieved in the final:
§ the winner and the runner-up may enter directly a World Championship Candidates (tie break applies) (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 1.3.1.(d));
§ the winner of the World Cup Final 22 will qualify for the final of the next World Cup Tournament without paying any entry fee (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 3.6) and will be awarded the SIM title (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 10.6.(c));
§ participants in the final round have the right to take part in the semi-final round of the next correspondence chess World Cup tournament (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 3.6)
§ the participants in a Final of the ICCF World Cup Tournament who finished in place 3 or 4 (tie break applies) or scored at least 60% of the possible points may enter directly a World Championship semi-finals (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 1.2.1.(e));
§ the participants in a Final of the ICCF World Cup Tournament who scored at least 50% of the possible points may enter directly a World Championship Preliminaries (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 1.1.1.(e)).
Member Federations are asked to give the tournament wide publicity to all their players.
We wish all participants many interesting games and new connections with CC friends in other countries, based on the spirit of friendship and the ICCF motto:
AMICI SUMUS
Joop Jansen, Central Tournament Leader
Russell Sherwood ICCF Non-Title Tournament Commissioner
