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1. Technical requirements to meet before the beginning of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012

1. Players with enough points to pass to a Final tournament must send the following data to the ‘Admin’ login (account) via the inner mail system of the ChessOK Playing Zone, and by e-mail at chessplanet@list.ru:
   • A scan of an ID document (passport, ID card, driver license etc.), including its translation into one of the official languages of the competition (English and Russian) – to confirm the personal information specified in the playing zone
   • The full address of the building and apartment (if applicable) the player will be playing from during the Final and Super Final tournaments.
2. The participants can play in the Final and Super Final tournaments from the Central Chess Club in Moscow (14 Gogolevskiy bul’var, Moscow, Russia), or from any other building specified in a letter to the Panel of Judges. To play from any building other than the Central Chess Club, a player must meet the following requirements:
   • buy and set up a microphone, headphones and an external web-camera on a computer he or she will use to play in the Final and Super Final tournaments. All these operations are done at the participant’s expense.
   • register an account on Skype and contact a Panel of Judges representative using Skype (Skype name ‘chessok1’), from the building the player will use to play in the Final and Super Final tournaments, at 8-00 to 16-00 UTC, in any weekday before August 14 – to confirm that the microphone, headphones and web-camera function and transmit the signals.

If a participant does not meet the technical requirements in time, the Panel of Judges can substitute them with any other player, upon the recommendation of the Russian Chess Federation.

2. The rules of participation in the Final and Super Final tournaments of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012

• During the Final and Super Final tournaments, the participants are obliged to stay at one computer only, without leaving or changing the place and only communicating with the Panel of Judges.
• The participants of the Final and Super Final tournaments must contact the Panel of Judges by Skype (if not playing from the Central Chess Club in Moscow) at least 20 minutes before the beginning of the tournament and follow all instructions by the Panel of Judges to inspect the rooms they are playing from and confirm the correct operation of microphones, headphones, web-cameras and Internet connections.
• During the Final and Super Final tournaments, the participants must not turn off microphones or change the position of web-cameras without the approval of the Panel of Judges.
• During the Final and Super Final tournaments (including during a game), the Panel of Judges is authorized to demand a participant to change the position or direction of his or her web-camera, if the player is suspected of using computer or other kind of external help. The player must do as demanded immediately.
• The Panel of Judges can appoint its trusted representative to come to the place specified by the participant to observe the process from there.
• Participants must communicate with the Panel of Judges in one of the official languages of the competition – English or Russian.

The prize fund is provided and paid by the Russian Chess Federation.

All prizes are paid for after the end of the 3rd stage of the competition – the Super Final tournament. According to the law of the Russian Federation, the income tax will be deducted from the prize sum.

Terms of Payment:

The payment to both Russian and foreign players is effected by a non-cash settlement at the player’s bank account. The player’s ID and bank details must be sent before November 1, 2012. This data must to be sent via the inner mail system of the ChessOK Playing Zone, from the winner’s account to the administration (login – Admin); to confirm the player’s identity and bank data, the same information should be sent by e-mail, to chessplanet@list.ru:

1. Scans of the Russian passport (for Russian residents) or your ID document (for the residents of other countries).
2. Full address and postal code (Russian residents should specify their permanent registration address).
3. Bank details for prize payment. Non-Russians should also specify the bank’s full address.

Russian participants receive prizes in Russian roubles. Non-Russian participants can choose to receive the prize in Russian roubles, USD or Euro, converted at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of Russia at the day of payment.

The competition will be held in three stages:

• 1st stage – 4 qualifying tournaments;
• 2nd stage – Final tournaments. 4 groups of 10 players each;
• 3rd stage – Super Final tournament.

1st stage – qualifying tournaments:

During this stage, 4 open tournaments for individuals are run in 13 rounds using the Swiss system. Each player has 3 minutes, gaining +1 second for each move, starting with the first one.

Each of the 4 tournaments has a pool of 60 000 points. The points are distributed in the following way:

1st place – 12000 points;
2nd place – 9000 points;
3rd place – 7000 points;
4th place –5000 points;
5th place – 3000 points;
6th place – 1500 points;
7th place – 1350 points;
8th place – 1200 points;
9th place – 1050 points;
10th place – 900 points;
11th-20th places – 600 points each;
21st-30th places – 500 points each;
31st-40th places – 400 points each;
41st-50th places – 300 points each;

Tie-breaking is done using:

• Buchholz system (discarding two worst scores);
• Cumulative system;
• Personal match result.

2nd stage – series of Final tournaments:

After the qualifying tournaments, 40 players with the most points pass to the Final tournaments.

2nd stage system:

40 participants are subdivided into 4 groups, 10 players each. The groups are formed with consideration to the results of the qualifying tournaments. Round robin system is used. Each player has 3 minutes per game, gaining +1 second for each move, starting with the first one.

Forming groups:

Of 10 players in each group, 4 distributed players are determined using the system below; the rest of the group is formed by the Panel of Judges, by drawing.

Distributed players:

1st final group: players at the 1st, 8th, 9th, 16th places by the amount of points won in the qualifying tournaments
2nd final group: players at the 2nd, 7th, 10th, 15th places by the amount of points won in the qualifying tournaments
3rd final group: players at the 3rd, 6th, 11th, 14th places by the amount of points won in the qualifying tournaments
4th final group: players at the 4st, 5th, 12th, 13th places by the amount of points won in the qualifying tournaments

The Final tournaments have a prize pool of 500 000 Russian roubles distributed in equal parts between the final groups. As a result, each group has 125 000 Russian roubles distributed in the following way:

1st place – passes to the Super Final tournament;
2nd place – passes to the Super Final tournament;
3rd place – 20 000 roubles;
4th place – 15 000 roubles;
5th place – 15 000 roubles;
6th place – 15 000 roubles;
7th place – 15 000 roubles;
8th place – 15 000 roubles;
9th place – 15 000 roubles;
10th place – 15 000 roubles.

Tie-breaking is done using:

• the amount of points won in the qualifying tournaments;
• Sonneborn-Berger score;
• personal match.

3rd stage – Super Final tournament:

The players who win the 1st and 2nd places in the 4 Final tournaments of the 2nd stage can pass to the 3rd stage.

3rd stage system:

The 3rd stage of the competition uses the knockout (single-elimination) system. The participants play by the following scheme:

The winner of the 1st final group plays against the second-ranked player of the 3rd final group.
The winner of the 4th final group plays against the second-ranked player of the 2nd final group.
The winner of the 2nd final group plays against the second-ranked player of the 4th final group.
The winner of the 3rd final group plays against the second-ranked player of the 1st final group.

In the quarterfinal, semifinal and final games, each player has 3 minutes per game, gaining +1 second for each move, starting with the first one.

Tie-breaking in any of the matches is done using an Armageddon game, where White has 3 minutes, +1 second for every move starting with the first one; and Black has 2 minutes 30 seconds, + 1 second for every move starting with the first one. The colors are set randomly by the ChessOK Playing Zone’s automatic drawing system. In case of a draw, Black passes to the next round.

The Super Final tournament has a prize pool of 740 000 Russian roubles distributed in the following way:

1st place – 200 000 roubles;
2nd place – 140 000 roubles;
3rd place – 100 000 roubles;
4th place – 100 000 roubles;
5th place – 50 000 roubles;
6th place – 50 000 roubles;
7th place – 50 000 roubles;
8th place – 50 000 roubles.

REGULATION
for Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012

1. Aims and Objectives

The competition is conducted to:

• showcase new opportunities to promote and develop chess using IT technologies;
• promote chess;
• conduct an online blitz tournament to find the best chess player of 2012.

2. Organizers

The competition is organized by the Russian Chess Federation (RCF).

The competition is conducted and regulated by the Panel of Judges headed by Arbiter Tkachev A. V. (МА).

The competition takes place at the ChessOK Playing Zone Internet portal.

3. Schedule

The qualifying tournaments for the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012 will be held on the first and the last Sundays of June and July:

• 1st qualifying tournament – June 3, 2012. 16-00 UTC;
• 2nd qualifying tournament – June 24, 2012. 16-00 UTC;
• 3rd qualifying tournament – July 1, 2012. 16-00 UTC;
• 4th qualifying tournament – July 29, 2012. 16-00 UTC.

The Final Tournament (in 4 groups) will be held on the 14th of August, 2012:

• I group - 11-00 UTC;
• II group - 13-00 UTC;
• III group - 15-00 UTC;
• IV group - 17-00 UTC.

The Super Final Tournament will be held on the 15th of August, 2012, at 16-00 UTC.

4. Competition System

The competition will be held in three stages:

• 1st stage – 4 Swiss-system qualifying tournaments;
• 2nd stage – Final tournaments. 4 groups of 10 players each. Round-robin system;
• 3rd stage – Super Final tournament among 8 players. Knockout system.

For detailed information on the systems used for each stage, see Supplement 1.

5. Deciding the winners, prize fund, prize distribution.

The prize fund for the competition is provided by the RCF and equals to 1 240 000 Russian roubles (including the taxes).

The prize fund is distributed between the participants of the Final and Super Final tournaments.

The winners of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix 2012 are decided based on the results of the Super Final tournament, with no regard to the results of the qualifying and Final tournaments.

The terms of prize payment are further detailed in Supplement 2.

6. Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012 participation requirements

To participate in the qualifying tournaments, a player has to follow the rules listed in paragraph 7 of this Regulation and be a member of the Chess OK Playing Zone for the period of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012.

To become a member one should do one of the following:

• buy a 1-year membership for the period including the time of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012. See the terms of payment at http://ctart.chessok.com/Plans;
• international masters and grandmasters can send a personal petition with a copy of the certificate proving the title attached and receive free membership;
• citizens of the Russian Federation with registered membership in the Russian Chess Federation at the RCF’s website receive free membership for the period of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012.

7. Players’ obligations

All players participating in the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open must follow the rules listed below:

• Play with their own skills, without using specialized chess software and/or other players’ help.
• Use up-to-date means of communication; the average latency (signal delivery time) must not exceed 3 seconds a turn.
• Do not play in one tournament using more than one ‘login’.
• Acknowledge any ruling of the Panel of Judges on any disputable issue as the final one.
• Follow all the rules for participating in the Final and Super Final tournaments of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012 as per Supplement 3.
• Install and use the latest version of the software for available at the ChessOK web portal on a PC with Internet connection.
• Run the software and register a login (account), specifying the following information that will be open for all players at the server:
  1. last name;
  2. first name;
  3. second name (if any);
  4. gender;
  5. birth date;
  6. city and country of residence;
  7. e-mail.

8. Settling disputable issues and the right of the Panel of Judges

• In case of unexpected disconnections during a game the time lost is subtracted from the time limit of the disconnected player.
• A judge has the right to exclude a participant from a tournament if their average network latency exceeds 3 seconds a turn. An excluded player retains all points won.
• The Panel of Judges has the right to disqualify a player during any of the tournaments if there are strong presumptions that the player uses specialized software or other chess players’ help, or if the player has violated the rules of qualifying, Final or Super Final tournaments of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012. The Panel of Judges retains this right for one week after the end of the tournament. If a player is disqualified during the Final tournament, the results of all his or her games played during the Final tournament are changed as if he or she lost those games. If a player is disqualified after the Final tournament, but before the beginning of the Super Final tournament, then the player right next to him or her in the disqualified player’s Final tournament group’s chart passes to the Super Final tournament. If a player is disqualified during the Super Final tournament, his or her opponent passes to the next round. If a player is disqualified during any stage of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012, all points and prizes won by the player are taken out of the competition without changing the results or redistributing the points and prizes among other players.

9. Additional information

The official languages of the competition are English and Russian.

Official information on the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012 on the Internet:

• The official site of the Russian Chess Federation: www.russiachess.org
• The ChessOK Internet portal: www.chessok.com

Panel of Judges contact information for English-speakers:
Contact name: Ivan Moiseev
Club Login: Admin_Eng_Esp
e-mail: chessok1@gmail.com
Skype: chessok1

Supplements:

• Supplement 1: System of Running the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2102
• Supplement 2: Terms and Conditions of Prize Payment for the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012
• Supplement 3: Rules of Participation in the Qualifying, Final and Super Final Tournaments of the Russian Online Blitz Grand Prix Open 2012

	Where?	ChessOK Playing Zone
	How much?	1,240,000 Russian roubles Prize Fund! More than $42,000 (1 USD = 29,45 RUB as of April 25, 2012)
	When?	4 qualifying tournaments on the last Sunday of each month, starting on June 3, 2012. Final and Super Final tournaments will take place August 14-15, 2012.
	How?	Buy one-year Membership at ChessOK Playing Zone and gain full membership rights for only $18/€14. Buy one of our products (Houdini 2 Aquarium or Chess Assistant 12) and gain one-year membership for free!

The ChessOK Playing Zone supports both team and individual competitions. More than 1,000 active teams. Cross-tables for all tournaments are updated in real-time. Free online broadcasts of super tournaments and top matches. To access the playing zone, download our interface for Windows OS or Android OS.

For more details, read the official regulation for the competition.