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Steering Committee members:  Permanent Members: chesskix, DaveTheRook (chair), rgadoury, SandiaCaveMan, SeniorCitizen.  General Members: bmw2002, Bosqueverde, Gomer, grabapawn, Kingofknights, twinders.

Standing Subcommittee (Rules): bmw2002, bosqueverde, chesskix, rgadoury (chair), twinders

Item 1.a. ICC  Tournament T28 parameters-
Time Control: 45 45
Sections: 5 (U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1300)
Rounds: 6 (possibly 7) followed by Playoffs
Team entries accepted: August 23 to September 6, 2005
Team Entry Deadline: September 6, 2005
Ratings "fixed" starting August 23.
Round 1 Posted: 22:00  September 13, 2005, ICC Server time

Approved 11-0

Item 1.b.  FICS  Tournament T28 parameters-
Time Control: 45 45
Sections: 5 (U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400)
Rounds: 6 - (possibly 7) followed by Playoffs
Team entries accepted: August 23 to September 6, 2005
Team Entry Deadline: September 6, 2005
Ratings "fixed" starting August 23, 2005.
Round 1 Posted: 19:00  September 13, 2005, FICS Server time

Approved 11-0

Item 2. The Agreed Game Time and 30-minute grace period. (These statutes proposals and introductory text have been reviewed and approved by the Rules Subcommittee.)

Approved 11-0

Explanation: The Agreed Game Time and 30-minute grace period have been misunderstood.  These additions to the statutes clarify the players' responsibilities and expectations, and adequately answer four principle questions or disputes. (1) Can the start of a game be delayed unilaterally when both players are present?--No.  (2) Are the penalties for not showing up at all and leaving before the end of the grace period the same?--No.  (3) Can negotiations to reschedule begin after the end of  the grace period?--No.  (4) Can the game be started once the grace period ends?--Yes. With mutual agreement, if both players are present at the same time before the end of the grace period.

Section 10.F.  (New)  The Agreed Game Time and the 30-minute Grace Period.

1. At the Agreed Game Time both players are expected to be logged in to the chess server "present and ready to play".  Players must immediately withdraw from any activity that might delay starting the game and begin their scheduled league game on time.
2. A 30-minute grace period is allowed for an occasional unanticipated (unpreventable through all reasonable efforts) delay past the agreed start time. At the end of the grace period no rescheduling of the game is permitted.
3. A player who has not logged in within the 30-minute Grace Period loses the game. If both players were present within the grace period, but not concurrently, the TD shall determine the game outcome based on the greater blame definitions in the statutes (Sect 15.A.). ¶ SC 27-28

Section 15.A.i.a.  (Revised) The offending player was not present to play during the 30-minute grace period following the Agreed Game Time..).>¶ SC 27-28  (Full blame)

Section 15.A.ii.d.  (New) The offending player logs off before the end of the Grace Period..). ¶ SC 27-28  (Partial blame)

Item 3. Team Roster Changes-Board Assignments. (This statute proposal and Explanation have been reviewed and approved by the Rules Subcommittee.)

Section 8. A. Team captains will now post their board assignments directly to the teamchess.org/Captains page no later than 22:00 ICC (19:00 FICS) server time. ¶ SC 26-27

(Addition) "If a team roster is changed after posting board assignments, it is the captain's responsibility to resubmit revised board assignments before the pairing posting deadline. Any player in a lineup who is no longer on the roster will either play the game (if eligible) or have their game ruled a set game loss. "¶ SC 27-28

Situation: A team captain changed his roster before the pairing posting deadline but failed to change the intended board assignments. As a consequence one player, who had been removed from the roster, appeared in the pairings. (Changing rosters does not automatically change board assignments). The captain assumed that new default board assignments would automatically be generated. His assumption was judged incorrect. On appeal, the OC ruled (1) that it was the captain's responsibility to change the assignments, not the programming or other league officials, (2) did not allow a late substitution, and (3) ruled set game against the absent player. The OC also wrote an interim rule, which we propose adopting into the statutes

Newly written programming now makes the captain’s responsibility very clear.

T4545 League - T27 - Aquatic - <team>
“Current boards are <handle1, handle2, handle3, handle4>.
”Handle 2 is assigned to play in the next round but is not on the roster just finalized.
You must change your board assignments to agree with this roster.”

The last sentence of the proposed statute actually allows that player to play the game, even if not on the roster, if eligible. In Section 16 it states that a player does not have to be removed from the roster unless there would be more than six players or the team average would exceed the limit. Under those conditions the player could actually be allowed to play the game.

Approved 11-0

Item 4. Tabled awaiting a Progress Report.

Item 5. Revise the method of determining Minimum Ratings, and make Fixed Ratings the same as the old Minimum Rating. (This statute proposal and Explanation have been reviewed and approved by the Rules Subcommittee. The programming is already in place, ready to go)

Section. 4.E.ii (Revised) Effective with the beginning of play in T28, the current ratings for all present and former league members will be collected daily from the Round 1 Pairing Posting Deadline through Playoff Round 1 Pairing Posting Deadline (50 days). The computed average-daily-rating shall be the player’s Fixed Rating for the next tournament. Fixed ratings for new players will be determined by the Entry Clerk, utilizing data collected once they complete a profile. ¶ SC 27-28

Explanation. The currently used Minimum Rating and Fixed Rating are based on two snapshots in time. Both the Minimum Rating, collected at one point in time, and the “current” rating at time of team entry are subject to the abuse of “rating management.” The snapshot system discourages many players from playing rated games during the time period between the establishment of their Minimum Rating and Team Entry because of their fear of increasing their ratings too much, and tempts some to unfairly lower their ratings in that intervening period.

We are proposing that everyone’s current rating be collected daily for a period of 50 days, and use the calculated average for that period as the Fixed Rating, effectively doing away with both the Minimum Rating and the Fixed Rating at Team Entry concepts. We feel the playing field will be leveled for everyone. People would not have to worry about any single game; if they play more than one game in a day, with wins and losses, only the rating at the time of ratings collection would be incorporated into the average. Since the fixed rating for the next tournament will be established at the end of the previous tournament, captains will be able to put teams together much earlier, and players will be able to continue to play rated games, with assurance that minor changes in ratings won’t make their planned team ineligible for the planned section.

Approved 10-0, 1 abstain.

Item 6. Remove unnecessary text from Section 15.A, the Forfeit or Set Game section. (This statute proposal and Explanation have been reviewed and approved by the Rules Subcommittee.)

Explanation: There is a lot of extraneous text in Section 15.A. involving instructions for notifying the captain and TD if the provision of some Statute is violated. These texts are holdovers from the email days, and have nothing to do with identifying the blame. Section 15 is essentially a scorecard, not an instruction manual. Section 15.A.ii.c in particular contains language that conflicts with other statutes. We suggest removing the red bracketed material.

Section 15 - Forfeits and "set game"

A. A game can be designated as a forfeit when the game is not played, and blame for this can be clearly established on the one of the players. The "offending" player is that player who bears a higher level of blame, the "offended" player is the player who is either blameless in the matter or has a lower level of blame.

i. Blame can be clearly established when:

a. The offending player was not present to play during the 30-minute grace period following the Agreed Game Time. ¶ SC 27-28

b. The offended player sends contact messages to the offending player conforming to the requirements of Section 10 and receives no reply after 72 hours of the Pairing Posting Deadline.

[The offended player may send a request for a forfeit to their Team Captain, who shall promptly forward this request to the Tournament Director.] ¶ SC 27-28.

c. The offending player fails to agree to a playing time offered by the offended player when the offending player is required to do so. ¶ SC 11-12.

d. The offending player refuses to play their designated opponent, regardless of the reason.

ii. Two occurrences of partially established blame by one player in regards to one game shall constitute clearly established blame. Blame can be partially established when:

a. One player fails to meet the 48 hour contact deadline established in Section 10(A), but makes contact within the next 24 hours agreeing to one of the three times the offended player has set in their original message.

[The offended player may make comment to their Team Captain at the deadline, or wait to see if a second event of partially established blame occurs, thus clearly establishing blame. The Team Captain shall promptly forward these comments to the Tournament Director . Both players shall continue communicating to establish an agreeable playing time.]¶ SC 27-28.

b. During the continuing communications, the offending player fails repeatedly to reply in a timely manner as determined by the Tournament Director.

[The offended player may make comment to their Team Captain immediately, or wait to see if a second event of partially established blame occurs, thus clearly establishing blame. The Team Captain shall promptly forward these comments to the Tournament Director. Both players shall continue communicating to establish an agreeable playing time.] ¶ SC 27-28.

c. The offending player sends a message less than 24 hours before the agreed playing time requesting a change of that time.

[The offended player may make comment to their Team Captain immediately, or wait to see if a second event of partially established blame occurs, thus clearly establishing blame. The Team Captain shall promptly forward these comments to the Tournament Director. Both players shall begin the scheduling process again to find a new agreeable playing time.] ¶ SC 27-28.

d. The offending player logs off before the end of the Grace Period. ¶ SC 27-28

Approved 11-0

Item 7.  New Reliability Rating application  Tabled

Item 8.   Revise Section 3.A.v. Team captains and assistant captains are subject to the same limitations on team participation as other members, and have no additional requirements to hold those positions (except for probationary periods as specified in 3.A.vi). It is recommended that individuals participate as a player for one tournament before they become Team Captain.  SC 27-28 Approved 10-0 1 abstain

Item 9. Revise Section 3.A.vi (limitations)

1. New players and those with an outstanding yellow card from the previous tourney (Sec. 17.B) may participate on one (1) team. Those returning from a red card suspension may participate as a player or assistant captain on one (1) team.
2. . Players who have played one tournament incident free (no yellow card) earn a GTS reliability point (Sec. 3.A.xx.) and may participate on as many as two (2) teams.
3. Players who have earned two GTS reliability points are eligible to participate on as many as three (3) teams.
4. One reliability point is deducted for each yellow card, affecting participation in the next tourney.  SC 27-28

Approved 8-1 2 abstain

Item 10.Revise Section 17.D. to read: If a player receives a second Red Card within one year of the issuance of the first Red Card, that player is suspended from league play for one year (4 complete tourneys) following the issuance of the second card. A player who receives a third Red Card is banned forever.  A player who receives a Double Red Card for cheating or gross misbehaviour is immediately banned forever.  SC 27-28

Approved 10-0  1 abstain

Item 11. Captain yellow cards. Section 17.A.v. (new)
Captains have a special responsibility to the league as well as to their teams. If a Team Captain admits blame for an unplayed game that should result in a forfeit and posts that admission in the game forum then, the captain will receive the yellow card that the player(s) or team would otherwise have received.

Reason: The most common “captain errors” are scheduling a player who is not available or incorrectly assigning boards (posting 4 boards when only three or fewer players are available) to avoid putting lower rated players on higher boards. Invariably the TDs accept the player’s excuse and change the forfeit to a set game. But the captain avoids any consequences.

Approved 9-0, 1 abstain, 1 absent

Item 12. Third Yellow Card. Add to Section 17.B. Should a third yellow card be earned before returning to play after a Red Card suspension (17.C), the third card is not "forgiven" until the returning player completes the next tourney without incident.

Reason. The third yellow card is usually earned in the week following the red card, while the player is given a “grace” period to allow for an appeal. We often get three forfeits in the same division.

Previous SC Agendas: