2020 Rules

This page lists the ruleset for this year's Racing Kings World Cup. Participants of the 2019 RKWC will notice that they are largely the same as last year, however a number of changes have been made. Please read these rules carefully if you consider signing up for the 2020 RKWC. The rules we compose are not exhaustive. When this topic provides insufficient clarity about a situation occuring in the RKWC, it is up to the Tournament Director & backup-TD to judge the case.

Entrant Eligibility:

Entrants who meet the below criteria are eligible to take part:

1. Have an established racing kings rating on lichess;

2. Have played at least 200 rated racing kings games on lichess;

3. Be participating ONLY using their main account;

4. The account needs to be at least 6 months old;

5. Having had no marked account for engine assistance or artificial rating manipulation for at least 3 years. In case of a marked account before that time the account needs to have at least 1000 rated Racing Kings games before the start of the tournament.

6. Have messaged the Entry Approval Panel (RoyalManiac) with an interest in participating;

7. Have joined the team “Racing Kings WC”

Points 1-4 are aimed primarily at preventing duplicate accounts from entering. Entries not meeting these criteria may still be accepted at the Entry Approval Panel's discretion. Exceptions are most likely to be made for players known within the racing kings community.

Any player attempting to use multiple accounts or computer assistance will be kicked out and if necessary reported to lichess moderators.

Knockout Tournament Rules:

The tournament format will be a double elimination knockout. You will be paired with a player for a round. There will be one week for you to arrange a time and complete the games. Please note the following stipulations:

1. All games are by default rated. If BOTH players agree then some or all games can be unrated.

2. Results AND games of each match should be communicated to the tournament director (RoyalManiac) upon completion.

3. Each match will consist of TEN games of 3+2. An exception is made for the final match of the tournament, which consists of TWENTY games of 3+2.

4. Either player can stop the match if someone reaches 5.5 points within the first 10 games.

5. If the score is 5-5 after 10 games then pairs of tiebreak games of 3+2 will be played, with the match stopping if one player is ahead after an even number of games.

6. If the score reaches 8-8 without a winner then the time control will change to 1+0 until one player is ahead after an even number of games.

7. A player can request a maximum of one break between games, of approximately 10 minutes, during a match. The player requesting the break will have to communicate this clearly to his opponent.

8. The tournament main draw will have either 16, 32 or 64 players.

-- If the number of entrants is below 16 the tournament will not take place

-- If the number of entrants is equal to 16, 32 or 64 then all players will take part in the first round

-- Otherwise, the first round will involve the lowest seeded entries and eliminate the required number of players for the new total to be the highest possible out of 16, 32 or 64

9. If a player loses a match they will enter the losers bracket. If they lose a second match they will be eliminated from the tournament.

10. Assuming there are 64 players, after the first round there will be 32 players in the winners bracket and 32 in the losers bracket. After the second match there will be 16 players in the winners bracket and 32 in the losers bracket, and so on.

11. The tournament ends when the two winners of the winners and losers bracket have played two matches of 10 games, where the winner needs to get more than half of the points. In case of a tie the usual tiebreaks apply which will be played immediately after the second 10 game match.

12. The initial pairing will have the top seed vs bottom seed, the second seed vs second from bottom etc. For example in an eight player event: (1) v (8), (2) v (7), (3) v (6), (4) v (5). The winner of (1) v (8) will then play the winner of (4) v (5) and the winner of (2) v (7) will play the winner of (3) v (6).

13. The seeding will be based on the average between a players peak rating and their rating at the time the tournament entries are closed (June 28).

14. If somebody is unable to complete a series, or has to withdraw, then their opponent is considered the victor. Byes may be issued in the case of an odd number of players.

15. If someone knows they will not be able to play a certain week when a round is scheduled they must notify the TD BEFORE they play their PRIOR match. At the TD's discretion their match may be moved to the following week. This will only occur a maximum of 1 time per player.

Match Negotiations:

1. Players may begin negotiating a playing start time as soon as their next pairing is known.

2. Each player is responsible to offer at least 3 separate times for the match, unless an offer has been accepted before that number is reached.

3. The 3 offered times should be no closer than 3 hours to each other and no more than 2 on a single date.

4. If 3 offers are not made in time the player at fault must accept a time chosen by the opponent.

5. If both players fail to make 3 offers by the deadline then a match arbiter will assign a time.

6. A player should respond to an offer by accepting or making a different offer, preferably within 24 hours.

7. If a player is excessively or repeatedly late for scheduled matches they may be forfeited.

8. If both players make 3 offers but no agreement is made before the weekend then a match arbiter will determine if fault lies with a particular player.

9. If a player is at fault then their opponent will decide the match time, if no player is at fault the match arbiter will assign a match time.

Reporting Cheats:

1. Accusations of cheating must be made privately to a member of the anti-cheat panel.

2. The accusation must make reference to at least one specific game.

3. The anti-cheat panel must all believe a player to be guilty for a player to be forfeited. 100% proof is not required.

4. If a member of the panel is either the accuser or accused their place on the panel will be taken by another.

Credits and a lot of thanks to tipau and others for writing the 2018 AWC rules and allowing me to use those as a template for the new RKWC.

The rules as written above are based on those used during the Atomic World Championship of 2018, which were in turn based on those used in the 2005 AWC and match negotiation rules from the slow chess league:

https://sites.google.com/site/atomicchesswc/2018-awc/rules

http://www.nicklong.net/chess/atomic/2005awcrules.txt

http://slowchessleague.org/rulebook/