FICGS - Waiting list : FICGS_CHESS

FICGS chess world championship is a 5 stages tournament. The 8 players with the strongest established ratings at the start of the tournament play first a 3 stages (quarter-final, semi-final, final) knockout tournament. The others play a 3 stages single round-robin tournament (stage 1, stage 2, final). All games during the whole cycle are played in 30 days + 1 day / move. As a reminder, the use of chess engines (Rybka, Fritz, Shredder...) is allowed and encouraged in wch chess tournaments. Norms are only possible in the round-robin tournaments.

Quarter final 1
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Quarter final 2
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Quarter final 3
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Quarter final 4
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Stage 1 group 1
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Stage 1 group 2
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Stage 1 gr. 3,4...
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Stage 1 gr. M
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Stage 1 gr. SM
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Semi final 1
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Semi final 2
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Stage 2 gr.1
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Stage 2 gr.2
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Stage 2 gr.3,4..
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Knockout final
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R. robin final
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Candidates
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WCH final
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Round-robin tournaments are groups of 5, 7, 9, 11 or 13 players, there may be double round-robin tournaments in case of groups of less than 7 players. The winner of each group is qualified for the next stage. In case of equality, the player with the strongest tournament entry rating (TER) is qualified for the next stage. If tournament entry ratings are equal, ratings when the next stage begins will be taken in account. Groups are built grading all players by rating and distributing them to obtain similar elo averages. If possible, players with a rating superior or equal to more or less 2150 will play 1st stage in class groups, SM for the highest rated ones & M for the lowest rated ones. The 2 players with the highest scores (or TER if necessary) in SM groups & the winner of each M group will be qualified for the round-robin final (stage 3), at most half the players in M groups will play stage 2 while the players obtaining the lowest scores will be eliminated. The player obtaining the lowest score in SM groups will be eliminated as well while the others will play round 2. Winners of round-robin stage 2 tournaments will play the round-robin final. Players may be invited to complete a group or to replace a forfeiting player.

The knockout tournament is played into 8 games matches. The special rule (avoiding short draws) is that in case of equality (4-4), the winner is the player with the strongest tournament entry rating if all games are draw, the player with the lowest tournament entry rating if not all games are draw. The winner is qualified for the next stage.

Knockout tournament winner will play round-robin cycle winner in a 8 games candidates final match (stage 4). In case of equality (4-4), the knockout tournament winner is qualified for stage 5 if all games are draw, the round-robin cycle winner if not all games are draw.

At last, the player qualified is the challenger for FICGS world champion title. If current world champion defends his title, they will play a 12 games match. In case of equality (6-6), the winner is the former world champion.

In the case of a withdrawal, the games won't be rated if a player warns the referee before the tournament starts and at most 15 days after a new stage started but the first one, then a replacement will occur if possible (this special rule is particularly dedicated to players surprisingly invited to an advanced wch stage, as it would take too much time to wait for confirmations from all qualified players)