Barcelona Sants Open '08

Tournament Website (in Spanish)

Barcelona Sants Open Internet Qualification

The Internet Chess Club, in conjunction with the Catalan Chess Federation, organizers of the Sants Open in Barcelona, Spain, present the

Barcelona Sants Open 2008 Internet Qualification!

Prizes

We have on offer a top prize of return air-ticket, free hotel, breakfast and entry for the overall winner, 500 Euro (approx. $785) and free entries to the Sants Open for the next three places, plus ICC extension prizes totaling 48 months.

• 1st prize: Round-trip air travel (*conditions apply - see below) t0 Barcelona, plus hotel including breakfast for the duration of the Sants Open in Barcelona, plus free entry to Sants Open
• 2nd prize: 300 Euro, plus free entry to Sants Open
• 3rd/4th prize: 100 Euro each, plus free entry to Sants Open
• 5th-8th prize: 6 months ICC extensions
• Eight 3 months ICC extension prizes will be raffled between all participants who orderly finish a qualifier, two in every qualifier.

Please note that there is no cash equivalent for the round-trip air travel for 1st prize to Barcelona. Should the winner be unable to accept the invitation to Barcelona, he/she will forfeit this prize (ICC reserves the right to award the main prize to another player in that case). Also note that: (a) Round trip air travel will be provided from the nearest major airport to the winner's home; (b) Winner will provide personal information needed to purchase ticket along with preferred travel times and other preferences or restrictions WITHIN THREE DAYS of posting of official tournament results; (c) Subject to vagaries of international air travel, ICC will attempt to find a convenient travel schedule and will attempt to accommodate your preferences and special requests, but cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so. You may be asked to pay the cost difference yourself if your preferred routing is more expensive than ICC's recommended ticket or if you fail to respond to a proposed routing in a timely manner.

Also, 2nd, 3rd and 4th prizes can be paid directly by wire transfer.

Qualifiers Schedule

There will be four qualification tournaments with the following schedule:

• Qualifier 1: Thursday, July 31, 11:30am
• Qualifier 2: Thursday, July 31, 2:30pm
• Qualifier 3: Friday, August 1, 11:30am
• Qualifier 4: Friday, August 1, 2:30pm

Above times are server time (New York). There is a 6 hours difference to CET. Starting times in CET are 17:30 and 20:30, respectively.

All qualifiers will be Swiss 9 rounds rated tournaments. The time control will be 3 0. You can play in as many qualifiers as you like. Latejoining is possible until round 6, but half point byes are only available for the first three rounds.

Qualification to Knock-out Finals

There will be a final of 16 players on

- Sunday, August 3, 2:30pm.

To qualify for the finals, one needs to finish in the top three spots of any qualifier. To settle ties, Tomato tiebreaks will be used. See "tell tomato help tie" to learn about those. In case a player who is already qualified finishes top three in another qualifier, other players behind him are moved up.

This gives 12 qualifiers, the other four will be determined using overall points from all qualifiers together. In order to qualify in this way, it is advisable to play all four qualifiers. The total points count can be seen by typing

tell pear ser b barcelona

when on ICC. This standing will update after each qualifier finishes. Players who qualify directly by finishing top three in a certain qualifier will be disregarded when determining the overall points qualifiers. In case of a tie in overall points, the player with the lowest ICC Blitz rating on the start of the first qualifier he plays in will advance.

How to join the tournaments

No preregistration is necessary for this tournament. This event is only open to ICC members. Free trials are not allowed in this tournament.

Show up about 10 minutes before the scheduled start and type "tell pear join" or click on the entry button in your event list. Disconnecting before the start will remove you from the tournament. If you disconnect after the start, you will not be removed automatically, but you need to return as soon as possible, or the manager will forfeit you. You can follow the tournament in channel 227. Participants will automatically be placed in those channels.

You need to use the most recent version of Blitzin or Dasher to play in the tournament.

Tournament System

The time control will be 3 0 both in qualifiers and in the knockout finals.

In the knockout finals, "mini-matches" of four games will be played. If a tie occurs, two more games will be played at the reduced time control of 2 0. If still tied after that, another two games will be played at a time control of 1 0. This continues until a decision is reached. In the final of the last two, the match will have six games. In the case of a 3-3 tie, the procedure will be as above. Any match in the finals ends before four (six) games are played, if one player has 2.5 points or more (3.5 or more in the final of the last two).

Finalists will be sorted by the ICC Blitz rating they had when they played their first qualifier. The grid will display the following pairings (top to bottom) and qualifiers who go through to the next round will be paired accordingly: 1-16, 8-9, 5-12, 4-13, 3-14, 6-11, 7-10, 2-15.

Miscellaneous Rules

During the tournament, the most recent version of Blitzin or Dasher must be used. A player must not enter a section on more than one account, or risk being forfeited on both accounts.

The ICC tournament directors may at their discretion make a ruling on a particular game, eject a player from a tournament, or refuse to allow a player to join a tournament for any reason including but not limited to: failure to show up on time or to start a game on time, concern that the player's internet connection is not reliable enough for the game to finish in a timely manner, suspicion of chess computer use, suspicion that a player is receiving assistance, suspicion that a player has used multiple accounts during the tournament, or the fact that this player has been caught violating ICC rules in the past.

Their reasoning need not be given, and there is no appeals process. We appreciate the cooperation of all participants in keeping this contest friendly, honorable, and running smoothly.

Participants must use the same computer during the whole tournament, unless they are observed by an approved proctor.

ICC can publish the real names of the 16 finalists on the website. Players on anonymous accounts must supply their real name or will be denied participation in the finals. It is therefore advisable to GM/IMs to use their public account in the tournament instead of a second anonymous account.

In case a player is disqualified from the tournament, the ICC tournament directors can, at their discretion, rule that the game of that player in the running round is lost for him, and won for his opponent. However, results by that player in prior rounds will not be reverted.