The 3rd European Internet Championship

Invitation and Information

The 3. European Internet Championship will be played from January 9, 2006 to January 22, 2006. The time controls are Blitz. The tournament is divided into four preliminaries, a candidates tournament and the final. All preliminaries, the candidates tournament and the final will be played on the Playchess.com server. 

In the preliminaries any player who has the right to play for a European National Federation can take part. The best players from the preliminaries qualify for the candidates tournament. The following players have the right to play in the candidates tournament:

• Grandmasters, no matter whether these players have the men's or the women's title
• Player with a FIDE rating 2500 or higher, as of January 1, 2006
• Reigning World or European Champions, men or women, regardless of the age-group
• One player per European federation nominated by this federation.

Another requirement is the right to play for a European federation.

In the final the 16 best of the qualifier will meet 16 players nominated by the ECU and ChessBase GmbH. This final will have a prize-fund of €6,000.

The following text explains the conditions for each tournament. It is the responsibility of the players to know the conditions for the tournament they play in, and to take care that these conditions are met.

1st Preliminary, Monday, January 9, 20.00h

This tournament is one of the regular tournaments on the server, the ducat hunt, as every Monday ducats, the server currency, can be won in this tournament.

• Mode: Nine rounds swiss, classical blitz (5+0).
• Venue: Playchess-server, Tournaments B.
• Registration: You register directly on January 9, 2006 in the tournament room in the time between 20.00 and 20.30 by chat with the tournament director. Pre-registration is neither necessary nor possible.
• Starting fee: There is no starting fee.
• Tournament rules: The server rules for tournaments apply. In case of doubt the tournament director will decide. His decision is final and incontestable.
• Technical requirements: Necessary for participating is an active account on the server and you need to have at least the rank of Knight. Fritz 8, Junior 8, Tiger 15, Shredder 8 and Hiarcs 9 contain the necessary software. A 20-day test version and the possibility to acquire a registration number can be downloaded here.
• Qualification and prizes: The fifteen best players qualify for the candidates tournament. If two or more players have the same number of counts, "progressive-score" decides, after that medium Buchholz.
• Prizes: The first three win ducats (250, 150, 100). In addition to that there are five Lucky Wins.
• Server connection: The players are responsible for a stable server connection. Lags (short interruptions of the server connection), which appear more often and last longer than 1 second and possibly might delay the tournament, might be a reason for the tournament director to forfeit a game or to exclude players from the tournament.

2nd Preliminary, Friday, January 13, 2006, 20.00h

This is one of the regular tournaments on the server, the Friday-Blitz.

• Mode: Nine rounds swiss, classical blitz (5+0).
• Venue: Playchess-server, Tournaments B.
• Registration: You register directly on January 13, 2006 in the tournament room in the time between 20.00 and 20.30 by chat with the tournament director. Pre-registration is neither necessary nor possible.
• Starting fee: There is no starting fee.
• Tournament rules: The server rules for tournaments apply. In case of doubt the tournament director will decide. His decision is final and incontestable.
• Technical requirements: Necessary for participating is an active account on the server and you need to have at least the rank of Knight. Fritz 8, Junior 8, Tiger 15, Shredder 8 and Hiarcs 9 contain the necessary software. A 20-day test version and the possibility to acquire a registration number can be downloaded here.
• Qualification and prizes: The fifteen best players qualify for the candidates tournament. If two or more players have the same number of counts, "progressive-score" decides, after that medium Buchholz.
• Prizes: The winner wins 250 ducats, the second 100 ducats. In addition to that there are four Lucky Wins.
• Server connection: The players are responsible for a stable server connection. Lags (short interruptions of the server connection), which appear more often and last longer than 1 second and possibly might delay the tournament, might be a reason for the tournament director to forfeit a game or to exclude players from the tournament. 

3rd Preliminary, Monday, January 16, 2006, 20.00h

This tournament is one of the regular tournaments on the server, the ducat hunt, as every Monday ducats, the server currency, can be won in this tournament.

• Mode: Nine rounds swiss, classical blitz (5+0).
• Venue: Playchess-server, Tournaments B.
• Registration: You register directly on January 16, 2006 in the tournament room in the time between 20.00 and 20.30 by chat with the tournament director. Pre-registration is neither necessary nor possible.
• Starting fee: There is no starting fee.
• Tournament rules: The server rules for tournaments apply. In case of doubt the tournament director will decide. His decision is final and incontestable.
• Technical requirements: Necessary for participating is an active account on the server and you need to have at least the rank of Knight. Fritz 8, Junior 8, Tiger 15, Shredder 8 and Hiarcs 9 contain the necessary software. A 20-day test version and the possibility to acquire a registration number can be downloaded here.
• Qualification and prizes: The fifteen best players qualify for the candidates tournament. If two or more players have the same number of counts, "progressive-score" decides, after that medium Buchholz.
• Prizes: The first three win ducats (250, 150, 100). In addition to that there are five Lucky Wins.
• Server connection: The players are responsible for a stable server connection. Lags (short interruptions of the server connection), which appear more often and last longer than 1 second and possibly might delay the tournament, might be a reason for the tournament director to forfeit a game or to exclude players from the tournament.

4th Preliminary, Friday, January 20, 2006, 20.00h

This is one of the regular tournaments on the server, the Friday-Blitz.

• Mode: Nine rounds swiss, classical blitz (5+0).
• Venue: Playchess-server, Tournaments B.
• Registration: You register directly on January 20, 2006 in the tournament room in the time between 20.00 and 20.30 by chat with the tournament director. Pre-registration is neither necessary nor possible.
• Starting fee: There is no starting fee.
• Tournament rules: The server rules for tournaments apply. In case of doubt the tournament director will decide. His decision is final and incontestable.
• Technical requirements: Necessary for participating is an active account on the server and you need to have at least the rank of Knight. Fritz 8, Junior 8, Tiger 15, Shredder 8 and Hiarcs 9 contain the necessary software. A 20-day test version and the possibility to acquire a registration number can be downloaded here.
• Qualification and prizes: The fifteen best players qualify for the candidates tournament. If two or more players have the same number of counts, "progressive-score" decides, after that medium Buchholz.
• Prizes: The winner wins 250 ducats, the second 100 ducats. In addition to that there are four Lucky Wins.
• Server connection: The players are responsible for a stable server connection. Lags (short interruptions of the server connection), which appear more often and last longer than 1 second and possibly might delay the tournament, might be a reason for the tournament director to forfeit a game or to exclude players from the tournament. 

Candidates Tournament for the European Internet Championship,
Saturday, January 21, 2006, 14.00h

Mode: We will play classical blitz (5+1). The number of rounds depends on the number of participants.If 80 or less players take part, the tournament will go over 15 rounds. If there are between 81 and 120 participants, the tournament will go over 17 rounds, and if more than 130 players take part, we will play 19 rounds. Venue: Playchess-server, Tournaments Championships.

Registration: a) Players, who qualified in the preliminaries The players, who qualified in the preliminaries, should appear in the virtual room on time (from 13.30h) and tell the tournament director Martin Fischer via chat that they want to play. However, the registration can be rejected, if their full real name and the chess federation is not fully given under personal data.

b) Players, who ask for a wild card because they are grandmasters, World or European Champion or have an Elo that is high enough These players first have to open an account on the server. If necessary, the software required to to so can be downloaded under this address. After that the registration form for titleholders has to be completed. A scanned proof of your identity (identity card, driver's license, etc.) must complete this form. The registration ends on Friday, January 20, 2006, 18.00h. Later registrations will be ignored. After registration follows the ranking on the server - the registered player will either get the rank of Queen, King or V.I.P..

Players who already rank as King or higher need only appear in the tournament room for the registration (from 13.30h onwards) and tell tournament director Martin Fischer through the chat that they want to play.

c) Players, who ask for a wild card through their federation These players have to be registered by their federation per email to this address. This registration also ends on January 20, 2006, 18.00h. Later registrations will be ignored.

d) Attendance check Entry into the tournament takes place between 13.30h and 14.00h. The registered players have to appear in the tournament room in this time and tell the tournament director with a short note in the chat ("join") that they would like to play.

Tournament rules: The server rules for tournaments apply for this tournament. In case of doubt the tournament director will decide. His decision is final and incontestable. In contrast to the general server rules, the tournament language is English, and English only.

Technical requirements: To participate the complete real name and the federation, for which the player has the right to play, is required. This information must be contained in the personal information, which can called up through the "F 2" key. Ignoring this might lead to denied access to the tournament or to an exclusion from the tournament.

Qualification and prizes: The sixteen best-placed players qualify for the final. If two or more players have the same number of points, tie-breaks will be played. The tournament director will decide on short notice in which mode the tie-break will be played.

Prizes: There's a prize-fund of 7.000 ducats for this tournament, which wil be distributed as follows: 1. place: 1.200 ducats; 2. place: 1.000 ducats; 3. place: 800 ducats; 4. place: 600 ducats; 5. place: 400 ducats; places 6 to 10: 200 ducats each. If two or more players have the same number of points, buchholz will decide. In addition to that there will be ten Lucky Wins.

Server connection: The players are responsible for a stable server connection. Lags (short interruptions of the server connection), which appear more often and last longer than 1 second and possibly might delay the tournament, might be a reason for the tournament director to forfeit a game or to exclude players from the tournament.

 Final, Sunday, January 22, 2006, 14.00h

Mode: The time-limit is 5 min + 1 second increment per move. Matches will be played in preliminaries and later in k.o. mode. The last 32 will be divided into eight groups of four players. These four players will play one four-game match with each of the other players in their group. First game points count, than match points, and finally the direct encounter. Sixteen players will qualify and they will play k.o.-matches. These will be four game matches, in case of 2:2 a so-called "Armageddon"-game, in which White has 6 minutes against 5 of Black, but which White has to win.

Registration: Neither the qualified players nor the set players have to register separately. It suffices if the player is present at the attendance check at 14.00h. Places of players who are not present at the attendance check are given to the next player in line.

Tournament rules: The server rules for tournaments apply for this tournament. In case of doubt the tournament director will decide. His decision is final and incontestable. In contrast to the general server rules, the tournament language is English, and English only.

Venue: We will play on the playchess.com server, room Championships.

Starting fee: There is no special starting fee for the final.

Technical requirements: To participate the complete real name and the federation, for which the player has the right to play, is required. This information must be contained in the personal information, which can called up through the "F 2" key. Ignoring this might lead to denied access to the tournament or to an exclusion from the tournament.

Prizes: 

Server connection: The players are responsible for a stable server connection. Lags (short interruptions of the server connection), which appear more often and last longer than 1 second and possibly might delay the tournament, might be a reason for the tournament director to forfeit a game or to exclude players from the tournament.