ICCF 2015-029: Require a Positive Score for a First Place Finish
Corky Schakel, USA Delegate
Require a Positive Score for a First Place Finish to be Awarded in Multi-Round and Promotion Tournaments
Proposal
It is proposed that for multi-round and promotion tournaments that a positive score be required for a first place finish to be awarded. If no player in these type of tournaments achieves a positive score, then no player is awarded qualification to the next round or to the next higher class.
Rationale
Numerous ICCF tournaments are multi-round or promotion tournaments. First place finishers in these events earn qualification to the next round or next higher class. If all games are drawn in a tournament like this, every player finishes with an even score (same number of wins as losses) and tiebreaker rule 7.2 does not unambiguously resolve this issue. Tiebreaker rule 7.2 applied fully in this scenario results in each player finishing with the same final score, the same number of wins (7.2.a), the same SB score (7.2.b) and the same head-to-head results (7.2.c). Thus, all players in this scenario are “considered equal” (7.5) and are first place finishers. This is not a practical scenario for tournament organizers. It also does not encourage players to play on to force wins, something ICCF routinely encourages (e.g. the decision to move to the Baumbach tiebreaker (7.2.a) as our primary tiebreaker option). Requiring a positive score to be achieved for advancement will encourage players to play for wins, will be consistent with other ICCF rules, and will address a potential issue tournament organizers of multi-round and promotion tournaments will face.
Here is an example where an all draw event was barely avoided. NAPZ Promotion tournament: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=36622
Had the one win in this event been a draw, then all players in this event would be tied for first and be awarded a first place finish. This rule change will encourage players who want to advance to play for wins rather than accept “easy” draws.
Other Comments/Considerations
If the Rules Commission cannot agree with the requirement that a positive score be required to qualify for the next round, or higher class, then a back-up plan would be to add more tiebreaker options to Rule 7.2. It is inevitable that we will (if not already) face a scenario where every game in a tournament is drawn. We should provide guidance now rather than after all draw scenarios become a more common occurrence.
Relevent Documentation
The relevant documentation that needs change is our Tournament Rules:
http://documents.iccf.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Rules/ICCF%20Tournament%20Rules%2001.01.2015.pdf
If this tournament rule change is passed then we need to go through each tournament listed and add the statement that a positive score is needed to advance or promote for the listed tournament.
Voting Summary
- A vote of Yes will mean that a positive score is required to for a first place finisher to be identified for advancement to the next round in multi-round tournaments and to the next higher class in promotion tournaments.
- A vote of No will mean we will face situations where identifying a first place finisher in multi-round and promotion tournaments is not practical. It also encourages players to play for draws, an issue that ICCF has consistently discouraged with other rule changes.
- A vote of ABSTAIN is not a vote but means the vote holder has no opinion and does not wish to represent the correspondence chess players of his or her federation in this matter.
Comments by Relevant Committees, Commissions, or ICCF Officers
Eric Ruch (EB)
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Eric Ruch (Rules)
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