1. Entries

Applications for entry must reach the General Secretary and Fixtures Secretary by 1st August prior to the commencement of the season and must include the following: –

• Names and addresses of secretary and captains.
• Address of clubroom
• Detailed travelling directions
• Evening(s) of the week for home fixtures
• Special circumstances which may affect the club’s ability to fulfil fixtures.
• Clubs should specify which teams they wish to enter (and into which divisions); clubs must specify which teams they wish to enter into the Trophy (Knockout) competitions (there is no “default” entry; teams must be positively entered into the chosen Trophy competition in addition to being entered into the League)
• A registration list of players
• One subscription per team
• The normal playing session of the club and details of any special circumstances at the club’s venue that require a shorter playing session than the default specified under Rule 8.
• The number of digital clocks available to be used for their home matches.
• Whether your home venue is accessible for disabled players
• Whether your home venue has a convenient waiting area for parents of junior players
• Clubs are required to provide at least one email address for use by the MCF.

These email addresses will be used to provide clubs with details of fixtures, to raise queries about results and other matters and to notify clubs of AGMs, EGMs, and any relevant correspondence from MCF Council.

The MCF will provide the email to any individual expressing an interest in membership of that club. MCF officers will not make use of any email addresses so provided, except to fulfil the functions of their office, and the MCF will not forward the email addresses to any third party, except as discussed above, without the express permission of the addressees.

Clubs entering more than 1 team must be able to accommodate MCF fixtures as follows:

• 2 teams            – At least 1 at home per week
• 3 or 4 teams    – At least 2 at home per week
• 5 or 6 teams    – At least 3 at home per week
• 7 or 8 teams    – At least 4 at home per week

Matches may be arranged on different nights of the week and/or at more than one venue.

2. SUBSCRIPTIONS

The annual subscription is £15 per team and shall be remitted with the applications for membership to the AGM. 

During the season the Treasurer will invoice each club for its share of any game fees payable to the English Chess Federation.

3. REGISTRATION LISTS

a) All Clubs shall send a copy of their registration list to the Records & Registrations Secretary by 31st August of the new season.

b) No player may be on the registration list of more than one club at the same time. Players must be registered with the MCF’s Records & Registrations Secretary no later than 48 hours before playing in a match.  For a junior player with no previous ECF rating record, their full name and date of birth must be supplied.

Transferring of players after the season has started is allowed provided the acquiring club first tells the secretary of the player’s current club and then the Records and Registration Secretary. The transfer will proceed if both clubs agree. If the clubs disagree, the MCF, having consulted the relevant player, will decide for which club the player is to be registered.

c) A club shall register its players in approximate rating order; a leeway of up to 75 ECF rating points is allowed. The ECF original rating list published in August shall normally apply throughout the season. However, a club may apply to revise its list prior to 20 December by moving a player up or down if there is a major discrepancy between the player’s August and December ratings.

The League, after consultation with the relevant club, may also revise a player’s rating if a similar major discrepancy occurs.

A major discrepancy is defined as a difference of more than 150 ECF points, based on more than 8 games in any competition played in the relevant style of play (standard or rapid) in the period between the issue of the ECF rating lists for August and December.

Any revised ratings either by a club or the League after the issue of the original December ECF ratings will not come into effect until the first MCF league match after January 1.

Exceptionally a club may request permission to register a player out of rating order by more than 75 ECF rating points; in such a case the club must include a note in justification.

The following may be considered justification under this rule:

• A player who is a driver, particularly for a Junior team

• A team captain elected immediately before the new rating list who met the criteria under the then current list.

Unrated players shall be registered appropriately to their playing strength. Note the Memorandum on Estimated Ratings for Unrated Players.

d) The Records and Registration Secretary may reject justification offered under c) above and ask the club to revise its list.  Should the club disagree, then MCF Council shall arbitrate on the matter.

e) Clubs shall have the right to send in a revised registration list to the Records and Registration Secretary before the first Friday in November.  Rules 3 b), c) and d) apply.

f) Players may be added to the list at any time.  All additions must be registered with the Records and Registration Secretary no later than 48 hours before the scheduled start time of a match in which they play. Any player added to a seeded group must be bracketed with a player already seeded. In all cases rule 3c applies.

After January 31st the addition of a new player is not a defence against a breach of Rule 4 e).

• SEEDED PLAYERS

{Advice to clubs: when drawing up your registration list, if a player’s availability is doubtful, she/he should be bracketed rather than seeded}

a) If a club enters more than one team in the league, certain players known as “seeded players” are restricted as to the team(s) for which they can play. Players may play only for the team to which they are seeded and for any of the club’s higher teams.

• If the club’s first team plays in a division for teams of six players, then four players should be seeded to that team. If it plays in a division for teams of four players, then two players should be seeded to that team.

• If the club has lower teams which play in a division for teams of six players, then five players should be seeded to that team. If it has lower teams which play in a division for teams of four players, then three players should be seeded to each of those teams.

With these exceptions:

• For any club with more than one team, its lowest-numbered team does not require seeding.
• For any club with more than one team and with its lowest-numbered team in the rating-restricted bottom division, its penultimate team does not require seedingas long as it is in a higher division.

Rating-restricted divisions are separate, ring-fenced, competitions for seeding purposes.

b) Bracketing of players is allowed (i.e. two or more players may be put on the same number).

c) i) A team’s players do not have to play in strict rating order, but where there is a difference of more than 100 ECF points between two players, the lower-Rated player must play on a lower board than the higher-Rated player. The August ECF rating list shall be used throughout the season to allocate a player’s rating, unless modified in accordance with the MCF Memorandum on Ratings.

     ii) For every contravention of rule 4 c) i), the higher-Rated player shall be considered ineligible.

d) Subject to the approval of the Records and Registrations Secretary, a club may amend its registration list at any time by moving a player up the list and bracketing that player with a seeded player.  All players below the moved player shall move up the list accordingly.

Note: in particular this should be done as soon as it is known to the club that a seeded player will be unable to play the minimum two matches required [but see Rule 4 f) below].

e) Seeded players must play in at least two fixtures for the club during the season. Where two or more players are bracketed together, two fixtures from amongst those bracketed together will count, provided they were not played in the same fixture. If this does not happen, then all the club’s teams lower than the group for which the player was seeded will have two match points deducted. Rule 5 shall not apply.

f) Any seeded player who has not played by 31^st January must either be expunged from the club’s playing register or bracketed with another player. This will apply to both a player seeded individually or to bracketed players who have not made any appearances at all between them.

g) Paragraph 2 of the Memorandum for the Composition of Divisions shall be applied only at the discretion of the MCF Fixtures Committee in respect of any team benefiting from a breach of seeding rules.  The Club may appeal to the Council for a lesser or zero penalty to be imposed.

h) The Records & Registrations Secretary shall check each club list after December 31^st and warn clubs with potential ghosts. However, lack of a warning will not excuse a club from being penalised for seeding ghost players.’

5. INELIGIBILITY 

The games of all players who are ineligible under these rules shall be submitted for rating but for all MCF purposes shall be scored to their opponents.

Anyone playing in a match between MCF teams will be allowed to play up to 3 over-the-board games in the MCF league or trophy events in any one season without joining the ECF, but they must take out or renew ECF membership before playing in any further MCF league or trophy matches in that season. Otherwise, they will be deemed ineligible for any subsequent MCF matches while still a non ECF member.

Note: due to the ECF’s new “rolling membership” scheme commencing in season 2022-23, a player’s ECF membership may lapse mid-season. However, the “3 free games” allowance will cease for every player at the conclusion of an MCF season (i.e. a player will not be granted one free game in one season and two in another).

6. FIXTURES 

a) Before 5th October each year the fixtures secretary shall arrange the fixtures as far as possible in accordance with the memorandum for fixtures arrangements.  Each club secretary shall be sent copies not less than two weeks before the first match (which may be in September).

b) A club may request the postponement of a fixture by giving at least ten days’ notice to the Fixtures Secretary and providing justification. If the Fixtures Secretary allows the postponement, the Fixtures Secretary shall arrange the date and venue of the match, in consultation with the two clubs involved. (Note that consultation does not necessarily mean agreement.)

The new date shall be binding on both clubs and no further postponement of the same fixture shall be permitted. No fixture shall be postponed at less than ten days’ notice except in an emergency and in such a case the Fixtures Secretary should be promptly informed.

c) All fixtures shall be played before 31st May unless the Council sanctions a later date.

d) The record of any team playing only half of its matches or fewer shall be expunged.

7. PLAYING CONDITIONS FOR MATCHES

The home team shall provide reasonable playing conditions and set up the venue, equipment, etc., before the starting time. There should be sufficient sets, boards, and clocks of appropriate design. Tables and chairs should be spaced to allow easy access. The venue should be reasonably quiet, clean, well-lit, and ventilated, with adequate toilet facilities.

Mobile phones are allowed in the playing area. However, they must be switched off for the duration of play. Match captains must remind players of this requirement immediately before the commencement of play.

If a player’s phone rings audibly during his game, then he automatically forfeits the game. If the opponent cannot win the game by any series of legal moves, it will be declared drawn.

{Advice to clubs: in the hopefully rare case of a genuine need to use a mobile phone occurring while a match is still in progress, the two team captains should be jointly consulted and their prior agreement obtained. Otherwise, in the event of a dispute arising, the MCF is likely to take the view that FIDE Rule 12.8 has been breached.

FIDE Rule 12.8 – “Unless authorised by the arbiter, it is forbidden for anybody to use a mobile phone or any kind of communication device in the playing venue or any contiguous area designated by the arbiter.”

MCF requests that clubs remind their players that FIDE rules apply in the Manchester League (unless specifically altered by MCF Rules) – players found cheating will face sanctions (e.g., a 3-year ban). Important points to raise include:

• ‘other’ electronic devices are prohibited (if they are capable of generating or analysing a chess move, which include smart watches)
• any such devices much be completely switched off for the duration of the match (not just the player’s own game)}

8. CLOCKS AND RATE OF PLAY

An incremental time control will be used for all matches. Matches typically will be played under a time control of all moves in 1 hour 20 minutes with a 15 second increment per move starting at move 1 (G80′ + 15”).

In exceptional circumstances, if the home team anticipates that it will not have enough digital clocks for all boards, then it must give a minimum of 10 days’ notice to the visiting team, in which case the visiting team will have the option to bring their own digital clocks to make up the shortfall. If they do not take up this option, then the home team may use analogue clocks to make up the shortfall.

On boards where analogue clocks are used the rate of play shall typically be 30 moves in 75 minutes each, then a 20 minutes quick-play finish, and FIDE Guidelines III (Games without increment including Quickplay Finishes) shall apply.

Home teams who do not give the required notice may, at the Fixtures Secretary’s discretion, be penalised by the loss of each game for which a digital clock is not available.

A shorter session may be played by prior agreement between the captains, as long as the rate is sufficient for ECF standard-play rating. [The minimum for standard-play rating is where the time allocation per player, plus 60 times any increment, is at least 60 minutes.]

{Advice to captains: “prior agreement” should be interpreted as a written agreement between the captains by email prior to the day of the match, so that there is a written record. Agreement to vary from the default rate of play “on the night” is therefore only acceptable in an emergency.}

{Advice to players: Under the laws of chess a player does not need to keep score once they have less than 5 minutes left   When playing with an increment the MCF recommends that you keep score at all times.  If you do not keep score you cannot claim a draw under the 50-move rule, or by repetition etc and the game may last an excessive time.}

9. STARTING PROCEDURE

Before the starting time the captains shall (if a team captain is not present, team members present must nominate an acting captain):

a) Exchange team lists of seven (or a lower number if applicable to that Division) players and pair them accordingly. If a team knows it is going to default, it shall do so from the bottom board upward.

b) Agree the rate of play.

10. STARTING AND FINISHING

The official starting time shall be 7.30 pm. Matches shall start at 7.30 pm but may start earlier by agreement.  Clubs must state their finishing time, which must be after 9.50 pm, in the club information supplied for publication at the MCF website. 

Matches or individual games may finish at a different time from that stated in these rules, if agreed during the starting procedure, provided they finish after 9.50 pm. 

At the starting time:

a) The away team will have white on all odd numbered boards.

b) The captains or acting captains present shall start the clocks.  Any delay in starting shall be subtracted from the time allocation of each player of the team responsible for the delay.

c) One of the captains shall ask for all mobile phones to be turned off.

d) One of the captains shall announce the rate of play to be used.

11. RESERVES AND DEFAULTS

Any team who do not provide a full quota of players and do not inform their opponents and the Records and Registration Secretary of such more than 24 hours before the scheduled start time of the match will be deducted one penalty game point from the relevant match for each unoccupied board.

A player who does not arrive within one hour of the official starting time defaults the game. A reserve may be substituted for an absent player up to one hour after the official starting time. The clock shall not be reset.

The individual game will count towards the match result only if the reserve fulfils all the relevant MCF conditions for eligibility to play on the board in question, i.e.:

1. the player has been registered for the club as per Rule 3 and
2. the player is not seeded for a higher team and
3. the substitution complies with rule 4 c) i)

A club may put forward an ineligible player as a reserve but while the result of the game will be submitted to the ECF for rating purposes, the game will still be awarded to the non-offending team for match purposes.  However, the non-offending player will have the right to decline to play an ineligible opponent but while in that case the game point will still be awarded to the non-offending team, the offending team will not incur a penalty point for defaulting a board.

Any team which defaults an MCF League match shall render its club liable to a fine of £20. MCF Council will not automatically impose the fine but will use its discretion and common sense.

However, the fine will automatically be imposed, and the offending team incur one penalty match point, if the offending team do not inform their opponents and the Records and Registration Secretary of the default more than 24 hours before the scheduled start time of the match. This will apply irrespective of whether or not the match is rearranged. The fine will be paid to the MCF who will then pass it on the non-offending club. A club may appeal to the MCF against any penalty imposed upon them, citing any mitigating circumstances.

12. NOTIFICATION

Both teams shall report the board by board result of each match within three days of the match by entering the results at the League Management System website. If the website is inoperative, the result must be sent to the Records & Registrations Secretary by email, and in respect of trophy matches, also to the Fixtures Secretary.

13. LAWS OF CHESS

Games shall be played in accordance with the FIDE Laws of Chess unless modified by these MCF League rules.  Team captains are joint arbiters and have all the duties and responsibilities of arbiters under the Laws unless those duties and responsibilities clash with their role as team captain.  For example, they must call flag falls, but they cannot, except by mutual agreement, declare a position drawn in a quick-play finish.

The Laws of Chess can be found on the FIDE website (January 2023) here: https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012023. A copy of the Laws with the comments and interpretations of the Chess arbiters Association is available for download here: http://www.chessarbitersassociation.co.uk/.

14. DISPUTES

The procedure is set out in the Memorandum on Resolution of MCF Disputes.

The disputes committee shall consist of 3 people (plus 2 in reserve) and at least 1 of the 3 must be a National Chess Arbiter.  The members of this committee are to be elected by the AGM and must come from different clubs (i.e., 5 clubs in total). 

15. INTERPRETATION

MCF Council is the sole authority for the interpretation of these rules and its decision shall be final.

16. CHANGES TO THE LEAGUE AND MATCH RULES

Changes to the League and Match rules can only be made at a General Meeting and must be proposed in accordance with the constitution and the league and match rules.  Such changes require a two-thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote.

Revised 15 July 2023 MCF AGM