Annex 4: Standards for ECU Tournaments
In the following items the basic conditions for an official ECU Tournament are defined.
1. Accommodation
The minimum quality of the official hotels should be appropriate to the tournament.
The organisers are free to offer additional hotel accommodation of any other quality. In any case each hotel room should have its own en-suite facilities. Meals should be offered in the hotels. If there is no restaurant in the hotel another one nearby can be accepted.
The full board accommodation includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. The organisers are free to offer half board accommodation, which shall have a brunch and dinner. Breakfast should be available until 10.00 a.m., dinner should be available until 30 minutes after the end of the last game. These 30 minutes have to be extended with the necessary travelling time from the tournament hall to the hotel.
For lunch and dinner at least three courses shall be offered. Furthermore, natural filtered water has to be included free of charge. The meals should take into consideration the different eating habits of the European cultures, vegetarians should also be catered for. Information with respect to diets for medical reasons shall be sent by the national federations together with the entry form and the organiser should take care for.
Wireless internet connection should be provided at least in the lobby of the official hotels.
2. Travel connection and shuttle services
An airport with international flight connections shall be in a travelling distance of less than two hours by car or bus. The price for the airport shuttle service has to be negotiated with ECU.
If the distance between tournament hall and an official hotel is more than 1.000 meter a shuttle service shall be foreseen free of charge.
The maximum distance between the tournament hall and the official hotels shall be 10 km.
3. Tournament hall and chess material
The minimum size of a tournament hall shall foresee 3 m2 per board and additionally 40 % space for player’s and spectator’s corridors, 25% for youth tournaments. The distance between the chess boards and the spectators should be not less than one meter.
The Tournament venue shall have the infrastructure to ensure the minimum conditions for the accompanying persons especially for the youth competitions.
The organisers have to provide the best playing conditions, thus avoiding any disturbance by lights or noises, in particular:
– no blinding or shadows by sun or spots,
– air condition without any sound or annoying cold air streams,
– doors have to be opened and closed without any noise,
– no disturbance by moving of chairs on the floor or by walking of players and spectators,
– to provide minimum and highlighted equal illumination in the playing area required by the FIDE rules,
The FIDE Standards for chess tables and chairs, chess boards, pieces and clocks have to be followed. The final decision if these standards are met is up to the Chief Arbiter.
For adult tournaments the live internet transmission of minimum 50 games shall be foreseen, for youth tournaments a minimum of 25 games shall be transmitted.
For team competitions a clear indication of the team composition and the results must be available.
The scoresheets should have a minimum size of A5, the number of moves to be written on one page should be 40 or 60.
The walking distance to the toilets should be maximum two minutes for one way. All entrances to the tournament hall, the player’s area, the analysing room and other rooms or areas allowed for players shall be adequately controlled by the organizers.
During the rounds the players and officials shall be provided with coffee, tea and water. However, these beverages should be positioned in the player’s area in such a way, that it will never cause any disturbing noise.
For the Chief Arbiter there has to be an easy internet access during the rounds in the tournament hall or in his office.
An analysing room outside of the player’s area has to be provided by the organisers. The minimum number of chess sets has to be 10 % of the number of participating players, 5% for youth championships.
For the individual competitions, the Chief of each delegation is allowed in the playing hall, only in a special restricted area, to observe the playing hall and assist the Arbiters when is necessary.
4. Live Coverage
4.1. For adult tournaments the live internet transmission of minimum 50 games shall be foreseen, for youth tournaments a minimum of 25 games shall be transmitted.
4.2. For the European Club Cup and the European Open Individual Championship and the European Youth Championship a minimum of 100 games shall be transmitted live.
4.3. For the European Team Chess Championship all the matches and games shall be transmitted live.
4.4. For a. the European Team Chess Championship b. the European Club Cup Open & Women c. the European Individual Open Chess Championship d. The European Individual Women Chess Championship e. The European Youth Chess Championship the organiser shall provide a live studio coverage with live commentary by experts at least in English language.
4.4.1. The guidelines for the live studio coverage are approved, published and updated by the ECU Board which has the right to negotiate directly with providers for this task for all ECU Competitions setting the minimum standards and costs for the organisers.