Golden Knights and Electronic Knights Regulations 2024-2025

The US Chess Correspondence Chess Championship/Golden Knights Championship is open to all US Chess members who reside in the contiguous USA, Alaska, Hawaii or have an APO/FPO postal address. This tournament is played by regular postal mail.

The Electronic Knights Championship is open to all US Chess members registered with the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). There is no cost to register to play on the ICCF server. If a player is not already registered go to https://www.iccf.com/Signup.aspx.   This tournament is played on the ICCF webserver.

US Chess membership must remain current throughout your participation in all tournaments.

The entry fee is $35.00 (payable in U.S. dollars), which covers all three rounds should that player keep advancing. A player may enter each tournament up to 10 times, paying $35.00 for each entry, provided he applies early enough to allow placement as in Rule #5.

Single entries must be processed online or postmarked by November 30; two entries by September 30, three to four entries by August 31, five to seven entries by July 31, and eight to ten entries by June 30. US Chess will not pair entries received online or postmarked after November 30 for the current year. Such entries will be moved forward to the next year at no additional cost should the entry fee for next year be increased. US Chess will begin receiving entries for the tournaments after December 1 of the previous year, but pairings will not begin for the current tournaments until January 1.

Upon entering, each contestant agrees that the decision of the TD shall be final in all matters regarding the conduct of the tournaments, including acceptance and classification of entries, the adjudication of games, the distribution of prizes, and all interpretations of the rules and regulations.

Each tournament will consist of three rounds: Preliminaries, Semi-finals, and Finals. Sections for each round will consist of seven players. Each player will be assigned six games in each round of play, three with White and three with Black.

Preliminary round sections will be paired as entries are received.

Those who score four and a half (4½) or more points (not weighted-point totals) in a section will advance to the next round. If no one scores four and a half (4½) or more in a section, those who scored four (4) will advance.

Pairings for the Semi-final and Final rounds will be done as follows:

1. All qualified players from the previous round, per Rule #9, will be sorted in the following order:

   1. points scored in the previous round (not weighted-points score).

   2. rating.

   3. section.

2. If the number of qualified players does not add up to a multiple of 7, e.g., 7, 14, 21, 28, etc. then players who scored four (4) or less points in the previous round, not already qualified, will be added to the bottom of the qualified players list to reach the next multiple of 7, in the same order as used in Rule #11a. This will determine the number of sections to be paired in the next round.

3. Any players who qualify for more sections than are available, e.g., a player qualifies for 5 Semi-final sections but there are only 4 Semi-final sections (28 players) to be paired, will have their lowest scores eliminated. Such players will be offered a $35.00 CC gift certificate as compensation for each score eliminated. An eliminated player will be replaced by the next eligible player as determined in Rule #11b.

4. Players will be seeded continuously into sections based on the number of sections available, in order of the sorted list. For example, if there are 4 sections, player #1 will be paired in section 1, player #2 will be paired in section 2, player #3 will be paired in section 3 and player #4 will be paired in section 4. Player #5 will be paired in section 1, player #6 will be paired in section 2, etc.

5. Players cannot be paired into the same section more than once. In this case, a switch is made between the duplicated player and the next player in the list and the pairing of players resumed.

Players who complete all games and do not qualify for the Semi-final round will receive a CC gift certificate valued at $15.00. Those who complete all three rounds with no forfeit losses will receive a tournament pin and be eligible to win prize money depending on their weighted-point score.

For computing weighted-points scores (used for distribution of prizes only not for advancing to the next round), each game won in the Preliminary round will count as 1.0. Each game won in the Semi-final round will count as 2.2. Each game won in the Final round will count as 4.5. Draws count as half the weighted value of a win. Forfeit wins are recognized as a regular win. A perfect score (winning all 18 games) would total 46.20. If two or more contestants tie for money places, they will share equally the sum of all prizes involved.

Cash prizes will be distributed as follows based on weighted-point scores as in Rule #12:

Except as provided in the foregoing rules, these tournaments will be conducted under the most recent version of the US Chess Correspondence Chess Rules, including any amendments or additions thereto.

Late reports, assignments, forfeits, and other important information will be announced by email whenever possible to the email address on file with US Chess. This applies to both the Golden Knights and Electronic Knights tournaments.

Loss on Time/Repeats/Time Complaints:

1. In the Preliminary and Semi-Final rounds, if a player oversteps the time limit, they will receive a 5-day reflection time penalty for the first offense, and loss of game for any subsequent overstep.

2. In the Final rounds, if a player oversteps the time limit, this will result in loss of game for that player.

3. Repeats, time complaints and loss on time claims should follow the procedures outlined in the US Chess CC rules per Rule #15.