First ACP Women's World Rapid Cup to be held in Turkey

The Association of chess professionals (ACP) together with the Turkish Chess Federation from November 30 till December 4, 2009 will be holding the first ACP Women's World Rapid Cup.

Below you will find the official press-release with the rules and conditions for all the participants.

Tournament Regulations:

I. Place and date

The tournament will be held in Rixos Hotel, Konya, Turkey from November 30th to December 4th 2009.

II. Tournament’s system

The 1st ACP Women World Rapid Cup will be a Round Robin tournament with twelve participants including

- eight qualifiers from the ACP Women Series:

1. Kosintseva Tatiana

2. Kosteniuk Alexandra

3. Pogonina Natalya

4. Kosintseva Nadezhda

5. Cramling Pia

6. Cmilyte Viktorija

7. Zhukova Natalya

8. Javakhishvili Lela

- three Turkish Chess Federation nominees

- one ACP nominee

Games will be played with the following time control: 20 minutes each at the start of the game with an increment of 5 seconds per move from move 1.

In case of tie for the first place, a tie-break will be played to determine a winner.

III. Players conditions

All players are provided with a full board accommodation at the Rixos hotel, Konya.

All players are provided with a free transfer from/to the Konya airport

All players get a compensation of their travelling expenses up to USD 500.

IV. Prizes

The total prize fund of the event amounts to USD 20,000. Prizes will be distributed as follows:

Winner USD 5,000

2nd place USD 4,000

3rd place USD 3,000

4th place USD 2,000

5th place USD 1,500

6th place USD 1,000

7th place USD 800

8th place USD 700

9-12 places, each USD 500

In case of tie for any place accept the first, prize money will be shared equally.

V. Tournament’s schedule

Nov 30

Arrival

9 p.m. Opening Ceremony

Dec 1

11:30 a.m. 1st round

12:30 a.m. 2nd round

3:00 p.m 3rd round

4:00 p.m. 4th round

Dec 2

11:30 a.m. 5th round

12:30 a.m. 6th round

3:00 p.m 7th round

4:00 p.m. 8th round

Dec 3

11:30 a.m. 9th round

12:30 a.m. 10th round

3:00 p.m. 11th round

4:30 p.m. tie-break

6 p.m.: Closing ceremony

Dec 4

Departure

VI. Miscellaneous

Games will be played under the current FIDE Rules, with the addition of the ’Corsican rule’ (draw offer is forbidden).

Illegal moves do not lose the game. Nevertheless, each illegal move will be penalized by a 2-minute addition on the opponent’s clock.

In all tie-break games, any illegal move leads to the immediate loss of the game.

Tie-break system.

If two players tie for the first place, a blitz match of 4 games will be played to determine the winner. The time control will be 3 minutes each at the start of the game with an increment of 2 seconds per move from move 1.

If a match ends in a draw, two additional two blitz games will have to be played. The time control will be 3 minutes each at the start of the game with an increment of 2 seconds per move from move 1.

If this tie-break match again ends in a draw (1-1), a last game will have to be played. This final tie-break will consist of a single blitz game where White starts with 5 minutes and needs to win the game in order to win the match (sudden death game). Black, on his part, only needs a draw to win the match, but has only 4 minutes at the start of the game. This final tie-break game will be played without time increment.

If three or more players tie for the first place, a round robin (or double round robin) blitz tournament will be played to determine the winner. An exact format will depend on a number of players and will be announced by the chief arbiter. The time control will be 3 minutes each at the start of the game with an increment of 2 seconds per move from move 1.

I have confirmed my participation to this tournament!

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com