BRITISH CORRESPONDENCE CHESS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP RULES
1. The League Team Championship of the EFCC shall be known as the British Correspondence Chess Team Championship.
2. A Tournament Director shall be appointed by the EFCC. There shall be a committee of three responsible for the general supervision of the Championship, of which one member shall be the Tournament Director, one a representative of the EFCC and one a representative of the British Correspondence Chess League.
3. The Championship shall be contested annually by nine teams each of eight players and up to two substitutes. A minimum of five members of each team must be British but the remainder can be overseas players. In the event of an accepted withdrawal, death of a team member, or simply at the request of the Team Captain his place may be taken by one of the a substitute player who shall continue the game(s) from the position(s) and time(s) reached. Such substitution shall be made within fourteen days of the Team Captain being informed of the death of the player or his withdrawal being accepted. No more than one Substitution can take place on board, although allocation errors or TD errors do not count as a substitution. However, if the substitute dies the Tournament Director shall decide whether the game(s) shall be adjudicated or continued by an additional substitute player. Substitutes need not be announced in advance. Depending on the circumstances, the TD has full discretion to add time back to the substitute’s clock (s) if he deems this necessary.
4. Games shall be played in accordance with the ICCF Rules (for team tournament games normally played by server) in being at the commencement date except as may be otherwise provided in these rules. There shall be no requirement to send an informational copy of a repeat or the reply to it to the Tournament Director.
5. The permitted time of reflection is forty days for the first ten moves and each succeeding ten moves with doubling of time after twenty days. Time saved shall be carried forward.
6. A player may take up to 28 days' leave in a calendar year.
7. All correspondence with the team captains and the Tournament Director shall be by email. The transmission of moves shall be by webserver.
8. Each player shall play two games simultaneously, one as White and one as Black, with one opponent and the pairings shall be so arranged that no two teams fail to be opposed to each other.
9. At the end of the playing season ties shall be broken by:-
a) Number of wins; if equal then
b) Board count; if equal then
c) Elimination of bottom board upwards until tie is broken.
10. All teams may play in the following tournament if they wish. Any new team wishing to play may do so with the agreement of the Tournament Organiser.
11. Each team’s entry fee shall be sent with the team list to the Tournament Organiser. All games shall start on 1st December. There shall be no end date.
12. The winning team shall hold the title of British Correspondence Chess Team Champions and receive medals and a cash prize as decided by the EFCC.The team that finishes in second place shall receive a free entry to the following season's BCCTC.
13. No player may play for more than one team in any one Championship.
14. Any matters concerning the organisations and running of the tournament not covered in these rules or the ICCF Playing Rules shall be decided at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
15.Competitors may appeal against the decisions of the Tournament Director to their Team Captain who will forward it to the Tournament Organiser. Such appeal shall be sent within seven days of receiving the decision in question. The appeal shall be referred to the appropriate committee of the EFCC whose decision shall be final.
16. The EFCC reserves the right to decline an entry or entries without stating a reason or entering into any further correspondence.
(Rules amended on 13th October 2018)