1. DIVISIONS
League Competitions for Member Clubs shall be held in Divisions as follows.
There shall be a First Division for teams of 12 a side and other Divisions for teams
of 10 a side except the lowest division which will be eight a side. The First Division
shall consist of 12 teams and the other Divisions shall consist of 11 teams or as
decided by AGM.
Subject to the approval of the Annual General Meeting, Member
Clubs may enter one or more teams in the Divisional Championships
and may have more than one team in the same Division. Where a
member club has more than one team in the same Division any
matches between such teams shall be played before playing any
matches against teams from other clubs.
In the lowest Division a Member Club shall be allowed two teams.
The match between the two teams shall be the first match of the
season for both.
In every Division each team shall play one match with each other
team therein, except that in the lowest two Divisions this may be
varied.
In the Minor Division (formed in September 2007) the following
rules will apply:-
(a) Teams will consist of four players. All players must be
graded under 145 of whom no more than two may be graded in the
range 135-144. Ungraded players must be approved by the League
Secretary before they shall be permitted to play in this
Division.
(b) Players can play in other divisions of the League and in the
Minor Division without restriction other than as provided in (a)
above.
(c) There will be no promotion or demotion to other divisions of
the League.
(d) The Minor Division will be open to sponsorship.
2. PREMISES
All matches shall be played on premises approved by the
Committee.
3. FEES AND RENT
(a) All games played in the London Chess League are subject
to payment of the ECF's Game Fee Scheme charges.
(b) Entrance fees for the various Divisions shall be determined
from time to time by the League in General Meeting.
(c) The League shall charge a rent for the use of League Premises
at a fixed sum for each match arranged to be played there. The
amount of this rent shall be determined from time to time by the
Committee.
4. MATCH POINTS AND RANKING
A won match shall count one point to the winning team, and a
drawn match shall count half a point to each team.
In each Division the trophy (if any) shall be held by the club of
the team securing the highest number of points. When two or more
teams tie for any place, the game score shall decide ranking.
When two teams in contention for promotion, relegation or a
Divisional title are equal both in match points and game score, a
further match shall be played between them to decide the issue,
and if this is drawn then board count shall operate.
5. PROMOTION AND RELEGATION
(a) The top two teams in the Second Division shall be
promoted to the First Division, the top two in the Third Division
to the Second Division, and so on. The bottom two teams in the
First Division shall be relegated to the Second Division, the
bottom two teams in the Second Division to the Third Division,
and so on.
(b) Relegation is obligatory, except that when a team is
withdrawn from any Division other than the lowest the resulting
vacancy shall be filled by reducing the number of relegations
from the Division concerned and from lower Divisions.
(c) Promotion is obligatory.
(d) If, after the operation of sections (a) to (c) above, a
vacancy still occurs, then it shall be filled by promotion.
(e) If, after the operation of sections (a) to (d) above, any
other team requests relegation, then this may be granted at the
discretion of the Annual General Meeting, and the vacancy shall
be filled by promotion.
(f) Notwithstanding (a) to (e) above, if the number of teams in
the second lowest Division is reduced, then the Annual General
Meeting shall decide the composition of the lowest two Divisions.
(g) If a club withdraws
a team from the League during the season, its results and
unplayed matches will be treated in the following manner:
- If the withdrawn team has played 50% or more
of its matches then those completed match results will stand.
Unplayed matches will be awarded to the opponents. Game points
for unplayed matches will be: withdrawn team, nil; opponents, the
average of the total game points scored by them in all
their other matches in the Division (to the nearest game point),
subject to a minimum score of 50% of the game points available
per match plus 1.
- If the withdrawn team has played less than 50%
of its matches then those results all be annulled.
- All games played will be submitted for grading whether the
withdrawn team's results stand or are annulled.
6. PLAYERS
(a) A player, having played for one Member Club in the
Divisional Championships, shall not be eligible to play for any
other Member Club in the Divisional Championships in the same
season. An eligible
player from another club may, however, play in any Minor Division
Team but may not play for different Minor Division Teams in the
same season.
(b) The Honorary Secretary must receive from each Member Club, on
or before 30th September, of that season, a complete list of all
its playing members. New playing members joining subsequently
must be registered in writing with the Honorary Secretary and
shall not be eligible to play until at least seven days after
such registration has been forwarded. Any new playing member
joining after December 31st shall not be eligible to play unless
and until permission has been obtained from the Honorary
Secretary.
(c) Each Member Club entering more than one team shall forward to
the Honorary Secretary, at the same time as forwarding the list
mentioned in (b) above, lists of available playing members for
each team but the lowest, in descending order of the current
assessment of their playing strength, with the strongest players
in the first team, the next strongest in the second team, and so
on. For each team in the First Division 12 nominations shall be
required and for each team in all other divisions 10 nominations
shall be required. The Committee shall be entitled to cancel or
decline any nomination and require a substitute. The substitute
shall not, as a result of the substitution, be regarded as having
been ineligible for any game played before the substitution. A
player who was nominated by the Club in the previous season, but
who did not play at least one game, shall only be accepted as an addition
to the list of nominated players required above.
(d) A nominated player shall not be eligible to play for any team
below that for which he has been nominated.
(e) In any one season a player shall no longer play in a team
after 5 appearances in a higher team or teams.
(f) Unless the Committee shall rule otherwise, each breach of any
part of Article 6 shall involve the deduction of one half point
from the score of matches of the offending team. The penalty for
fielding an ineligible player shall in addition be the loss of
the game concerned; the match score shall show “ineligible
player”. However, the game will still count for grading on
the basis of the actual result of the game.
(g) Unless the Committee shall rule otherwise, a player who
infringes rule 6(a) above shall be suspended from all League
activities for the remainder of that season.
7. CANCELLATION OF REGISTRATION
Should a Member Club report any playing member in writing to
the Honorary Secretary for not having paid his subscription to
that Club, the Committee shall be empowered to cancel after due
investigation the registration of the aforesaid playing member
with any other Member Club. No Member Club shall play such a
playing member after the receipt of notification of cancellation
of registration.
8. RULES OF PLAY
The Rules of Play shall be drawn up by the Committee, who
shall manage the competition and settle all disputes and
questions arising therein.
9. AMENDMENTS
No amendment to the Rules of the League Competition shall be
made except by the passing of a resolution by a General Meeting.
The text of any proposed amendment to the Rules of the League
Competition shall be specified in (or with) the notice convening
the General Meeting at which the amendment is to be considered,
but the Chairman of that meeting shall be at liberty to accept at
the meeting modifications which are consistent with the general
intent of the original proposal.
Effective from September 2009