2016 10th Annual World Computer Rapid Chess Championship

[CRoberson]

Note to MODERATORS: Please do NOT move this to the tournament section. Historically all tournaments of this type are announced here. The tournament
section is really more of a testers section and burying the post there will lead to lower participation levels.

Announcing the 2016 10th Annual World Computer Rapid Chess Championships. Registration and rules are as in the past. I'll have the web pages up in a few days.

For anybody new to this. This is an online event on ICC. ICC usually provides free temporary accounts for those participating. Each person logs
in and has their program run on any hardware they have. Some programs will run on a single CPU and others on 16+ CPUs with 12+ GB of hash.
While the programs compete, we chat about computer Chess and whatever else.

There aren't any strength limits, so programs below 1800 are just as welcome as those above 1800.

It will be run on one of two weekends. You may vote for the weekend of Jully 16/17 or July 23/24. You can vote here and register here if
you like. Just give me the info requested in one of the previous years registration pages (preferably last year). You can find the link page to all of
the previous 9 events here http://aigames.net/ACCA/ACCAWCRCC/WCRCC.html

[supersharp77]

The 2015 Ninth Annual World Computer Rapid Chess Championships Home Registration Participants Pretournament Ranking Rounds Results

If you don't have an ICC account:
Last day to register is July 15, 2015 midnight California, USA time.
If you have an ICC account:
Last day to register: July 17, 2015 at 1 AM New York, USA.


The date is July 18 2015. It will utilize Rapid Chess time controls. The tournament will take place over the Internet via ICC but we encourage those that live close enough to gather at one place to improve the experience and share ideas !! Site ICC (chessclub.com)
Suggested interface HGM's latest Winboard, Tim Mann's Winboard, or ChessPartner
Rounds 9 Rounds Saturday
Note: Below Round Times may be slightly adjusted
Round Times (Eastern USA - New York) (ICC Server Time) Saturday July 18 2015 Rd 1 at 9am 30 min break between rounds 4 & 5

Time Control Rapid: G/25+4
Tie Breaks First to 2 points with a 1 point lead Playoff at G/10+1 (coin toss decides first white). If both one reaches two points without a 1 point lead, then it is first to a 1 point lead. Organizer may declare a drawn match if the number of games gets too large.
Hardware Open
Accounts ICC usually provides temporary free accounts for participants allowing access before the tournament
TD Typically provided by ICC


RULES:
Standard rules of chess apply: Three fold repetition, 50 move rule .....
Allowed Entrants:
Only the author of the program or an approved operator may enter.
Entrants are open to author's and (qualified) operator's from the entire world.
Entering programs must be by an established author with a tournament track record. Completely new programs from unknown authors will not be allowed. There are numerous online/offline tournaments to establish a track record: HGM's monthly, FICS monthly, WBEC, CCRL, Open War, ....
Only one program allowed per author.
Programs by differing authors are NOT allowed to use the same opening book. Violation of this gets a warning then disqualification upon second violation. To prove your books authenticity, it must be sent to the tournament organizer upon claim of violation.
In the event of a odd number of entrants, an alternate program may be entered to avoid byes.
Program Operation:
Programs must be logged in 10 minutes before each rounds start time.
Any program arriving more than 15 minutes late for a round will forfeit that round.
Any entrant that completely misses the first round is dropped from the tournament. That means that showing up late for the first round, but before the second round starts keeps you in the tournament.
Programs must run in an automated fashion. You can start them but they must run by themselves and make all decisions themselves (including resign/draw).
Changing versions of the program between rounds is allowed.
Programs must kibitz their PV and (if possible) a message that the move is a book move. If possible, kibitz only on your turn not during pondering. You may kibitz a few plies before the final ply, but keep it to a minimum as too many will block all that chatter amongst the participants which most of us want to participate in.
Participants are allowed 2 disconnects per game. That is disconncects that interrupt the game. On the third disconnect the match is forfeit. A 5 minute allowance is granted for each disconnect. The third disconnect must be reported to the TD by the opponent and the TD will make the ruling.
Programs must be able to resume a match after a disconnect. This is part of the Winboard & UCI protocol so it should be already handled.
In the event of a dispute, the TD & Organizer decision is final and the spirit of this tournament will be considered in all disputes.
Originality, Cloning and Derivative works:
Each program must be the work of the author. Entrants may not copy the work of others.
(A) The exception to this is any work that uses the LesserProphet1.0.1 as its base, but it may not use other code from other sources.
(B) Clone accusations will be handled privately so as not to unduly harm reputations.
(C) The entrant accused of cloning is considered innocent until proven guilty.
(D) The reuse of concepts/ideas is allowed. The reuse of code/parameters/frameworks is not allowed.
(E) If an entrant is accused of cloning, the accusation and data will be reviewed first.
(F) The entrant accused of cloning may be required to submit compilable source code and the executable being run in the tournament for review. If the accused fails to provide the information, the entrant is dropped from the tournament.
(G) The accused entrant will be able to defend his/her work.
(H) If the accused entrant is found to be a clone, it will be dropped from this tournament.
(I) The TDs and a knowledgeable review committee will be created to review the case.
If an entrant makes several unsubstantiated claims of others being clones, that entrant will be dropped from this tournament.
Initial seedings will be based on ICC (standard), RWBC and WBEC ratings.
In case of a tie, there will be a G/10+1 playoff after a small break (long enough for the organizer to verify results). The higher finisher gets white first. The higher finisher is decided by the running sum of points gained by rounds (Assuming a 14 round tournament, a win in Rd 1 counts as 14 Pt's, a win in Rd 2 counts as 13 pts.....)
The tie breaker round requires that its winner win the match by a 1 point margin or more and will finish when the victor achieves 2 points or more with a 1 point lead.
Technical Rules/Specificationsallow kibitz variable must be 1: set allowkib 1
noescape variable must be 0 (disconnect/reconnects are allowed but limited): set noescape 0
Use a special formula for the tournament: set formula computer & unrated & time=25 & inc=4
Join computer discussion channel on ICC: +ch 64
Recommendation: Have a backup computer ready in case of crash.


Thanks and Credits

Thanks go to the ICGA and the sponsors of the CCT's. I reviewed their rules as guidelines for our rules.
Special thanks to ICC for supporting this tournament!

[CRoberson]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

[Rebel]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

+1

[Gerd Isenberg]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

More likely they ignored your note to put all into the private spam tournament section like recently Leiden 2016, IGT 2016, and possible soon the WCCC.

[Rebel]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

More likely they ignored your note to put all into the private spam tournament section like recently Leiden 2016, IGT 2016, and possible soon the WCCC.

And another +1

[Raptor]

I am ok with either of the two weekends, preferably 16/17 but even 23/24 is fine with me.

Raptor will participate in the event. All the details remain the same except HW, which will be 2xAMD Opteron 6276 (32 core).

Thanks again for taking up the tedious task of being a TD.

Hope to see everyone there!!

Steve

[Graham Banks]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

More likely they ignored your note to put all into the private spam tournament section like recently Leiden 2016, IGT 2016, and possible soon the WCCC.

Why belittle all of the enthusiasts who post in here just because you disagree with a moderation decision?

[mvk]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

I don't know what is wrong with moderation recently, but this kind of ban actions are terrible and damaging. News about genuine tournaments traditionally doesn't belong in this subsection, because this is really for home tournaments. Also interesting, but not the same kind of thing and with a different audience. Throwing it together causes real tournaments to miss the exposure they need and deserve. Only due to this moderation stubbornness, which is rather new. (Of course the programming section is now hijacked by perft and Henk nonsense, so it is not much better there. I only follow he general forum on a regular basis.)

I can most easily join in the first weekend. Second will be more difficult as I will be travelling, but I will try to make arrangements in that case. Looking forward.

[Rebel]

Well, either a moderator can't read or only read the title.

More likely they ignored your note to put all into the private spam tournament section like recently Leiden 2016, IGT 2016, and possible soon the WCCC.

Why belittle all of the enthusiasts who post in here just because you disagree with a moderation decision?

The topic is the moderation decision.

Do you agree that organizers of historical tournaments are forced to make announcements outside the main forum in a place of lesser attention?