WORLD CHESS COMPOSING TOURNAMENT OF THE FIDE (WCCT)
1972 by the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (PCCC)
and modified and added to in September 1978 in Canterbury, in August 1984
in Sarajevo, in September 1990 in Benidorm, in August 1991 in Rotterdam,
and in August/September 1993 in Bratislava. Further amendments have been
made in the light of changes approved at Pula 2000 and Wageningen 2001.
GENERAL RULES
1. The WCCT (World Chess Composition Tournament)
is organised with the authority of the PCCC.
2. The WCCT is open to all member federations
of the FIDE (participating countries).
3. The WCCT includes the following sections: A)
Two-movers, B) Three-movers, C) More-movers, D) Endgame studies, E) Helpmates,
F) Selfmates, G) Fairies.
4. The PCCC regulates the procedure for proposing
and selecting themes. The PCCC also approves the procedure to be used for
judging. The final choice of themes and the countries to be asked to judge
each section lies with the PCCC.
5. Constructional tasks or any theme stipulating
a limit to the number of pieces should be avoided. Twin form, duplex form
and compositions with more than one solution are accepted only in accordance
with the definitions. Promoted pieces in the diagram positions are allowed
only if they are substitutes for captured pieces of the same value. It
should be noted that a King’s Bishop cannot be a substitute for a Queen’s
Bishop. Fairy pieces or other fairy conditions which do not correspond
with the theme definitions will not be accepted.
6. The member federations of the FIDE are to be
given adequate opportunity to report in advance their intention to participate.
7. Each participating country appoints a team-leader.
The Tournament Director and the team-leader must be different persons.
8. A dated announcement of the WCCT will be made
which sets out the rules and which carries theme definitions with diagrammed
illustrations. There should be at least 10 months between the date of the
announcement and the closing date for entries.
9. Three compositions in each of the seven sections
are allowed from each participating country, but only the two highest-placed
compositions will score points in the final award. Any one composer may
send three compositions for each section. Joint compositions are permitted.
10. The organising country may participate in
the WCCT provided that sealed copies of that country’s entries are sent
to the President of the PCCC two weeks before the last legal sending date.
11. The last legal sending date of the entries
is to be defined clearly. This closing date must not be changed.
12. Entries for the WCCT are to be printed or
stamped on uniform diagrams with the section, composer’s name and country,
and full solution clearly written on the front of each diagram. The algebraic
notation is to be used.
13. The entries are to be acknowledged by the
Tournament Director who will produce a booklet containing all the entries
on diagrams with the full solution but without composers’ names and countries.
Each diagram will bear a number for reference purposes. The booklet will
be sent to the team-leaders for checking, and the Tournament Director must
be informed of any misprints or claims of anticipation or unsoundness within
four months.
14. The Tournament Director will inform all judging
countries and team-leaders of any misprints, any entries deemed to be unsound,
and any claims of anticipation, so that one month may be given for checking
these claims.
15. Each judging country will allocate points
to all sound compositions in the section which it has agreed to judge,
except entries from the judging country itself, using a scale from 0 to
4 including half-points. The Tournament Director will calculate the average
points gained by each composition by dividing the total points by 5 (or
by 4 in the case of compositions from a judging country).
16. The Tournament Director will rank the top
entries in each section on the basis of the average of the points awarded.
However, in accordance with para. 9 above, the third-placed entry of any
one country will not contribute to that country’s score, though it will
appear in the final awards booklet. The Tournament Director’s decision
is final in respect of ranking.
17. In each section the top 24 compositions (excluding
any 3rd placed entries from a single country) will be awarded scores from
24 down to 1. Scores will be divided equally among compositions with equal
ranking. The overall winner of the Tournament is the team with the highest
total of scores from all sections.
18. If a judging country does not make its award
within a reasonable time, the Tournament Director may appoint another country
to act as judge, making use in the first instance of the list of reserves
drawn up by the WCCT sub-committee. The President of the PCCC shall be
informed.
19. Diagrams of all ranked compositions, together
with their solutions, will be included in the final award, and published.
The awards will be made available to every participating country and composer.
The unpublished compositions will be available to their composers for publication
elsewhere, once the final award has appeared.
20. The official documents (announcement and award)
are to be written in at least one of the official languages of the FIDE.
21. The three countries with the highest points
totals and the composers of the three best compositions in each section
will be awarded a certificate of honour.