October 15, 2021
First, a reminder of what the Friends Bowl competition is. The Friends Bowl is a large silver cup which has been in the club since 1947 when it was donated to the club by the then president of the club, Arnold Friends. The annual competition for the cup is a knock out handicap based on grading. This year the rules are being tweaked slightly to accommodate the changes in the ECF rating system.
For each game the players are given a material handicap according to the difference in their rating. The ratings used will be the ratings on the ECF website for the players at the time (ratings updated monthly). Where a player doesn’t have an over the board standard rating, for instance because they haven’t played enough rated games, then in the first instance a provisional rating will be used if one exists for the player. Failing that an OTB rapid rating will be used and finally online ratings will be used.
The handicaps are as follows for different rating differences:
0-99 – no handicap, first named player in the draw has white
100-199 – colour, lower rated player has white
200-299 – 2 moves, lower rated player has white and makes two moves instead of one to start the game
300-399 – f pawn and move, lower rated player has white, remove f7 pawn
400-499 – f pawn and 2 moves, remove f7 pawn, lower has white and makes two moves instead of one to start the game
500-599 – knight, remove b1 knight, higher rated player has white
600-699 – rook, remove a1 rook, higher rated player has white
700-799 – queen, remove d1 queen, higher rated player has white
800-899 – queen and knight, remove b1 knight, remove d1 queen, higher rated player has white
>=900 – queen and rook, remove a1 rook, remove d1 queen, higher rated player has white
Time control: all moves in 60 minutes with a 10 second increment.
Games are not gradeable. Recording is not required.
FIDE laws apply apart from handicap related (i.e. initial position and possible double first moves). In cases 600+ and 900+ white may castle queenside provided the king has not moved, none of c1, d1, e1 are under attack and a1 through d1 are vacant.
This is a knockout competition. Players not completing their matches before the deadline are eliminated. In the case of a draw a rematch with the same handicap is played with 30 minutes for the game with no increment. In the case of 0-99 handicap colour alternates.
Entries to Brian Towers by 28th October, please.
