On behalf of ICCF, the tournament is being organised and administered by the Polish CC Federation.
The preliminaries of this World Cup started on 2015-10-01 with 928 players in 72 server sections and ended on 2017-05-01. All qualifiers were determined. Few games are still ongoing, but they have no influence on promotions.
The semi-final stage was open to 2 top players of each preliminary section (no more than 2 semi-final sections) and those players who qualified for World Cup finals (unless, they exploited their right to play at that stage in previous editions).
After registration all entries were verified, pairings was made (2017-06-06) and semi-final tournament launched (2017-06-08).
The tournament is played by webserver with an incremental rate of play (30 days per game followed by 3 days every 1 move; 45 days leave per year, no special leave). Linear conditionals can be entered. ICCF Rules valid at the start of the semi-final stage (2017-06-30) are binding, including tie-breaking (number of wins, points evaluation by the Sonneborn-BergerSystem, results of the tied players against each other).
Summary report on World Cup 21 semi-final
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Report on participants and reserve (Lista uczestników oraz zawodników rezerwowych), dated 2017-06-06
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Summary (Podsumowanie):
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entries (zgłoszeń) = 143,
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countries (krajów) = 32
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players (zawodników) = 131
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titled players (utytułowanych zawodników) = 33 (5*GM, 10*SIM, 18*IM)
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highest rating (najwyższy ranking) = 2492
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average rating of all entries (średni ranking wszystkich zgłoszeń) = 2332
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Top 5 countries with most entries are:
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Germany 34,
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Russia 20,
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USA 12,
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Poland 7,
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Netherlands 7.
Final pairings was completed on 2017-06-06. Allocation of players to 11 semi-final sections was made as random as possible; however, geographical distribution as well as an achievement of reasonable equality of the average rating was considered.
In the semi-final stage, in each section there is no more than:
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4 German players (but at least one);
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3 Russian players (but at least one);
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2 American, Dutch or Ukrainian players;
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one player from any other country.
Also we tried to seed titled players. With that assumptions we managed to distribute players to sections with average rating from 2318 to 2349, although most of them (8 out of 11) is close to average rating of all entries 2332 (-10/+10). Rating span of individual players is 344 rating points (from 2148 to 2492) – much less significant than in preliminaries (1161), but this is an attractiveness of world cups.
Title norms are possible and calculated individually for each player; mostly they comply with previous tournament category 3 or 4, currently used for marketing purposes only.
Only the group winner (ties to be decided by points evaluation) will be promoted to the World Cup final. No player will qualify for more than one place in the final. In case of double qualification, the best runner-up from all sections will be qualified instead.
Sections are directed by 3 International Arbiters from 3 countries:
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IA Joop Jansen (NED),
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IA Wojciech Krzyżanowski (POL),
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IA Peter Maylott (AUS).
The official start date for all semi-final sections is 2017-06-30, when time counting begins. There is a fixed closing date of 2019-04-01.
All unfinished games are called for adjudication. Players involved shall submit their claim (with the required result – win or draw) and supporting analysis. The adjudication will be organized in such a way that all qualified players will be known by 2019-05-15. Games which have no influence on promotions might be continued. The final is expected to start on 2019-09-01 at the latest.
Prizes will be awarded to winners of the semi-final sections (such prizes will be in the form of books or other chess material or vouchers, each to the value of approximately 25 EUR, with tie-breaks to be applied if necessary to determine section winners). When all sections finish play TO will sent list of winners to ICCF Finance director who then will arrange prizes distribution.
In the Final medals and certificates will be awarded to the top 3 players (if necessary tie-breaks will be applied to determine the top 3 places). Also in the Final cash prizes of 1,000 EUR, 600 EUR, 300 EUR and 100 EUR will be awarded to the top 4 players. Tie-breaks will not be applied in respect of these cash prizes and instead those players scoring equal points will equally share any prize money due.
We hope that it will be a very enjoyable tournament.
Amici sumus
Mariusz Wojnar
Central Tournament Leader