1. Invitation, organizers, venue

The European Chess Union and Serbian Chess Federation are organizing the 17th European Senior Team Championship from June 24 to July 4, 2017.
This is the official invitation to all national chess federations of the European Chess Union (ECU) to participate in the European Senior Team Championships for men and women born in the year of 1967 or earlier. The championships will be held in Novi Sad, the capital city of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which is 70 km away from Belgrade.
Novi Sad is a city on the Danube River, of exceptional tradition and tourist values, holding the title of the “European Capital of Culture in 2021”.

2. Playing Venue

The games will take place in ideal conditions of the congress and the ball halls of the tourist settlement “Ribarsko ostrvo” in Novi Sad.

17TH European Senior Team Championships (Categories 50+ and 65+)
Novi Sad (Serbia), June 24 – July 4, 2017

3. Tournament Schedule

Saturday, 24.06.2017.
Arrivals

Sunday, 25.06.2017.
10.00 a.m. Captains meeting
2.30 p.m. Opening ceremony
3.30 p.m. Round 1

Monday, 26.06.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 2

Tuesday, 27.06.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 3

Wednesday, 28.06.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 4

Thursday, 29.06.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 5

Friday, 30.06.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 6

Saturday, 01.07.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 7

Sunday, 02.07.2017.
3.30 p.m. Round 8

Monday, 03.07.2017.
2.00 p.m. Round 9
9.00 p.m. Closing ceremony

Tuesday, 04.07.2017.
Departures

4. Technical Regulations

4.1. FIDE rated Swiss system in 9 rounds. Each team will consist of 4 players in fixed order.Additionally, 1 reserve player can be nominated and that player will only be allowed to play on board 4.
Teams from every member federation of the European Chess Union (ECU) can participate. The teams may represent a national federation or any regional structure of a national federation.
All players must be members of the same federation.
Entitled to participate in the category 50+ are players who were born in the year 1967 or earlier. Entitled to participate in the category 65+ are players who were born in the year 1952 or earlier.

4.2. There will be two separate championships for categories 50+ and 65+. In each category, a separate championship for women will be organized only if there are at least 8 women teams in each category in order to have a 7-round tournament. Otherwise, the women’s event will be merged with open section.

4.3. A provisional nomination of 4 players and the reserve player has to be submitted together with the registration of the team by May 3, 2017. Changes in the team can be made until the Technical Meeting takes place before the start of the 1st round. The initial ranking list will be set considering the average rating (board 1-4) of every team.

4.4. Time limit per player: 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 min. for the rest of the game + 30’’ increment for every move starting from move one. A player forfeits the game if he/she hasn’t appeared at his/her board within half an hour after the start of the game.

4.5. The final team standings are based on the number of match points (win = 2 match points, draw = 1 match point, loss = 0 match points).
Tie break criteria for team standings:
a) the greater sum of Sonneborn-Berger: match points of each opponent team (cut 1) x game points scored against them. In case of two or more opponents with this same number of match point the lowest results of multiplication should be excluded.
b) the greater sum of game points,
c) the greater sum of game points of all opponents,
d) the greater sum of game points of all opponents defeated plus one half of the game points of all the opponents with which a tied result was achieved.

4.6. Board prizes are awarded for the best performance rating of players according to ECU regulations.
Tie break criteria for individual board prizes:
a) direct encounter (if all tied players have played against each other),
b) highest number of games played,
c) percentage score,
d) team ranking.

4.7. The Appeals Committee will be elected during the Technical Meeting of Jun 25.

5. Prize Fund (total: 6.000 €)

50+ category: 1st team: €1.200, 2nd team: €700, 3rd team: €500. 1st women team: €600
65+ category: 1st team: €1.200, 2nd team: €700, 3rd team: €500. 1st women team: €600

Trophies and medals to 3 top winning teams in each category.
Additional prizes (cups & medals) for individual board winners as well.

6. Titles

6.1. The winning teams of the European Senior Team Championships 50+ and 65+ will be awarded respectively the title “European Senior Team Champion 2017”.
6.2. The best women teams of the European Senior Team Chess Championships 50+ and 65+ will be awarded respectively the title “European Senior Women Team Champion 2017”.

7. Accommodation

Participants in the competition who want to be entered and registered via their teams must book and pay for accommodation exclusively through the competition organizer.
Accommodation will be provided on the full board basis (breakfast, lunch and dinner).
The organizer suggests two hotels for the participants:

A settlement which has been renovated recently is on the very bank of the Danube River, 3 km away from the downtown. The settlement offers rooms for accommodation, restaurants and the congress centre where the competition will take place.
30 rooms are available to the organizer in this settlement.

Prices (on full board basis per person, per day):
Single room – 67 €
Double-bedded room – 52 € per person

Free wi-fi internet access across the settlement.

Hotel “Novi Sad” is in the broader downtown zone, nearby the bus and the railway station. Participants of five official competitions from ECU calendar have been accommodated in this hotel so far. Hotel “Novi Sad” is 3 km away from the tourist settlement “Ribarsko ostrvo”.
Transfer of participants is provided from Hotel “Novi Sad” to the tournament hall and vice versa.
65 rooms are available to the organizer in this hotel.

Prices (on full board basis per person, per day):
Single room – 65 €
Double-bedded room – 51 € per person

Free wi-fi internet access throughout the entire hotel.

7.3. In case the hotel is fully booked, the organizer will offer one other official hotel to the participants. Priority in allocation of hotel accommodation will be given to teams according to order of their bookings (and payments that accompanies the booking).

7.4. Each team consisting of one or more Grandmasters will have the right to free accommodation and full board in a double room for one Grandmaster.

7.5. Each team – member FIDE zone 1.10 will have the right to free accommodation and full board in a double room for one player.

8. Flights / Transportation

Transfer for all participants from Belgrade “Nikola Tesla” airport to Novi Sad (75 km) will be provided by the Organizer. The transport services will be available on the 24th of June, 2017 (arrival) and on the 4th of July, 2017 (departure). If the Organizer is able, it will accept special requests from guests regarding transfer dates.
The transfer cost is 40 EUR per person (both ways). It is also possible to organize transport from Budapest airport to Novi Sad, upon a special request made to the organizers.

9. Special terms for participants

9.1. Each participant will be given a convenient gift from the organizer.
9.2. Free excursion will be arranged for all registered participants and accompanying persons.

10. Registration and entry fees

10.1. Entry forms must be sent by email to the Organizing Committee not later than on Wednesday, May 3, 2017.
Late registrations can be accepted only if there are enough hotel rooms and playing facilities.

10.2. A complete registration form must include the surname/s, first name/s, FIDE ID number, FIDE rating and passport number (for visa purpose only) of each player and each accompanying person.
Information for transfer purposes are required too, if that service is necessary.
It must also include the name and telephone /e-mail/ fax number of the Chief of Delegation and of the person in charge of the Club.
The registration form can be downloaded from the tournament’s web page.

10.3. The entry fee is EUR 40 per named player. This means a maximum of EUR 200 per team.
The entry fee shall be paid together with the registration.

10.4. At the time of registration until Wednesday, May 3 the amount of 50% of the total accommodation cost + organization fees + transportation costs (if required) must be transferred, free of bank charges, to the following bank account of the Organizer:

Account holder name: Sahovski Savez Srbije
Bank name: Banca Intesa AD, Beograd
Address: Milentija Popovica 7B, Beograd, Serbia
Bank Swift code (BIC): DBDBRSBG
IBAN: RS35160005080003775935

Rest of payments must be made upon arrival.
Before the payment of hotel expenses it is necessary to contact the organizer for the confirmation of the amount or invoice.

10.5. In accordance with the ECU regulations, each team is obliged to make the payment of 100 € for the ECU fee. 
According to the ECU regulations, the entry fee shall be paid by the federations or by the participating teams to the ECU before or at the start of the competition. If the entry fee is not paid until the end of round 2, these teams will not be paired in subsequent rounds.

The ECU fee shall be paid to the following account: Account holder name: European Chess Union

Bank name: Credit Suisse
Address: Postfach 357, CH-6301 Zug
Bank Swift code (BIC): CRESCHZZXXX
IBAN: CH3604835183510542000

11. Information

Before the tournament, the information will be available on the Internet at www.sportsbetty.in
Entry forms for registration and all necessary information about accommodation, visas, transfers etc. will be published on this website.