Tournament rules

Combined match regulations, rounds 1-6

At the start of each round, opposing teams should check the location of their pairing, which can be either a court or a table.

·       If their location is a court, for example: “Court 5”, this means that their combined match will start with a padel match*, to be played on that court. After playing 8 padel games, their padel match of that round is over.

They then directly move to the table with the corresponding table number (in the example: “Table 5”), to play their chess game** against the same opponents.

Immediately after finishing the chess match, one of the players enters the combined team score for that round in the app.

·       Conversely, if their location is a table, for example: “Table 3” , this means that their combined match starts with a chess game**, to be played in that case at Table 3. After finishing their chess game, the players wait for the teams on the padel court with the corresponding court number (in the example: “Court 3”) to finish their padel match, so they can enter the court and play their padel match.

Again, this time immediately after finishing the padel match, one of the players enters the combined team score for that round in the app.

If extra time is available (i.e., if the gong, signalling the end of the round, has not been sounded yet), it is up to the players how to use their padel court. In principle, the players who were on the padel court last have the right to “continue the fun”, if they so choose. Teams can of course be mixed in whatever way seems enjoyable.

Important: teams should only start freewheeling on the padel court at the end of a round once their combined score has been submitted in the app.

The preliminary playing schedule is the following:

11:00 – 11:45 round 1

11:45 – 12:30 round 2

12:30 – 13:15 round 3

13:15 – 14:00 round 4

14:00 – 14:45 round 5

14:45 – 15:30 round 6

Beware: rounds may be started earlier or later, depending on whether all combined matches are completed earlier or later. Due to the pairing system that is used, lopsided pairings and corresponding faster rounds are more likely to occur at the start than towards the end of the tournament.

Take note: the sound of a gong signals the end of the current round and at the same time the beginning of the next round.

The sound of the gong is therefore the sign for participants to check at which court / table and against which team they should start the next round.

Take note: it may happen that in a next round, your order of play is reversed, resulting in you playing back-to-back padel or chess matches from one round to the next.

*Padel regulations

There is a can of 3 new balls available for each court at the start of the tournament. Please leave those balls on the court.

It is recommended to use the first +-3 minutes for warming up / getting used to the court. After that, a maximum of 8 regular games are played.

Each game that reaches a 40-40 score is decided by a “golden point”. The receiving team decides who is the receiver of the golden point serve.

The teams change sides of the net only once, after 4 games have been played. That is also an opportunity for a two minute break, to drink water. Teams may also decide to change their position on the court (left or right) upon resumption.

After 8 games have been played, the official padel match is over, the teams should remember the final score of that portion, that can therefore vary anywhere between 8-0 and 0-8.

**Chess regulations

Teams have a fixed “board 1” and “board 2” player throughout the tournament, playing against the corresponding players of the opposing teams.

The player with a higher chess rating (FIDE, KNSB, chess.com/lichess rapid/blitz or otherwise) or simply the player considered the strongest (if no rating whatsoever is available for comparison) should take place at board 1.

The board 1 player of the team that is named first in the pairing has the white pieces.

The time control is 7 minutes + 5 seconds increment per person for the whole game.

The FIDE rules for rapid chess apply, with the following exceptions:

- if a player finishes an illegal move by pressing the clock and the opponent realises this, the opponent can immediately claim the win in any suitable way (including taking the king, if the king was left en prise);

- if an illegal move is missed and only discovered by the players at a later stage during the game or afterwards (but before the combined score was entered in the app), and if it can be determined which player caused the irregular situation on the chess board, then that player loses the game;

- given that there are no official breaks during the 6 round tournament, it is allowed to the eat your sandwiches provided by Plaza Padel behind the chess board during your chess games.

In case of doubt or an unforeseen situation (a padel ball crashing into a position beyond repair?!), please stop the clock and call the chess arbiter, who will decide how to resolve the issue at hand. Please respect the arbiter’s decision.

***Scores

Score per chess game: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 0 points for a loss.

Score per padel match: equal to the number of a games a team manages to score, anywhere between 0 and 8.

Therefore, the total team score will be anywhere between 16-0 and 0-16.

For entering the score via StickChess, the chess scores can be entered in the usual way: 1-0, 1/2-1/2, 0-1 (it is converted to 4-0, 2-2 and 0-4 by the software).

Pairings

In round 1, the pairing will be done using the teams' combined chess rating only. Unlike regular Swiss pairing, the pairing will be as follows: 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, ..., 31 vs. 32. The chess games in round 1 are therefore likely to be as competitive as they can get. In other words: the teams that are strongest - chess wise, at least on paper - will meet immediately in the first round.

In rounds 2-4, the pairing will be done based on padel results of previous rounds only. So, you can be beaten 8-0 in the chess in round 1, but if you won the padel portion 8-0, you will likely be playing against a team that also won the padel 8-0 in round 1. This is done to promote interesting padel games in rounds 2-4 for everyone. Whether the chess portion is interesting or lopsided is left to chance.

In rounds 5 and 6, pairing will be done using the combined scores of all previous rounds. This way, hopefully it is ensured that the best four teams end up on spots 1-4.

Grand final and small final

After 6 rounds, the tournament finishes for all teams, except those who finish in 1st - 4th place.

The grand final, between teams 1 and 2, will start with chess on Table 1.

The "small final", for bronze, between teams 3 and 4, will start with padel on Court 1.

If the grand final finishes with a combined score of 8-8, a "super tie break" up to 10 points (with 2 points difference) is played on the padel court, directly following the padel portion.

If the small final finishes with a combined score of 8-8, the players switch colours and play a 3+2 blitz game. That procedure continues in case of a 1-1, until there is a winner.