COMPETITION REGULATIONS

TOURNAMENT RULES
The valid regulations to be followed are the “ECU Tournament Rules” approved by the General Assembly of the European Chess Union in Bled (Slovenia) in 2002.
Each European federation is allowed to take part in this competition. According to the Rules for the European Club Cup participation is open to:

• BOSNA Sarajevo (BIH), the current cup holder in the men’s competition
• BAS Belgrade (YUG), the current cup holder in the women’s competition
• Two clubs per federation in which a national team championship is organised
• One club per federation in which no national team championship is organised
• Greece, the organising federation, is entitled to enter an additional team
• A third club is allowed to that federation(s) in which a national team championship is organised provided that at least 20 grandmasters and/or players with a FIDE-rating over 2600 have participated in this national team championship.
• One additional club for the federations which are ranked in the first five places of the federation ranking list. For the competition 2003 the federations are Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Hungary.

Remarks

• Regarding the foreigners the ECU Tournament Rules accepted in Bled will be strictly followed.
• The ECC Tournament Rules do not foresee exceptions for players with a given minimum rating.
• Attention is drawn to the fact that this competition is offering the possibility to achieve GM- or IM-norms based on 7 games.
• Prize fund:
  Men: For team ranking: €10,000; for individual boards: €5,000.
  Women: For team ranking: €5,000; for individual boards: €2,500.
• Unpaid entry fees for the European Club Cups 1997 up to 2002:
  The Board of the European Chess Union has decided that teams of clubs which did not pay fee(s) of the previous competitions will not be admitted to the European Club Cup unless they pay their debts plus 10% to cover expenses of ECU. Clubs should contact their federation to find out if they are in such position. All clubs entering the coming competition which still have unpaid fees will immediately be notified!

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THE MEN'S COMPETITION
In order to avoid the problem of last-minute team changes that are not in accordance with the ECU Club Cup Tournament Rules each federation has to send a copy of the club list(s) as entered for the respective national team competition.

VENUE
The tournament hall will be in the CRETA STAR hotel, in Rethymnon (AEGEAN STAR HOTELS chain).

VISA INFORMATION
Teams or players needing visa are requested to contact the Organizing Committee. If necessary teams or players can contact the Tournament Director in order to receive a confirmation of their participation to the competition.

CONTACT PERSON OF THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Should you have any query, please contact Mrs. Mary Vigliraki. Email: thebest@caissa.gr or Mr. Sakis Kouvatsos (Vice-President of the Greek Chess Federation) at Tel: +30-2821-027798, fax: +30-2821-056641. Address: 19 Herakliou St., 73134 Chania, Crete. Email: ao_kydon@cha.forthnet.gr