From August 21th to 30th the Catalonian Chess Federation (FCE) organizes the BARCELONA WORLD E-CHESS OPEN - CIUTAT DE BARCELONA.

There will be different playing venues in cities around the world to play in-person using the Chess.com online platform. The main playing venue will be in Barcelona at the Auditori del Centre Cívic de les Cotxeres de Sants, C. Sants 79, Barcelona and adjacent buildings.

Other secondary venues in different parts of the world that wish to have an official venue may be approved. These venues can be run by a club or federation.

Playing venues must meet the following requirements:

  1. Comply with the current health protocol of the country, together with the obligation to have hydrological gels at the entrances and exits of the premises. Also, each participant must fill in the responsible declaration.
  2. The venue must have very large spaces for the tables and chairs to play. It must have enough space to be able to guarantee the minimum safety distances for a minimum of 25 players.
  3. Guarantee one table per player measuring at least 70 cm wide and 1-meter-long
  4. The venue must be adapted for players with reduced mobility.
  5. Ensure good internet connection.
  6. Have panoramic cameras distributed inside the game room in order to record the whole session.
  7. Have air conditioning and / or heating in the playing room.
  8. Public address system in the room.
  9. Sufficient electrical coverage to connect the player’s computers, tablets or mobile phones as well as cameras, printers and computers for the organization and / or arbiters.
  10. Create a club on Chess.com in order to facilitate communication with Chess.com and have a payment method to collect the registration fees for the players at their venue.

 

In addition, the official organizers of each of the playing venues that bid must:

  1. Guarantee at least 25 players.
  2. Have an in-person FIDE arbiter in the playing venue (minimum FA or IA). There must be a 1/30 arbiter-player ratio.
  1. Provide enough plugs or adapters to be able to plug in all the electronic devices.
  2. During the round, the local organizer must be connected via Zoom with the main arbiter.
  3. Have a camera recording a live panoramic of the playing venue with all the players, and a screen to be able to see any other adjacent playing rooms live.

 

In addition, playing venues homolgated and approved by the FCE to be the official secondary venues of the tournament must take into account the following rules:

  1. The registration fee for the players in the tournament will be set by each venue, always under the approval of the Catalonian Chess Federation. Players will pay their registration fee to the venue directly.
  2. The registration fee will appear in the tournament rules. Each playing venue will receive the full amount of their registrations fees so that they can manage their own accounting.
  3. Any expenses arising from the tournament must be taken care of by the organizers of the designated playing venues.
  4. Any arbiter’s expenses shall be taken care of by the organizers of the designated playing venues.
  5. The tournament prizes will be paid in full by the FCE directly to the winners.

Interested organizers should contact the main FCE organization at the following email: federacio@escacs.cat, no later than August 10th, 2020.