The 2010 Fifth Annual ACCA Americas' Computer Chess Championships

The tournament will take place on Nov 6 & 7, 2010. It will utilize G/45+10 time controls. The tournament will be held on FICS.

RULES:

1. Standard rules of chess apply: Three fold repetition, 50 move rule .....
2. Only the author of the program or an approved operator may enter.
3. Changing/modifying versions between rounds is allowed.
4. All programs must be authored by a citizen or current resident(non-citizen) of the Pan-American region (Greenland to Antartica).
5. Programs must be logged in 10 minutes before each rounds start time.
6. Programs must run in an automated fashion. You can start them but they must run by themselves and make all decisions themselves (including resign/draw).
7. Programs must kibitz their PV and (if possible) a message that the move is a book move. If possible, kibitz only on your turn not during pondering. You may kibitz a few plies before the final ply, but keep it to a minimum as too many will block all that chatter amongst the participants which most of us want to participate in.
8. Participants are allowed 2 disconnects due to accidents. A disconnect is not counted if it doesn't interrupt the match. On the third disconnect, the match is forfeit. A 5 minute allowance is granted for each disconnect. The third disconnect must be reported to the TD. The TD and Organizer will make the ruling.
9. Programs must be able to resume a match after a disconnect. This is part of the Winboard protocol so it should be already handled.
10. Initial seedings will be based on FICS (standard TC).
11. In the event of an odd number of entrants, an alternate program may be entered to avoid byes.
12. In the event of a dispute, the TD & Organizer decision is final and the spirit of this tournament will be considered in all disputes.
13. Each program must be the work of the author. Entrants may not copy the work of others.
    • (A) The exception to this is any work that uses the LesserProphet1.0.1 as its base, but it may not use other code from other sources.
    • (B) Clone accusations will be handled privately so as not to unduly harm reputations.
    • (C) The entrant accused of cloning is considered innocent until proven guilty.
    • (D) The reuse of concepts/ideas is allowed. The reuse of code/parameters/frameworks is not allowed.
    • (E) If an entrant is accused of cloning, the accusation and data will be reviewed first.
    • (F) The entrant accused of cloning may be required to submit compilable source code and the executable being run in the tournament for review. If the accused fails to provide the information, the entrant is dropped from the tournament.
    • (G) The accused entrant will be able to defend his/her work.
    • (H) If the accused entrant is found to be a clone, it will be dropped from this tournament.
    • (I) The TDs and a knowledgable review committee will be created to review the case.
14. If an entrant makes several unsubtantiated claims of others being clones, that entrant will be dropped from this tournament.
15. An author may enter only one program.
16. Programs by different authors are NOT allowed to use the same opening book. Violation of this gets a warning then disqualification upon second violation. To prove your books authenticity, it must be sent to the tournament organizer upon claim of violation.
17. In case of a tie, there will be a G/5+1 playoff after a small break (long enough for the orgainzer to verify results). The higher finisher gets white first. The higher finisher is decided by the running sum of points gained (a win in Rd 1 counts as 14 pts, a win in Rd 2 counts as 13 pts.....)

Thanks and Credits

Thanks go to the ICGA and the sponsors of the CCT's. I reviewed their rules as guidelines for our rules.
Special thanks to FICS for supporting this tournament!
Special thanks to Peter Skinner for his donation of web space.