Norwegian Chess Championship

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The Norwegian Chess Championship (NM i sjakk) is an annual tournament held in Norway during the month of July, in order to determine the national chess champion. The tournament is held at different venues each year as part of the Landsturnering (National tournament). Clubs may bid for this tournament, and is awarded by the Norwegian Chess Federation. The 2006 championship was held in the Mossehallen sports arena in Moss[1] while the 2007 championship was arranged at the Scandic Hotel in Hamar[2]. The 2008 championship is scheduled for the sports arena Slagenhallen in Tønsberg[3]

Contents

[edit] Rules for participation

The rules for participation are governed by the Norwegian Chess Federation.[4]

The championship ("Elite") section is closed to the top rated players. In order to play for the most prestigious title of national chess champion, the player must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • Won the Norwegian Championship in one of the three preceding years.
  • Finished third or better in last year's championship.
  • Won the national championship in the Junior section the previous year.
  • Finished second or better in the Master section (the second highest section, immediately below Elite) the previous year.
  • Made a tournament result which grants or would grant (for players who already have an IM title) a norm for the title of International Master during the previous year.
  • Have a sufficiently high Elo rating (as of 2007 this limit is at 2300[5]).
  • Been deemed otherwise eligible for participation by the Elite Committee of the Norwegian Chess Federation.

In general, an even number of participants is sought in the championship section to prevent byes from occurring.

However, the Landsturnering has several sections for lower-rated players, as well as sections for different age groups. In general, players must be members of the Norwegian Chess Federation, or a club affiliated with the federation, although exceptions may be made for participation. Non-members can under no circumstance be awarded a championship title. The age category sections produce national champions for that age group. These are Senior, Junior, Cadet, "Lilleputt" and "Miniputt".

The rating sections for people of any age group are divided into the classes Master (rating 2000 and above), class 1 (1750-1999), class 2 (1500-1749), class 3 (1250-1499), class 4 (1000-1249) and class 5 (for players not qualifying for any other class). Even if the rating is below the thresholds given, players may elect to play in a higher section if they scored at least 60% in that class the previous year, if they were in the top 7% of the class below the previous year, or if they won the Norwegian Grand Prix tournament series for the rating class below in the previous year. In addition, winners of the individual circuit championships are automatically qualified for play in the Master class, regardless of rating. The top two finishers of the Master class qualify for next year's championship section.

[edit] Arrangement

In the past ten years[6], the championship section has had approximately 20 players. If there are at least 16 players, it is arranged as a nine-round Monrad tournament, a system similar to the Swiss system tournament. The official Norwegian Chess Federation policies also allow the tournament to be arranged as a round-robin with 10 or 12 players.[4]

If two or more players are tied for points at the end of the tournament, the tiebreak rules depend on the section. In most sections of the Landsturnering, the regular rules of tiebreak points in Monrad are used. That is a modified Buchholz system, first the sum of a player's opponents' scores, except the two weakest, determines the player's tiebreak points. If still tied, the second weakest and then the weakest scores are added to the tiebreak points. If still tied, the Neustadtl score, that is the sum of defeated opponents' scores plus half of drawn opponents' scores is used. [7]

In the Championship, Junior, Cadet and Senior sections however, a tied score will bring about a play-off for the title within 60 days after the end of the main tournament. If there are two players in the play-off a match of two games with a full time-limit is played, if still tied two and two rapid games of 25 minutes for the game and 10 seconds extra per move are played until there is a winner. If there are three or more players in the play-off a small round-robin is arranged between them.[4]

[edit] Past winners

Format is year, name, and the chess club the winner is a member of. The championships decided on play-offs are indicated as such[8].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Official page for the 2006 championship
  2. ^ Venue information from the official page for the 2007 championship
  3. ^ Tønsberg Chess Club's current page for the 2008 championship (Norwegian)
  4. ^ a b c Landsturneringen Official policy page of Norges Sjakkforbund (Norwegian Chess Federation) for the "Landsturnering" (Norwegian)
  5. ^ Class sectioning Used for the 2007 championship in Hamar
  6. ^ Norsk Sjakkblad, issues no.5 1997, no.5 1998, no.5 1999, no.4 2000, no.4 2001, no.4 2002, no.4 2003, no.4 2004, no.4 2005, no.4 2006.
  7. ^ Norwegian Chess Federation regulations for the Monrad system NSF's website (Norwegian)
  8. ^ Akademisk Sjakklubbs list of winners of various tournaments Table over winners of the Norwegian championship is at the bottom (Norwegian)
  9. ^ Winners of the Norwegian chess championship up to 2003
  10. ^ NM-gullet røk for Magnus (Norwegian Championship gold slipped for Magnus), Nettavisen, September 5, 2004 (Norwegian)
  11. ^ Deilig å vinne (Great to win) Nettavisen, September 11, 2005 (Norwegian)
  12. ^ Magnus knuste Simen (Magnus crushed Simen), Nettavisen, September 21, 2006 (Norwegian)
  13. ^ Ny norgesmester i sjakk ("New Norwegian chess champion") Nettavisen, September 23 2007. (Norwegian)