Norwegian Chess Championship - Rules For Participation and Other Classes

Rules For Participation and Other Classes

The rules for participation are governed by the Norwegian Chess Federation (NSF).

The championship ("Elite") section is restricted to the top-rated players. In order to play for the most prestigious title of national chess champion, a 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 2011 the lower limit is 2350).
• 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 if the person is a member of another national chess federation. To be eligible for a championship title, a player must either be a Norwegian citizen or have been a resident of Norway for the past year.

The current regulations provide for the following age categories:

• Senior A (over 60)
• Senior B (over 60, rating under 1500)
• Junior A (under 20)
• Junior B (under 20, rating under 1500)
• Cadet A (under 16)
• Cadet B (under 16, rating under 1250)
• Lilleputt (under 13)
• Miniputt (under 11)

The Senior, Junior and Cadet categories are split into an "A" and "B" group by rating, but are combined if either of the groups has fewer than 10 participants. A separate section for Junior B has not been arranged in the last few tournaments, and in 2008 the number of entries for that section was zero.

The rating sections are open for players of all age groups, and are divided into the classes

• Mester (Master) (rating over 2000)
• 1 (rating 1750–1999)
• 2 (rating 1500–1749)
• 3 (rating 1250–1499)
• 4 (rating 1000–1249)
• 5 (players not qualifying for a higher section)

A player cannot be required to play in a higher class than what the last rating list indicates; however, a player may elect to play up if a sufficiently high rating was obtained on any of the four official rating lists during the year. In addition, players may elect to play in a higher section if they scored at least 60% in that same 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 and the champion of Northern Norway 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.