World Cup 21 preliminaries – Statistics & Qualifications

ICCF World Cup 21 started on 2015-10-01 with a fixed closing date of 2017-05-01.

We received 928 entries (718 players) from 52 countries, which were distributed to 72 sections (64 of 13 players and 8 of 12 players) with average rating from 2100 to 2162, although most of them (64 out of 72) was close to average rating of all entries 2132 (-10/+10). Rating span of individual players was huge = 1161 rating points (from 1346 to 2507), but this is an attractiveness of world cups.

Those countries with 50 or more entries  are: Germany 117, Russia 91, USA 58, Spain 54, Poland 53, Italy 52.

The first two players of each preliminary section will qualify for the World Cup 21 semi-final (tie-break applies).

Although the number of preliminary sections which each player could enter was unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semi-final sections.

In addition, those players who qualified for World Cup 19 and 20 Finals will also be entitled to play in the semi-final stage of World Cup 21 and the winners of WC 19 and 20 Finals will be eligible to participate in World Cup Final 21 – unless, they exploited their right to play at that stage in previous editions of the World Cup. These players need to pay entry fee.

Should there be any non starters or unexpected withdrawals, the semi-final sections might be filled by players from a prioritized list of reserve (those sharing 1st or 2nd place in the preliminaries). Some of these players might be contacted (if applicable) by TO Mariusz Wojnar via e-mail who will be offered any vacancies which arise.

There is no additional entry fee (for those playing in the ICCF World Cup 21 preliminaries and earning qualification to the semi-final stage).

Allocation of players to the semi-final sections will be made as random as possible; however, geographical distribution as well as an achievement of reasonable equality of the average rating will be taken into account.

All unfinished games until 2017-05-01 are called for adjudication. Players involved shall submit their claim (win or draw) and supporting analysis (by using appropriate feature from game window) not later than 2017-05-15. The adjudication will be organized in such a way that all qualified players should be known by 2017-06-15. Games which have no influence on promotions might be continued.

Prizes will be awarded to winners of the preliminary sections (such prizes will be in the form of vouchers, each to the value of approximately 25 EUR, with tie-breaks to be applied, if necessary to determine section winners). When ALL winners are known, TO will send list of winners to ICCF Finance Director, who will arrange delivery of prizes.

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The semi-finals are expected to start as soon as all qualifiers are known, most probably June 2017.

Below some statistics and qualifications by sections can be found as of 2017-03-12.

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Amici sumus
Mariusz Wojnar
Central Tournament Leader