SB Knockout 2 Regulations

These are the SB Knockout 2 regulations. Please read this page before committing and signing up to the tournament.

In a nutshell

• 3-round tournament from January 2026 to February 2026
  
• Elimination format: match winner advances to the next round
  
• A match consists of one pair of two 25' + 10'' inc. rapid games every other week on FICS.
  
• If tied: pairs of 3' + 2'' inc. blitz games until a winner is found.

Joining

1. Understand how Snailbucket works.
2. If you have not yet done so: Create your SB account.
3. Log in. Sign up to the tourney between 10 and 29 December.

You can check a potential distribution of confirmed players on the provisional buckets page. Buckets have max. 8 players. Late-joining may be possible, if there are free spots left in a bucket. Please contact pchesso.

There are no BYEs.

Profile

1. Please speed up negotiations by marking bad times in your profile. You may change them throughout the tourney, as long as you have no pending match.
2. Your slow time Game Control Preferences in your profile are deactivated for this rapid tournament:
A match consists of one pair of two 25' + 10'' inc. rapid games every other week with the same opponent on FICS.
If tied: pairs of 3' + 2'' inc. blitz games until a winner is found.

Playing dates

You have one match every other week; 14 days to schedule and play:

Round 1: Tue, 6 January - Mon, 19 January
Round 2: Tue, 20 January - Mon, 2 February
Round 3: Tue, 3 February - Mon, 16 February

Negotiations

Posting of pairings: Tuesday, 2200 FICS server time. Access your game forum, start negotiations.
1st contact deadline: Thursday, 2200 FICS server time. Meet this deadline, or you may have to accept one of your opponent's offers.
2nd contact deadline: Friday, 2200 FICS server time. Meet this deadline, or your opponent may claim a forfeit win.

Make this tournament a memorable, friendly experience for your opponent.
Please speak English.
Talk to your opponent only in your game forum.
Make at least three distinct time offers (hours apart and/or on different days).
Use FICS server time. That's EDT/EST which you can compare to your local time by typing the date command on FICS.
Pay attention to your opponent's bad times.
Reply to your opponent reasonably fast (ideally within 24 hours).
Allow 24 hours buffer between setting the clock and game start.

FICS settings

Check your server settings. Type (or copy and paste) into your FICS command console:

var

If necessary, make the following adjustments:

set notakeback 1
set private 0
set noescape 0
set rated 1
set autoflag 1

We have written a Help article about avoiding to lose a game accidentally. The short version is:

set f7 !private and !noescape and rated
set formula f7

Starting the game

Check your FICS settings (see above). Send your opponent a match challenge, e.g. "match pchesso 25 10 rated black". If the server warns you that a disconnection will be considered a forfeit, abort the game. You and your opponent must "set noescape 0". Resend the match challenge.

If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for your game, your opponent may claim a forfeit win.

Game play

Applicable TL rules apply:

• silence
• fair play
• no kibitzing
• no takebacks
• no repetitive draw offers

Assistance of any kind is prohibited during your game.

Tie-breaks

If the match is tied after the two 25' + 10'' inc.rapid games: Please play pairs of 3' + 2'' inc. blitz games until a winner is found.