1.
All competitions are open to clubs in Staffordshire, and clubs affiliated to Staffordshire through the North Staffs, Cannock and Wolverhampton & District Chess Leagues.  They are played on a knock-out basis.

2.
All entries shall be made to the Tournament Secretary by 15th October accompanied by the registration of a list of players with ECF grades, ECF grading codes and estimates for ungraded players for each team entered in the respective competitions.  The list may be added to at any time but a player may not represent a club until 5 days after receipt by the Tournament Secretary of the registration which shall be deemed to be the date of an email or the day after the date stamp on a first class letter effecting the registration.

3.
The Tournament Secretary shall rule before the start of the competitions or on later registrations whether the estimates of grades of players are accepted or whether a different estimate should be used.

4.
All references to ECF grades, grading points and grading limits in these Rules are to the ECF grading list in force on 1st October of the year of the competitions and subsequent variations by way of correction or subsequent lists shall be ignored for the purposes of the competitions.

5.
Players may play for different clubs in different competitions.  If a player appears on the list of more than one club for the same competition the Tournament Secretary shall notify the respective clubs and require an election to be made by the player as to the club for which the player is registered.

6.
All competitions are played under the control of the Tournament Secretary whose decision is final subject only to an appeal against the decision to the County Secretary on depositing £5.00 which is returnable if such an appeal is upheld by the County Executive Committee.

7.
All games must be played on or by the following dates:
  Preliminary Round (if any) by 31st December;
  Quarter Finals by 28th February;
  Semi-Finals by 30th April ; and
  Final on the third Wednesday in May at Stafford.

8.
Both clubs must notify the Tournament Secretary of all results, preferably by email, with copies sent to other officials as indicated on the particulars of the draw.

9.
The draw shall be made by the Tournament Secretary on a random basis for the entire competitions prior to the Preliminary Round and the club placed higher in the initial draw shall be the home club.

10.
For Rounds other than the Final clubs may insist on a neutral venue if their club rooms are located more than 25 miles apart.

11.
Should clubs fail to agree on a date, the home club shall notify the Tournament Secretary who will fix a date and venue which is binding on both clubs. Failure to keep such date means forfeiture of the match.

12.
The home club shall provide clocks, boards and sets, even if the game is played at a neutral venue.

13.
Captains (before the start of play) shall exchange team lists in order of descending playing strength provided that no objection may be taken where a player of a higher board is not more than 15 ECF grading points lower than the player of the next lowest board.

14.
Substitutes are allowed for players who do not appear after the exchange of team lists provided that they have been registered in accordance with Rule 2 and they are substituted before the expiry of 60 minutes from the start of play as shown on the clock on the relevant board. In the event of substitutions the requirements of Rule 13 as regards board order do not apply to the substitutes.

15.
Captains shall toss for colour with the winner taking white on odd boards.

16.
Should any match be drawn, the result shall be decided on the first applicable of the following tie breaking methods:
  (a) board count method;
  (b) lower board elimination rule applied progressively from the lowest to the highest board;
  (c) aggregate of ECF Grading points for all boards and then applied on an elimination board basis progressively from the lowest to the highest board so that the team with the lowest such figure is the winner; and
  (d) toss a coin.

17.
Grading limits: All players in the team must conform to the following: Hickman - Open (no limit); Gothard - 160 or under ; Jackson - 140 or under ; and Withnall - 120 or under.

18.
The number of players per team shall be as follows: Hickman - 6 players; Gothard - 5 players ; Jackson - 5 players; and Withnall - 5 players.

19.
The time limits for all competitions shall be : All moves in 85 minutes.

20.
A player arriving 60 minutes or more after the start of play as shown on the clock on the relevant board shall lose the game by default unless a substitute has been introduced in accordance with Rule 14.