About the Rutar Scoring System
Test Tournament 1

This event has been set up to test the „Rutar Scoring System“ as a new methode for tiebreaks.

It is an attempt to counteract the negative effects of the extremely high draw rates in correspondence tournaments, where it is often no longer possible to achieve a satisfactory tiebreak.

The basic idea is to evaluate the players' performances per game on a scale of 0 to 5 points in the event of a tie at the end of a tournament.

For this purpose, a draw with a material advantage is rated higher than a draw with equal material, while a draw with a material disadvantage is rated lower. (See details below)

The inventor of this Scoring system, Venceslav Rutar, is donating a prize fund of $1,000 for the test tournament.

• Invitational tournament

• Single round robin

• Not ICCF rated

• Prizes: 1^st $600, 2^nd $300, 3^rd $100

• Start date: 15/11/2025

• There is no end date.

• ICCF standard time control 10 moves in 50 days with doubling after 20 days is used.

• If a player exceeds allowed thinking time in any way, the player will automatically be scored with a loss. Under some circumstances all of the player’s games will subsequently be cancelled (if not already rated).

• 45 days of leave per year are available to each player.

• There is no special leave in this event.

• Linear conditionals can be entered.

• This tournament does not allow claims based on the seven piece tablebase.

• Draw offers are restricted to one offer per player every 10 moves.

• If needed, adjudicators will be selected by the organizer.

• Other participants can see the games live after 2 games are finished in the event. Live transmission is delayed by 5 moves. The public can see the games live after 2 games are finished in the event. Live transmission is delayed by 5 moves.

Tiebreaks
(a) according to the Rutar Scoring System (See details below.)
(b) if after “a” the tie persists, then the results of the tied players against each other;
(c) if after “b” the tie persists, points evaluation by the Sonneborn-Berger-System;
(d) if after “c” the tie persists, then the number of wins with Black;
(e) if after “d” the tie persists, number of wins.

Rutar Scoring System
In the tiebreak, all games are scored as follows:

• Win:                             5 points
• Favoured draw:         3 points
• Equal draw:                2 points
• Disfavoured draw:    1 point
• Loss:                            0 points

Favoured draws are draws in which one side retains a material advantage and scores 3 points.

Disfavoured draws are draws in which one side suffers a material disadvantage and scores 1 point.

• Material ratio:
  Pawn =      1
• Knight =    3
• Bishop =   3
• Rook =      5
• Queen =   9

The material balance is only relevant for games that end in a draw. This is done as soon as possible after the game has finished. 

Equal draws are all draws of games that end within 30 moves. 

Special rule: Draw before the 31st move = 2 points. This is to avoid ‘opening tricks’ that aim to force a draw with a material advantage, for example by means of perpetual check.

Additional notes:

All participants are kindly asked not to prolong games unnecessarily if the expected outcome appears inevitable. (Linear conditionals may be helpful here to expedite the game.)

General notes:

The Rutar Scoring System is applied here in a modified version, specifically for urgent tiebreak problems in correspondence chess. Venceslav Rutar himself recommends his scoring system as a universal method in chess instead of the conventional classification of 1, 1/2 and 0 points. His specifications are much more detailed and comprehensive than those given here.

It should be noted that the primary application of his scoring system can lead to significant deviations from the traditional scoring scale, not only in the case of draws, but also in the ratio between decided and undecided matches.

For example:

1 win and 1 loss = 5 points,

2 'equal' draws = 4 points,

2 'favored' draws = 6 points,

2 'disfavoured' draws' = 2 points.

In our tiebreak test tournament, such differences can only occur in the event of a tie, but then ensure the desired differentiation.