ACF Selection Procedures By-law
The following selection procedures shall apply to the selection of all players and officials who are to represent Australia in international events.
1. Composition of Selection Panel
1.1 The ACF will appoint selectors to a selection panel from time to time as the need requires for specific events.
1.2 This panel will be appointed primarily on the basis of expertise, without any attempt at state representation.
1.3 Members of the selection panel should preferably be strong players with a good knowledge of the relative playing strengths of Australian players. However, specialists in junior chess, women's chess and girls' chess may also be considered as panel members.
1.4 Players who are to be candidates for an event are not to be selectors for that event.
2. Appointment of Selection Panel
2.1. The Council may change the composition of the panel at any time.
3. Selectors for Specific Events
3.1 The number of selectors appointed for a specific event will normally be five.
3.2 Selectors for each event shall be appointed by the Council or by an office-bearer or office-bearers appointed by the Council who shall be known as the Selection Co-Ordinator(s). Different Co-Ordinators may be appointed for senior events and junior events.
3.3 In appointing selectors for any specific event the following criteria should be considered:-
3.3.1 Lack of bias or personal interest;
3.3.2 Ability to evaluate and compare the playing strengths of all candidates for selection;
3.4 The names of the selectors shall be made public by the ACF.
4. Selection Criterion
4.1 The selection criterion for each event shall be to rank the players in order of playing strength with the strongest player ranked no. 1, the second strongest no.2, etc. unless the Council agrees upon a different, or additional, criterion.
4.2 The Selection Co-Ordinator shall advise the selectors of the selection criterion for the event they are selecting.
5. Voting
5.1 Selectors may consider whatever information they consider relevant in respect of each candidate.
5.2 Selectors shall list all applicants according to the selection criterion, with the most preferred player ranked no. 1, the second most preferred no.2, etc.
5.3 The player with the lowest total of ranking numbers shall be the first selection, or, in the case of a team, board 1.
5.4 In the event of a tie the tied applicants will be considered in isolation and the tie resolved as follows:
5.4.1 The candidate with the least number of first preferences (considering only the tied players) will be eliminated and the process repeated until the tie is resolved.
5.4.2 If the method outlined in 5.4.1 does not resolve the tie, the tie shall be broken in favour of the player with the higher FIDE rating.
5.4.3 If the method outlined in 5.4.2 does not resolve the tie, the tie shall be broken in favour of the player with the higher ACF rating.
5.4.4 If the method outlined in 5.4.3 does not resolve the tie, the tie shall be broken by the drawing of lots.
5.5 The votes of individual selectors shall remain confidential and shall be known only by the ACF President and Selection Co-Ordinator. The total votes awarded to each applicant may be reported to Council and/or published if the President considers it is appropriate.
6. Captains
6.1 Applications for the captaincy of any team may be invited whenever the Council considers it appropriate or expedient to do so. This would normally be after the selection of the team so that unsuccessful applicants for the team may apply for the captaincy.
6.2 Applicants for the captaincy may convey or distribute information in respect of their applications to team members, prospective team members and Councillors as and whenever they wish. Team members and/or prospective team members may convey preferences, recommendations and any other related information concerning the appointment of captains to Councillors and others as and whenever they wish.
6.3 After consideration of submissions in the hands of Councillors at the time, the Council shall appoint as captain the person it considers most suitable in the circumstances. Such appointment may be made at whatever time the Council deems appropriate or expedient and need not be subject to or dependent upon the distribution or receipt of submissions from applicants, team members or others.
7. Alternative Selection Process
7.1 Notwithstanding clauses 1to 6 above, if, for adult events, in the opinion of the President, there is insufficient time to conduct a selection process as outlined in clauses 1 to 6, then applicants may be ranked according to the average of their FIDE and ACF ratings, rather than on the votes of the selection panel, and selected accordingly.
8. Applications for Selection
8.1 Applications to participate in any event should be invited per medium of the national chess magazine and the various chess columns and periodicals as far in advance as is reasonable, and a closing date for applications stated.
8.2 Applications must be in writing and signed by the applicant or by email.
8.2.1 Applications must include the following information:
8.2.1.1 Full Name
8.2.1.2 Address
8.2.1.3 Email address
8.2.1.4 Fax
8.2.1.5 Phone number
8.2.1.6 Nationality
8.2.1.7 Date of Birth
8.2.1.8 FIDE Rating
8.2.1.9 ACF Rating
8.2.1.10 FIDE Titles held
8.2.1.11 Current ACF Titles held
8.2.1.12 Passport number (if held), date of issue and expiry date (for overseas events only).
8.2.2. Where an application does not contain all of the information required above the applicant shall be advised and given 7 days in which to provide the missing information for the application to be considered valid. If the applicant does not receive such a request, within 7 days of receipt by the ACF, for any of the above information which was not included on his/her application, then the application shall be deemed to be valid even if it is subsequently shown that some information was not provided.
8.2.3 Applicants shall be allowed to provide a list or summary of their game or tournament results over the previous 2 years for submission to the selectors.
8.2.4 Applicants shall be allowed to supply up to 400 words of comments in support of their application for submission to the selectors.
8.3. Applications must be received before the advertised deadline. If, however, an applicant is able to satisfy the ACF that circumstances beyond his/her control prevented his/her application being received before the deadline, then his/her application will also be considered.
8.4. All applicants must be Australian citizens or be able to satisfy the same residential requirements as apply for the Australian championship.
9. Selection Co-Ordinator
9.1 The Selection Co-Ordinator (SC) shall forward the following information to the selectors:
9.1.1 The selection criterion.
9.1.2 A copy of all applications.
9.1.3 A list of all ACF rated games played by each applicant during the previous 12 months as recorded in the ACF rating system.
9.1.4 Any relevant additional results received of events not included in 9.1.3.
9.1.5 Any results or comments from the applicants (refer 8.2.3 & 4).
9.1.6 Any other information that is considered relevant to the selections.
9.2 The SC shall retain a copy of all information supplied to the selectors.
9.3 The SC shall advise the selectors of the deadline when their votes are to be received by him.
9.4 In the case of the Olympiad, the deadline for voting shall be at least 120 days prior to the commencement of the Olympiad unless another deadline is determined by the ACF. The SC shall provide all applicants with a copy of the ACF Selection By-Laws or advise them where a copy may be obtained (e.g. on the ACF web site). The SC shall advise all of the applicants of the results of the selections and shall publish the results in the publication which called for applications for selection.
10. Appeals
10.1 Any applicant may appeal the results of a selection within 7 days of being notified of the results of the selection by the SC.
10.2 Appeals shall be accompanied by a $50 appeal fee which shall be refunded if the appeal is upheld.
10.3 Appeals shall be sent to the ACF Secretary together with the appeal fee.
10.4 Appeals shall be on the basis that either:
10.4.1 There was a material error or omission in the selection process that has disadvantaged the applicant.
10.4.2 That the applicant was clearly ranked such that no selectors could have reasonably given the applicant that ranking based on the information supplied to the selectors. Note: It is not sufficient to appeal on the basis that a player thinks that he/she should have been selected. The ranking of the selectors has to be clearly incorrect and unreasonable.
10.5 On receipt of an appeal all players involved in the event which is subject to an appeal shall be advised that an appeal has been lodged.
10.6 The ACF shall appoint a person known as the ACF Appeals Tribunal Convenor (ATC) who shall be either an ACF Honorary Life Member or a former ACF President.
10.7 The ATC shall appoint two other persons, each being either an ACF Honorary Life Member or former ACF President or Deputy President to form a three person tribunal with the ATC.
10.8.1 The Appeals Tribunal shall seek and consider such information as they consider appropriate and their decision shall be final.
10.8.2. Despite paragraph 5.5, the ACF may give to the Appeals Tribunal such information as it seeks for the purposes of the appeal.
10.9 The decision of the Appeals Tribunal shall be either:
10.9.1 The result of the selection stands. The selectors for the event being appealed reconsider their votes in the light of the appeal and correcting any previous errors or omissions in the selection process. One or more of the selection panel be replaced with new selectors appointed from the selection panel and the votes of the new selectors shall be counted in lieu of the votes of the selectors they replaced.
10.9.4 A new selection panel of 3 persons from the ACF Selection Panel be appointed (such persons not being the original selectors) and the votes of this new panel shall decide the selections.
10.10 The new selector(s) in 10.9.3 or 10.9.4 shall be appointed by the ACF President after consultation with the ATC and the Selection Co-Ordinator.
10.11 Any replacement selectors/selection panel shall be governed by the same rules that applied to the original selection panel.