# Event constants

Participant-facing. Rendered by the site; changing a row needs the organising team's sign-off.

| Constant | Value |
|---|---|
| Registration opens | Mon 1 September 2026 |
| Qualifier | 7-11 September, online |
| Submissions open | Sep 7 08:00 UK |
| Rated rounds | every 2 h, 08:00-22:00; first round Sep 7 14:00 |
| Upload close | Sep 11 11:00 |
| Submission lock | Sep 11 12:00 |
| Final qualification | 11-round Swiss over locked builds, Sep 11 afternoon |
| Finalist invites | by ~21:30 Sep 11 |
| Finalists | 48, live final Sep 12 at Encode Club, London |
| Time control | 120 s + 0.5 s/move per side; 60 s init before the clock |
| Match environment | 1 CPU core, 2 GB RAM, no network, no GPU, identical hardware |
| Game end | illegal move / crash / flag = loss; both fail = void; 300 plies = adjudication; FIDE draws |
| Ranking | rating on the live ladder; qualification solely from the locked-build Swiss by points |
| Tie-breaks | points, Buchholz, head-to-head, earlier final submission |
| Teams | 1-3 people, one team per person |
| Eligibility | United Kingdom |
| Submissions | <= 200 MB, 6 uploads/day/team, latest valid version plays |
| Engines | prohibited: Stockfish, Lc0, or wrappers around any existing engine; a learned model must materially drive move selection; submissions are analysed and disqualification can be retroactive |
| Code | what you ship must be source a judge can read; compiled dependencies come from public packages, not from your zip; obfuscated or opaque agents are disqualified |