Monarch Assurance and Nigel Short Statement
It is common ground that:
1. The invitation to Nigel Short to play (which did not involve him completing the Tournament entry form) had not specified that the event was to be played under the British Accelerated Swiss Rules. Most International Swisses are played under FIDE Swiss Rules, which do not permit re-pairing if an opponent fails to appear within an hour of the commencement of the first round;
2. The British Accelerated Swiss Rules which have applied for many years in British Tournaments and do permit such re-pairing were not specifically referred to in the Tournament Entry Form nor were they drawn to his attention before he had handed in his scoresheet recording his win by default in the first round. An extract of the relevant rule was however displayed in the Tournament Hall but this was not observed by Nigel.
The dispute has been resolved by payment to Nigel of his appearance fee and expenses.
An invitation has been extended to him to play in the 2004 event which, in principle, he would wish to accept.
Monarch Assurance will be reviewing the procedures for next year's event to ensure there is no recurrence of these problems.
I understand that the above agreement was made and signed by both parties on 1 October 2003. It was sent to BCM by Nigel Short on 3 October 2003 with a request to make it available for public perusal. JS