Welcome to HCL INVITATIONAL TEAMS

INFORMATION AND CoC

Participating Teams

There are 16 teams participating in the tournament. The teams have been divided into two groups of 8 each. The Team Roster is available Here.

Format

There will be a complete round robin within the group.

Each match will be of 16 boards (2 sets of 8 boards each)

End of round robin, teams finishing first from each group will be seeded to SF 1 and SF 2 respectively with a carryover of 6 IMPs

Teams finishing 2nd and 3rd in each group will play an eliminator to determine the other SFs

Lineup for Eliminator

A2 vs B3 – winner will join SF2 to play against B1

B2 vs A3 – winner will join SF1 to play against A1

Format – 32 boards, 8*4. Will be held on Friday July 03. Timings as per four teams agreement

SF

10*4 on Saturday July 04.Timings as per four teams agreement

Finals

12*4 on Sunday July 05.

Draw

Draw for RR available Here

Setting up the match

During RR, every match will be set up by one of the two participating teams.

For Each round one match will be designated as kibitzer open match. For this match, the settings will be –

UNDO allowed yes

Kibitzer allowed yes

Chat with players no

Barometer no

For all other matches

UNDO allowed yes

Kibitzer allowed no

Chat with players no

Barometer no.

Also, every match must add chakram and sga1 as directors.

Scoring

The scoring will be IMP converted to VP WBF 16 board continuous scale.

Kibitzers

During the RR, Kibitzing will be switched off except for the designated match.

During knockouts, one or more tables will be available for kibitzing via google meet.

Undo

Undos are strictly at director’s discretion. Undos are available only for misclicks and not for change of mind. No undo should be granted without director’s permission. TD will evaluate and may allow undo if he is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt. All players are strongly advised to enable confirm bid/confirm play option in BBO to avoid these situations.

System and Conventions

Online events, by nature, do not allow for long periods of time to study and prepare against opponent methods. Hence only Green(Standard based) and Blue (strong club/diamond/precision based) systems are permitted. The following is prohibited in accordance with WBF system policies:

1. Use of Brown Sticker conventions and HUM methods unless detailed description and defences submitted atleast 24 hours in advance.
2. Random openings which, by agreement can have less than 8 HCP and no further description.

Further, we shall be following BFI system policy.

Alerts

Please note that all bids need to be self alerted and explained. Please explain the bid using the text area in the bidding box. Not doing this forces opponents to pause and wait for explanation, causing unnecessary UI scenarios.

For any queries related to a bid, including follow up questions, ask the player who made the bid, not their partner. Absolutely do not ask the same question to both players. This is akin to trying to get an advantage by inciting the scope for different explanations. If for any reason you think that explanation is incomplete, call the director.

Please understand that you are entitled to the opponents’ agreement, not their hand. So, if you are told no agreement, and you have a reason to believe that agreement may exist, call the director. Do not ask questions like “what did you mean by the bid”. You may ask if there are any meta rules that may apply in case of no specific agreement.

Psyches

Conventional Psyches are disallowed. Psyches are allowed subject to the proviso that an individual does not psych repeatedly and regularly. The opposing team is requested to bring all psyches to the TDs notice to prevent misuse of this facility.

Preempts and light openings

All pre-empts are expected to be announced along with a defined range. The range needs to be reasonably defined (0-11 HCP is not a range). Light openings with less than 8 HCPs, if part of system understanding, are expected to be alerted in advance

Convention cards

Convention cards are mandatory. All players must submit a copy of their convention card in WBF format. At this point the detailed system notes are not mandatory. Please provide a single file, even if it includes detailed notes. The CC repository is available Here

Players are advised to open the opponents CC at the start of the match and keep it open for the duration.

Ethical Behaviour

We expect all participants to adhere to the highest standards of ethical behavior during the play of this tournament. Please maintain a courteous attitude towards your partner, teammates, directors, game hosts etc. Repeated misbehavior will lead to ban from any further bridgeduniya events.

Sharing Information PostFacto

No one may use deals played in our events to accuse anyone else of impropriety in public fora. If one wants to report or question an action, use a hand diagram or ensure all identifiers removed from BBO screenshot, like user IDs, Match number and other Results etc, before posting publicly. Players may report suspect actions to the TDs of the tournament. We take these reports very seriously. Any public accusations of unethical practice or impropriety will invite immediate financial sanction and may result in forfeiture of entry and prizes. Any kibitzer sharing such information will not receive further invitation to kibitz any upcoming bridgeduniya events. These sanctions are without appeal.

Review

Review against TD ruling can be requested to reviewer who will look into details of the ruling and procedure being followed. His decision will be final and binding.

Web Meeting

It is mandatory for every player to join a web meeting from Eliminator onwards. No communication is expected on this channel. This is purely a security measure. You will be on a video meeting with your screen mate. (North and East, or South and west). Directors or table hosts can join these meetings at will and observe you. Please note that phone usage, or use of any other channel of communication is strictly prohibited. Random checks will be instituted where you may be asked to show your surroundings. Please avoid having any other device in the vicinity that’s not required for participation. We understand that disconnects are a reality of life, and due allowance will be made for those. But, please do note that we have the ability to distinguish between an involuntary network disconnection and a voluntary exit or disconnect.

Penalties for not attending or going off after joining

Being missing for more than 3 boards – 6 IMPs per player

Being missing for more than 6 boards – 18 IMPs per player

Secondary and helpful devices

Please note that phone usage, messaging or whatsapp usage, any other chat or communication application or device usage, including but not limited to landline phones, text message, snapchat, telegram, skype, webmeeting other than authorized meeting is strictly prohibited.

Usage of helpful devices like printed notes, double dummy solver etc is also strictly prohibited. During the play please make sure that your computer doesn’t have any applications open other than BBO,  and authorized web meeting. You may be asked to share your screen and/or show your surroundings during random search.

Further, all players are expected to have the last seen setting on for their whatsapp account. And this last seen time must be prior to the match. This maybe randomly looked up by directors. Any violation of these conditions will attract automatic penalty, a minimum of 3 IMPs, can be substantially higher based on director’s evaluation. There’s no appeal against this penalty.

If you absolutely have to take a call or message, please seek director’s permission and do so only during his presence in the web meeting. Absolutely do not leave or step away from web meetings during this period.

Miscellaneous

Anything not covered here is at the discretion of the director/organizers. They may opt to consult with one or more senior bridge players / organizers, but their decision will be final and binding in all respects