BCBA Online Tourney – Day 1 Report

The BCBA tournament kicked off yesterday amid a lot of excitement and a little fanfare. 

Here are a few highlights of yesterday

Participation

We have 38 teams in the Gold section and 40 in the Silver section. It was very hard for us to decline participation from anywhere and, eventually, we had to add a couple of teams to ensure that nobody had to stand down for a round due to a ‘bye’.

International Flavor

We have, in previous editions, had participation from countries outside India. We have to mention Sadhana Gupta, a lady residing in Oman who also qualified for the knockout stages in last week’s event. We also have one person participating from Austria. 

However, we are proud to announce that, for the first time, we have a team from Singapore participating. This is a ladies team called SgGirls captained by Ms. Ritu Khanna. They are playing in the Gold Section, probably mistakenly as prior to the tournament, only one of the ladies had played on BBO before! We are proud to have them with us and hope they will participate in future editions as well. 

Financial Contributions

The tournament received a pleasant jolt of surprise when the participants of the Tournament of the Mortals volunteered to contribute Rs. 10,000 to the organizers of the tournament in recognition of the efforts of the organizers.

We also have to mention a contribution of Rs. 6,000 made by Mr. Kannan of team Kinkin. Given that this team came in at absolutely the last minute at our request, we can only say that we are overwhelmed.

A growing number of people have suggested that the funds collected be donated towards some charitable organization rather than giving prizes. After due deliberation we propose that this money be distributed among the volunteers at our bridge tournaments who distribute boards etc. Not only do they perform yeomen service for us, but they will also be hit adversely by the cancellation of numerous tournaments. We request your concurrence with this suggestion of ours

Results

It is early days yet, with seven rounds to go in the Swiss League. Hence, we will just publish the names of the first five teams along with their scores below.

While we do not know the composition of each of the teams, we can provide you with a little insight. Team K Klan has two of the pairs selected to represent India for the world Mixed Teams trophy. Team Pradeep are, more or less, the defending HCL Silver Champions. Team RIMA has the defending National Mixed Pairs champions.

Detailed results can be seen by clicking on  Gold and Silver  respectively

Schedule

The following is the balance schedule

Swiss League

The Swiss League will be have 9 rounds, each of 10 boards, as follows.

Saturday, April 4, 10 am onwards                               Rounds 3 to 7

Sunday, April 5, 10 am onwards                                  Rounds 8 and 9

Quarter Final League

The top 12 participants in each league will qualify for the quarter final league. This will start at 3 pm on Sunday.

The qualifiers will be divided into 3 groups as follows

Group 1                   1,6,7,12

Group 2                   2,5,8,11

Group 3                   3,4,9,10

Each group will play a round robin of 12 boards per round. At the end of the round robin, the winner of each group and the highest score from the remainder will qualify for the semi finals

Semi Final, Finals and Play Off

The semi finals will consist of 12 session of 2 boards each and start at 1000 am on Monday

The top scoring quarter finalist (among the top 3) will get to pick his opponent for the semi final.

The finals and the play offs will start at 0300 pm on Monday

General Conditions of Contest

• Entry 

  Entries have to be submitted by filling up this form. Those who have informally submitted their entry may please fill this form to confirm it.

  Entries are restricted to 30 teams in each section for now.

• Entry Fee

  Entry fee for this contest is voluntary. If you are happy with our efforts and would like to receive prizes for good performance, please remit any amount you deem fit to

  Account Name: The Bombay Contract Bridge Association

  Bank Name:       HDFC                      Branch: Malabar Hill

  Account No: 50200037482792       Account Type: Current

  IFSC Code: HDFC0000625 

• Prizes

  The BCBA will distribute almost all the money received by way of entry fee to the participants as prizes. Prizes will be announced once we are aware of the entry fee contributed by participants.

• Barometer

  Barometer will be switched off throughout.

• Kibitzers

  During the league, Kibitzing will be switched off.
  During the play offs, if both teams agree, Kibitzers may be allowed subject to the proviso that the Director may, at his discretion, switch off Kibitzing.

• Undo

  During the league, teams may mutually agree to allow undos
  During the play offs, undo will remain on, but will be only allowed with the express permission of the director

• Psychs

  Psychs are disallowed in the Silver Tournament
  Psychs are allowed in the Gold  Tournament subject to the proviso that an individual does not psych repeatedly and regularly. The opposing team is requested to bring all psychs to the TDs notice to prevent misuse of this facility.

• Withdrawals

  Withdrawals are not allowed after a draw has been made. Teams withdrawing in this manner will not be allowed to play in the next event.

  Post qualification, withdrawals are not permitted. Teams withdrawing will not be allowed to play in the next event.