HCL YearEnd 2020 Open

SUPPLEMENTAL CONDITIONS OF CONTEST

FOR

 HCL YEAR-END ONLINE BRIDGE TOURNAMENT – 2020

(Under the auspices of Bridge Federation of India)

 1 PREAMBLE

The conditions of contest herein set forth are supplemental to the General Conditions and Regulations for the National tournaments as specified by the Bridge Federation of India, and are specific to the HCL Year End Bridge Tournament – 2020 organized by HCL Corporation under the aegis of Bridge Federation of India. The Championship will be played on online platform RealBridge from 28th Nov to 6th Dec 2020.

The Championships will be conducted under the technical management of Bridge Federation of India. The schedule of events is as published in the tournament web site www.bridgeduniya.com. In case of necessity, the Tournament Committee in consultation with the Chief Tournament Director may alter/modify the format of any of the events. The tournament will be played in accordance with the laws and provisions laid down by the World Bridge Federation (WBF) and Bridge Federation of India (BFI).

The tournament is eligible for BFI Master Points of BFI level-1 tournament as per the “BFI Master Point Policy 2020”, which includes online events. However, it may be noted that there will be no BFI ranking points for this event.

2.CONDITIONS OF ENTRY – GENERAL RULES

  • Participation in this tournament is open to all bridge players of Indian Nationality. Teams having one or more non-resident Indian bridge player or players of other NBO’s of foreign nationality are also allowed to participate.
  • All participating players should be registered under BFI Master Point Scheme and also registered with the World Bridge Federation and in good standing and should meet the requirement of participation of the particular event, as specified by BFI.
  • All participants are to play as per the schedule drawn up by the Chief TournamentDirector or his representativ Refusal to play against any player(s) or any team or withdrawal without the consent of the Tournament Committee or Chief Tournament Director shall result in disqualification for further participation in that event. CTD and the Tournament Committee may also take other disciplinary actions against the offending player(s).
  • By participating and /or intending to participate in this championship each contestant agrees that he/she shall not claim for any loss in earning for any reason connected with the event, against the organizers and /or BFI.

3.SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ONLINE EVENTS

3.1   Playing environment

  • All matches will be played on “RealBridge” online platform. To play on this platform, players have to ensure that they have a laptop / desktop, I-pads or PC with camera, speakers & Microphone facility and a good internet connection. Phones are not advisable, and should be used only in emergency as a backup. This is a mandatory condition and players should ascertain that they are equipped with the required paraphernalia before entering the event.
  • Audio and Video will need to be enabled and kept on throughout the play period. Please ensure you have a good and stable internet connection with sufficient data, and preferably a backup.
  • While logging in on the “Realbridge” platform, please give your User ID, which can clearly identify you. So Mr. S.K. Kumar should give his ID as “skkumar” or “skkumar1”. It should be ensured that there is no SPACE in User ID or Team ID.

3.2 Laws & Policy

  • The event will be conducted as per WBF – 2017 Laws of Duplicate Bridge and will follow BFI System and alert policy. In addition we’ll be following EBU Sky blue Book for guidelines for online environment. All participants are requested to make themselves familiar with the governing laws and policies.

3.3 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 alerting clearly forces opponents to pause and wait for explanation, causing unnecessary UI scenarios.  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.

  • A brief of your system & carding methods should be given in the comment box to your opponents before start of play on the online platform.

3.4 Undo, Director Calls

  •  Undos are available for genuine misclicks, not for change of mind. By and large Undo for play will not be awarded unless extremely obvious. Players should endeavor to request an undo at the earliest possible. At the very least they should inform their screen mate verbally and/or type undo or stop in play area, if they are not sure where undo button is located. All players are seriously advised to make themselves thoroughly familiar with playing environment before the tournament commences.
  • Whenever an undo is requested, a director must be called. Undos must be given or rejected only on director’s assent. Any Undos given or rejected without director’s assent, both parties lose the right of adjustment, appeal, or UI based on UNDO.
  • Even if director allows an undo, there may be implications related to UI because of the bid taken back. Please note that bid or play that is allowed to be undone is unauthorized information to the partner of offender but authorized information to opponents.

3.5 Review Requests

  •  The directors consult each other, the reviewer, and if needed other senior players before giving a ruling. So please ask for a review only and only if you believe certain facts didn’t come to director’s notice, or a law has been applied incorrectly. All review requests will attract a fee (Rs. 1000), which will be refunded unless the review request is found to be baseless and/or frivolous. 

The reviewer’s decision is final and binding. There will be no further appeal against reviewer’s decision

3.6 Ethics, Behaviour & Presentation

  •  All participants are to adhere to the highest standards of ethical behavior during the play of this tournament.
  • BFI expects all teams and partnerships to play to win at all times and in all circumstances. While a team may rest its players and make other decisions for strategic reasons, it is not permissible for a partnership to play by design to obtain a session score inferior to that of its opponents.
  • All contestants are expected to accept the decisions of the Tournament / Review Committee in a sportsman like manner.
  • Please maintain a courteous attitude towards your partner, teammates, directors, game hosts etc. Please refrain from using foul language, even as a joke. Repeated misbehavior will lead to ban from any further HCL events.
  • Please be suitably attired. You are on camera, and may be on a telecast to the world. Smart casuals are suggested, bare torsos and undershirts etc are a strict No.

3.7 No Mobile

  •  Use of Mobile phone or of any other second device is strictly prohibited during play hours. Director will immediately penalize the offender.
  • Only Director can allow the usage of mobile phone in his presence for a player to find out the status of his partner, in case of disconnections.

3.8 No Smoking

 Please note: strictly no-smoking on camera. Penalties will apply.

3.9 Kibitzing

  •  Kibitzing and watching are an essential part of the game. We certainly want everyone to be involved. But, given the security considerations in an online environment, the kibitzing will be available through a web meeting rather than directly. You’ll need to ask for access. We’d like to know who is watching. More details soon.

4 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

4.1 OPEN TEAM EVENT

Each team may have a minimum of four and a maximum of eight playing members. Any alteration in the names of the players can be done only before the start of the event with the consent of CTD. In case a team having less than eight members wishes to add a team member, such addition can be done before the start of the 3rd round of the Swiss league with the consent of the CTD. There will not be any seeding of the teams and the draw for the first round will be a random draw. Thereafter the draw will follow Swiss League protocol.

Team of Four Event will be played over seven days as given in the Schedule (Chap. 23) in two stages. The event will be played with random computer dealt boards.

Stage I: Qualifying Swiss league of 9 rounds of 10 Boards – The Qualifying Swiss will be played over 2 days on 28th Nov (6 Rounds) & 29th Nov 2020 (3 rounds). The Top 16 teams will qualify for a 5-stage KO round.

The difference in IMPs earned by the two opposing teams at the end of each round of the Swiss League shall be converted into VP, according to the WBF Continuous VP Scale (20-0).

Stage II: Stage-II will consist of 5-stage KO matches each of 20 boards (to be played in 2-sessions of 10 boards each). The TOP 16 teams will be divided into 2 brackets. The TOP 8 teams will be put in UPPER HALF (UH) bracket and the teams ranked 9-16 will be put in LOWER HALF (LH) bracket. The teams in the lower half will get eliminated after they lose a KO match, whereas in UH, the losing teams will become part of LH and will get one more chance to play. There will be carry over at each stage of the KO.  (See Chap 19 for details)

In KO-1, in UH, the teams ranked 1 to 3 will choose their opponents from teams ranked 5 to 8. Team ranked 1 will have the first choice and then subsequently the teams ranked 2 & 3 will choose their opponents from the remaining teams ranked 5 to 8. In the LH, the matches will be 9 Vs 16, 10 Vs 15, 11 Vs 14 & 12 Vs 13. The 4 losers of Lower Half will get eliminated and the rest 12 teams will go to KO-2. In case a low seed team beats a higher seed team, it will take the seeding No. of the higher ranked team. KO-1 will be played in the evening of 29th Nov 2020.

In KO-2, there will be 4 teams in UH and 8 teams in the LH. The matches on Table 1 & Table 2 will be between 1 Vs 4 and 2 Vs 3. The matches on Table-3 to Table-6 will be between 5 Vs 12, 6 Vs 11, 7 Vs 10 & 8 Vs 9. Teams losing on Table- 3 to Table-6 will get eliminated. KO-2 will be played on 30th Nov 2020.

In KO-3, there will be 2 teams in the UH and 6 in the LH. The match on Table 1 will be between 1 Vs 2. The matches on Table-2 to Table-4 will be between 3 Vs 8, 4 Vs 7 & 5 Vs 6. The losers of table 2 to 4 (3 Teams) will get eliminated. The loser teams will be ranked 6th to 8th for prize purpose. The pairs of the losing teams of KO-3 can join the 2nd Session of the elimination round of Open MP Pairs with a pre-determined score. The winner of Table-1 will qualify directly to the team finals with a carryover of 8 IMPs. KO-3 will be played on 1st Dec 2020.

In KO-4 there will be 4 teams and the matches will be between 2 Vs 5 & 3 Vs 4. Losers of this stage will be declared joint 4th / 5th of the team event. KO-4 will be played on 3rd Dec 2020.

The last Knock out (KO-5) will be played on 4th Dec 2020 between the remaining 2 teams (2 Vs 3) and the winner will qualify for the finals, whereas the loser will become the 3rd ranked team.

The team Final will be of 48 boards in 4 sessions to be played on 5th Dec 2020.

4.2 OPEN MP PAIRS EVENT

The Open Match Point Pairs event will be played over 7 days from 29th Nov 2020 to 6th Dec 2020. Any pair who wants to participate in the event can play after giving the required entry fee by the due date of 29th Nov 2020 (1400 Hrs)

The Elimination-1 round of the event will be played in 3 sessions of 18 Boards each. The 3 sessions will be played on 29th Nov, 30th Nov & 1st Dec 2020 respectively. Depending on the number of entries, approximately 40-50% pairs will qualify to the next stage of Elimination-2 round.

The pairs of the 4 losing teams of KO-1 can join the open MP Pairs event with a pre-determined score (see Chap 20 for details) in the second session of  Elimination-1 round, provided they have given the entry fee for the MP Pairs event by the last entry date of 29th Nov 2020 (1400 Hrs).

The Elimination-2 round of the event will be played in 2 sessions of 20 Boards each. The 2 sessions will be played on 3rd & 4th Dec 2020 respectively. Depending on the number of entries, approximately 40-50% pairs will qualify to the next stage of Elimination-3 round.

The pairs of the 4 losing teams of KO-2 & 3 losing teams of KO-3 can join the Elimination-2 round of the open MP Pairs event with a carryover (see Chap 20 for details), provided they have given the entry fee for the MP Pairs event by the last entry date of 29th Nov 2020 (1400 Hrs).

The Elimination-3 round of the event will be played in 2 sessions of 20 Boards each. The 2 sessions will be played on 5th Dec 2020. It may please be noted that in case there are less number of entries, the organizers may cancel the elimination-3 round.

The pairs of the 2 losing teams of KO-4 & 1 losing team of KO-5 can join the Elimination-3 round of the open MP Pairs event with a carryover (see Chap X.6 for details), provided they have given the entry fee for the MP Pairs event by the last entry date of 29th Nov 2020 (1400 Hrs).

The Final of the MP Pairs event will be played on 6th Dec 2020 in either 2 or 3 sessions.  The final will be an all-play-all of 26-28 Pairs depending on number of entries and participants will be informed in advance about the qualifying number before start of the last elimination round.

The pairs of the 2 finalist teams are seeded directly to the final of the open MP Pairs event with a carryover (see Chap 20 for details), provided they have given the entry fee for the MP Pairs event by the last entry date of 29th Nov 2020 (1400 Hrs).

2 sponsored pairs will also be seeded directly to the Pairs finals. However they will be given zero carryover in the finals.

4.3 GENERAL

  • In case of odd number of teams in Swiss League, one team will get a bye. 12 VPs shall be awarded to all such teams in Team of Four event.
  • A pair will be allowed to participate at any stage of a pairs event, independent of whether one or both players of the partnership are qualified to KO stage (i.e. Seeded) or not. Even a player, who has not participated in the team event, will be allowed to play the pairs event with another player, who is qualified to any KO stage of team event. However, the following conditions will be applied for allowing such partnerships:
  • The pair should have given their Open Pairs entry by the last entry due date, which is 29th Nov 2020 (1400 Hrs). No entry will be entertained afterwards.
  • Not more than 4 pairs of a team will be allowed to play as seeded pairs, when they join from a KO team stage to the Pairs elimination / final round. As the onus will be on the team captain to inform about the 4 pairs being allowed from the team, hence each pair of the team should inform their captain and take his permission beforehand about playing with a player outside the team.
  • A player in a team qualifying for KO stage will be considered as “Seeded” only if he/she has played a minimum of 25% of the boards at every stage of the KO.
  • There will be no seeding of teams in Team of Four events. The first round will be by random draw. Thereafter the usual Swiss league draw will be followed.

4.4 SEATING PRIVILEGES IN KNOCK OUT MATCHES

In each of the KO matches, Team ranked higher (lower serial number team) can exercise the seating rights for either 1st or 2nd segments, whereas  in the 4-Session final, the higher ranked team can have the seating rights for either 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th segments.  This needs to be communicated to the CTD before start of the KO match. The team with “Seating rights” will ask their opponents to give their line-up first.

A change of player, pairs or partnerships can be made only at the beginning of the session and no restrictions of any pair playing against another pair apply for any of the sessions of the match.

If there is any pair who uses Brown Sticker conventions, they should be available 10 minutes before the schedule beginning of the match to present their system and answer questions by the opponent.

5. ENTRY FEE AND SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES

Both Entries for Teams event & Open Pairs event must be submitted online through the prescribed entry form on the tournament web site created on www.bridgeduniya.com, accompanied by the requisite entry fees (to be paid online through the payment gateway), stating the full names and MP Registration Numbers of the participating players, within the prescribed time (For Team event – till 1900 Hrs on 27th Nov 2020 & for Pairs event – till 1400 Hrs. on 29th Nov 2020) as mentioned in the tournament brochure, which will be circulated on whatsApp groups and the tournament web site (www.bridgeduniya.com) .

Entries not accompanied by the entry fee or not giving the names of the players of the team (at least four players) or pairs, or without the players’ M.P. Registration numbers will be rejected. CTD  may  accept  late  entries  at  his  sole  discretion,  where  such acceptance does not disturb the tournament schedule.

6. Authority of the Tournament Committee

The Tournament Committee reserves the authority to alter or modify this SCoC. In exercising this right the committee shall also have the right to ratify any clear error in the SCoC as soon as it is brought to its notice, provided that the error is evident from the context or from it’s being in conflict with the laws.

7 SYSTEM POLICY

The current “BFI System Policy 2019” will be followed.

8. THIRD HAND OPENINGS

Partnership may clearly describe their strategy of third hand openings. Third hand subminimum openings are required to be alerted and lower limit of such opening shall be specified very clearly. Also it is essential to clarify conditions of such sub-minimum openings. Partnerships are required to be consistent in third hand openings. Two weak opening may also be specified with range of high card points and need to be consistent on such weak openings.

9 Psychic Bids

  • The Psyching of a conventional or artificial opening bids is prohibited.
  • CTD may consider any psyche with little or negligible risk as a Brown Sticker Convention clause 3.3 (b) of the BFI System Policy and may adjust the score and impose penalty.
  • CTD may treat any psychic bid as a partnership understanding under Law 40B, if in his opinion the bidder’s partner had the possibility of being aware of the deviation.
  • The principles of full disclosure must be strictly adhered to. The Director may adjust the score and impose a procedural penalty, if in his opinion there is undisclosed knowledge that has damaged the opponents (Law 40).

10 Filling up of Convention cards and disclosure of systems

It is mandatory for all the pairs to have in their possession a duly filled convention card (CCs with supplementary sheets, if necessary). If a pair forgets a convention or resorts to a psyche, and there is no convention card, director is empowered to assume mistaken explanation and may award an adjusted score [Law12C1]. In addition to this the offending pair may not be allowed to use that convention in the rest of the match. Frequent violations of the system, amounts to a private understanding and will be dealt severely.

Please note that it is mandatory for all teams reaching KO stages to submit their CCs via e-mail to Mr. S.G. Aggarwal – sgaggarwal@gmail.com or to Mr. Srinivasan Iyengar– cardpacker@gmail.com. All these CCs will be kept in the CC depository on the google drive and any one can go through their opponent’s CCs at:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1emE-pV1A-P_JYcV2R6fP4RpFaRFzCAzx?usp=sharing

Players must disclose fully the meaning of their conventional agreements, particularly, conventions and treatments that may require defensive preparation by opposing pairs. In addition to system card, pairs shall use supplementary sheets, where necessary, to achieve this objective. To satisfy the principle of adequate disclosure, the onus is on each pair to prepare for the information of opponents an accurate and comprehensive system card.

Understandings whereby there may be violations of the normal meaning of the call, and where the nature of violation may possibly be anticipated, must also be disclosed in the convention card with full detail in a supplementary sheet, wherever necessary. The understandings may be explicitly agreed or they may have developed from partnership experience or mutually shared knowledge not available to opponents.

If a player makes use of any conventional call not sufficiently described on his system card (including supplementary sheets), that player’s partnership may be subject to a procedural penalty (Law 90) for the infraction and/or to disciplinary penalty as well as to score adjustments to redress any damage. The onus of disclosure is on the user. When there is a claim of damage through inadequate disclosure, the CTD and the Review Committee will give the benefit of any doubt to the opponents.

Opening bid of 2 Diamond which shows weak in either major with or without the possibility of any other strong hand has to be explained in detail with responses and subsequent rebids. A written defense is to be provided as mentioned in the system policy.

Use of up-to two Brown Sticker conventions per partnership are allowed in direct knock out matches subject to filling up such system card and submitting it for approval to CTD.   At the same time a viable suggested defense to any Brown Sticker convention must be filed. This will be deemed to be a part of the system card and may be referred to by the opponents at the table. A pair which has not submitted the convention card (system card) as above would be debarred from using such conventions till three hours after the pair has submitted its properly filled card. Any of these conventions / systems needs to be approved by the CTD before they can be used.

Normal range of Weak Two opening should be specified and situations where it can be below minimum need to be alerted.

11 Substitutes

In Team Tournaments, if for any reason, a team is unable to produce four players because of an emergency that develops during the session, the CTD may designate a substitute to complete the round. The result obtained by the substitute shall stand unless the Tournament Committee judges that the substitute’s bridge skill were considerably greater than those of the players replaced, in which case an adjusted score may be determined. Whether or not the result stands, the Tournament Committee may impose appropriate penalties when it judges a team to be at fault.

In Pairs events, the CTD may make emergency substitution, whenever it is necessary for the smooth running of the game. If this emergency substitution may result in disqualification of any contestant, the contestant shall, where practicable, be informed by the CTD, at the time the substitution.

12 Forfeits in Team Tournaments

If a team is unable to play or complete a match, CTD may find that team in default and declare the match forfeited. The team in forfeit shall score Zero VP and Zero IMPs for that match. The team winning the forfeited match shall be credited 10 VPs (in new 20 VP scale) initially and all draws will be based on that. At the end CTD in consultation with the Chairman Tournament Committee, may increase the VPs credited based on the overall average performance of the team winning the forfeited match, or credit a higher VP if they consider it to be equitable in all circumstances.

13 Disciplinary Rules and Penalties

The schedule of penalties which follows is supplemental to the laws. All infringements of the law will be dealt with in accordance with the norms laid down by bridge federation of India.

  • Lateness – In the Swiss League, penalty will be imposed on any team not seated and ready to play at the announced starting time of the session according to the following scale.

0+ to 5 minutes – late warning;

5+to 10 minutes – 1.0 VP;

10+ to15 minutes – 2.0 VPs;

a team may forfeit its match, if it is late by over 15 minutes, at the discretion of the CTD/ Chairman Tournament Committee.

In a knock-out match after 5 minutes of grace time, a penalty of 1 Imp per minute will be imposed up-to 30 minutes and CTD may also reduce the number of boards. A team may forfeit its match, if it is late by over 30 minutes, at the discretion of CTD.

Slow Play or Late finish– If slow play is reported and the Director is convinced about it, he may impose penalty on the offending side. In case any match is not finished within the stipulated time, the Director may stop play after 5 minutes and declare result on the boards played. The result may be adjusted to bring equity to the non-offending side in case of reduction of boards.

  • ADDITION OF POWERS TO DIRECTORS AND DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE:

In accordance with Section XXXVIII of the Rules and Regulations of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of BFI

XXXVIII.           CODE OF DISCIPLINARY REGULATIONS:

The Executive Committee shall have the power to expel, suspend or otherwise discipline a player for any of the following reasons:

(i) In case of any impropriety / cheating / fraud committed by the said player.

(ii) In case of misbehavior with officials or fellow contestants during various bridge competitions or contests or during meetings of the Council, Executive Committee, or any other bridge related forum.

With respect to the above clause, if any competitor is found guilty of Improper conduct, including without limitation, acts of aggression, violence or intimidation, on the part of an individual towards any director/s in preview of their ruling against any individual where such nominated director is in performance of his/her BFI duties or functions, whether within the context of laws and bye laws of BFI rules and regulations and WBF Laws for Duplicate Bridge will be seriously taken for procedural penalty and disciplinary action immediately.

Penalties liable to be imposed for misconduct:

Procedural Penalty: Notwithstanding any penalties which have been empowered to a Director as per WBF Law of Duplicate Bridge 2017, the director may depending on the gravity of the reprehensible conduct, impose one or more of the following penalties in respect of reprehensible conduct:

(a) Warning;

(b) On repeated misconduct in the same/later appearance, a penalty of 5 IMPs.

(c) Where Reprehensible Conduct occurs frequently at or in connection with a BFI Event, disqualification of all results (including, at the discretion of the hearing panel, the results of the team) at such BFI Event, including forfeiture of any points, prizes and medals;

Disciplinary Action:

(d) Suspension for a given period of at least 3 to 6 months from the day of of adjudication of final verdict of violation to participate in any national federation recognized events or minimum 2 federation events whichever is later.

(e) Suspension for a given period of time of at least 1 year from the day of adjudication of final verdict of violation to participate in any national federation recognized events or minimum 4 federation events whichever is later.

(f) Permanent ban on the person concerned (excluding STATEs) from attending and/or participating in BFI Events and/or activities;

14. Tie- breaking Procedures

The teams with identical scores after deducting all penalties will deem to have tied.

In the event of a tie for the last qualifying position in a Swiss league, determinations of rank (i.e. 1st to 16th position) will be broken on VP product of all rounds as per BFI handbook, page No. 66. Rank position in KO matches shall be in accordance with IMPs earned including carry over, if any, and less penalties, if any.

In Knock-out matches, even a difference of 0.01 IMP (accrued due to carry-over) will be considered a win. In case of a tie break in knock out matches, there will be play off of extra four board match for the tie break. Fresh Line up of pairs will be allowed at this stage. If the tie persists, tie breaking will be done by one board (“sudden death”) matches to determine the winner with same pairs to continue.  Difference of 1 IMP is a win.

Tie in a Pair event will be broken as per BFI handbook – Page No. 65.

15 Length of Matches

10 board matches: 1 hour 20 minutes

12 board matches: 1 hour 40 minutes

16 Review Procedure

Players have the right to bring to the notice of the Director any irregularity on the table, during play and the match. Directors will give ruling on such irregularities, if necessary, after consultation with a panel of experts.

As per the latest WBF rules, after a Director has given a ruling, request for a review may be made to the CTD by players/ Team along with a review fee of Rs. 1000 to the Tournament Director.

A request for a review of a Tournament Director’s ruling must be lodged within 30 minutes of the first posting of the official score for the Session in which the board was played that is the subject of the ruling. All such requests must be lodged by the team’s Captain or his designee, or by one member of the pair in the Pairs events. However the time required for the review procedure will not hold-up the play of the subsequent round.

The recipients of a ruling will be entitled to ask for the matter to be reviewed by a reviewer who was not involved in the original decision. The reviewer will check that the TD has gathered the necessary evidence of what occurred when infraction arose. The Reviewer will then need to be satisfied that the correct law was applied and that other TDs were consulted where appropriate. In matters involving the judgment that was exercised by a player following unauthorized information, incorrect explanation or failure to alert, the Reviewer will clarify that suitable players were consulted. Finally the Reviewer will check that ruling that was issued based upon all the information available to the TDs was within the bounds of reasonableness.

17 Appeal on Scoring of Results

Appeal for correction of an error in Computing or tabulating the total point score of an agreed number of tricks on the hand must be made on the score appeal form which is to be submitted to CTD within 20 minutes of the end of the respective session. (10 minutes for the last session). However in case of discrepancy between official results on any board, correction period may be extended by CTD

18. Withdrawal and Walk over

It is advisable not to withdraw or give Walk over in ONLINE playing environment as the online software platforms usually do not support that.

However, if utmost necessary, a team is permitted to withdraw only with the expressed consent of CTD after the completion of any Swiss round, or after a direct knock out match but not after the beginning of a match during any stage or in the middle of knock out match. In case a team withdraws without such expressed consent, the members of the team may be disqualified for the rest of the championship by the CTD & the Tournament Committee and may also have to face the disciplinary proceedings.

Walkover should be reported to the director before the start during KO matches. If any team would like to withdraw during the middle of the event should have proper accepted reasons like physical fitness, serious health problems or any other important practical reasons. However teams deciding of mutual walk over decisions without the consent of the proper authority will have to face disciplinary procedures.

  • Walkover: If a team, by its own fault, is unable to play another team, it will score zero VP. Its opponents will receive the best score between: (a) 12 VP using the 20-0 VP scale, or the equivalent according to the VP scale adopted, (b) the teams average (c) the average score obtained by all other opponents against the team at fault, whichever is greater. A second walk-over by the same team will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee which can apply further sanctions including disqualification of the team.

19 Carry Over in Team event

In case of Knock-out matches, the teams will carry forward part of their difference of the Swiss league match, if any, between the two teams. The part shall be one half of the difference in the direct match between teams, if the team that won the direct match finishes higher than their opposing team at the end of qualifying league and one third otherwise, subject to maximum of one fourth of the total boards to be played in that KO stage. So, for a 48 board KO match, the maximum carryover will be 12 IMPs.

20 Carry Over in MP Pairs event

  • There will be carryover from the first qualifying elimination round to the next stage till final of the Open Match Point Pairs. Carryover to the next elimination round or final will be calculated based on the following formula:

C = (M – m) [ (Q/E)(AxBxQ)/S)] where

C = carryover

M = matchpoints of a given pair

m = matchpoints of lowest qualifying pair

Q = pairs to be qualified

E = number of pairs who played in the round from which carryover is calculated

A = average on each board in the round for which carryover is calculated

B = number of boards played in qualifying session(s)

S = sum of the scores of all qualifiers

The maximum carryover cannot be greater than equivalent to four boards score. If the formula determines the high carryover to be above the allowable limits, the formula is abandoned and the following procedure is followed: Subtract the low-qualifying score from the high-qualifying score and divide this number into the maximum allowable carryover. The resulting factor is multiplied by the difference of the high qualifying score and the low-qualifying score. Thus the low qualifier will have a carryover of zero, and the high qualifier will have the maximum allowable carryover.

When a qualified pair is replaced by a reserve pair, the carry-over is computed using the actual score of the reserve pair.

  • For giving Carryovers for those pairs, who get eliminated from KO-1 of team event and will join the 2nd session of elimination-1 of “Match Point Pair” the following rule will be followed:

It will depend on how many pairs are going to get qualified from elimination-1 to elimination-2 round. Let us say, the number is “N”. In that case, all those joing in the 2nd session will be given the 1st Session score of the “N”th pair as carryover.

  • For giving Carryovers for those, who are entering in a new elimination round (pairs of teams who are out from KO2 & KO3 and joining Elimination-2 & those pairs of KO4 and KO5 joining in the Elimination-3 & those coming from team finals to Pairs Final) the following rule will be followed:

Let us say, 70 pairs qualified from Elimination-1 to the 2nd elimination round of MP pairs, and 20 pairs from KO2 & KO3 join them in the 2nd elimination round, then each one of these 20 pairs will be given the carryover score of the nearest integer of (The Number of Pairs who get qualified from the elimination round / 2)th position, where “N” is the total number of pairs, which are going to qualify from 1st to 2nd elimination round. So in this case (70/2) i.e. carryover score of the 35th qualified ranked pair will be given to all the 20 seeded pairs.

  • Sponsored pairs entering in the finals of the MP Pair event will be given zero carry-over.

21 ELIGIBILITY OF MINIMUM PLAY CONDITIONS AND QUALIFICATION

Each player of the participating team shall play minimum number of boards in various stages as defined below in order to be eligible to play the next stage of the event.
1. Swiss league – 30 boards or 3 matches
2. Ko 1 to ko3 combined – 20 boards or 2 segments.
3. Ko4+ko5 – 10 boards or 1 segment
4. Finals- 12 boards or 1 segment.

Further any player that fails to meet the minimum play requirements shall not be eligible for master points for that stage, and will be awarded master points up to the previous stage.

22 Disciplinary Powers

For any BFI event, the entry of any player, pair, or team may be rejected. If this occurs the affected party or parties will receive, in writing, the reasons for the rejection. The offenders will be given reasonable opportunity to answer the allegation in person or in writing. The Governing Council of BFI, has constituted and empowered a “Disciplinary Committee”, which will exercise these disciplinary powers. Typical causes of disciplinary action are:

Any breach of the Laws or proprieties of bridge as set out in the Code or in these regulations, Offensive behavior, Withdrawal or non-attendance from an event without good reason.

       Event Recorder or Committee         

The Tournament Committee shall nominate a person of high standing in the bridge community or a committee of three members to the position of Event Recorder. The person /persons so nominated, and accepting the position, shall perform the following functions.

  1. The Event Recorder will receive verbal or written complaints.
  2. The Event Recorder will decide, if a complaint is serious or trivial (in which case the complainant is told immediately the reasons for not pursuing it).
  3. If the complaint is serious, the Event Recorder will inform the complainant that he will approach the person(s) concerned and advise them of the complaint and the names of the complainant.
  4. The complainant will be asked if there were any witnesses and the Recorder will note their names.
  5. The Recorder will discretely approach the person concerned (and their playing partner) and advise them of the complaint, and ask the partner if it is true. If the partner says it is true, various actions are open to the Recorder.
    • Warning (if not too serious)
    • Advise the person(s) that the Tournament Committee will be contacted to recommend suspension for X games. If the Recorder is present during the competition where the alleged offence took place, he may put the player on a “good behavior bond” for the rest of the competition, and if no further complaints are received, decide to drop the matter
    • Advise the Tournament Committee that the person is suspended for all or part of the event. In the most serious cases, advise the Tournament Committee that the person be banned for an extended period
  6. Where there is no admission of guilt, bring all parties together and try and ascertain the truth. All incidents, with full details, shall be kept in the RECORDER BOOK, which is cross-indexed by name. Only the Recorder and the President of BFI shall be permitted to see the Recorder Book.

23 Tournament Schedule

  • Please see Schedule
  • Schedule can be changed by the organizing committee, if required.
  • of elimination rounds of pairs may get reduced to 2 from 3, in case of inadequate entries.
  • Pair Finals would be an all play all of 26 Pairs. But this can be modified, depending on qualification criteria which will be based on no. of entries.
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