Conditions of Contest for the 2001 IWBC

OKbridge is conducting the Third Annual Internet World Bridge Championships. This will be an open teams event, with the first round starting on or about May 1, 2001.

FAILURE TO READ THE RULES IS NOT CAUSE FOR EXEMPTION.

I. Forming Teams

1. Representation: Teams will represent a specific country. A team may represent any country which any player on that team was born in, is a citizen of, or is a resident of.


2. Zones: Teams may elect to play in any of the eight zones (or regions), whether or not they are residents of that zone. (That is, a team made of up of four Georgians may choose to play from the Australian Zone.) However, default times are set for matches at 7 p.m. for the Westernmost participant actually living in the subject region.
   
   Signing up for a zone outside your own time zone may lead to two problems. First, you may have an unfamiliarity with local methods. While full disclosure is always required, this is a consideration you should seriously consider.
   
   Second, scheduling problems may occur. See "Scheduling," (Section II. Part 3) below.


3. Administration: The Tournament Chair of the IWBC is Ralph Cohen. The Assistant Chair is John R. Mayne. OKbridge Club Manager and Chief Tournament Director Tony Reus is also authorized to make table rulings.


4. Seeding: The Tournament Chair may move teams from their pre-selected region to balance the field, either by number of teams or by strength of teams. Brackets may be seeded at the sole discretion of the Tournament Chair.'


5. Regions: The following are the eight regions:
   1. Region 1: Western Europe. This includes Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland.
   
   
   2. Region 2: Eastern Europe. This includes Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
   
   
   3. Region 3: Northern Europe and At Large. This includes the Scandinavian countries, as well as Israel, Cypress, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxemborg, Malta, Monaco and San Marino.
   
   
   4. Region 4: Western United States. All states adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. All Western United States matches will have default times set at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, even if there are players from Alaska or Hawaii on the teams.
   
   
   5. Region 5: Central United States. All states not adjacent to the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. (The Gulf of Mexico is not considered a portion of the Atlantic Ocean.)
   
   
   6. Region 6: Eastern United States. All states adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
   
   
   7. Region 7: Americas. Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Central America, South America, and Caribbean nations.
   
   
   8. Region 8: World. Africa, Asian countries not previously listed, Middle East, Far East, South Pacific.
   
   
6. Entry fees: Entry fees are $75 per team plus $25 per non-member. Non-members are granted full access to OKbridge commencing at the acceptance of the entry and continuing while their teams are active or until June 15, 2001, whichever is later.


7. Registration: Registration is achieved by filling out the online team entry form.


8. Number of players: Teams may consist of up to six players and may designate a non-playing captain. There are no requirements as to number of boards played, but no player who has played fewer than 1/3 of the total boards played by his team will be named a champion of a region, or World Champion.


9. Substitution and Augmentation: Teams may augment or substitute freely up until the first match via the web page. Teams may augment freely until the round of 64 (Regional round of 8). Substitutions after the first match must be for cause and must be approved by the Tournament Chair.


10. Eligibility: No player currently under suspension by the World Bridge Federation, zonal bridge organization, national contract bridge organization, or OKbridge is eligible to play. No player may play on more than one team, and a player eliminated from the competition may not later augment or substitute onto another team.


11. Captaincy. Each team must elect a captain, who makes all decisions regarding seating and appeals.


12. Late entries may be accepted at the sole discretion of the Tournament Chair.


13. Prizes: The final two teams each receive $5,000 US, and the winning team receives trophies.


14. The ACBL will award masterpoints according to the following schedule:

    1st	50 points
    2nd	37.5 points
    3rd	27.5 points
    4th	22.5 points
    5th to 8th	11.25 points

    
    Match awards of two masterpoints will be given to winners of matches beginning with the round of 32. However, only the overall award will be given to members of teams that advance to the Round of 8.

II. Competition Format

1. Form of Scoring: The entire competition is knockout teams, scored by IMPs. Until the round of 32, 24-board matches are played, at which point the matches move to 32 boards. At the round of 8, the competition moves to 48-board matches. Unless the captains designate otherwise, in the rounds of 24-board matches, the teams should compare after 12 boards.


2. Ties: Should any match end in a tie, a 6-board playoff will be held, except in the World Finals, in which an 8-board playoff will be held. Further ties result in further 6- or 8-board playoffs.


3. Scheduling: Each match will have a default date and time. Captains can alter that time by agreement to any date and time prior to the default. Once captains so agree, the agreed upon time becomes the required time of the match, unless the captains agree on a new time.
   
   Captains must report any deviation from the default date and time at the captains¹ web site page.
   
   If one side has a complete team seated at the scheduled time or the default time, and the other does not, time penalties may accrue as below. If a team fails to seat a team within 40 minutes, the match is a forfeit.
   
   If neither team arrives for the match at the default time, if no other time has been scheduled, the teams may play the match as late as three days after the default date.
   
   Four days after the default date, the match is declared a double-forfeit.


4. Time penalties: There is a ten minute grace period. After that, there is a 3-IMP penalty for every succeeding five minutes or fraction thereof that a team is not seated. For every eight minutes or fraction thereof after the grace period, the match is curtailed by one board and the opposing team is awarded 3 IMPs per board curtailed.


5. Reporting results: The winning captain must report the result using the web page within 24 hours of completion of the match. Failing to do so is subject to penalty.


6. Appeals and Director Rulings: All requests for a ruling must be made within 30 minutes of the end of any session, and prior to the beginning of a new session. For these purposes, a half-time or other comparison between teammates constitutes a ³session.²
   
   The proper manner of requesting a ruling is to initially notify your opponents of intent to seek a ruling.
   
   If Ralph Cohen (OKbridge name Billyspa), John R. Mayne (JRMayne) or Tony Reus (Tuna) is available, they may be called to make any director ruling at the time of the problem.
   
   If no director is available, the request for ruling must be sent to ethicsdirector@okbridge.com, and must be cc¹d to the opponents, who will be given an opportunity to respond. This request must be sent within 45 minutes of the end of the match, and must contain a statement that the opponents were timely notified of the intent to seek a ruling.
   
   Mr. Cohen handles all appeals and may consult with Mr. Mayne, Mr. Reus, and/or outside experts as necessary. If the appeal is of a table ruling made by Mr. Cohen, he will always consult with at least two people prior to ruling on the appeal.


7. Disclosure: Self-alerts only are to be used. Any call which is not part of OKbridge SAYC or OKbridge 2/1 should be alerted. Explanations should be descriptive and full, and include information from both explicit and implicit understandings. Upon request for further information, players must disclose all partnership understandings regarding a call or defensive method, whether alertable or not.
   
   Generally, convention names are insufficient. ³Weak Flannery,² for instance, would be grossly insufficient; instead, "3-10 high, 4, 5-6, 3-5 only when 6 card ," would be proper.

III. Special Rules

1. Convention Cards: Convention cards may be uploaded at your Team Page (this link is provided on the IWBC home page and only appears for participants). Convention cards must be complete and uploaded 72 hours prior to the match. Failing to do so leads to an automatic 3-IMP penalty per offending pair. This penalty may not be waived. Further, the opponents of a pair which has not uploaded a convention card in advance may take as much time as needed to prepare, and may prepare written defenses to any bid or call by their opponent, which they may consult during play.
   
   Refusing to post a convention card at the table is penalized by requiring the offenders to play OKbridge SAYC, with any deviations punishable through redress for damage and an automatic 3-IMP procedural penalty per deviation.
   
   Players are specifically authorized to consult their own convention cards, but to use no other external aids, during play.


2. Crashed boards. When possible, crashes during boards played will be resolved equitably. If the bidding was not completed at the time of the crash, normally the board should be thrown out. If the bidding was completed, and the play had begun, with the result probable or a foregone conclusion, the teams should agree to count the board as having reached that conclusion.
   
   If there is a disagreement of the likely result, or whether there was a likely result, and no agreement between the teams can be reached, the board should be submitted to ethicsdirector@okbridge.com for an adjudication. No provisional replacement board should be played; if no result is obtainable, the match will considered to be completed with one fewer result.


3. ICQ and any other non-OKbridge messaging system must be disabled during play in the IWBC.


4. If two players on the team are playing from a single site, they must notify the opponents 72 hours in advance of the match. The opponents may request a monitor. Failure to notify is subject to disciplinary penalties, including expulsion from the IWBC or OKbridge.


5. Monitors: OKbridge reserves the right to require monitors at any stage of play for any individual players, pairs, or full teams during play for any reason or randomly. Monitors should be members of a zonal bridge organization or OKbridge, and are required to submit the Monitor Form, which is sent to those selected for monitoring. Monitors must be approved by the Tournament Chair.
   
   Monitors are required for all players on all teams beginning with the round of 16 (Regional Finals), unless both team captains affirmatively agree to waive the monitoring requirement. Monitors are required for all players on all teams beginning with the round of 4.


6. Interpretations and rule modifications: Substantive modifications to these rules may be made up to the time of initiation of the the first round. Clarifications of existing rules may be published at any time. The decision of the tournament chair or his designee on interpretation of these rules is final and binding.


7. Taxes on winnings are the sole responsibility of the winners.