ENGLAND TEAMS TRIAL FOR THE EUROPEAN WOMEN S TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 SPECIFIC CONDITIONS OF CONTEST 1 Last updated: 9 February 2018
Contents 1. Definitions... 3 2. Scope of the Trial... 3 3. Entry Fee... 3 4. Eligibility... 3 5. Registered players and substitutes... 3 6. Timetable and format... 4 7. Systems and partnership understandings... 4 8. Late arrival... 5 9. Slow Play... 6 10. Unplayed matches... 6 11. Selection... 7 Appendix A: WBF Victory Point Scale... 8 2 Last updated: 9 February 2018
1. Definitions 1.1. The Conditions of Contest for the England Teams Trial for the European Women s Team Championship comprise the General Conditions of Contest and these Specific Conditions of Contest. This document should be read in conjunction with the General Conditions of Contest. 2. Scope of the Trial 2.1. The England Teams Trial for the European Women s Team Championship is a trial, played under international championship conditions, to select a team of four. A third pair will be added to form the team of six to represent England in the European Women s Teams Championship in Ostend, Belgium, during 10 th 16 th June 2018. 2.2. The top team of four from the trial earn selection to the England team for the 2018 European Women s Teams Championship. 3. Entry Fee 3.1. The entry fee is 150.00 per player. 4. Eligibility 4.1. All players must be members of the Union in good standing. 4.2. All players must be eligible to represent England in the European Women s Teams Championship under the regulations of The European Bridge League. 4.3. Any players unsure of their eligibility should contact Gordon Rainsford gordon@ebu.co.uk 4.4. If a player loses either their good standing or their eligibility between the start of the Trial and the beginning of the European Women s Team Championship, then that player will be disqualified from further participation in the event and from ultimate selection to represent England. 5. Registered players and substitutes 5.1. If a team of four loses one player, including the loss of good standing or eligibility (see Condition 4.2), then the remaining members of the team may apply for a permanent replacement. The Committee shall have absolute discretion with regard to any such application, and may grant it subject to such conditions as it thinks fit. 5.2. The Tournament Director in Charge may authorise an emergency substitution on the day itself, in which case a full report shall be made to the Committee, who will decide to what extent (if any) the results of the match(es) affected should be allowed to stand and whether the team in question will be allowed to continue in the event. 3 Last updated: 9 February 2018
6. Timetable and format 6.1. The event will comprise four teams of four playing three round-robins of three 24-board matches, each match consisting of two 12-board stanzas. 6.2. Scoring will be by IMPs, converted to Victory Points on the WBF decimal scale, for each 24-board match. See Appendix A. 6.3. The Trial will be played at Young Chelsea Bridge Club on 2 nd 5 th March 2018. 6.4. The playing schedule is: Friday: 12.30 20.10 Four stanzas of 12 boards Saturday: 10.30 20.15 Five stanzas of 12 boards * Sunday: 10.30 20.15 Five stanzas of 12 boards * Monday: 10.00 17.40 Four stanzas of 12 boards * the two stanzas of the fifth match will be on different days. There will be a 10-minute break between the two stanzas in a match and a 20-minute break between matches. Special circumstances may dictate that minor changes be made to the timings, at the discretion of the Tournament Director in Charge. 6.5. The movement for the first two round robins (six matches) will be determined in advance. The movement for last three matches will be seeded, based on the teams rankings after six matches. (Match 7: 1 st v 4 th, Match 8: 1 st v 3 rd, Match 9: 1 st v 2 nd.) 6.6. In each 24-board match, there will be blind line-ups for the first stanza. For the second stanza: If both teams retain the same partnerships, there will be compulsory change of opponents; If one team change partnerships, their opponents will have seating rights; If both teams change partnerships, there will be blind line-ups. The movement will designate a home team: when there is compulsory change of opponents the home team sit the same way for both stanzas. 6.7. In the event of the withdrawal of teams, the format may be varied at the discretion of the Tournament Director in Charge. 7. Systems and partnership understandings 7.1. The EBL s Systems Regulations and Systems Policy apply to this trial. Category 1 systems and conventions are permitted. 7.2. Both members of a partnership must adopt the same methods in the auction and in their carding. 7.3. If the team play in partnerships which have not submitted a system, any such partnerships must adopt a system already submitted by the team, without variation. 4 Last updated: 9 February 2018
7.4. The systems must be described on System (Convention) Cards and Supplementary Sheets in accordance with Section 11 of the General CoC. 7.5. Systems for the trial have to be registered with the EBU Selection Committee by 23 rd February 2018, by email to the secretary: dawn@ebu.co.uk (See Section 11 of General CoC). Minor changes to systems (which may be clarifications, amendments, minor additions and/or cosmetic revisions) may be accepted at the discretion of the Selection Committee, which may impose conditions. 7.6. The maximum number of Supplementary Sheets is six. Pairs submitting Brown Sticker Systems must use the special forms provided which can be found in Appendices I and II of the EBL Systems Policy. 7.7. The opponents filed systems will be made available on the internet to all pairs who have filed their systems and subsequently to vu-graph spectators and other members of the public. 7.8. It is the obligation of each pair to print and bring a sufficient number of copies of their own System Cards and Supplementary Sheets to the trial. The EBU provides no facilities for pairs to make copies at the venue. 8. Late arrival 8.1. The playing period allowed includes time for system explanation and scoring procedures. 8.2. A team is late if one or more playing members of that team is not seated and ready to play at the advertised starting time. Warnings and penalties apply to the team as a whole rather than to any individual. 8.3. If no boards are removed, a pair warned or penalised for late arrival retains the full time in which to play that round, i.e. the starting time for that table is officially delayed. 8.4. Any team that is not seated and ready to play at the start of a period of play will be fined 1VP and for each completed period of 5 minutes thereafter a further 1VP. Players are requested to be seated 5 minutes before the scheduled start of play. In case of any player entering the playing room after the commencement of the broadcasting of the match, the Director has to be satisfied that no useful information about already shown boards could have been passed to the late player and, if not, will take the necessary measures. Any team not seated within half an hour after starting time by its own fault forfeits the stanza and receives 40 IMPs for that half of the match. The non-offending pair gets a provisional score based on Appendix C of the General CoC for trials. 8.5. In the event of the abandonment of a stanza under 8.3, a full report will be made to the Committee. The Committee may take such action as it thinks fit. In particular it may adjust the provisional score of either or both teams, and may disqualify the offenders if it considers any impropriety to have taken place. The decision of the Committee under this paragraph shall be final. 8.6. The warnings and penalties described in this section may be expunged for cause either in part or in whole for late arrival for the start of the event. A team which feels that it can demonstrate good cause for late arrival for the start of the event may apply to the Committee for a waiver or relaxation of these penalties. 5 Last updated: 9 February 2018
9. Slow Play 9.1. The playing time allowed for each stanza will be approximately 8 ½ minutes per board, rounded up to the nearest 5 minutes (105 minutes for twelve-board stanzas). 9.2. Automatic penalties will apply at any table which runs over the allotted time. The penalty on the table involved will be 1VP per five-minute delay or part thereof. Boards not started 10 minutes after the scheduled end of play will be removed and scored as a total of 2VP to the table, divided appropriately between the pairs according to the degree of fault. 9.3. The Tournament Director will apportion the responsibility for the slow play between the two pairs involved and will assess penalties separately to the pairs involved on this basis. All penalties will be expressed in victory points, in multiples of 0.01VP. Example: a table is three minutes late. One pair is held to be approximately three-quarters responsible and the other approximately one-quarter responsible. The penalty is 1.5 VP to the one team of the first team and 0.5 VP to the other. 9.4. Pairs should notify the Tournament Director at the earliest opportunity if they believe their opponents are responsible for slow play at their table. If a suitable person is available to act as a time monitor, the Tournament Director may appoint such a person to monitor the speed of play at any table (either at the request of one of the pairs or on his own initiative). Otherwise the responsibility for monitoring the speed of play lies with the Tournament Director. 9.5. Approximately half way through each round and approximately 10 minutes before the scheduled time for the completion of play, the Tournament Director shall notify each table of the time remaining. Although the Tournament Director will endeavour to warn a pair when they are in danger of a penalty being imposed, any failure to do so shall not preclude the imposition of a penalty. 9.6. The Tournament Directors have been instructed to apply the penalty provisions of this Appendix strictly, though discretion shall be used by the TD where a table has been delayed through no fault of its own. 10. Unplayed matches 10.1. If a team does not complete the majority of its matches (i.e. at least 5 matches out of 9), all results obtained against that team will be cancelled. 10.2. Otherwise, any uncompleted matches will provisionally be scored 13-0 VPs in favour of the non-offending team, save that at the end of the trial the average number of VPs scored per match actually played will be taken into account if this is for the benefit of the nonoffending team (if not, then the 13-0 score will stand). 10.3. If the non-offending team have a match average which is more than 3 VPs better than that of the offending team, then its score will be increased by the corresponding amount, up to a maximum score of 20-0. 10.4. All such awards will be rounded to 2 decimal places. 10.5. However, the IMP difference for both teams (should it be needed to resolve a tie) shall be deemed to be 0 IMPs regardless of the actual assigned VP score. 6 Last updated: 9 February 2018
Example: 11. Selection team A (non-offending) has scored 39.30 VPs from 3 matches (average of 13.10). Team B (offending) has scored 24.87 VPs from 3 matches (average of 8.29). The difference in average is 4.81 VPs. The match is therefore rescored as 14.81-0. 11.1. Subject to the requirements and conditions set out in these Conditions of Contest, the leading team of four in the Trials will be guaranteed selection. 11.2. Selection for the European Women s Teams Championship will be on a fully-funded basis. 7 Last updated: 9 February 2018
Appendix A: WBF Victory Point Scale 24-board matches IMPs VPs IMPs VPs IMPs VPs IMPs VPs 0 10.00 10.00 20 14.26 5.74 40 17.13 2.87 60 19.06 0.94 1 10.25 9.75 21 14.43 5.57 41 17.25 2.75 61 19.14 0.86 2 10.50 9.50 22 14.60 5.40 42 17.36 2.64 62 19.22 0.78 3 10.75 9.25 23 14.76 5.24 43 17.47 2.53 63 19.30 0.70 4 10.99 9.01 24 14.92 5.08 44 17.58 2.42 64 19.37 0.63 5 11.23 8.77 25 15.08 4.92 45 17.69 2.31 65 19.44 0.56 6 11.46 8.54 26 15.24 4.76 46 17.79 2.21 66 19.51 0.49 7 11.68 8.32 27 15.39 4.61 47 17.89 2.11 67 19.58 0.42 8 11.90 8.10 28 15.54 4.46 48 17.99 2.01 68 19.65 0.35 9 12.12 7.88 29 15.69 4.31 49 18.09 1.91 69 19.72 0.28 10 12.33 7.67 30 15.83 4.17 50 18.19 1.81 70 19.79 0.21 11 12.54 7.46 31 15.97 4.03 51 18.29 1.71 71 19.85 0.15 12 12.75 7.25 32 16.11 3.89 52 18.38 1.62 72 19.91 0.09 13 12.95 7.05 33 16.25 3.75 53 18.47 1.53 73 19.97 0.03 14 13.15 6.85 34 16.38 3.62 54 18.56 1.44 74+ 20.00 0.00 15 13.34 6.66 35 16.51 3.49 55 18.65 1.35 16 13.53 6.47 36 16.64 3.36 56 18.74 1.26 17 13.72 6.28 37 16.77 3.23 57 18.82 1.18 18 13.90 6.10 38 16.89 3.11 58 18.90 1.10 19 14.08 5.92 39 17.01 2.99 59 18.98 1.02 English Bridge Union Broadfields Bicester Road Aylesbury HP19 8AZ Tel: 01296 317200 Fax: 01296 317220 Email: dawn@ebu.co.uk 8 Last updated: 9 February 2018