2011 British - rules and schedules

Overall Schedule

Saturday and Sunday: the British Open, a 6 round McMahon tounament.

1 hour each, 7 points komi (we like jigos). "Canadian" overtime with varying time periods/stones. Jump down to main rules here.

Friday night; the British Lightning tournament.

15 minutes each, 7.5 komi (we want results, not jigos, here). Sudden death. Otherwise rules as per main tournament.

Self paired mixed 9x9, 13x13, 19x19 tournament.

Find your own opponent; play anyone, but not more than twice. Play any of the three board sizes. Choose your own time limits, decide for yourself on komi or sudden death. Komi to be as posted on the noticeboard. Otherwise rules as per main tournament. Score 3 points for a 19x19 win, 2 points for a 13x13 win, 1 point for a 9x9 win. The player with the most points wins.

Saturday and Sunday: team tournament, competing for the Nippon Club Cup.

Entries by start of round 2. Teams of 3 minimum, no maximum - must be from the same club. Prize for greatest winning percentage. Jigos count as half wins, so 2.5 wins out of 6 would be 42%. Teams have to work out their own percentages.

Under 18 trophy

All players under 18 year of age as of Saturday with 5 or 6 wins have their names go into a hat; the winner is drawn by chance from the hat.

If no winners of 5 or 6 games, players with 4 wins have their names go into the hat.

There will be prizes for all with 5 or 6 wins.

The Main Tournament Rules

In general, the BGA rules are used; see here. Some specifics and highlights follow...

Komi

Black gives white 7 points komi.

Time Limits

1 hour each.

Overtime

Periods are:

Very few people will get into the fourth period, and even if they do, they are likely to finish their games still playing at a rate of 20/5, i.e. 80 stones in 20 minutes should finish it. But there has to be an end to it if the schedule is to be maintained, in the event that a player plays extremely slowly during his alloted 1 hour. So 50/5 is where the rules get to say, "enough already!".

Overtime stones shall be counted out from the player's bowl and made clearly visible to the opponent.

Overtime administrative tasks are to be shared; while one player counts the stones, the other resets the clock. Stones should be counted promptly, and whilst the clock is stopped neither player should be analysing the game.

Playing

A move consists of placing a stone on an intersection and removing any consequent captures, or passing, and then pressing the clock. Note that the clock is not stopped for capturing a large number of stones.

Passing

When passing, a player must give a stone as a prisoner to his opponent. To end of the game, both players must pass in the sequence black, white; i.e. white has to pass last. If white wants to pass first, he can, but he still has to pass last (as well).

Late Players

When the referee says to start clocks, any games not already in progress should be started by white players pressing the clocks to initiate black's time period. If white is not there, black should do it. The referee will do it if neither player is present.

A player who arrives late by more than half an hour loses the game by forfeit. The player's opponent gets a free win, and this counts for prizes and pairing, but does not count for rating points. If neither player arrives in time, both lose.

If both players are late, black's clock will have been running. This is not fair on him, given that both players are late. Regardless of which player (or both) arrives first, the procedure is:

1. Black's clock is stopped.
2. White's clock is set to the elapsed time on Black's clock.
3. Black's clock is started.

Play then proceeds as normal.

Breaks

If a player leaves the table during the game, his clock is not stopped. If a player determines his move while his opponent is absent, he should play it and start his opponent's clock. When his opponent returns, the move should be pointed out. Players should not stop their clocks to go and get a coffee.

Disputes

Minor disputes should be resolved between the players. Advice may be sought from convenient "strong players" but such advice should not be offered unless so requested.

Any dispute not so resolved must be communicated to the referee as soon as possible and in any case before the results of the game are published. On-lookers are strongly discouraged from making any comments of any kind about a game in progress. If there is a suspected rule violation, then this should be brought to the attention of the referee, and should never be discussed with the players.

Triple Ko

Triple kos and other such repeated positions are prevented by a "Superko" rule: It is illegal for a player to play so as to recreate a board position of the game, previously created by a play of the same player.

Sekis and Bent-four-in-a-corners

You count points in a seki. You have to play out bent-four-in-a-corners, they are not automatically dead.

Etiquette

- Do not hold stones over the board as though you are about to play, then stop and have a think while your hand is still there.

- Do not put a stone on the board and leave your finger on it while you have a ponder, thinking you can pick it back up if you change your mind. You can't. Think of it as your move being putting the stone on the intersection, not taking your finger off.

Referee

The referee's final word is final. The referee will be identified at the tournament.