The next FIBS tournament
David Eggert
Dear Fellow Gammoners,
Due to the fact that people seem to want one, and apparently I am crazy
enough to run one, I have decided to host another tournament. The intent is
to get as many people on the FIBS server involved as possible, so don't
feel shy
about joining, even if you aren't the world's greatest backgammon player
or are
fairly new. We are all here to have fun, or at least we should be.
And now for the promo:
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FIBS Tournament Central Productions Presents
Snoopy's
EAST VS. WEST
Everybody Deserves a Second Chance Invitational
Features: Double elimination format
Pairings against opponents of equal caliber
Two divisions of play based on time zone location
Where: Run on the FIBS server (telnet 134.130.130.46 8765), the greatest
backgammon server ever,developed and maintained by Andreas
Schneider.
When: Tentatively scheduled to begin during the first week of May. Exact
start date will depend on when a critical mass of players are
registered. Registration is first come first serve.
Length of tournament will depend on the number of participants.
Who: Anyone who wants to play and has an id on FIBS. I encourage all
players to join in. The idea is to get as much participation as
possible. Remember, its just a game.
How: If you are interested in playing, either send a message on FIBS to
Snoopy, or send an email message to sno...@sanibel.csee.usf.edu.
Please include your FIBS id, an email address where you can be
reached, and what time zone relative to UTC time you are in.
Warning: Anyone found to be entered under two separate ids will
be forfeited from the tournament.
And now for a few more specific details and rules.
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Tournament Format
First, the group of players will be divided into two divisions based on
time zone locations. Basically it will be the WEST (North and South
America) in one group, and the EAST (Europe, Africa, Middle East) in the
other. Players in Asia, Australia, etc. will be placed into the group
that provides the smallest time difference. This grouping is being done
to try to eliminate many of the time conflicts involved with playing
someone halfway across the world that I noticed in the last tournament.
Unfortunately this reduces the amount of international competition.
Perhaps I'll figure out a way to reintroduce this factor in the future.
The number of players in each division will be a nice power of two. I
would like to have at least 32 players in each division, and 64 would be
great. As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. Players will be
registered on a first come, first serve basis. A waiting list will be
established, and any no shows in the first round will be filled by the
first people on the list. Depending on the rate at which people are
signing up for the tournament, I will decide what the critical mass of
players is and then start the tournament.
Each division will play an independent tournament as described below. The
winners of each division will then play a best 2 out of 3 matches to
decide the overall invitational championship.
Each divisional tournament will have a double elimination format, hence
the second chance nature of the title. Depending on the number of players
there will be a set number of rounds. Each round will be a maximum of 7
days in length. The deadlines of each round will be posted with the
pairings. If all matches are completed before the deadline (and I
encourage you to do so) the next round will then start. At the beginning
of each round you will be notified by email of your opponent. The pairings
will also be posted on the server. You will have until the deadline of the
round to get together with your opponent and play your match. If a single
player has made a good faith effort to contact his opponent (good faith
can be documented by doing a cc to me on any email contact), and his
opponent has not responded by the deadline, then the player will be
awarded a victory on the basis of a forfeit. Under certain circumstances,
with the approval of the organizer, extensions to the deadline may be
arranged. I was fairly lenient on deadlines in my last tournament, but I
plan to be stricter this time, since things really dragged at the end. If
neither player contacts the organizer by the deadline, then both players
will be forfeited and removed from the competition (this shouldn't have
to happen).
Pairings for each round will be assigned as follows. Players will be
grouped according to their record so far in the tournament, e.g. the
undefeated players will play each other and those with one loss will play
each other in each round. Once a player has lost two games, that player
is out of the tournament. Within a group of players with the same record,
players will be ranked using their FIBS rating as determined at the
beginning of each round. Players will then pair off with the one nearest
to them in the list, i.e. 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, etc. This should make each
match as even as possible without using any handicaps. Players will play
a match according to the format below, and at the end of each match, one
or both of the players will email me the results of the match.
As stated above, the winners of each division will square off against
each other in a best 2 out of 3 matches. The records the winners
accumulated in each division will be ignored for the final.
Match Format
Each match will be played according to normal backgammon conventions as
followed by the server. There will be no animals allowed in these matches,
i.e., otters, beavers, raccoons, etc. Matches will be played using the
unlimited length option on the server so that, as doc would put it,
"the ratings are not polluted". The Crawford rule will be in effect in
all matches, but since this rule is not automatically monitored by the
server in an unlimited match, the players will enforce it themselves.
Match Length -- First round matches will be 5 points in length. Match
lengths will increase by one point every other round,
i.e., round 2 is 5 pts, round 3 is 6, round 5 is 7...
Match Handicaps -- There will be no handicaps, other than the fact that
you will be playing the remaining opponent who is
nearest in ability to you (as determined by FIBS
ratings system).
Match Conduct
During each match a player may only use the facilities available on the
FIBS server (i.e. the pip counter). No advice from another computerized
source or via messages from others on the server will be allowed. Those
found to be using such sources will be forfeited from the tournament.
Should any disputes arise, the players should contact the organizer and
the dispute will be resolved. All decisions made by the organizer are
final.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. If you have any questions and/or are interested
in playing please, send me a note. Good luck and happy backgammoning. BTW, so
that I can join in the fun too this time, I will be participating in the WEST
division, so watch out.
Snoopy
a.k.a. David Eggert
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida USA
sno...@sanibel.csee.usf.edu