Tournaments 1 & 2 Rules/Format


Referee: Mark Mammel
Co-Directors: Joe King, happy, dweebo

The elimination method will use two brackets. A player losing a match will fall from bracket one to bracket two and then upon a second loss of match, from bracket two to elimination as explained below. At the start, all players will be placed into bracket #1 in random order. In each round, each pair of players (#1 vs #2, #3 vs #4 etc) will play each other in a match. If there are an odd number of players in the bracket, the last player does not play that round, but will be moved to the front of the list for the next round. After each round, all players from bracket #1 who lost their match will be moved to bracket #2 in the same order as they were in bracket #1, but after any players already in bracket #2. After each round, all players from bracket #2 who lost their match will be eliminated (having lost twice). The championship round will consist of the winner of bracket #1 vs. the winner of bracket #2.

A match will consist of two games, each player moving first in one game. If the result is a tie, another two games are played, and then a third pair if necessary. If all three matches are tied, the result is a draw and neither player is eliminated. (If both players agree, they may continue to play matches until a result is determined) Two players who have tied will remain in their bracket, but the one who was listed after the other in the list will be moved to the top or bottom of the list, whichever is further away, to lessen the chances of a rematch.

The time limit of every game will be 15 minutes for each player.

Standard tournament times are:
Saturday: 14:00 GMT (09:00 EST), 19:00 GMT, 24:00 GMT Sunday: 06:00 GMT, 12:00 GMT, 19:00 GMT
Weekdays: 16:00 GMT, 21:00 GMT, 24:00 GMT

You do NOT have to play at a standard tournament time, these are just some times that many people may congregate to play and watch. The time period to play matches in each round will be a period of 10 days, starting on a Friday and ending on a Sunday. You must arrange with your assigned opponent a time to meet and play your match. Be sure to indicate in correspondence, what time zone you are in when discussing times to meet. Players from different countries may wish to express times in GMT. A player who is not able to meet at any time during the match period will forfeit. If two players are unable to agree on a suitable meeting time by the beginning of the match period they must email me - I will assign two different standard times and days for the match to be held. If the players can't agree to either, I will assign one more standard time, either player not able to make it will forfeit.

You can send messages to your opponent from dweebo's site. Note: your real email address will be visible to the recipient of your email. If you for some reason do not want your opponent to know your email address, it is possible to send messages to me to be forwarded ( but I don't want to try to handle lots of messages!)

When a game is finished, BOTH players should email the game history to themselves from dweebo's site (Hit the email history button before starting a new game). When a winner is determined, the winner should email ALL games of the match to the referee. Do not panic if you forget to email the history, if both players agree to the winner that is OK. I can recover all games from dweebos site myself if necessary. (Do not attempt to alter game histories, I will recover the original version if there is a discrepancy). I, mmammel, am the referee, all disputes should be sent to me. But I will be playing also, any disputes against me should be sent to the two co-directors: Joe King and happy. dweebo will NOT be a referee, do NOT send him questions or disputes, he is busy enough working on his site.

Rules of Conduct:

  1. Time limit of each game is 15 minutes per player. If a player becomes disconnected or leaves, that player has five minutes to rejoin the game or will forfeit.
  2. No player may enter under two or more userids.
  3. No assistance from any other person is permitted during the game.
  4. No assistance from any computer AI is permitted.
  5. No assistance from ANY notes, opening books, game transcripts, or databases is permitted. (#3, 4, 5 are not possible to enforce - I cannot see what you are doing where you are - each player must follow these rules under the honor system!)
  6. Anyone is free to watch games in progress BUT do not make ANY comments during a tournament game in progress. At the COMPLETION of the game you may make polite comments if you wish, including ideas for different moves.
  7. At the completion of a game, both players should hit Email History before starting another game or leaving. Both players then should have the opportunity to review the game before starting another.
  8. The use of the UNDO request is permitted, but your opponent is NEVER obligated to accept any undo request even if you accidentally dropped a stone in an obviously erroneous place (such as the edge of the board). In a tournament, any mistake, even a slip of the hand (or mouse) is part of the game.
  9. All disputes will be brought to the attention of the referee immediately.
  10. Any player showing improper conduct and/or poor sportsmanship may be dropped from the tournament at the discretion of the referee and directors.