County Teams Championship Qualifying

General Information

• Only players who have Berks and Bucks as their Prime County, full members, can play

• Teams may have up to 6 players.  Teams of 4 may add players up to the semi-final of the knock-out rounds.

• Cost £24 per team. (Less £3 per junior player).  This includes entry to later stages.

• Held at New Windsor Community Association.

• All players should be seated by 1.20 p.m. for a prompt 1.30 p.m. start.

• Players delayed by traffic should phone 07522 015305.

• Free tea and coffee etc. provided.  Players should bring their own food for the short break.

• Play is expected to finish about 8 p.m.

Permitted Systems and Conventions

• Level 4 systems and conventions are allowed.  

• The Director will be rigorous in the application of the full EBU requirements for convention cards. In particular - 

  • Players using any Level 4 systems or conventions must each have convention card EBU 20B
  • Players without two convention cards will be required to play a simple system

Play

• There may be 1 session with less than 16 tables.  

• We expect to play 44 boards.   

• Teams will be in 1 section unless high numbers make this impractical

• Scoring will be by computer with travellers.

• Scoring is by IMPs.  

• The target rate of play is 15 minutes for a two board round and 21 minutes for a three board round. 

• The Director will take an active role in encouraging pairs who are persistently slow to speed up.

•   Players should be warned in advance that they will be penalised if they fail to catch up.  If necessary, a board which has not been started, or already played at the other table, should be removed.  A board is in play if bidding has started.

Qualifiers for knock-out rounds

• Half the field will qualify for the knock-out stages of the County Teams Championship, up to a maximum of 16. 

• In the case of an odd number of teams, the number of qualifiers will be rounded down so, for example, there will be 14 qualifiers in a field of 29. 

• If there is a tie for the last qualifying position, the procedure depends on the number of teams. If there are fewer than 34, the tie will be broken using standard EBU procedures. If there are 34 or more teams, the tie will not be broken.

Draw for knock-out rounds 

Full details of the draw for 16 qualifiers is shown below.