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BGonline.org Forums
Tournament Scheduling Controls
Posted By: Bill Riles
Date: Tuesday, 11 April 2017, at 7:28 p.m.
I tried a new idea at the Cherry Blossom Backgammon Championship in Washington, D.C. this past weekend.
We had a 64 player double elimination bracket format in both the Championship and Intermediate Divisions. Starting at 11:00 am and 11:15 am, respectively, Saturday provided a serious challenge to complete the events by mid- to late-afternoon Sunday. We could not accept significant breaks -- which is oftentimes commonplace with many players -- between matches and hope to maintain the schedule.
So, I explained during the announcements that we would record match completion times on the brackets for every match. When the second player was defined for a match, the official start time of the subsequent match was established as 15 minutes after the finish of the second player's prior match. Penalty points would begin 15 minutes after that.
I didn't really have to say much again. I could see players noting the fact that I was writing the match completion times when I wrote their names on the brackets. They knew I was serious and they knew the times were documented. I had no problems, it ran very smoothly.
This system will not work with every format nor is it necessary with the extended schedules of certain tournaments; however, with the conditions of the Cherry Blossom it worked superbly -- we had zero delayed matches and we finished the tournaments at reasonable hours.
Others in similar circumstances might consider implementing a similar system. I already know another tournament later in the year in the States with a similar schedule and format already plans to do the same.
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