Round 7 and the Playoffs

As we enter the final regular round, it is time to remind everyone about how the playoffs work, and who qualifies for them. Veterans can skip this, as nothing has changed since last time.

First of all, everyone should note that no extensions are possible in round 7; all games must be completed by 19:00 on Tuesday, March 11th. For the playoff round (round 8) extensions are again possible as usual.

The top two teams in each section will play for their section title. The team who finished first in the regular season will have white on boards 1 and 3. More importantly, if the match finishes at 2-2, the first-placed team has draw odds, and will be declared champions.

For determining the final standings, match points (MPs) count first, followed by individual game points (GPs). If two teams are tied on both of these scores, the head-to-head result between those teams is the next tiebreaker. If that match finished 2-2, then the team that accrued the fewest forfeits throughout the tourney progresses. If this is also equal, then board removal takes place: board 4 results are removed, and then the head-to-head tiebreaker is recalculated. if that game was a draw, board 3 is removed, and so on. If all four games in the head-to-head match were drawn, then board removal is recalculated for all rounds.

Note that the standings page only takes MPs and GPs into account, since in practice the remaining tiebreakers are rarely needed.

edit: Please note that the beginning of daylight saving in the US  will mean that server time moves forward an hour. On Sunday, March 9th at 02:00 server time will become 03:00. Please keep this in mind when scheduling games, especially if your local time does not change. If in doubt, use the "date" command on FICS.