Playoff Rules

The playoffs are nearly upon us again, so there follows the customary announcement of the playoff rules. Veterans may cheerfully skip reading the rest, as nothing has changed since last time.

All players should note that no extensions are possible in round 7; all games must be completed by 19:00 on Tuesday, December 10th. Extensions will again be possible in the playoff round, which is nominally round 8.

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, and more crucially will have draw odds in case the match finishes 2-2.

In 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 is the next tiebreaker. If that is also equal, 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.