European Go Championship Tournament Rules

Proposals

Besides specifying the system fully in writing for the first time, this document contains proposals to change the European Championship system. Three different votes are needed to decide the system.

Vote (a): The basic proposal, including the starting phase 2008 is [adopted | rejected].
Vote (b): The EGF Executive [decides | does not decide] one league player by wild card.
Vote (c): From 2010 on, the big league system is [adopted | rejected].

Abbreviations: "PKO" is Preliminary Knockout Tournament. "QT" is Qualification Tournament. "(number)" is an alternative allocation according to vote (b).

Qualification system to the league	Start 2008	Basic proposal	Big league
Major qualification characteristic	no QT yet	PKO + QT	QT
Vote	(a)	(a)	(c)
Year	2008	2009 or later	2010 or later
Players	10	10	12
European Masters 2007	2	-	-
Previous EGC league path	-	3	4
Previous EGC McMahon tournament	4 (3)	1	1
PKO	4	3 (2)	-
QT	-	3	7 (6)
Wild card by EGF Executive, vote (b)	(1)	(1)	(1)

The Basic Proposal

Overview

During the European Go Congress, the tournament system is a parallel combination of a league path and a McMahon. In between European Go Congresses, there are the European Championship Qualification Tournaments.
The winner of the league path is the European Champion. The winner of the McMahon is the European Open Champion.
The league path consists of Preliminary Knockout Tournaments, then the league of 10 Europeans, and then, if necessary, of tiebreaking playoffs. [If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, the league path consists of the league of 12 Europeans and then, if necessary, of tiebreaking playoffs."]
The players qualified for the league are:

the top 3 players of the previous year's league path,
the 3 winners of the 3 European Championship Qualification Tournaments,
the 3 winners of the 3 Preliminary Knockout Tournaments, [If vote (b) is accepted: "the 2 winners of the 2 deciding games after the Preliminary Knockout Tournaments,"]
the top 1 European of the previous year's McMahon tournament.
[If vote (b) is accepted: "1 player chosen by the EGF Executive's wild card."]

[If vote (c) is accepted, add this paragraph:] From 2010 on, the players qualified for the league are:

the top 4 players of the previous year's league path,
the 7 winners of the 7 European Championship Qualification Tournaments, [If vote (b) is accepted: "the 6 winners of the 6 European Championship Qualification Tournaments,"]
the top 1 European of the previous year's McMahon tournament.
[If vote (b) is accepted: "1 player chosen by the EGF Executive's wild card."]

The McMahon has 10 rounds and is open to all players not playing in or dropped out of the league path.

The European Championship Qualification Tournaments (QT)

General

The 3 QTs are organised in between every two European Go Championships. [If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, the 7 QTs are organised in between every two European Go Championships." If votes (b) and (c) are accepted, replace: "7" by "6".] The tournaments are independent of other tournaments or series of tournaments.
The winner of each QT qualifies for the next European Go Championship's league.
The tournaments will be geographically distributed in different regions of Europe.
The tournaments should not overlap with world championships or the most important other European tournaments. The national championships should not overlap with the QT in or close to the related countries.
The tentative schedule reserves the time either from Friday 12:00 to Sunday 18:00 or from Saturday 9:00 to Monday 15:00. The players should be prepared to be present during the tentative schedule's period. This should allow enough rounds to be played. The tentative schedule is published not later than at the start of preregistration. The final schedule should be published within one week after the preregistration is closed. The start of the tournament in the final schedule may not be earlier than in the tentative schedule and the finish of the tournament in the final schedule may not be later than in the tentative schedule.
If an organiser wants to make an alternate schedule, which includes more than three days or Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, he should ask permission from the EGF prior to submitting his bid for the tournament.

Players and Registration

Each player may attend exactly one QT of his choice. [If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, each player may attend up to two QTs of his choice."]
Preregistration is mandatory.
The organizers regularly have to update and announce the list of already preregistered players.
Late preregistration incurs a higher fee.
If a player cancels his preregistration, then he is counted as having used one QT of his choice, unless exceptional circumstances valid for skipping a round according to the EGF General Tournament Rules apply or the cancellation was caused by registration by a player with a higher priority, as described below.
Any European 5 dan or stronger may participate. - If in the QT there is no 5 dan or stronger from a country, then one 4 dan from that country may participate. A preregistration of a 5 dan from the country causes a cancellation of the registration of a 4 dan from the same country. - If no 4 dan or stronger from a country participates in any QT, then the country may nominate one player of its choice to play in the one QT that is in or near to the country.
Participants of a QT may not already be qualified for the next European Go Championship's league, and have to play all rounds in the QT and, if qualified, in the knockout. - The winner of a QT has to play all games in the next European Go Championship's league and playoff.
Participants, who need to be Europeans, have to prove their presence until 60 minutes before the scheduled start of round 1.
The entry fee may not be higher than EUR 25 (less is recommended). The entry fee for the players to preregister later may not be higher than EUR 50 (less is recommended). The tournament winner receives at least EUR 250.

Tournament System

Each QT's tournament system is Swiss, with the exceptions below. Within the Swiss, determination of the first place is an approximation of a knockout. The number of wins is the only used criterion.
Before round 1, the players are assigned numbers starting from 1, according to their rating, with ties being broken by lottery.
In round 1, exactly so many players with the lowest numbers get byes that - under normal circumstances - in round 2 the number of players in the upper group is a power of 2.
The maximal number of rounds is chosen to select one winner from the tournament: 3 rounds for 7-8 players, 4 rounds for 9-16 players, 5 rounds for 17-32 players, 6 rounds for 33-64 players, 7 rounds for 65-128 players.
A QT's main purpose is to qualify exactly one winner for the league. The number of rounds is calculated so that under normal circumstances there will be a single winner. When in exceptional circumstances some games fail to produce a winner, the tournament director may adjust the system to better fulfil the purpose. In particular, the tournament can end earlier if already the winner has been determined as the only remaining player with the greatest number of wins.
If the number of players is at most 6, then the system is round-robin.
The thinking time in the Swiss or round-robin is 90 minutes basic time. If the Swiss has 7 rounds, the thinking time is 75 minutes. In both cases, the default byoyomi is 30 seconds Japanese byoyomi or else, if the clocks cannot handle this, 15 stones in 5 minutes Canadian Byoymi.

Knockout Playoff

If after the round-robin or Swiss there is a tie for the first place, then it is dissolved by a knockout playoff.
The players in the knockout receive numbers starting from 1 in order of their rating just before the QT, ties broken by lottery. The pairings are as in the league's knockout playoff.
The knockout's final game decides the final places 1 and 2. The other players in the knockout share the final place 3. The players not in the knockout keep their places as final.
The thinking time in the knockout is 30 minutes basic time plus 20 stones in 5 minutes Canadian Byoyomi.

The Preliminary Knockout Tournaments (PKO)

General

There are 3 [If vote (b) is accepted: "4"] PKOs during the European Go Congress.
The winner of each PKO qualifies for the European Go Championship's league. [If vote (b) is accepted: "The 2 winners of the 2 deciding games after the Preliminary Knockout Tournaments qualify for the European Go Championship's league."]
The players dropping out of a PKO play all remaining rounds of the McMahon tournament. All results of the games in the PKOs also count for the McMahon tournament's rounds 1 to 3 while starting from the highest McMahon Score.
If players qualified for the league could not participate because of an emergency, then just after the PKOs the smallest pairing number players with exactly 2 wins in a PKO are also qualified to make the league complete again.
The rounds are played on the first Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of the European Go Congress.
The participants pay the All Events entry fee for the European Go Congress.
The winner of a PKO has to play all games in the next European Go Championship's league and playoff.
The thinking time per player is 2.5 hours basic time plus 1 minute byoyomi.
Participants have to prove their presence until the deadline at 22:00 on the European Go Congress's first Saturday.

Participants

Players are eligible to participate in the PKOs if they

are Europeans,
are not already qualified for the European Go Championship's league, and
until the deadline sign in the Tournament Agreement to play all rounds of the league path or, if they drop out during a PKO, all remaining rounds of the McMahon tournament.

The participants are the 24 eligible players with the highest rating. In order of their rating, ties broken by lottery, they receive the numbers 1 to 24. [If vote (b) is accepted: "The participants are the 32 eligible players with the highest rating. In order of their rating, ties broken by lottery, they receive the numbers 1 to 32."]

Pairings

The PKO I has the pairings A) 1 - 24, B) 12 - 13, C) 6 - 19, D) 7 - 18 in round 1, A - B, C - D in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.
The PKO II has the pairings E) 2 - 23, F) 11 - 14, G) 5 - 20, H) 8 - 17 in round 1, E - F, G - H in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.
The PKO III has the pairings I) 3 - 22, J) 10 - 15, K) 4 - 21, L) 9 - 16 in round 1, I - J, K - L in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.

Pairings [If vote (b) is accepted.]

The PKO I has the pairings A) 1 - 32, B) 16 - 17, C) 9 - 24, D) 8 - 25 in round 1, A - B, C - D in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.
The PKO II has the pairings E) 2 - 31, F) 15 - 18, G) 10 - 23, H) 7 - 26 in round 1, E - F, G - H in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.
The PKO III has the pairings I) 3 - 30, J) 14 - 19, K) 11 - 22, L) 6 - 27 in round 1, I - J, K - L in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.
The PKO IV has the pairings M) 4 - 29, N) 13 - 20, O) 12 - 21, P) 5 - 28 in round 1, M - N, O - P in round 2, and pairs its winners in round 3.
Afterwards in the evening of the congress's first Tuesday, the winner of PKO I plays the winner of PKO IV and winner of PKO II plays the wiiner of PKO III. This decides the two qualificants for the league.

The League

General

The league of 10 Europeans is played in 9 rounds round-robin.
At the end of the league, the players are ordered by greater numbers of wins. If thereby exactly one player is at place 1, he is the European Champion. The first three players are qualified for the next year's league. If players tie for places 1, 2, or 3, these ties are dissolved by the knockout playoff.
The games are played from the European Go Congress's first Wednesday to the last Friday, except the second Sunday.
The participants pay the All Events entry fee for the European Go Congress.
A player qualified for the league has to play all his games.
The thinking time per player is 2.5 hours basic time plus 1 minute byoyomi.
Participants have to prove their presence until 22:00 on the Tuesday before the league's round 1.

Pairings

Before the league's round 1, the players are assigned the numbers 1 to 10 by lottery. The first mentioned player of every pair is Black.
The round 1 pairings are: 1 - 10, 2 - 9, 3 - 8, 4 - 7, 5 - 6.
The round 2 pairings are: 9 - 1, 8 - 10, 7 - 2, 6 - 3, 4 - 5.
The round 3 pairings are: 1 - 8, 9 - 7, 10 - 6, 2 - 5, 3 - 4.
The round 4 pairings are: 7 - 1, 6 - 8, 5 - 9, 4 - 10, 2 - 3.
The round 5 pairings are: 1 - 6, 7 - 5, 8 - 4, 9 - 3, 10 - 2.
The round 6 pairings are: 5 - 1, 4 - 6, 3 - 7, 2 - 8, 10 - 9.
The round 7 pairings are: 1 - 4, 5 - 3, 6 - 2, 7 - 10, 8 - 9.
The round 8 pairings are: 3 - 1, 2 - 4, 10 - 5, 9 - 6, 8 - 7.
The round 9 pairings are: 1 - 2. 3 - 10, 4 - 9, 5 - 8, 6 - 7.

The League / from 2010 on [If vote (c) is accepted, add this paragraph.]

General

The league of 12 Europeans is played in 11 rounds round-robin.
At the end of the league, the players are ordered by greater numbers of wins. If thereby exactly one player is at place 1, he is the European Champion. The first four players are qualified for the next year's league. If players tie for places 1, 2, 3, or 4, these ties are dissolved by the knockout playoff.
The games are played from the European Go Congress's first Sunday to the last Friday, except for the first Wednesday and second Sunday.
The participants pay the All Events entry fee for the European Go Congress.
A player qualified for the league has to play all his games.
The thinking time per player is 2.5 hours basic time plus 1 minute byoyomi.
Participants have to prove their presence until 22:00 on the Saturday before the league's round 1.

Pairings

Before the league's round 1, the players are assigned the numbers 1 to 12 by lottery. The first mentioned player of every pair is Black.
The round 1 pairings are: 1 - 12, 2 - 11, 3 - 8, 4 - 7, 5 - 10, 6 - 9.
The round 2 pairings are: 11 - 1, 12 - 2, 7 - 3, 8 - 4, 9 - 5, 10 - 6.
The round 3 pairings are: 1 - 10, 2 - 9, 3 - 12, 4 - 11, 5 - 8, 6 - 7.
The round 4 pairings are: 9 - 1, 10 - 2, 11 - 3, 12 - 4, 7 - 5, 8 - 6.
The round 5 pairings are: 1 - 8, 2 - 7, 3 - 10, 4 - 9, 5 - 12, 6 - 11.
The round 6 pairings are: 7 - 1, 2 - 8, 9 - 3, 10 - 4, 11 - 5, 12 - 6.
The round 7 pairings are: 1 - 6, 3 - 2, 4 - 5, 7 - 12, 8 - 9, 10 - 11.
The round 8 pairings are: 5 - 1, 4 - 2, 6 - 3, 9 - 7, 11 - 8, 12 - 10.
The round 9 pairings are: 1 - 4, 2 - 6, 3 - 5, 7 - 10, 8 - 12, 9 - 11.
The round 10 pairings are: 3 - 1, 5 - 2, 6 - 4, 11 - 7, 10 - 8, 12 - 9.
The round 11 pairings are: 1 - 2, 4 - 3, 5 - 6, 8 - 7, 10 - 9, 11 - 12.

The League's Knockout Playoffs

General

On the last Friday evening and the last Saturday, one or two knockout playoffs dissolve ties of two or more players for the places 1, 2, or 3. [If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, on the last Friday evening and the Saturday after the league, one or two knockout playoffs dissolve ties of two or more players for the places 1, 2, 3, or 4."] A knockout of only 1 round is played on Saturday. - Otherwise a knockout playoff is not held.
The players in a knockout receive numbers starting from 1 in the following order: 1) the final places of the previous year's league path, 2) the previous year's McMahon tournament, 3) the QTs in chronological order, 4) the PKOs in pairing number order, 5) the wild card. [If vote (b) is not accepted, delete (5). If vote (c) is accepted, delete (4).]
A player seeded into a knockout has to play all his games.
If the knockout has 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 rounds, then the thinking time is 150 / 120 / 90 / 60 minutes basic time plus 20 stones in 5 minutes Canadian Byoymi.

Pairings and Final Places

In every round of a knockout before the last one, the players are paired by folding their numbers, i.e., pair the lowest with the highest number, the second lowest with the second highest, etc. Only the winners remain in the knockout.
If in round 1 the total number of players in a knockout exceeds a power of two by x, then the 2*x players with the greatest numbers are paired while the other players get a free win.
If after the league exactly two players tie for a place 1, 2, or 3, then the winner of the related knockout gets that final place and the loser gets the next final place. [If vote (c) is accepted: "From 2010 on, if after the league exactly two players tie for a place 1, 2, 3, or 4, then the winner of the related knockout gets that final place and the loser gets the next final place."] If the winner gets the final place 1, he is the European Champion.
If after the league exactly three players tie for place 1, then the winner of the knockout's round 2 game gets the final place 1 and is the European Champion. The loser of that game gets the final place 2. The loser of the knockout's round 1 game gets the final place 3.
If after the league more than three players tie for place 1, then in the knockout's last round the previous round's winners play to decide the final place 1 and the European Champion versus the final place 2 while the previous round's losers play to decide the final places 3 and 4.
If after the league three or more players tie for place 2, then the knockout's last round game determines the final places 2 and 3. [If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, if more than three players were involved, the losers of the penultimate round play a game to determine the final places 4 and 5."]
If after the league three or more players tie for place 3, then the knockout's last round game determines the final places 3 and 4.
[If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, if after the league three or more players tie for place 4, then the knockout's last round game determines the final place 4."]
All, if any, players in the knockout without a final place as above yet share the next final place. The league players not in the knockout keep their places as final.

The McMahon Tournament

General

The McMahon tournament is held during the European Go Congress. The rounds are Sunday to Saturday except Wednesdays and the weekend in between. One round is played per day. Each game starts in the morning.
The rounds start on time. The congress organizers, tournament director, and tournament organizers make the necessary preparations and tests and educate themselves to ensure this. Rounds 1 and 6 require special preparation. In particular, the organizers plan carefully the management of work, databases, spelling of names, tournament data input, backups, Tournament Agreements and their translation during the registration, the current rating list, information about justification of the ranks of unrated non-European players eligible for the supergroup, and prepare all data relevant for the supergroup until the deadline of round 1. The tournament organizers publish a round's results as soon as possible and not later than before the start of the next round or a prize giving and mark the league path players in the McMahon tournament.
Handicaps may only be used below 15 kyu. All other games are even games.
The thinking times are the same for both players and depend on the higher ranked player as follows: a) 4 dan or above: 2.5 hours basic time + 1 minute byoyomi, b) 3 kyu - 3 dan: 2 hours basic time + 45 seconds byoyomi, c) 4 kyu or below: 1.5 hours basic time + 30 seconds byoyomi. However, if the clocks cannot manage 45 seconds byoyomi, then 40 seconds byoyomi is used.
The game results of the PKOs are also counted for the McMahon tournament as if the players had started in the supergroup or, if it equals the top bar group, above the top bar.

Entry or Leaving

The tournament is open for all amateur or professional, European or non-European players, except that they have to register in time and are not currently playing in the league path.
Generally the deadline is 0:00 am on a player's day of playing his first game, with the following exceptions. On the Sunday of round 1, the deadline is 2:00 am. However, the deadline for entering the supergroup is 22:00 on the Saturday before round 1. The congress organizers announce this suitably also for preregistration of Asian players.
The specified rank is the player's European rank and is used during both weeks. Exceptions have to be confirmed by the tournament supervisors.
Each player has to sign a Tournament Agreement and in particular: "I abide by the EGF General Tournament Rules. If I play in the supergroup, then I play all 10 rounds. If I am 4 dan or stronger, then I do not omit a game during the period for which I have registered. If I am weaker than 4 dan, then for dropping one round I use the proper form and give it to the organizers the day before until the deadline." Players not reading English are carefully informed about the Tournament Agreement and sign a language version of it that they understand.
A player not playing a round without proper notification can be expelled from the tournament. If a 4 dan or stronger misses a round during his registered period, then, as a minimal consequence and being checked for the three following years, he may not play in the supergroup during his next participation in the European Go Championship.
Late entries do not play in the supergroup, unless it equals the top bar group.
Players dropping out of a PKO continue to play in the McMahon tournament's supergroup afterwards for all remaining rounds.
Players already qualified for the league may participate in rounds 1 to 3 of the McMahon tournament but do not gain any advantage or disadvantage from this other than their rating change. If they start in round 1, they enter the highest McMahon Score. If they start in round 2 or 3, they enter like other late entry players into the top group. [If vote (c) is accepted, add: "From 2010 on, this paragraph does not apply."]

Top Bar and Supergroup

The top bar is set to the smallest rank 4 dan or above so that the number of players - including those in the PKOs - entering for round 1 and being above the top bar is at most 67 plus the number of such players already qualified for the league. [If vote (c) is accepted, from 2010 on, delete "plus the number of such players already qualified for the league"]
The Europeans in the PKOs are in the McMahon tournament's supergroup.
Other Europeans and non-Europeans are in the supergroup if they

are above the top bar and,
in the Tournament Agreement, have declared to play all 10 rounds.

The supergroup starts 1 McMahon point above the top bar. However, if then the top bar group contained fewer than 8 players, then it equals the supergroup.

Pairings

For only the purpose of creating reasonably fair pairings, SOS-2 is used as a tiebreaker. If the pairing program cannot calculate it, then instead SOS is used. The exact pairing strategy is still undefined here and hence decided by the programmer.
During rounds 9 and 10, forced pairings are applied to some of those Europeans with McMahon Scores at most 1 below the European with currently the greatest McMahon Score. Such Europeans are paired by the following criteria in order:

No pair is repeated.
Players with the same McMahon Score are paired.
Maximize the number of pairs of such Europeans while pairing down at most one such European per McMahon group, if necessary.

Results

After round 10, the European Open Champion is the European or non-European player that has played all rounds and has the greatest McMahon Score. Ties are broken by Direct Comparison. If the pairing program cannot calculate Direct Comparison, then it is calculated by hand for those McMahon groups that include the top players. Then still tied places and possibly the title are shared.
After round 10, the European(s) qualified for the next year's league or other international tournaments is / are determined by these criteria in order: 1) having played all rounds, 2) McMahon Score, 3) Direct Comparison, 4) rating just before the start of the current European Go Congress, 5) lottery.

Definition of "European"

A player is a European if at least one of these conditions is fulfilled and, if necessary, he can prove this: The player is

a citizen of a country of that a Go association is a member of the EGF,
a citizen of a country that is entirely or partially situated in Europe,
a citizen of a country that is a member of the European Union,
a citizen of the European Union,
a citizen of Iceland or an island associated with a European country and in the Atlantic farther north than the British Isles,
not a citizen of any country but has had his main place of residence in the aforementioned countries or territorial units for at least 5 years,
any other person having had his main place of residence in the aforementioned countries or territorial units for at least 10 years.

Miscellaneous

The EGF General Tournament Rules and the Simplified Ing Rules apply. The league and a QT's round-robin use 7 komi and Japanese playing material. All other tournament stages or a QT's Swiss use either 7.5 komi and Japanese playing material or 8 komi (Black wins ties) and Ing playing material. If necessary in the McMahon tournament, the types of playing material and related komi can be split by board number.
Before the first round of a tournament or a stage of a tournament, the tournament director shortly explains the tournament system, rules, and tournament rules related to loss on time.
Games of the McMahon tournament with a 4 dan or stronger or of the league may be adjourned for lunch.
Forms for tournament agreements, results, sealing, and dropping are used together with deadlines.
A player is sanctioned if he does not fulfil his duty to play, unless in case of a great and proven emergency.
The EGF archives the final results and the names and countries of the title holders.
When the results of the European Go Championship are used to qualify players for international tournaments, then firstly come the players of the league and league knockout playoff in order of their final places, ties being dissolved by rating just before the start of the European Go Congress, then lottery, secondly the top placed Europeans of the McMahon tournament. When players do not accept a qualification; the next players in order become the substitutes.
After the European Go Congresses 2007, 2008, and 2009, the EGF Rules Commission publishes updated versions of these rules, where the then redundant parts are dropped.

Starting phase 2008

The top 2 Europeans of the European Masters 2007 are qualified for the league 2008.
The top 4 [If vote (b) is accepted: "3"] other Europeans of the EGC McMahon 2007 are qualified for the league 2008.
The 4 winners of the 4 PKOs are qualified for the league 2008. The pairing rules are those of 2009, except that after the PKOs no further deciding games are played. [If vote (b) is not accepted, then replace this by copying the PKO / Participants section and moving the PKO / Pairings vote (b) section here.]
[If vote (b) is accepted: "1 player chosen by the EGF Executive's wild card."]

Commentary

According to the EGF General Tournament Rules, colours in knockout games are decided by nigiri.
The top bar group shall have at most 67 players because the 3 winners of the Preliminary Knockout Tournaments are in the supergroup just pro forma. This leaves at most 64, which has traditionally been considered a good number.
The number of supergroup players playing all 10 rounds can vary from 21 to 64, if up to 43 Europeans or non-Europeans don't play in the Preliminary Knockout Tournaments. Therefore the supergroup is always big enough and could hardly ever be too small to miss a really strong non-European.
The top bar is well-defined unless more than 64 7 dans but no 8 dans appear.
The forced pairings in round 9 and 10 of the McMahon tournament lead to a shared title European Open Champion more easily because then Europeans and non-Europeans at the top do not necessarily play off each other.
A QT's Swiss does not need Direct Comparison because tied top placed players could be tied only due to default ties among themselves issued by arbitration.