Pandanet-­AGA City League Plan­ Season 3

Goals and Purposes:

The principal purposes of this new tournament are (1) to provide training and competition for AGA players (2) to promote Internet Go using the Pandanet platform; and (3) to create a venue for seeking and encouraging regional sponsorship of Go in North America.

League Rules and Regulations

This section to lay out all rules and regulations of the league functions and play. The tournament format is single round robin.

Leagues

A league ­ 6 teams
B league ­ 6 teams
C league ­ 6 teams (handicap league)

League Season

1st: January 1, 2013 ­ August 15th, 2013
2nd: September 1, 2013 ­ August 15th, 2014
3rd: October 1, 2014 ­ August 15th, 2015

Teams

­ Teams will consist of 4 players, 3 of which are the main team players, with one player acting as an alternate in case one of the 3 main players is unable to play a round.

Team Consistency

Team roster is to remain unchanged for the entire season; no transfer, hiring, or firing of playing members is allowed during the season. If an issue in regard to this is raised, it will be handled on a case-­by-­case basis by the TD. If the TD grants a change in roster, the new player must be within 1 rank of the player that they are replacing. ­ Beginning from the close of the first season, it is the city / regional team that retains its ranking in the League. Should a player from any team move away or not wish to continue playing in the league for the following season, the city / regional team may replace that player. The change in average rank resulting from player rating improvement, decline, or replacement does not affect the standing of the team.

Players

Professional and amateur players with full or youth AGA or CGA membership from the beginning of each League Season. AGA or CGA membership is to be maintained continuously throughout the season. Players must be residents in the city or region that the team represents before the beginning of the League Season, with no plans to move away during the season. If moving to another city becomes necessary during the League Season, that player may finish the season with his / her original team, but may not continue to play for that city /regional team in the following seasons.­ Players must have full or youth AGA or CGA membership by October 1, 2014 in order to participate in Season 3.

Team Placement

Placement of teams in the A and B league for the opening season (2012/­2013) will be based upon combined AGA rank of the 3 main playing team members as of December 20th. Placement for all subsequent seasons will be based on the final standings of the preceding season. The close of every season, the bottom ranked player from the A league will move to the B league, and the top ­ranked player from the B league will move to the A league. Similarly, the bottom ranked player from the B league will move to the C league, and the top ­ranked player from the C league will be promoted to the B league.

New Team Entry

New teams organized after the initial season may enter the C league without contestation. If they wish to place into the higher leagues, there will be a qualifier tournament before the beginning of every season where they can potentially win a spot as the bottom seed in the B league. If this is not achieved, they will be entered into the C league. In order to advance to the A league, a team must progress from the B league.

Game Rules

­ AGA rules, 7.5 komi
­ 60 minutes basic time
­ 25 moves in 10 minutes Canadian byo­yomi
­ All games will be played on Pandanet IGS in the AGA City League Room
­ In each round, 3 games will be played: 3 playing members of team x versus 3 playing members from team y. Any team with at least 2 out of 3 winning players wins that round.
­ Main players are seeded based on their rating at the start of each League season (September 28th, 2013) When two teams play, the first seeds from the two teams play, the second seeds from the two teams play, and the third seeds from the two teams play.
In the event that the alternate player must replace one of the main players, that player will play on the board that the main player would have played on.

Schedule of Rounds

All games will be played at the default time of 3pm Eastern Time on the scheduled day of the round. Please note that default times have been moved back to Sundays, and are scheduled to avoid 3­day weekends, holidays, or other major Go events we know about at this time.

Round 1: November 23 2014
Round 2: January 25 2015
Round 3: February 22 2015
Round 4: March 29 2015
Round 5: April 26 2015

Final A ­League Round: August / US Go Congress

Team Captain

The non-­playing team captains for each team will coordinate availability and scheduling for his/her team and be the point of contact between his or her team and the TD. As such, the team captain is responsible for receiving and, if necessary, forwarding emails any pertinent information to his or her players. The TD shall not be responsible for contacting individual players, and any issues or questions that players wish to raise with the TD should be raised by their team captain.

Game Scheduling

The pairings for the entire season are immediately available. For any rounds, players (through their Team captains) that can agree to a mutual time to play their game may do so with the following conditions:

1) All games that are scheduled outside of the schedule above must be rescheduled 2 weeks prior to the round’s play date.

2) All games must be rescheduled 2 weeks in advance of the actual date the game will be played on.

3) Such a scheduled game may not be played more than 2 months before the round and no later than one month after the round, with the following exception. A league round 10 may be played no later than July 1, 2014 to ensure adequate time for Final Round preparations. For all other leagues, no game can be scheduled after July 30.

4) If for any reason the round has not be scheduled to a time other than the default, the opposing teams will report to play at the designated default time. Should any players not report for the game, they will forfeit the round following a 30 minute grace period.

Following the guidelines in scheduling rules 1, 2, and 3 above, games may be scheduled at the teams’ convenience.

5) If a round has been rescheduled by the team captains, the TD MUST be informed of the date and time of the games as soon as they are agreed upon. For purposes of the leagues, a game that is played without the TD’s advance knowledge will not be admissible as a tournament game result.

Exceptions can be requested for rules 1 and 2, but a good reason must be provided.

Detailed Plan

This section details a plan for the logistics of the second season including budget, staffing, and procedures.

Budget

The total budget requested from Pandanet is $18,000. Of this, $2,000USD will be AGA administrative cost. The remainder will fund prizes, final round travel costs, and any other league expenses.

Prizes

Sponsorship of $5,000 or higher per year for a team qualifies the sponsor for naming right for the team.

­ A League:

Winner = 5,000
Second = 2,500
Third = 1,000
Fourth = 500

­ B League:

Winner = 1,000
Second = 500

­ C League:

Winner = 400
Second = 200

­ Total cash prizes: $11,100

Remaining Budget

The remaining budget of $4,900 will be used for any expenses relating to the final round at the US Go Congress 2013 including travel costs for 6 players (3 from each competing team) and one Tournament Director who will run the final round, as well as signs, other prizes, and venue costs if necessary.

Staff

Tournament Director ­ Steve Colburn

TD of the leagues will be responsible for main league functions including pairings, mediation of disputes, enforcement of rules and regulations, and selection of winners. It will be the responsibility of the TD to submit all expenses and final reports regarding the final round and end of season prizes to AGA Treasurer or to appoint a volunteer for this responsibility. The TD will also oversee league managers and other league volunteers and delegate responsibility as necessary and appropriate.

League Managers

Each league should have a league manager. It is the responsibility of the league managers to be the contact point between the Tournament Director and their respective league. They are responsible for facilitating rescheduling of rounds if necessary between team captains according to the scheduling regulations and reporting these reschedule times to the Tournament Director. It is also the responsibility of the league manager to be online to monitor league games at the default time each month, as well as rescheduled times if possible, and to report game results to the Tournament Director. The league manager will enforce the league rules and regulations. Any disputes that cannot be resolved by the league manager will go to the Tournament Director for a final decision.

Consult and Oversight

As an AGA tournament, oversight for the leagues will be provided by the National Tournament Coordinator and the AGA.

Updated 10/7/14