We are pleased and excited to invite your federation/organization to become
A partner in an international country tournament to be directed by three
Federations, U.S Backgammon Federation, Danish Backgammon Federation, and
Japanese Backgammon Federation, on a non-profit basis.
This will be the first tournament in backgammon history where federations/organizations from many countries will combine in partnership to sponsor a tournament. The reason we have indicated organizations in addition to Federations is that in some countries there are no existing active Federations and one or more active organizations can field players.
This tournament gives any backgammon player in any of the participating federations/organizations, the opportunity to play in a world-wide championship with very low cost. The competition between countries will be online, except for possibly the semi-finals and finals which could be live.
There will be ample opportunities for players and spectators to watch intra-country and inter-country matches online.
The basic terms and conditions we propose are listed below:
All countries with bona fide Federations or with organizers that have standard of integrity based upon international norms are invited to play, provide they have a minimum of 16 players in the organization.
Each Federation will decide on how to qualify players from their country.
However, the criteria for qualification must be by winning a tournament, or league or tour, or some other equal expression of tournament record, rather than by appointment.
Tournaments used to decide on qualifiers in each country must be, or have been with a minimum of 16 players. Matches should be a least 11 points long or two out of three 5 point matches or longer.
The format for deciding the qualifiers in each country will need to be submitted to the Joint Organizers Committee (US, Danish, Japan Federations) for approval before the qualifiers begin.
Each country will be permitted up to a maximum of 4 qualifiers for the Grand Finale. The Grand Finale consists of matches between the winners of the Federation qualifiers.
The Grand Finale entries will be paid in Euros in the amount of 1000 euro per contestant plus a 50 euro registration charge. Registration charge will be for the venture expenses. The return will be 100% with the exception of the registration fee.
The Grand Finale format: Single elimination based upon the best 2 of
3 nine point matches. Finals are the best 2 of 3 eleven point matches.
The draw for each round will be managed so that opponents are not from the same country until no other choice.
All matches in the Grand Finale, with the possible exception of the semi's and finals will be online, although if any opponents both agreeing to play live, that would be acceptable also.
Players agree on date/time/place and have a time of 2 weeks for each round. Planed matches must be announced at least 3 days before the match is played. All matched wild be recorded on Extreme Gammon online and submitted to the Tournament Committee by the proctor exporting it, immediately after play is completed.
If feasible, meaning if the semi-finalist and or finalists are willing to meet at a venue of a major live tournament, we will auction off the rights to organizers for the privilege of having this take place at their event.
If this does take place live, funds from the winning bid will go toward the hotel, food and travel expenses of the competing players and the balance will be paid from the registration fees.
We will seek corporate sponsorship. If we are sponsored then part of the sponsor funds will also go to paying semi-finalist and finalist expenses relating to travel and stay at the venue. Any unused registration funds will be returned to the Federations/organizers.
All matches in the grand final will be supervised by a proctor selected by the Federation/Organization. Any cheating that is discovered will disqualify the contestant. Any accusations of cheating will be resolved by a committee to be formed to investigate and adjudicate such allegations.
Spectators will be permitted to be present at any and all matches.
The Tournament Committee will announce the time limit by when the opponents must fix a time for a match. If they cannot reach agreement the Committee will set a time.
The Committee will announce the last date by which every match needs to be played.
The Danish Federation will be the collector of the funds. Each Federation will be responsible for collecting the funds in their own country.
Domestic bank fee involved in fund transfers to the Danish Federation are to the account of the country Federation/Organizer.
March 18, 2011 is a deadline for submission of application. Funds must all be submitted prior to 1 week before the draw for the beginning of the Grand Finale which is tentatively scheduled to begin October 12, 2011,
A portion of the registration fee will be for the development of the tournament web site. We have allocated a budget of USD500 for the development of this site. The website will announce the draw, player's schedules, and venues.
We will ask our partner Federations/ organizers to confirm the name for the tournament. We have tentatively selected or suggest another one. The one we suggest is International Backgammon Championship
The finals will be in January of 2012 or later, if online or at the next tournament venue of the winning bidder or at a site decided upon by a sponsor.
Prize money:
16 players: 70% to the winner. 30% to the finalist.
32 players or more: 50% to winner, 25% to the finalist, 12.5% to the semi-finalists.
We will select the server for the Grand Finale by evaluating the offers of each of the competing severs.
Please feel free to let us know your reaction to this proposal and any questions or suggestions you might have.
We would appreciate your initial response by March 6 if interested.
Regards,
Perry Gartner, U.S.Backgammon Federation
Steen Gronbech, Danish Backgammon Federation
Mochy , Japanese Backgammon Federation
