Tournament Format

The tournament will be held over two days. On Saturday, we will play round-robin qualification stage in groups. Number of groups and number of players per group will be determined based on number of actual tournament participants with the following objectives in mind: (a) to ensure the qualification round is fully played on Saturday; and (b) to give the players an opportunity to play the maximum possible number of matches. If the maximum of 96 players participate in the tournament, they will play in 16 groups of 6 players. On Sunday, the best 32 players will play the final stage in double elimination format. In a 16-group configuration, the winner and the runner-up of each group will qualify for the final stage. If we have fewer groups, the best players finishing third in their groups will qualify according to their overall standing in the tournament so as to fill in the 32-player final stage bracket. The brackets of the final stage will be seeded according to each qualifying player's individual qualification result.

Tournament Entry

Tournament entries are accepted via email, gpb@cmbs.cz, or by phone for those players who have phone number for the tournament organizer. No other form of application (such as via social networks, Facebook, etc.) will be accepted as the official tournament entry. It is permitted to include more than one player in a single application. Each application must contain the following details:

• Player surname(s) and fist name (s)

• Club

• Country (if other than the Czech Republic)

• Randomizing number - any particular number. This number will be used in the draw of qualification stage. Please indicate one number for each player in the application.

• You may also indicate your preferred shift (morning or the afternoon) for the qualification stage or your preference to play the same shift with certain other players in case you travel together - see further details.

We will confirm all applications accepted by email.

If a player who applied and was accepted in the tournament is not able to play, we expect them to display their sportsmanship by withdrawing their application as soon as possible so as to free up their slot for waitlisted players and to facilitate tournament seeding.

Tournament Seeding

Based on our previous experience, we decided to split qualification stage in two shifts, morning and afternoon, so that players who play in the afternoon groups do not need to come to the venue early in the morning.

In the evening of Wednesday, October 21, each player accepted to the tournament will be allocated to either morning or afternoon shift, and this allocation will be published on this web page. Any players applying for the tournament beyond this point (provided there are free slots available) will be allocated to shifts upon their application, and the allocation table will be updated daily in the evening. The draw for qualification groups within each shift will be done on Saturday after the end of player registration for that shift as our experience suggests that a number of players may fail to appear for the tournament.

Shift allocation and group draw will use the randomizing numbers provided by the players (if the same randomizing number is submitted by more than one player, the numbers will be adjusted based on order in which the applications were accepted) and other criteria with the purpose to achieve balanced distribution of players from each particular country. Tournament Organizer reserves the right to seed a particular number of top players (according to national rankings) to different groups. Tournament Organizer is willing to accept a certain number of requests for player allocation to specific shifts but cannot guarantee that any such request will be honoured due to the need to balance number of players in each shift.

Tournament Schedule

We expect that the afternoon shift starts playing between 17:00 and 18:00 and finishes between 00:00 and 01:00 depending on the number of players.

Our expected schedule is based on statistical observations from this tournament held in the previous years. However due to nature of the sport it is not possible to guarantee that the tournament runs according to the schedule, even though Tournament Organizer will try to run the tournament with the goal to prevent any excessive delays.

Tournament Organization

Players must register with the Tournament Director upon their arrival (afternoon shift players must register with Associate Director who will likely be in the restaurant across the venue). During the registration, the players must make a binding confirmation of their participation and pay the entry fee. Tournament Organizer reserves the right to request pre-payment of the entry fee; in this case additional instructions will be provided to respective players in the confirmation of their applications or at a later stage.

In order to run the tournament as fast as possible, we do not set particular starting time for any match. The matches will be announced regularly, and it is player's responsibility to ensure they hear all announcements. When the match is announced, both players must come over to the tournament desk, confirm their match and take the match protocol. When the match is finished, the winner must bring filled in protocol to the tournament desk and verify that the result has been properly entered to the computer. No appeals will be accepted later. Resulting player placement in the groups will be determined according to standard rules of ČMBS (refer to ČMBS Tournament Regulations for details).

If a player needs to leave the venue for any reason or wants to take a lunch break, they must request the leave from the Tournament Director as well as announce their return with the tournament desk. Tournament Director reserves the right to refuse to grant the leave or to require that the player takes the leave at a different time. For this reason we suggest that the players discuss their intentions with the tournament leader in advance and ask someone to order food for them while they are still playing so that the breaks between matches are not used to wait for food. A player typically has to play one match every 1.5 hours, so there's usually a 30-minute break between matches. Tournament Organizer guarantees a minimum break of 5 minutes between two matches of any given player in case the tournament needs to be expedited due to slow play or other tournament management considerations.

Qualification for the double-elimination stage will be confirmed when all matches are finished in the group (for group winner and runner-up), or when all matches of the qualification stage are finished (for 3rd place qualifiers if any). Tournament details and results will be updated on GBP web page in real time. Players who qualified to the double-elimination stage must confirm their participation with the Tournament Director.

In this tournament, the winner breaks. We will not be using the kitchen rule however we require the players to break with sufficient strength that their opponents do not consider them to use a soft break. The tables will be tapped. Non-breaking player racks the balls. In case the breaking player wants to rack for themselves, it is up to non-breaking player's discretion whether to permit it or not.

Player can take time out between racks regardless of who is breaking. It is not allowed to use it for smoking.