Material for the Tournament Directors Guide

RULE 2.0
It is usual for there to be a minimum of three games to be played over two or three days, depending on the time available to you. Whatever you decide, it is suggested you adapt the wording of Rule 2.0 as required. If you have more than one round per day, it is suggested that you include in Rule 2.3 something to the following effect:

"Round [2] will start at approximately [time] and it is the responsibility of all players to be available for each round. Round [2] will start [15] minutes after the completion of round [1] but not before [time]. The exact finishing time of round [1] is unknown."

VOTING FOR AN AGREED DRAW (Tournament Rule 6.2)

* Open Vote: At any time during the negotiation phase (see 6.2) any player may propose that a draw be agreed on their board. If all players agree to the draw then the Tournament Director should be notified. The Tournament Director will check that all players do in fact agree to the draw, and if so declare the game an Agreed Draw.

* Secret Ballot: At any time the players of a game may summon the Tournament Director for a draw vote. The first thing the Tournament Director will do upon arriving at the table will be to ask "Do all the surviving players agree to the calling of a draw vote?". All surviving players must agree to a vote for a draw for the vote to proceed. Please do not call the Tournament Director to your table if you don't have a unanimous agreement to have a draw vote. Please note: Agreeing to participate in a draw vote does NOT mean you intend to vote FOR the draw.

The tournament Director will provide each surviving player with two voting tokens which the players MUST keep secreted (out of view from the other players) for the duration of the draw vote. Failure to do so will be looked upon harshly by the Tournament Director, even if it is an accidental spilling on a token on the floor or something similar. You have been warned. You may be disqualified from the game or even the tournament for breaking this rule. Don't take me on here! Keep a firm grip on your voting tokens, and don't let anyone see them. It is suggested you place one in each hand, and hold your hands closed.

One voting token will be white and one will be brown. The white token will indicate support for the draw proposal, the brown one will indicate the player is against the draw proposal. Draws Include All Survivors. Players cannot vote a draw that does not include all players with "pieces on the board". If small powers are to be excluded from a draw then players must play the position out and eliminate them, or otherwise include them in the draw. The Tournament Director will have a box which he will hold aloft, and he will invite each surviving player to place one of his voting tokens in the box, keeping the other one secreted. Once all surviving players have voted the Tournament Director will announce whether the draw is carried. All surviving players must place a white token in the voting box for the draw to be carried.

If the draw is carried, the game ends immediately, and the last completed fall turn (including retreats) will be counted as the game ending position. If the draw vote is not carried all surviving players will place their other voting token in the box (without revealing it to anyone at all) and the game will continue.

Only one draw vote per season per board will be allowed.

Using draw votes to waste time: If the Tournament Director feels a player is initiating draw votes in an attempt to waste time and deny other players the chance to Diplome the Tournament Director will issue a warning to that player. A continuation of this tactic in the Tournament Directors opinion may lead to disqualification from the game or the tournament. Remember though, for a draw vote to be called all surviving players must agree to the vote.

TIME DRAW METHOD (Tournament Rule 6.3)
At the beginning of a round the TD should make it public knowledge that a time draw could be called any time between [insert the earliest time a time draw could be called for that round here] and the latest time that play could run to, which is [insert the latest time at which the round could finish]. The TD should use a random method of determining the precise time of the Time Draw within the range established between the earliest and latest times that play can run until, as previously made public. Once the selected secret time passes during a turn, the round will finish at the end of that turn. The correct procedure to announce a Time Draw is: to call "Time" as usual for the end of diploming, restart the timer, allow all move resolution and adjustments to end and ONLY THEN to announce the Time Draw.

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Last modified: 9 September, 2009
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