GP20

Rules for 2023

The eight tournaments which make up the GP20 series are open to all players.

All the tournaments are individual competitions in their own right. However, over the year, points will be accrued by all entrants based on their achievements in whichever of these events they enter.

Entry is £20 for all tournaments.
Approximately 5% will be levied from all entry fees to cover the provision of year end prizes, and a further 5% will be charged by Bristol Backgammon for admin expenses. The remainder of the entry fee money goes on prizes for the individual tournaments.

In each tournament there will be two flights of straight knock-out, with all matches in the main flight being played to 9 points, with consolation flight matches being played to 7 points.

Players eliminated in their first match of the main flight will be entered into the consolation flight.

(Face-to-face only) Should there be between four and six entrants, however, the format will change, with a round robin. All matches here will be to 7 points (if there are 4 players), or 5 points (if there are 5 or 6 players). Should the round robin finish with leaders having won the same number of matches, then each player's total points difference in the round robin will be the first level of tie-break. Should that fail to separate the players, then the results -- but not the scores -- of meetings of those players will decide; failing that, a short play-off will be ordered.

All matches in these tournaments are subject to clock rules, with each player having a time bank of one minute and thirty seconds times the match length. There will be a delay of ten seconds (online, but twelve seconds when the series returns to face-to-face play) before time banks start to be eroded.

NOTE: All the above events have associated with them two optional side pools -- at £10 and £20 -- which have no bearing whatsoever on the GP20 table.

The GP20 scoring system

G P 20 POINTS AWARDED
for knock-outs
For:MainCons.
Entry10
Win before
semis		155
Semi-final
win		2510
Final
win		3515

N.B: (Face-to-face only) In the event of an odd number of entries to the main flight, it is possible that one player may gain entry to the consolation flight after losing their second match of the main flight. In which case that player would only benefit by his/her higher scoring flight.
G P 20 POINTS AWARDED
for round robins
Entry10
5- or 6-player
round robin
match win		10
4-player
round robin
match win		15
Round robin
win bonus		10

Each player's best five tournament points performances will count towards his/her final total, thus anyone entering more than five tournaments will discard his/her lowest points scores.
In the event of a tie on total points, there will be four levels of tie-break: (1) fewest tournaments entered during the GP20 season; (2) highest percentage of wins in all GP20 matches during the year; (3) results of matches, if any, between those players finishing equal; and (4) a play-off where necessary to determine prize winners.

The rewards

The players finishing in the top two GP20 positions at the end of the year will receive engraved mementoes. The remainder of the GP20 prize fund, if any, will go to the top finishers as cash prizes.

For general terms and conditions of entry to Bristol Backgammon tournaments, click here for knock-outs or here for round robins.


Current GP20 standings and results
Results of past GP20 tournaments
Back to GP20 home page