The Board has decided that the following will apply to all sessions starting in the New Year.
- A decision to cancel a session (if the minimum number of pairs has not been reached) will be made 2 HOURS before the start of the session (rather than 5). This means, for example, that you should check the status of a 7 pm session after 5 pm.
- A session will be closed to new entrants 2 HOURS before it starts (rather than 60 minutes). This means, for example, that you must sign up no later than 5 pm for a 7 pm session.
These changes were necessary to deal with the following situation, which has arisen in the past, where the cancellation deadline was set to be some hours before the closure deadline. At the cancellation deadline there were at least the minimum number of pairs signed up for the tournament. Some time after that deadline had passed, one or more pairs had to withdraw, to the extent that the number signed up fell below the minimum number; the tournament was no longer viable and had therefore to be cancelled. Players checking the status of the tournament before the withdrawal would have thought that it was going ahead, whereas those checking afterwards would have seen that it had been cancelled.