in force since 7.11.2020
§1 Introduction
1. The provisions of these Rules apply to all online tournaments organized by the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association.
2. Before each online tournament, the relevant organizational and technical details will be published on the official website of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association.
3. In exceptional cases, the Organizer may change the organizational and technical details before the tournament starts.
§2 The tournament system and rules of the game
1. Tournaments can be only Swiss-system tournaments or round-robin tournaments.
2. In each tournament, the rules of the game are the official gomoku rules of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association at the moment of the tournament.
3. If the number of competitors is odd, one person will pause for each round. Each player may pause only once per tournament. For a pause, the competitor receives 1 point in the Swiss system, and 0 points in the Round-robin system.
§3 Criteria for admitting players to the tournament
1. Registered players are subject to a procedure of name verification as well as risk assessment in regards to fair play.
2. Within the verification procedure:
a) the player provides the referee committee a proof that the name and surname provided by them are real, in particular, a reliable profile on the social network;
b) the player confirms that they have read and accepted the Online Tournament Rules;
c) the referee committee admits the player to the tournament.
3. If a player does not pass the verification procedure, they will not be allowed to participate in the tournament.
4. If there are justified grounds that a player may not comply with the rules of fair play, the referee committee may:
a) refuse to accept a player to the tournament,
b) in the case of the prior admission of a player to the tournament - remove them from the list of participants.
5. The referee committee informs the competitor via e-mail about:
a) admitting them to the tournament,
b) refusing to admit them to the tournament,
c) removing them from the tournament list of participants.
6. The following people are exempt from the verification procedure:
a) members of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association,
b) competitors recommended by at least one member of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association.
§4 Refereeing
1. Supervision over the course of the tournament is carried out by the referees, in the composition determined by the resolution of the Board of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association.
§5 Course of the game
1. Before starting the game:
a) The player on the left side of the pairing (or in their absence - their opponent) sets up a table with the following parameters: public, no undo, time limit by the parameters set out in the tournament announcement;
b) the second player checks the correctness of the table settings and informs the opponent about their correctness or the need for correction.
2. During the opening phase, a player is considered to have made his choice when he clicks on the corresponding point of the board as per instructions of the game server.
3. Undoing moves is prohibited.
4. Writing in the table chat by observers is prohibited. The table operator is obligated to ask the chatting person to leave under pain of penalty.
5. If any technical problems arise during a game, the playing competitors may report this to the referee.
6. To implement the rules of fair play, a referee may ask the selected player to record their image during the game (e.g. via the Zoom platform) in case of justified suspicions regarding their fairness. Refusal to record the image for any reason means a violation of the Online Tournament Rules, and therefore may result in a warning and, subsequently, a penalty for the player.
§6 End of the game
1. The game ends with one of the players winning or drawing.
2. Victory in the game follows the rules currently in force in the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association.
3. A tie occurs in a game in the case of:
a) filling the board, or
b) one of the players proposing a draw and their opponent accepting the offer, according to the following rules:
- the player can suggest a draw after making their move by clicking in the appropriate place on the display,
- the opponent has the time remaining on the clock to answer - if they exceed it, they lose,
- the opponent can accept a draw by clicking in the appropriate place on the display,
- if the opponent rejects a draw, they make another move.
§7 Determining the final positions in the tournament
1. The final positions in the tournament are determined by the sum of points obtained by individual players, with 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss.
2. If exactly two players players earn the same number of points, the higher place goes to the winner of the face-to-face encounter (if it has been played).
3. In the Swiss system, the allocation of places is decided in turn by criteria 1 and 2, and then:
a) Median Buchholz score (M-buch.),
b) Buchholz score (Buch.),
c) Sonneberg-Berger score (Berg.),
d) number of victories,
e) a random draw.
4. In the Round-robin system, the allocation of places is decided in turn by criteria 1 and 2, and then:
a) Sonneberg-Berger score (Berg.),
b) the number of victories,
c) a random draw.
§8 Resolution of disputes
1. Competitors settle disputes among themselves. If they make a decision (e.g. keep playing), neither side can complain about it afterwards.
2. If the players are unable to settle the dispute, one of them calls a referee.
The judge proposes the players a solution to the problem. If both players agree, the game is continued, if not, the referee decides the dispute.
3. Unjustified calling of the referee may result in warning, and, subsequently, punishing the competitor.
§9 Order rules
1. Each competitor should be present at the start of the round. If the competitor is absent, their opponent may inform the referee of this fact after 5 minutes of their absence.
2. If both players are absent 5 minutes after the start of the round, the game ends with a double forfeit. If one of them arrives before this time expires, they may inform the referee about them being late and that their opponent is absent.
3. One of the referees will check 5 minutes after the start of the round whether the players are present. After this, the referee can deem games to be lost by walkover for any or both players.
4. Competitors should refrain from switching windows in the browser, which results in "blinking" on the Kurnik.pl server - changing the colour of the nickname to grey. Frequent "blinking" may be the cause of warning, and, subsequently, punishing the competitor.
5. After the game has started, players should not speak to each other, except situations described in the Online Tournament Rules.
6. Any game assistance is forbidden, in particular by using:
a) game programs,
b) suggestions from third parties,
c) other types of game equipment (including gobans).
7. Any behaviour that makes it difficult for other players to play and disrupts the course of the tournament shall be considered a violation of the Online Tournament Rules.
8. The organizers reserve the right to investigate whether a player is cheating and impose penalties in the event of finding a violation of fair play principles, indefinitely after the end of the tournament.
§10 Penalties
1. In each case of violation of the Online Tournament Rules, the judge may reprimand, warn, or punish the competitor (after 2 warnings).
2. The penalty may take the form of a forfeit in one game or exclusion from the tournament.
3. Depending on the severity of the violation of the Online Tournament Rules, it is possible, after adopting a relevant resolution by the Board of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association, to punish the player despite the lack of 2 warnings, prevent the player from participating in the next or subsequent tournaments, as well as to be removed from the list of members of the Polish Gomoku, Renju and Pente Association.
