CARCASSONNE CHAMPIONSHIP RULES

Overview

The tournament consists of two parts: the main tournament and the playoffs. Depending on the number of participants, the tournament can be played in two ways - a classic one-group tournament or a two-group tournament.

Classic tournament (if there are up to 32 participants)

o The main tournament lasts 6 rounds.

o If the number of participants in the championship is an odd number, then one "reserve player" from the organizers will also participate in the selection rounds

o In the first round, players are randomly assigned to two tables.

o In other rounds, the players are ranked by rank, and according to that, they are also divided at the tables - 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, etc.

o Player ranking is determined by three criteria (in order of importance): 1) Player's number of wins; 2) The sum of the number of victories of all the player's opponents (Bucholz number); 3) The sum of the player's point advantage (the difference between his scored points and the opponent's points).

o If two players due to their rank manage to play against each other for two rounds in a row , then a correction is introduced - the higher-ranked player of these two players plays with a player one position lower than they get by rank. For example, if there are four players A, B, C and D in a row, and A and B have just played a head-to-head game, then A will play C and B will play D in the next round.

o After the qualifying rounds, the eight highest-ranked players (not including the reserve player) continue to play in the quarterfinals (1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, 3rd vs. 6th, and 4th vs. 5th).

o The winners of the quarter-final matches play in the semi-finals - 1/8 vs. 4/5 and 2/7 vs. 3/6.

o The winners of the semi-final games play in the final.

o The winner of the final is the Latvian Carcassonne champion!

o The losers of the semi-final games play a game for 3rd place.

o The losers of the quarter-finals divide the places from 5th to 8th.

Two-group tournament (if the number of participants is greater than 32)

o The main tournament lasts 5 rounds.

o In the main tournament, participants are divided into two groups - A and B.

o The main tournament is played in the same way as in the classic version, with the difference that only members of one group play against each other.

o After the 5-round main tournament, the top 4 players in each group advance to the playoffs, which take place in three rounds:

- In the quarterfinals, the players play according to the scheme: A1-B4, A2-B3, A3-B2 and A4-B1.

- The winners of pairs A1/B4-A3/B2, as well as A2/B3-A4/B1, play each other in the semi-finals.

- The winners of both semi-final pairs play in the final, which determines the winner of the tournament and the champion of Latvia in a mutual match, who gets the right to represent Latvia at the 2018 World Championship in Germany (October).

- The losers of both semi-final pairs play for 3rd place.

- The losers of the quarter-finals divide the places from 5th to 8th.

o The division into groups will take place as follows - those players who have also participated in the 2016 championship will be ranked according to the place obtained last year. Further division will take place as follows: 1st place will go to Group A, 2nd place to Group B, 3rd place to Group A, 4th place to Group B, etc. The other players in the groups will be drawn so that the number of players in the groups is as similar as possible.

Game rules

o In all rounds, two players play at each table.

o All rounds play the base game with no expansions, so 72 squares.

o In the first round, the game is started by a player chosen randomly by the computer, in the other rounds - by the player with the highest rank.

o The game has a time limit of 20 minutes per player, which will be controlled by chess clocks. The 20 minute limit is quite enough to play the game through normally (~33 seconds per turn) and serves as a guarantee that the event will follow the strict time schedule. If a player spends more than his allotted 20 minutes, he has lost the game with zero points, while his opponent scores open possessions according to the final scoring rules.

o The game table is a natural boundary of the territory. If the player wishes, he can move all the displayed squares further from the edge to make room for the placed square. However, if the width of the field has reached the maximum size, new fields cannot be "attached" to its edges.

o The player's opponent is responsible for error control. For example, if he does not notice that a square has been placed in such a way that one of its edges does not match, but he has already drawn his square, then the mistake cannot be corrected anymore. The same is the case with placing subjects in property where another subject already exists. The exception is if it has not been noticed that the property has already been completed. In that case, the out-of-turn player may remove his subject from the field and score points.

o During the game, it is forbidden to use any aids to remember what and how many squares are in the game. If you want to keep track and find out whether a particular square is still left or not, then all the square types and numbers must be memorized before the tournament.

o If the game ends in a draw:

- in the main tournament, each player receives 0.5 points (instead of 1 point for a win);
- in the playoffs, the winner is the player who has spent less time. If the time spent is also the same, then the player who is higher in the ranking wins. If the ranking is also the same (this can happen only in the case of a two-group tournament in the final or in the game for 3rd place), then the winner is determined by the criteria for the distribution of places (Buchholz and total point difference).

Important rules

The most commonly misunderstood terms are listed below:

o If a player does not have any subjects at the start of a turn, he may not place a subject on a new property in this turn. If he closes a property during his turn, he removes his subjects from the square and that's the end of his turn.

o In a situation where the taken square cannot be added to the existing square, it is set aside and does not return to the game. The player must immediately take a new space.