SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF CONTEST

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE CAUSE FOR EXCEPTION TO THESE CONDITIONS OF CONTEST.

THESE CONDITIONS OF CONTEST MAY NOT BE CHANGED AT ANY LEVEL OF PLAY DURING THE COURSE OF THIS EVENT.

THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTEST FOR SWISS TEAM AND KNOCKOUT TEAM EVENTS WILL APPLY TO THIS EVENT SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF CONTEST.

It is the spirit of these Conditions that the Grand National Teams be a "grass roots" event, with each participant competing in his/her District of membership.

A participant who is a full-time student, a member of the armed services, has dual residency, or a person whose full time employment requires temporary relocation, may play in the District in which he or she temporarily resides. Such players must notify the GNT coordinator of the District in which he or she intends to play prior to entering the competition. Prior to the start of the 2002-2003 GNT, each District shall review the eligibility of any member who is not a member of that District but intends to play in that District. The District GNT Coordinator in consultation with the ACBL GNT Coordinator shall determine whether or not eligibility requirements (see Appendix I to these conditions) have been satisfied, however, the ACBL GNT Coordinator is the final authority. In no case may a player compete in more than one District in the 2002-2003 GNT. Out-of-District members and non-ACBL members may compete in regular club session qualifying games.

Each participant in the GNT, beyond the club qualifying level, must be an ACBL member in good standing. (The membership requirement is deemed to have been met if dues accompany the corresponding game report.)

DISTRICT DIRECTOR AUTHORITY

All ACBL tournament regulations, though not specifically included in these conditions, apply throughout this event. Only in the case of an unforeseen situation, the District Director (or his designee) in consultation with the ACBL GNT Coordinator, may make exceptions to these conditions. In emergency situations only, the District Director (or his designee) on his own may make decisions consistent with the spirit of these conditions of contest. The District Director has final authority on any item not specified in the Conditions of Contest.

GENERAL

This is a team event in which each ACBL District will name a district champion in each category by means of a fair competition that is not necessarily the same from district to district. These district champions then may compete in the national final of their respective category. A player may represent the District in only one flight at the national final. Teams in the national final will not be subsidized in any way by the ACBL.

A district may elect not to name a district champion in flight A (0-5000).

Those teams interested in any matter relating to international representation stemming from the GNT should communicate with International Events at ACBL.

The categories are: Championship Flight (open)

At District option, each flight may be played at one or more levels. The Open Championship and Flight A may be combined at club and unit level for play and masterpoint awards. In a stratified field; all teams are eligible for qualification to the Championship flight. All teams are eligible for Flight A qualification with the exception of a team with a member over 5000 masterpoints on September 1, 2002. Teams are eligible for Flight B qualification with the exception of a team with a member over 2000 masterpoints on September 1, 2002. Teams are eligible for Flight C qualification with the exception of a team with a member over 500 masterpoints or Life Master rank on September 1, 2002. The September masterpoint cycle (determined before the second week of August) will determine a player’s eligibility. ACBL rules and regulations apply to all play in the event and supersede District conditions in cases of conflict.

CONVENTIONS

At District option the ACBL Midchart may apply at the district level of the GNT - Open Championship and Flight A provided that this has been included in the District Conditions of Contest.

DISTRICT REQUIREMENTS

Each District shall determine the nature of the event by which it declares its District champions. Prior to September 1st, each District must provide ACBL Headquarters with an outline of their conditions of play. The name, address and phone number of the person to whom questions should be directed concerning the District's event should be included. Districts are not required to subsidize players at any level, including the national final, and are not required to ensure that the District is represented at the national final. All Districts must notify ACBL Headquarters by June 15, 2003 of each team in any flight that will be participating in the GNT North American finals.

SCHEDULING

District events commence September 1st and may schedule play at any time thereafter. No level or stage may be scheduled which would prevent a player from attending one or more days of a North American Bridge Championships or participating in the International Team Trials (ITT), Women's International Team Trials (WITT) which would preclude continued participation in this event. The national final for all Flights will begin on the Wednesday prior to the Summer NABC. The Open Championship and Flight A commence with an afternoon session and Flight B and Flight C will start in the evening.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

The Championship Flight is open to any player, except as previously noted. Flight A is open only to a

player, who has fewer than 5000 masterpoints recorded as of September 1, 2002. NOTE: If the event is stratified, the Open Championship and Flight A are combined at club and unit level. Flight B is open only to players who have fewer than 2000 masterpoints as of September 1, 2002. . Flight C is open only to players with fewer than 500 masterpoints who have not attained the rank of Life Master as of as of September 1, 2002. Teams may consist of four, five or six eligible players.

Masterpoints won in other Bridge Organizations, such as the ABA and foreign organizations, must be taken into account for placement in the flights. A player’s bridge experience will be taken into account to determine a suitable flight. The Director-in-charge is authorized to make the decision on the player’s classification.

The first place finishers in the Championship Flight, Flight A, Flight B, and the second place finisher in the Championship Flight of the district final earn Blue Ribbon Pairs qualifications. The first place finishers in the Non-Life Master Flight in a district final earn Red Ribbon Pairs qualification.

The first place finishers in the Championship, Flight A, Flight B and the second place finishers in the Championship at the National Final will earn Blue Ribbon qualification. These teams will earn qualifying points, if applicable, for international competition on the same scale as in the Blue Ribbon Pairs and the Life Master Pairs. The first and second place finishers in the Non-Life Master Flight at the National Final will earn Red Ribbon qualification.

Overall awards will be based on the participation of each member (see page 6).

REPLACEMENTS AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Issues regarding replacements and/or substitutions not addressed by the District Conditions of Contest are resolved by using the Vanderbilt/Spingold Conditions of Contest.

INELIGIBLE PLAYERS AND DISQUALIFICATIONS

An ineligible player is disqualified. The ineligible player’s team will be disqualified unless the Director-in-Charge determines that teammates were unknowledgeable about the deficiency of the disqualified member. Any team reduced to fewer than three original members due to disqualification of ineligible players may not continue and is disqualified.

When a team is disqualified after the correction period, the disqualified team’s rank remains vacant. In ongoing events, teams move up one qualifying position as appropriate.

MASTERPOINTS

The Championship and Flight A masterpoint awards are calculated at 100% of open rating for both overall and match awards. If stratified, the Championship and Flight A will be combined as one flight at unit level and club level. Flight B awards are 86% of open rating for both overall and match awards. Flight C awards are 60% for both. Size and depth of overall awards below the district final are based on the number of teams entered in that game except when Unit finals are held. Masterpoints for Unit finals will be as in regular stratified team events even if all flights are not held concurrently. (NOTE: Higher flights will receive the table count of all lower flights even though they are not playing concurrently.)

Points awarded at club level games are half red and half black, at Sectional rating. A club game conducted by invitation awards only black points, at 80% of Sectional Open rating for the Championship/Flight A, 65% of Sectional Open Rating for Flight B, and 48% of Sectional Open Rating for Flight C.

One session unit finals will award red points only at Sectional rating.

Overall masterpoints awarded at two or more session unit finals are 20% gold, 80% red for the Open Championship and Flight A. Flight B awards are 86% of Sectional rating 10% gold, 90% red; and flight C is 5% gold, 95% red at Sectional rating. Match awards are red at Sectional rating. Consolations of these games award black points at Sectional Consolation rating.

A game at any level or stage may give overall awards only if qualifying teams from that game will join teams from another site or other sites at a further level or stage. The size and depth of overall awards at any stage below the district stage in which teams play swiss matches to qualify into a knockout will be as follows:

- If two teams qualify into the KO, the award for first will be based on 4 teams with two overall positions.

- If four teams qualify, the award will be based on 8 teams, with 4 overall positions.

- If eight teams qualify, the award will be based on 16 teams with 4 overall positions.

- If sixteen or more teams qualify, awards are based on 32 teams with 8 overall positions.

- In no case will any stage pay overalls based on more than the eligible teams in actual competition.

- The qualifying phase will pay match awards only. Teams entering the KO phase will be entitled only to the sum of all match awards or the overall award, whichever is greater.

Silver points will be available at any unit level game played in conjunction with and at the site of an open Sectional tournament.

Points awarded at the stage in which the District champion is declared are gold for overalls and red for match awards at Regional rating. Swiss team events that qualify to a knockout are considered to be a part of the district finals whether they are conducted at the same site or not and do NOT award overall masterpoints. Consolations of these games award half red and half black points at Regional Consolation rating. The award for first place overall for the District champion is arbitrary and is based on the number of sessions in the district final as follows:

The winners of the Championship at the national final will receive 100 masterpoints, the winners of Flight A at the national final will receive 75.00 masterpoints, the Flight B winners 60.00 and the Flight C winners 40. For the Championship flight, Flight A and Flight B event, overalls will be gold and will extend to the top eight teams if the entry is 16 or more teams and to the top four teams with an entry of 8 to 15 teams. Match awards will be red at National rating. Flight C awards will be 1/3 gold and 2/3 red for the National Final overall and section top finishes.

SANCTIONS, DIRECTORS AND FEES

Requests for rated ACBL Tournament Directors should be received in Memphis 6 months before the event.

The director must be a club rated or higher-rated director to run games at the club and intermediate level. A non-playing director is recommended by ACBL, but at a club qualifying event with 17 or fewer teams may have a playing director. A tournament director will be approved by the Tournament Department to officiate at each district final. ACBL will attempt to assign your preferred director.

Game reports are to be submitted on the official ACBL GNT report forms, which will be available from the District GNT coordinator.

A sanction fee of $1.25 per table per session must accompany the game report for all games at all levels. A District may add a surcharge for games run by its clubs and/or Units.

NATIONAL FINAL

In the national final for the Championship Flight and Flight A, all teams will be seeded based on average masterpoint holdings of all team members and shall be distributed into four groups as follows:

I. II. III. IV.

1 2 3 4

8 7 6 5

9 etc.

In the semi-final, I plays IV and II plays III. The seeding provisions of the Vanderbilt/Spingold Conditions apply whenever a group is reduced to two teams and for the semi-finals and finals

(the group 1 winner is 1, etc.)

All other flights will be played as unseeded knockouts which may commence with round-robins. The championship and all Flights of the national final will begin on the Wednesday prior to the Summer NABC. The ACBL Superchart will govern conventions in Championship and Flight A with segments of 12 or more boards, the General Convention Chart will apply to Flights B and C. Details of tie-breaking procedures, time and related penalties, playing requirements and other conditions related to round-robin and knockout play apply to the finals as stated in the Conditions of Contest (and appendices thereto) for the Spingold Knockout Team event played at the same NABC.

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APPENDIX I:

Board Item 003-106

Members of the ACBL are normally expected to belong to the Unit in which they reside. If a member chooses to belong to a Unit in which he/she does not reside, the member must specifically make this request in writing to the ACBL stating the Unit of preference and the reasons for the request. Further, if the Unit is not in the same District as where he/she resides, both districts must approve the membership in the other District. The following are some of the reasons why a member would be given permission to belong to a unit outside the District of residence (To warrant consideration, a player should meet at least two of the six reasons listed.):

1. Plays at least once a month in a club in that Unit

2. Attends STaCs or Sectionals in that Unit at least twice a year

3. Attends the annual Unit dinner and/or membership meeting

4. Participates in Unit special events

5. Serves on the Unit board and/or Unit Committees

6. Serves on the District board and/or district Committees

If it is determined that a member requests a change of Unit membership for the sole purpose of Grand National Teams (GNT) or North American Pairs (NAP) play, the request must be denied.

The membership approval granted by a District in which the member does not reside may be reviewed by that District at least every five years to assure the above criteria continue to justify non-residency membership.

If a player has been a member of that Unit and wishes to remain and does not participate in GNT and NAOP events in that District, permission may be granted by the District without the player meeting any of the six criteria.

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Board Item 973-170

The General Knockout Conditions of Contest are revised to reflect the following:

1. For any overall award, a player must play at least 50% of all the boards played by the team at the time he or she (and the team) earned that award.

2. For the first place award, when the team wins the final, a player must play at least 50% of the combined boards in the semi-final and final matches.

3. For any given overall award, the player must have played at least 50% of the boards in the match in which they earned the award.

EXAMPLE: A player plays 100% of round one and 100% of round four, the final. If the team loses the final match, that player will receive masterpoints (match awards) only for the first round victory.