In order to maximise flexibility given the uncertainty and delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, all internal club tournaments in 2021 are again being run this year using a Flexible Swiss format, with all players in a single block. All participants may play as many or as few games as they are able and willing to play by the end of the season. There is NO obligation to play everyone else in the block!

Furthermore, any two players may, if they both agree, play the best of 3 games against each other. Thus the tournament block may contain a mixture of single games and best-of-N 'rubbers', either of which we call here a single 'contest'. This best-of-N option is more likely to be of interest in some GC tournaments, but can also be adopted in an AC tournament if the players involved so wish.

It is likely that by the end of the season some blocks will still appear quite sparse, with many unplayed games. This is quite normal for a Flexible Swiss format.

For the purposes of these definitions and rules, in doubles competitions a 'player' means the pair as a team rather than the individual club member.

Tie-breakers

The winner will be decided by the largest percentage of contests won from a minimum number of contests that will be declared later in the season. If that percentage is tied, then the winner will be decided by

Any contest between two players will only count towards a single win, regardless of whether it was a single game or best-of-N.

Thus for example, if the minimum is set at 3 contests, then a player who plays only 2 contests and wins both will score 67%, but a player who plays 3 contests and wins all 3 will score 100%, and will be ahead of a player who wins 4 contests out of 5 and scores 80%.

Minimum number of contests

The following guidelines will provisionally be used at the end of the season to determine the minimum number of contests against which the percentage of wins in a tournament is calculated:

Let N be the number of players who have played at least 1 game in the tournament. Then the minimum number of contests for the percentage will be the greater of 3 or the average number of contests played by each of those N players, rounded up to the nearest integer.

Furthermore the tournament will be deemed void unless