Day and Time
The Cambridge Weekly Open takes place every Monday evening, 8pm-10pm at Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre.
Round-robin
Every tournament will be in a round robin format. You will be placed in a group of 4, 5 or 6 players, based on ability level. You will play against each player in your group.
You will be guaranteed to play a minimum of 3 matches. Depending on the number of entries and the size of the groups, you may play 4 or 5 matches in one evening.
Your challenge will be to win as many matches as possible and finish top of your group.
Even though the format is competitive, we will try to maintain an informal atmosphere. Players will score their own matches, play fairly, make some noise and enjoy competing!
Rating
For your first tournament you will be assigned an estimated rating. If you win matches, your rating will go up. If you lose matches, your rating will go down. The more matches you play, the more accurate your rating will become.
Your rating will determine which group you are placed in for each tournament. This ensures players of any standard can play competitive matches against players of a similar ability level.
We will be using the Elo rating system, which is used to assign numeric values to compare the relative skill levels of the participants.
Who can participate?
The weekly tournament is open to any player of any standard. There are no separate male / female categories or separate age categories. Everyone is welcome and you will play against others of a similar ability regardless of age or gender.
If you’re an advanced player, you will play matches against other advanced players. If you are a beginner player, you will play matches against other beginner players.
Sometimes you will compete against a player of a higher rating or a player of a lower rating, but these players will still be within your general ability range.
Whilst the majority of players will be from the Cambridgeshire area, we will very much welcome guest players from further afield. If you are visiting Cambridge for a short period and want to play some matches, please do sign up.
Commitment
You can play in the weekly tournament as often or as infrequently as you wish. There is no ongoing, long term commitment. Just sign up to a weekly tournament whenever you are available and want to play some matches.
End of year ‘top 12’ invitational
At the end of each calendar year, the top 12 players in the ratings table will be invited to compete in an end of year tournament.
There will be two groups of six players of equal standard. After the round robin stage, each player will play one more play-off game with a player from the other group, e.g. 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3 etc. This will determine final placings and the overall winner.
To be invited to this tournament, you must be in the top 12 in the ratings list and have competed in at least 8 tournaments throughout the calendar year. If a player in the top 12 declines the invitation, then the next player in the ratings list will be invited.