[Extract from NZCBA BRIDGE MANUAL 2006]

THE INTER-PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Eligibility

The Inter-Provincial Championships will be contested in 5 divisions: Open, Women, Seniors, Intermediate and Youth. To be eligible to compete in the Intermediate event a player must be of Intermediate or Junior rank on January 1st of the same calendar year in which the Championships are being held. To be eligible to compete in the Senior event a player must be aged 57 years or over on January 1st of the same calendar year in which the championships are being held. To be eligible to compete in the Youth event a player must, at the most, have their 26 birthday in the calendar year in question, i.e. for 2006 be born in 1980 or later.

There are six Centres which can field teams in each category. They are:

Auckland
Waikato Bays
Central Districts
Wellington
Canterbury
Otago/Southland

Each Centre is free to use whatever method of trial or selection to determine the composition of their team as they see fit. However, Centres may combine to form a Youth Team. Each team may have a maximum of six players plus a non-playing captain. A team may have a playing captain but the team maximum is still six.

Residency

Players must be a member of a Club in the Centre for which they wish to play. Players who belong to clubs in more than one Centre can trial for only one Centre each year and must play regularly in the club of the Centre for which they trial.

Systems

Intermediate: All pairs must play systems which comply with the NZCBA regulations for Intermediate tournaments. Open Women, Senior & Youth: Pairs are not restricted in their choice of systems or conventions.

System Disclosure

All players are expected to arrive at the table with a fully completed system card filled out using the Word version of the Convention Card Editor. Failure to do so may result in a procedural penalty.

All open pairs, regardless of their system classification must post their completed system card (using the Word version of the Convention Card Editor) on the National Congress website 24 hours prior to the start of the event. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in a procedural penalty of 0.4 VP for each pair that has not complied. For a link see: http://www.nzcba.co.nz

All pairs using Yellow Systems must post their completed system cards (using the Word version of the Convention Card Editor) on the National Congress website at least 7 (seven) clear days prior to the commencement of the tournament. Failure to comply will mean the Yellow System will not be permitted to be used at any stage of the event. For a link see: http://www.nzcba.co.nz

Format (All Sections)

The six teams in each section will play a double Round Robin of 12 board matches. Scores will be converted to Victory Points according to the standard 12 board scale.

At the conclusion of the double Round Robin the top two teams will play a final of 24 boards divided into 2 stanzas of 12. There is a carryover to the final of 1.5 imps for each Victory Point difference between the scores of the 2 teams. The maximum carryover is 20 imps.

If there is a tie to be broken in determining which team or teams will play in the final then it will be broken using the standard NZCBA tie breaking procedure (refer Page D23). However, if still tied then successive 4 board playoffs will be used rather than the toss of a coin.