Overview: The 2006 Arimaa World Championship tournament will determine the best human Arimaa player. The winning player will be declared the 2006 Arimaa World Champion and receive a prize of $500 USD. Second place will receive a prize of $200 USD. The tournament will begin on November 15th and finish by early January. The participants will play one game per week over the Internet in a floating double elimination tournament.
Registration: Interested players should register before the deadline of November 12th. There is a small registration deposit of $10 USD. After the tournament the deposit will be returned if you have not missed any of your games.
Location of games: All games will be played in the Arimaa gameroom over the Internet. The players are responsible for providing their own reliable computer and Internet connection. There will not be a rematch if a player loses a game due to problems with their computer or Internet connection or even the game client program. However, if there is a problem with the game server, the tournament director will consider a rematch.
Time of games: The players will play one game per week. At 12am (GMT) Monday the players will be notified of the other player they have been paired with. The players will have 24 hours to submit a web form to indicate what times they are available to play during the upcoming week between Wednesday and Sunday. If a player does not submit this within the allowed time then any perfered times they had previously submitted will be used. If no perfered times have been provided then any time will be considered a perfered time. On Tuesday the tournament director will fix the game time based on the input from both players and notify them of the scheduled game time. The earliest a game could begin is on Wednesday and the latest is on Sunday. If a player does not show up for the game within 3 minute after the scheduled start time then that player will lose by forfeit. In case of a valid reason the tournament director may consider rescheduling the game.
Tournament format: Floating Double Elimination
- Everyone plays until they have lost two times. At the end of each round, any player who has lost for the second time is eliminated.
- At the beginning of each round, if an odd number of players remain, a bye must be assigned. The bye goes to the player who has recieved the fewest byes so far, with ties broken in favor of fewest losses so far, and further ties broken in favor of highest pre-tournament rating.
- The players who don't get a bye are paired iteratively as follows: Select the unpaired player with the fewest losses (ties broken by highest pretournament rating), and pair him with the player in the field he has played the least number of times, with ties broken in favor of having fewest losses, and further ties broken in favor of lower pre-tournament rating.
- Within each pairing, whoever has played Gold a fewer percentage of times so far in the tournament should get to play Gold for that game, with ties broken randomly.
- All games are played according to the Arimaa Match Rules.
Time controls: When there are four or less players remaining in the tournament the time control for the games will be: 2m/2m/100/10m/8h. All other games will be played with a time control of: 90s/90s/100/7m/6h
Breaking draws: Draws are not allowed and will be broken according to the Arimaa Match Rules.
Notes: The games must be played in one sitting and cannot be adjourned. A player will not be allowed to take back a move once it has been submitted. The games will contribute to the players' ratings. Players are forbidden from using advice or suggestions from others or programs while playing the games. Any player doing so will be eliminated from the championship matches and will not be allowed to take part in future matches. The director will serve as the arbitrator in case of disputes. Should a dispute arise about the outcome of a game, the director will review the game and decide if the game should be replayed. The director will also make the final decision on matters of pairing and color assignment. The director may require any player to have a web-cam turned on for monitoring during the games. Also the director may send a representative to be present with any player during the games. A player who does not comply will lose by forfeit. All decisions made by the director shall be considered final and binding by all parties. Omar and Aamir Syed reserve the rights to modify the championship tournament details in the future to resolve any logistical problems that may arise.
Copyright © 1999-present www.arimaa.com. All Rights Reserved. Contact author for permission.