The Online Charity Challenge is a new event for online players, open to everyone – not just UKBGF members! Enjoy playing top class opponents and raising funds for a truly deserving cause. The more you support our charity, the more play you get! The winner will not only get a unique trophy, they will have the right to nominate a UK charity for the 2019 event. Tournament director and sponsor: Julia Hayward
Current Standings
The main tournament draws are available for the group stage and knockout.
Registration
Registration is open to anyone. Games will be played on GridGammon, so you are advised to ensure you have an account and can run the software before registering – Julia can advise on getting a GridGammon account. Draws will be sent out by email including contact details for other players, and the draw will also be available to view on Challonge. To register, you will need to make a donation to our chosen cause on JustGiving, specifying (at least) your GridGammon nickname.
Register now and support The Alzheimer’s Society
UKBGF Members: A £5 donation gets you 1 entry (guaranteeing you at least five games), £10 gets you two entries (ten games), £15 three (fifteen games). Do be careful that you have sufficient time to play all your games!
Non-members: A £6 donation gets you one entry, £12 gets you two entries, £18 three.
Please make sure you include your name or Gridgammon nickname with your donation so that we know who you are! If you don’t want to appear on the donations page, you could alternatively mail Julia separately.
Format and Schedule
The tournament will have two phases. In the first phase, players will be entered at random into 6-person round robins playing 7 point matches. If you’ve entered multiple times you’ll be drawn into more than one group, giving you increased chances of getting through to the second stage. These will start on November 11th 2018 and all games need to be played by 31st January 2018. The top players in each group, plus enough best runners up to make up an even draw, will go through to the second phase. If you’ve had multiple entries and qualify twice, you’ll earn a first-round bye in the second phase. If – like both our past winners – you qualify three times, then you get a bye and a half – it sounds complicated but all will become clear! The second phase is a simple knockout of all qualifiers – 11 pointers up to the semi-finals and a 15-point final. Deadlines for matches will be at two week intervals, meaning we should have a winner before Easter.
Charities
The 2018 Charity Challenge will benefit The Alzheimer’s Society (nominated by Simon Morecroft, 2017 winner) 
Research: We are the only UK charity investing in research into dementia care, cause, cure and prevention. We’ve committed to spending £150 million on cutting-edge research over the next decade. Every project we fund directly addresses the needs and concerns of people affected by dementia. Campaigns: We fight for the rights of everyone affected by dementia. Our campaigns keep dementia firmly at the top of the political agenda. And we raise awareness, pushing for a more dementia-friendly society so people with the condition can live without fear and prejudice. Local support services: Our 3,000 services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland offer information, care and support to people with dementia, their families, friends and carers. Services include Dementia Cafés, Singing for the Brain® sessions, and Dementia Advisers, Dementia Support Workers and Side by Side volunteers who support people to keep doing the things they enjoy. In 2017 we supported Bristol MIND, and in 2016 we supported Cancer Research and Ashanti Development. Get your favourite cause up here! Do you have a favourite cause you’d like to help? The winner of the 2018 Challenge will earn the right to nominate acharity for 2019, and the tournament sponsor may nominate another. Charities must be registered with the Charities Commission in the UK and be non-party-political/non-religious to be eligible for nomination.
Additional rules
Games will be played on GridGammon, except by mutual agreement, with pip counts ON. You are expected to be reasonably understanding should disconnections occur mid-game. Tournament matches will be ratings-optional – that is, you are free to play rated (and we expect most will) but a player who wishes to play unrated takes precedence. You can find our generic Online Tournament Rules here. In the group stage, tie breaks will apply in this order:
- Head to head results between tied players
- Sonneborn-Berger score (sum of defeated opponents’ scores)
- Play-offs
Online matches do not count towards the UKBGF Rankings. Finalists will be required to inform the Tournament Director of the agreed date, time and location of the final game in good time so that prospective spectators can be informed. The final game must allow spectators to watch. We will be happy to announce other games in the second phase should players wish to have spectators present. Forfeits will only be awarded as a last resort, at the TD’s sole discretion and generally only if evidence of one of the following can be provided:
- lack of response to emails,
- failure to appear on one occasion without good reason, or two separate occasions for any reason,
- deliberate in-game disconnection or other inappropriate behaviour
Gift Aid – sadly we are not able to reclaim Gift Aid on any donations, as under UK tax regulations they are strictly defined as “payment for services”.
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