Greetings everyone! Stage 4 is about to start. Congratulations to everyone qualified. Last 20 players remain in the tournament.
An important announcement regarding advancing to the final stages of the tournament.
Stage 5 will consist of 12 players divided into 3 groups of four players. That means that top 2 players in the group will advance to the next stage, as well as two best 3rd place players. So like a wild card system.
Stage 6 and the Final stage will consist of one group of 7 players! It means that top 2 players of the groups, and best 3rd placed player will advance to the final!
So we will have a group size the same as in the International Championship, however this time with the added 2p games in the process. Each player will play 6x 2p games, 3x 3p games and 4x 4p games, encountering everyone else in the group exactly 4 times (once in 2p games, once in 3p games and 2 times in 4p games)!
Top 3 players will have a BYE in the qualifying stage in the next World Championship. It's not much, but this play off has always been a consolation tournament, and we're keeping the World Championship Spirit alive. And it contributes to Glicko rating.
Let me know in the comments if you like the system for the Final Stage, as it is still subject to change.
