Following the WBF’s decision to stage the “2021” WNTC for the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, D’Orsi Bowl and Wuhan Cup at the end of February/early March 2022, the EBL intends to organize a qualification for the Zone 1 representatives in the various categories.
At its meeting on 9th May, the EBL Executive Committee has decided as follows:
- The Zone 1 Qualification for the next WBF WNTC will be held online on the RealBridge platform.
- The dates will be August 23 to 28, 2021.
- The number of days for each Series (Open, Women, Senior and Mixed) will be between three and six, depending on the number of entries in each Series, but the last day will be August 28 for all.
- No one will play from home, or other private settings. Participating NBOs will gather its teams in clusters at a local venue set up according to EBL specifications, so as to prevent any communications between players.
- Neutral observers, ratified by the EBL, will supervise play constantly at every location. No other persons will be allowed in the playing area. Observers will not act as TDs.
- TDs will operate within the platform itself, as well as in a separate TD “room” for consultations and polling.
- Since the 4 Series will be on partly different playing schedules each Series will play its own boards.
- Kibitzing will be allowed, but with a time-delay of 30-45 minutes (depending on the no. of boards in the match) and any “running scores” will be subject to the same delay.