Who are the best players in FIBS League for the 2008 year and who is the best of the best?

To find the answer we have designed a special invitational tournament which we call FIBS League Masters.

How does it work?

After the year's season of five league sessions for all divisions, the twelve top-rated players on a unique League rating list will participate in a Masters tournament and the winner will become the best FIBS League player of the year .

We hope this will become an annual FIBS experience and encourage all top-rated players to participate. This tournament is created for enjoyment, as a prize for the most active and ambitious players, and to ensure a few additional memorable matches for all of FIBS.

Dorbel, our first winner, is far ahead and will fight to keep his trophy. Most of the last year finalists are still on top this year. Which tries to prove that the backgammon is not a lucky game ( but we all knew that already ;-) ) and that the league proposes a competition through which the best players are rewarded.

Rules and description of rating point system and tournament format for Masters tournament

Tournament format:

Bracket for twelve players. Match format for all rounds is best of three 9 pointers.

First four players from unique League rating list (1 through 4) go directly to Quarterfinals, other eight players (5 through 12) play Round 1.

Matches in Round 1 are: 5-12 ; 6-11 ; 7-10 ; 8-9.

After Round 1 there are eight players (1-4 and four winners from Round 1) in Quarterfinals.
For simplicity we assume here that higher ranked players beat lower ranked.

Matches in Quarterfinals are: 1-8 ; 2-7 ; 3-6 and 4-5.

After Quarterfinals there are four players for Semifinals.
Matches in Semifinals: 1-4 ; 2-3 and in Final: 1-2

Every round must be finished in one week so the complete tournament will be finished in one month.

Rating point system:

To get the best twelve players within the last year we introduce a unique League rating list. This list consists of players from Master, Gold and Silver divisions who have participated in at least one League session during the year.

This is a dual system consisting of match winning points (1) in the first part and session ranking points (2) in the second.

(1) Match winning points:

Every match win in Master Leagues is worth 3 pts.
Every match win in Gold Leagues is worth 2 pts.
Every match win in Silver Leagues is worth 1 pt.

Players can get match winning points only for matches actually played. Unplayed matches decided by the League director will not earn match winning points.

Plus for every match win in Master League play offs (semifinals and final), players get 3 pts.

(2) Session ranking points

Winner of Master League playoffs ................... .16 pts
Finalist of Master League playoffs ................... .15 pts
Semifinalists of Master League playoffs ......... 14 pts
Master Leagues session 3rd players .................12 pts
Master Leagues session 4th players ..................11 pts
Master Leagues session 5th players ...................9 pts
Winners of Gold Leagues session ......................8 pts
Master Leagues session 6th players ............ ........7 pts
Gold Leagues session 2nd players ......................6 pts
Winners of Silver Leagues session........... ..........5 pts

(3) FIBS-like rating list

If there are two or more players with same number of points (sum of match winning points and session ranking points) then we consult the players rating list http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/frating.php, based on the FIBS rating formula, and the player with the higher rating there is ranked higher.

During the whole season the current unique League rating list will be accessible and will be updated automatically after every match from Master, Gold and Silver divisions are confirmed.
Also after the end of each session, ranking points will be added so players will be able to keep track of their Masters rating points.

© mradica @ Fibs 12 november 2007

You can see who are the Current top twelve players at http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/fmasterspts.php.