All About Masterpoints

As we reach the end of what has been a very strange season, we have recently sent out the usual masterpoint return sheets to the nominated officials within our affiliated clubs. This year, we are conscious that things have been far from “usual”. Some clubs have not been playing at all; those that have been active have had all their games online; and, because of that fact, many individual members will have found themselves playing in a wider number of “locations” than would have been the case had they had to travel there in person.

We therefore felt it might be worth putting together a brief Q&A document on the CBAI’s masterpoint scheme and how it operates. In it, you’ll find a general description of the scheme, the masterpoint ranges for the various grades, a description of how masterpoints are awarded and how they are processed, and a summary of what the club masterpoint reporters need to do. We have also tried to flag the main differences that apply in the particular circumstances of this season, and to give some advice on how clubs should respond. You’ll find the Q&A document below; for those of you really interested in this topic, it also contains, at the very end, a link to the full explanatory document elsewhere on this site.

For those of you who don’t have the time or inclination to read the entire document, the key points are:

Clubs should calculate masterpoints in the normal fashion for their online games in season 2020/21, and send them to us as soon as they are completed (no later than 31 July, please – after that date they will not be accepted);
Clubs should include non-members and guests in their returns in so far as possible;
If your club has not been keeping records, but still wishes to submit masterpoint returns, it may be possible to reconstruct a satisfactory approximation of the masterpoints by converting the BBO points that your members have won; we show you how in the Q&A, but be aware it will involve a fair amount of work, as you’ll need to do it member-by-member;
In recognition of the fact that some clubs have been dormant this season, we will not be applying the normal automatic flat-rate masterpoint allocation for clubs that do not submit masterpoint returns, and those clubs will be allocated only the basic 100 local points bonus that is hard-wired into our processing system;
Masterpoint recorders should exclude any pair or team featuring a robot throughout a competition from their rankings; a temporary stand-in for loss of connection is fine;
For players, if you are very anxious to ensure that you receive the relevant masterpoints from clubs in which you played as a guest or non-member, it is probably worthwhile contacting the club organisers now to make sure that they have your CBAI membership details and can include you in their report;
Masterpoints for the CBAI national competitions will be reported in the usual fashion; masterpoints from congresses will be the responsibility of the congress organisers – again please note the strict closing date of 31 July;
Masterpoints are not generally awarded for summer play (June/July/August); we have advised clubs that they can continue to award masterpoints this summerif they wish, and should report them this time next year with their season 2021/22 returns;
Finally, we will all have to be pragmatic in the circumstances of this season; while everyone concerned will do their very best to ensure that everything is recorded and reported accurately, undoubtedly there will be items that slip through the net. Apologies in advance if this happens to you; if it does, the good news is that it is likely to involve only the (less valuable) local points, so it is unlikely to be material in the overall scheme of things.