The Rules

Each 7-point match awards two separate points, tracked throughout the event:

• 1 point for the match win — awarded to the player who reaches 7 points first.
• 1 point for the PR win — awarded to the player with the lower performance rating (PR) in that match, as evaluated by eXtreme Gammon 2.

A player can therefore earn 0, 1, or 2 points from a single match.

The European Players Cup runs across several BMAB Players Cup legs in different cities, culminating in a season final in Budapest. Results from Athens count towards the European Players Cup leaderboard.

• Every match at Athens awards Cup points on the same basis as every other leg: 1 Cup point for the match win, 1 Cup point for the PR win — up to 2 points per match.
• These Cup points accumulate to each player's running European Players Cup season total, carrying toward qualification for the Budapest final.
• At Athens, the leg's own standings use the same match-win + PR-win totals, so the leg table and the Cup points earned here match.

BMAB Athens is played as a single 5-round Swiss event — there is no separate knockout stage.

• Rounds 1–3 are pre-drawn, so play flows without waiting between rounds.
• Rounds 4 and 5 are drawn on the day from standings by match-win points — PR analysis takes longer than the gap between rounds.
• No player meets the same opponent twice.
• If the field is odd, the tournament directors announce how the bye is handled before Round 1.

There is no bracket. After Round 5, the Athens champion is the player with the most total points — match-win points plus PR-win points — across all five rounds.

• If players are tied on total points, lower average PR across all rounds is ranked higher.
• If PR average is also tied, the placing is shared.

One entry fee of €100, paid on site to the organiser, covers video recording of every match, transcription, the BMAB fee and the organiser's fee.

An optional side pool of €200 per entrant is collected and paid out by the organiser, separate from the entry fee. The pool goes to the highest-ranked pool entrant in the final standings; the organiser keeps a 5% handling fee.

• Field is capped at 48 participants — a hard cap, with a waiting list after that.
• Register by email to hello@backgammondata.com with your name, country and BMAB rank (if any). Places go to the first 48 registrations, confirmed by reply; waiting list after that. The €100 entry fee is paid on site to the organiser on the day. Registration deadline to be announced.

• All matches are played on live boards with clocks.
• Match length: 7 points, throughout the tournament.
• Clock: 14 minutes per player and match, plus a 12-second delay per move.
• Play follows WBGF rules; the tournament is registered with BMAB as a qualifier for the European Players Cup.
• Matches must be live, clocked, and pre-designated — pairings are published before each round is played, consistent with BMAB's rules for a qualifying tournament.
• Every match is recorded and transcribed by the Backgammon Data team.
• Schedule: about 90 minutes per round, starting at 11:00, and play finishes before the 19:00 dinner break. No lunch break. Start times may be varied by the tournament directors; their decision on timing is final.

All matches are recorded and transcribed by the Backgammon Data team, then submitted to BMAB for analysis. (Note: BMAB's general rules default to splitting transcription between the tournament director and participants — the Backgammon Data team handles all of it instead, so players have nothing to transcribe.)

• Analysis uses eXtreme Gammon's "World Class Analysis" preset with the "Gigantic" search interval, a 15×8 bear-off database, and counts resignation errors toward PR.
• Each match is analysed once.
• Pairings and match results are posted on the day; full results including PR are published on backgammondata.com within 24 hours.

Full detail on BMAB's process: bgmastersab.com/about.