Russian Mahjong Federation from February 1, 2015 till November 30, 2015 is helding 6th Online MCR Marathon -- an extended ten-month online competition which takes place at the game server MahjongTime. This document contains all the official information about this competition:

Announcement of Tournament
Regulations

General information

The full title of the competition: Russian Open MCR Marathon 2015.
The competition status: online tournament.
Competition organizer: Russian Mahjong Federation.
The ruleset: Mahjong Competition Rules (to the extent that is possible while playing in the Internet).
Dates of the competition: from February 1, 2015 till November 30, 2015
Number of participants: not limited.
The number of game sessions: not limited.
Venue: in the Internet at the address www.mahjongtime.com.
The duration of a game session: 100 minutes/ 16 deals.
Is Rated: Yes (starting from 11.03.2015).
Responsible persons: Pavel Anokhin, Andrey Chichigin, Vitaly Novikov

Russian Open MCR Marathon 2015 (the Marathon) is an open MCR competition conducted in the Internet using software tools that allow remote access to the virtual table at server for simultaneous game.

1. The Organizers Of The Marathon

1.1. The marathon is organized by the Russian Mahjong Federation.

1.2. For communication with the organizers one can use:

• E-mail: Этот адрес электронной почты защищён от спам-ботов. У вас должен быть включен JavaScript для просмотра., Этот адрес электронной почты защищён от спам-ботов. У вас должен быть включен JavaScript для просмотра., Этот адрес электронной почты защищён от спам-ботов. У вас должен быть включен JavaScript для просмотра.,
• Nicknames on server MahjongTime: NomWise, ComboRus, AnryChan,
• Nicknames at forum at www.mahjong.ru: Nom, Combo, AnryChan,
• Skype: an.pavel

2. Dates of the Competition

2.1. The Marathon is conducted from February 1, 2015 till November 30, 2015 (inclusive).

2.2. Marathon as a competition consists of 5 bi-monthly periods called "Stages":

• Stage 1 - from February 1 till March 31, 2015,
• Stage 2 - from April 1 till May 31, 2015,
• Stage 3 - from June 1 till July 31, 2015,
• Stage 4 - from August 1 till September 30, 2015,
• Stage 5 - from October 1 till November 30, 2015.

3. Venue

The Marathon is held on the game server MahjongTime at the address on the Internet www.mahjongtime.com.

4. Participants

4.1. In order to participate in the Marathon a player must be registered at the server MahjongTime.

4.2. In order to participate in the Marathon no any additional registration or payment is required beside that which is required to play at the server MahjongTime.

4.3. Any player participated in the game at the table named "RU-Marathon-N" (see item 8.1. hereof) is considered to be "participant", unless otherwise is notified by the organizers.

5. Obligations of Participants

5.1. Marathon participants is obliged to follow Mahjong Competition Rules to the extent that is possible while playing in the Internet.

5.2. The Marathon participants are prohibited:

• to leave the table before the end of the game,
• to pass during the game's information to other players,
• to participate in the Marathon under more than one user name (nickname),
• to hand off  control of the game to any third party.

5.3. By the request of the organizers of the Marathon participant must provide his/ her name, country and city of residence.

6. Disqualification of participants, disqualification of games, fines

6.1. Marathon participant who violates the requirements of p.5. of the current Regulations may be penalized or disqualified by decision of the organizers with or without specifying the period of Ineligibility. Repetitive violations of p.5. of current Regulations by the same Marathon may lead to more severe penalty or period of disqualification.

6.2. The results of the game may be disqualified by decision of the organizers in the following cases:

• the table was left by two or more participants,
• the game in the absence of one of the participants lasted over 8 deals,
• one of the players was reported to have 400 or more "automoves" in game under consideration,
• one or more players were disqualified,
• a technical problem on the server Mahjong Time prevented the completion of the game or had a significant impact on the outcome of the game, provided that this problem was applied to all four players of disqualified games.

6.3. The results of disqualified games points acquired by disqualified participant during the period of his/her disqualification, are not taken into account when determining the results of the Marathon or its Stages.

6.4. Fines imposed by the decision of the organizers to the Marathon participants in accordance with p.6.1., can be expressed in:

• reducing the amount of Game Points earned by the participant in the game, which was a violation of the Rules, by 5, 10, 20, or 60 points, with a corresponding redistribution of tournament points at the end of the game among players of this table;
• in reducing the total amount earned by the participant's points for 50, 100, 200 or 600 game points;
• in reducing the total amount earned by the participant of Table Points in the current Stage by 1, 2 or 4 Table Points.

7. Marathon table settings

Marathon table setting are as follows:
Rules - "Chinese official"
The name of the game table - RU-Marathon-N
Is Rated - Yes (starting from 11.03.2015)
Entry Fee - 500 Dragon Chips
Only the host can sit playes - No
Only friends can see table - No
Allow Spectators - Yes
Enable Flower Tiles - Yes
Cash Game - No
Show only the winning hand - Yes
Show Game Helper - No
Avto Move - Yes
Wait for Reconnect - No
Rounds - 4
Move Time - 8 sec
Game Timer - 100 minutes
The minimum points for Mahjong - 8
Minimum belt to join - White with green stripe
More about Marathon: www.mahjong.ru

8. The Results of Marathon

8.1. Results of Marathon are based on games played on the server MahjongTime at a special table named «RU-Marathon-N» (where N - serial number of the gaming table). The relation of the game played to one or another Stage of Marathon is based on game stating time according to San Diego (California, USA) time.

8.2. The player who finishes in the first place at the table, gets 4 Table Points (TP), the player who finishes in the second place at the table - 2 TP, the player who finishes in the third place at the table - 1 TP, the player who finishes in the fourth place at the table - 0 TP. In case of equality of Game Points (GP) between two players the number of Table Points is determined as follows: the players sharing the first-second place will receive 3 TP; players shared second place will receive 1.5 TP; players, who shared the third-fourth places, receive 0.5 TP. In rare cases of GP equality, the amount of Table Points is determined as follows: 2.333 TP for the tie in 1-2-3 place and 1 TP for the tie in 2-3-4 place. Tie in places 1-2-3-4 leads to receiving 1.75 TP.

8.3. The results of the Marathon Stage

8.3.1. The primary criterion by which players are ranked in a Stage is half of the sum of two components: (1) the average TP in the best "10-series" (which is 10 games played in a row), and (2) the average TP of all games played in Stage.

8.3.2. "The best series of 10 games" is defined as the series of 10 games played by the player in the Stage in a row with the best performance. For players who played in the Stage less than 10 (ten) games, best and only one accounted series is considered to be all played in the Stage by player games. For players who played more than ten (10) games in a Stage the best 10-series is determined by the maximal sum of Table Points in the 10-series and the maximum amount of Game Points obtained in the 10-series with the maximum sum of Table Points. "The average TP in the best 10-series" is defined as the ratio of the sum of Table Points in the best series of 10 games and the number 10 (ten).

8.3.3. "The average TP for the Stage" for players who played in the Stage no less than 10 (ten) games, is defined as the ratio of the sum of Table Points obtained by the player in the Stage and the number of games played. For players who played in the Stage less than 10 (ten) games, "The average TP for the Stage" is defined as the ratio of the sum of Table Points obtained by the player in the Stage and the number 10 (ten).

8.3.4. An additional criterion for the ranking of players in the Stage is the sum of Game Points scored in the best series of 10 games (sorted from highest to lowest). The third criterion is the number of games played by a player in the Stage (sorted from highest to lowest).

8.3.5. The Marathon Stage winner is the player with the highest value of the half of the sum of two components: "the average TP in the best series of 10 games" and "the average TP of all games played in Stage"; if there is a tie, the winner is the player with the highest value of the sum of game points in the best series of 10 games, and if there is another tie -- by the highest number of games played in the Stage. The same order of main and additional indicators  is applied to sort the results of all the players in Stage (according to the list of sort keys, from highest to lowest) -- the half-sum of "the average TP in the best series of 10 games" and "the average TP of all games played in Stage", the amount of Game Points in the best series of 10 games, the number of games played in the Stage.

8.3.6. So called "Normed Ranking" ("NR") is a relative reflection of the place occupied by the player in the Stage. NR is defined by formula:

NR = 1000*(N - P)/(N - 1),

where "NR" is Normed Ranking (multiplied by 1000 for convenience); "N" is the number of players who played at least 4 games in the Stage; "P" is the place of the player in Stage, defined according to p.8.3.5. All players who played less than 4 games in Stage, get a fixed amount of Normed Ranking equal to 0 (zero). The winner of the Stage, according to the formula always gets NR=1000, and the last player at the table stage always gets HP=0.

8.4. The results of the Marathon

8.4.1. The final results of the Marathon are based on "Summarized Normed Ranking" ("SNR").

8.4.2. For the players who participated in 4 (four) or less Stages, SNR is defined as sum of NR derived from all Stages played by a player.

8.4.3. For the players who participated in all 5 (five) Stages, SNR is defined as sum of 4 (four) best by NR results of Stages played by a player. A Stage with the lowest value of NR is thus excluded from consideration. When two or more Stages for a player are tied in terms of NR then a Stage with the lowest half-sum of "the average TP in the best series of 10 games" and "the average TP of all games played in Stage" is excluded. The next tie-criterion to exclude is number of games played in the Stage (Stage  with minimal number of games is excluded).

8.4.4. The Marathon winner is the player with the highest value of SNR. Final Marathon ranking for all selected for each player Stages is based on the following criteria (all are sorted from highest to lowest):

• Summarized Normed Ranking,
• sum of half-sums of "the average TP in the best series of 10 games" and "the average TP of all games played in Stage" (summation is conducted for selected Stages),
• number of games played in the Marathon.

9. Official reports

All decisions and declarations of the organizers, the results of the Marathon, as well as any changes in these Regulations shall be published on the website www.mahjong.ru in the section devoted to the Marathon and take effect immediately after their publication. Posts related to the Marathon at >the site www.mahjong.ru forum, are considered to be not official ones, regardless of who made such posts.

10. Resolution of disputes

10.1. Any disputes arising between the participants of the Marathon can be submitted for resolution to the organizers. The decision of the organizers published in accordance with the requirement of p.9. of this Regulations is final and not subject to revision.