THE MASTER SOLVERS CLUB CONTEST
RULES AND PROCEDURES
Contest Description
Each month, The Bridge World runs the Master Solvers Club contest, which presents eight bridge problems on bidding and play. After the contest deadline, the solutions are scored by the director and are discussed by an expert panel in The Bridge World magazine. The Master Solvers Club contest is open to all bridge players worldwide and is free to enter.
Contest Entries
All contest entries must be submitted using the current MSC Contest entry page at The Bridge World web site. Entries will not be accepted by any other method. For all entries received, an offical confirmation screen will appear and a confirmation message will promptly be sent by e-mail to the entrant. If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail, your solutions may have not been entered into the contest. The e-mail confirmation should be kept as proof of entry. If a confirmation e-mail is not received, the entrant should first check their email junk filter to ensure that our messages are being delivered. If the confirmation message is still not received, your solutions may not have been entered into the contest and you should contact The Bridge World promptly for assistance.
Eligibility
A contest entrant must be an individual person. There is a limit of one entry per individual per contest. Entries must be provided using the real name and postal mailing address of the entrant. The entrant must use the identical spelling/variant of their name any time they enter the contest. A unique e-mail address must be used on all contest entries; an e-mail address can not be used for multiple individuals. Contest entrants are responsible for entering their own contest entry. All information requested on the entry form must be provided accurately. Entrants are responsible for checking the accuracy of their responses prior to entering the form. All entries are final; no replacement entries, corrections, or changes can be made once the entry is submitted. Employees and staff of The Bridge World and the permanent expert panelists of the Master Solvers Club are not eligible to enter.
Contest Deadlines
Answers for a contest must be submitted no later than the contest deadline; late entries will not be accepted. The contest's name indicates the cover date of the issue in which the solutions and discussion will appear. The scheduled deadline for the each contest is:
| CONTEST | STARTS | DEADLINE |
|---|---|---|
| JANUARY CONTEST | November 1 | November 30 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| FEBRUARY CONTEST | December 1 | December 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| MARCH CONTEST | January 1 | January 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| APRIL CONTEST | February 1 | February 28 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| MAY CONTEST | March 1 | March 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| JUNE CONTEST | April 1 | April 30 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| JULY CONTEST | May 1 | May 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| AUGUST CONTEST | June 1 | June 30 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| SEPTEMBER CONTEST | July 1 | July 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| OCTOBER CONTEST | August 1 | August 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| NOVEMBER CONTEST | September 1 | September 30 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
| DECEMBER CONTEST | October 1 | October 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) |
Directions
In answering, a Solver should assume that North is an expert, but North-South are not a regular partnership. To ensure a uniform framework, the North-South players are assumed to be using Bridge World Standard (BWS), the consensus system derived from the preferred methods of experts and solvers. You can see the current version at the Bridge World Standard page.
Directors and Scoring
Each contest is directed by a member of the Bridge World editorial staff. After the contest deadline, the contest's director assigns scores to answers on each problem, giving a highest score of 100 and lower scores generally in multiples of 10. The director does the scoring according to a personal view of the merits of different possibilities but is guided by the votes and comments of a panel of experts. However, the director must award 100 to an action receiving a majority panel vote, at least 10 to any action receiving at least one panel vote, and some score (even if zero) to every legal action.
The Honor Roll
For each month's contest, the top-scoring solvers are listed in the Honor Roll, which appears on The Bridge World's web site each month once the contest scoring is completed. Monthly scores also apply to the yearly contest; the yearly scores are the sums of the solvers' monthly scores. The top-scoring solvers for the yearly contest are listed in the yearly Honor Roll, which appears on The Bridge World's web site after the yearly scoring is completed.
Contest Administation
The MSC contest is administered by The Bridge World. Interpretation of contest rules and eligibility, the admissibility and validity of submissions, and scoring of entries are at the sole discretion of the staff of The Bridge World. All rules and deadlines are subject to change. The "MSC Rules and Procedures" page on The Bridge World web site contains the most current version of the rules and deadlines.
AND PROCEDURES
The Bridge World's Master Solvers Club is the world's longest-running bridge feature, featuring a new set of problems every month since October 1929.
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PROBLEM SUGGESTIONS
Problem suggestions are frequently used and always appreciated. For instructions on submitting a problem, and for tips on which problems are most likely to be accepted, please Click Here.