IFPA18 Cut Line

Time to start the speculation for this year’s IFPA cut line. We have 80 spots to fill. There are 21 countries with 50 or more ranked players, making 42 country spots available. Slovenia looks like the last country in with 54 players. 3 spots are reserved as play-in spots for the EU, US and Women’s Champions. That leaves 35 “open” spots. Going down the year-end rankings, when we get to position #48, there have been 13 of the 42 country spots taken so far - 2 US, 2 Sweden, 2 Germany, 2 Italy, 1 each for Denmark, Austria, UK, Finland and Switzerland. The other 35 spots would be the “lock” open spots. Jonas Valström is the last-one-in for open now. Emil ED Dreiborg, ranked #49, gets in as the second Denmark country spot. So as it appears to stand now, Keri Wing at #50 is the first person out and thus needing for a “not attending” player to get in. Paul Jongma at #51 gets in as the top Netherlands player. After that, we have the bubble people following Keri. Note that 2 other players in the top 65 get country spots if they want them - Jeff PP Teolis and John van der Wulp. How far down will it go? Will Shep get in? Will Belsito or Mads? Guess away if you like.

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Let me throw a wrinkle into the mix . . . the Country Exemption eligibility rules have changed for IFPA18.

“Please note that for the Country Exemption spots, a player must be residing in their registered country for at least a year in order to be eligible. For countries that organize an IFPA Country Championship Series, players that have qualified for that final will be given priority for a Country Exemption spot over those that have not qualified.”

This is what Italy looks like for IFPA18:

  • Daniele Acciari (ranked 22nd) will qualify, but not for a discounted Country Exemption spot.
  • Flavio Baddaria (ranked 35th) will qualify, but not for a discounted Country Exemption spot.
  • Roberto Pedroni (ranked 104th) will qualify for a discounted Country Exemption spot.
  • Enrico Giorgio de Stefani (ranked 356th) will qualify for a discounted Country Exemption spot.

Previously Daniele and Flavio would have taken those two Country Exemption spots, and Robert likely would have fallen below the cut line.

Why call it a “discounted” Country Exemption spot?

By the same logic, this also means that for USA and Canada, any highly-ranked player (that makes the cut line via their world ranking) that does not qualify for the NACS Championship will also not count against their country’s two Country Exemption spots?

Because they are . . . discounted :slight_smile:

At-large spots are $350. Country Exemption spots are $250. As we move towards raising the entry fee (we will likely slowly boil this frog until we see a decline in interest of at-large players participating), our discussions focused on making sure that international participation didn’t decline due to the entry fee increasing. We decided that not raising the Country Exemption spots would help.

Countries in Europe = States/Provinces in US/Canada.

Escher and Raymond both qualified for multiple States.

Jeff Teolis (are you fucking kidding me he’s the top ranked player in Canada?? WTF?) and John Kottmann both qualified for one of the PCS events.

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Wait so if I qualify for nationals my entry fee to worlds is $250 but if I don’t, it’s $350?

If you qualify for ANY STATE CHAMPIONSHIP, your entry fee to worlds is $250. Otherwise it’s $350.

Double checking and I think you’re good:

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Huzzah!

Cool, cool. So the top two players from each State and Province (as long as at least 50 IFPA players) can start getting two exempted spots to Worlds, as long as they reside in that State for a year. :wink:

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Interesting, it looks like neither Daniele nor Flavio played in any of the ICS events! That’s unexpected, and it potentially pushes bubble people down two more spots. That puts Marcus last one in for sure and Tim first one out tentatively. Danger, Shep!

In that case I think that the us setup may need some other changes to put it in line with Countries.

Like how any cross state Championships count for points / slots.

And that may also have the state reps getting the same voteing as an Countries rep.
And also remove the Canada / USA top level voteing.

Let state reps have the same independence that an Countrie rep has over there own.

Also this does also seem make cutting up some bigger Countries become the same thing.

Just off my head Countries to cut up are (not based on player numbers)
australia
new zealand
mexco
UK to at least UK / scotland
ireland to at least Ireland / north ireland
Germany
France
Taiwan (never part of china)
Hong Kong (it’s own part of china)
more

now for voting power issues
if say usa goes from about 1 Countrie to 40+ votes
then other Countries will need to be cut up just to even out voteing power in NA vs EU

How does reside in that State work for thing like for multi state metro areas with leagues that play in multi states

reside in that State work for people who may live part of the year in 2 more states (on paper may dual residing)

Yes to all of this . . .

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So by that same logic, if someone qualifies for ANY COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP, then they should be eligible to claim one of their Home Country’s exemption slots to Worlds.
Both Daniele and Flavio participated extensively in Germany’s Championship Series, and ranked quite highly in their standings.

The logic isn’t meant to be exactly the same as the whole Country Exemption process was designed to support countries that weren’t US and Canada.

Country representation is an integral part of what makes the IFPA World Championship special IMO.

The goal of this process is to hopefully motivate Daniele to treat the ICS more seriously and to build the prestige of that event. As the entry fee difference expands between the at-large spots and the country exemption spots, we’re hoping that helps.

@pinwizj how do you feel about Six Californias? Six Californias - Wikipedia

Or more modestly Cal 3? Cal 3 - Wikipedia

We’ll be ready to roll when that proposal passes! :slight_smile:

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well on the Country side that are not US and Canada.
Some may need to be cut up like the US and Canada are and what is the rules for that?
Or just get rid of the US and Canada as big ones and have each state be an “Country” “reside in rules to TBA”

We’ll get there. Each State and Province will be a Country with 2 exemption spots and the World Championship field will expand to 400 players. Can’t wait!