Statement from the Alt

The ALT events are invitational events. The original idea behind the ALT was to organise tournaments with world class players on BBO to provide an opportunity for top level bridge and potentially creating an income for professional players during corona. Furthermore the ALT wanted to give a chance to all the bridge enthusiasts isolated in their homes to be entertained by world class bridge.

The ALT allowed and encouraged kibitzers and stated that invitations were granted to participants, who were not only world class, but also highly ethical players. Sadly it became clear during the spring of corona that some players deliberately violated the ethical conduct of bridge and the ALT’s Conditions of Contest.

We are now ready to move on. A player who has not been welcome due to violation of our CoC will now have the opportunity to play again in our world class online events on the following condition:

· The player has to declare that he/she has violated the ethical conducts of bridge during online matches with the risk of influencing the results of the match/tournament.

· The player must agree to make such a statement in the ALT bulletin – a statement for the ALT organisers alone is not sufficient.

The ALT provides the player with a second chance by revoking the non-invite decision, effective the next tournament after the statement made by that player.

Should the player once again violate the ethical conducts of bridge (including online bridge), the player will not be allowed back ever.

The ALT has taken this first step to move on. We have now become used to the temporary reality in the online bridge world and we are of the hope that all players are now fully aware of the consequences of their actions.

This statement also means that players who have previously publicly confessed will from today no longer be denied an invitation to participate in the ALT events based on their history.

We hope that we can encourage others to follow their example.