General: The Teams series will run bimonthly from January to November. There will therefore be six team events in the competition, usually on the third Monday of odd months. A team must play in a minimum of four sessions to qualify.

1. Each team may consist of four to six club members. Where more than six players take part in a team over the course of the competition, the final composition of the team will be decided by the combination of six players which gives the best results, subject to rule 3 below.

2. No player may be counted as a member of more than one team. Anyone who plays in more than one team over the season will usually be deemed to be a member of the team in which they play most often. Note that such a player will not necessarily remain a member of the team for which they first play.

3. Any team on a given night which does not meet the definition of a “valid” team, according to rules 1 and 2 above, can play as normal, with members receiving masterpoints as appropriate. However, such a team will provisionally count as a “non-valid” team for the purpose of the competition. Note that an initially non-valid team may subsequently become valid. This could happen if, for example, a player switches from their first team to play more often for a second team or a visitor plays 3 times in the season and is accepted as a paid member of the club.

Winner: The winner of the Shield will be the team with the highest number of IMPs averaged over all the sessions that the team play.

Trophy: The winning team shall be awarded and retain the Chairman’s Shield for a period of one year.

Club representation: The winners of the trophy or four members from it are entitled to represent the club at the Surrey Interclub teams for the Wanborough Cup. This Surrey Teams event allows substitution(s) if the top team cannot attend.

Method of Play: For the Chairman’s Shield it is important to use fair and well-balanced movements and pre-prepared computer-dealt hands.