This year, we are making two major changes with regard to systems allowed in the USBCs and how they are to be disclosed.
Systems allowed in Round Robin stages of all three USBCs will be those that are alloweed under the "Level 3 Chart" as proposed by the ACBL Conventions & Competitions Committee. This proposal has yet to be voted on by the ACBL Board of Directors, but a great deal of thought and effort has gone into improving the previous MidChart (the Level 3 Chart is expected to apply in more events than the MidChart, but replaces it for those events for which the MidChart applied). Many of the changes are ones that our Technical Committee had been considering, so instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, we are going to use this new chart for Round Robins and short (less than 60 board) Knockout matches. Click here for the Level 3 Chart as approved by the C&CC. Note that the Definitions section includes definitions for things that are not relevant for the Level 3 Chart but will be relevant for future charts (one important one to note is the "Rule of N" which does not limit any actions under the Level 3 Chart).
The way in which players disclose their methods has not changed this year - each pair is required to submit a System Summary Form (SSF) & an ACBL Convention Card at least 2 weeks before the day on which the event starts. The change this year is that a subcommittee of the ITTC will review each of the submitted SSFs and contact the players submitting them if they are not adequate (Jan will tell each pair whose SSF has been approve that it is adequate). The Technical Committee has also revised the Guidelines to Completion of the SSF and we strongly recommend that you read them before completing your SSF. Until the SSF Review Committee has approved your SSF, your opponents will have seating rights whenever you are playing.