Mahjong ranking
General
EMA has established a ranking system for European Mahjong
players – the Mahjong European Ranking System (MERS). It is based on the
results of Mahjong tournaments that are certified by the EMA.
The EMA can acknowledge local, (inter)national European tournaments and championships to be rated as MERS competitions. Also online tournaments organized by EMA partners may apply for certification. Further important tournaments may also be certified. All certifications are decided by the presidium of the EMA.
Local and (inter)national MERS competitions in Europe must be organized or promoted by a member organization or partner of the EMA.
Requirements
A MERS competition must apply an EMA accredited rule set
(currently MCR and RCR / Riichi). Applications for certification should be
made in a timely manner, so that the tournament can be announced at
least 2 months in advance on the EMA calendar.
The competition must be open for all players from European countries. However, if a national organization requires local players to be member of that organization in order to be able to participate in (MERS) tournaments, EMA adopts that requirement. This means that a player that is required to be member of his country's organization cannot participate in any MERS tournament.
There must be at least 16 players from EMA member countries participating; any limitations for the maximum number of players, for instance due to dimensions of the venue, will have to be approved by the EMA.
Certification
An EMA member organization or a member of the General Assembly of the EMA
can apply for the certification of a tournament. The request must be
send to the presidium of the EMA at least 3 months ahead of the tournament.
A maximum of three competitions per country and per rule set can be certified each year; one MERS-2 and two MERS-1 tournaments.
If application for two or more competitions (weight 2 or 5) should be requested for the same date, EMA will first negotiate with the organizers. If both insist on the same date, the date of receipt at the presidium of EMA is decisive. Different MERS-1 tournaments may be organized on the same date; EMA will try to avoid this, but given the number of tournaments, this cannot always be achieved.
The certification 'MERS Competition – certified by EMA' is granted to the tournament after the decision of the presidium. This certificate can be used for promotion by the organizers of the tournament.
An official observer will be appointed for the tournament. The observer should check that the requirements for the tournament are met and report the results to the EMA. The observer may also participate in or be referee at the tournament - the identity of the observer will have to be announced before the start of the tournament.
Ranking of players
Players who have participated in at least 2 MERS tournaments, are listed in the
MERS. Players who do not comply with the requirements or regulations set
by their national organization, will not enter the EMA ranking list.
A player with less than 5 tournaments is given a result of 0 (weight 1) for each missing tournament. Participation as non-playing official or referee is not rated.
Currently, there are 3 official EMA ranking lists: MCR and RCR (Riichi) for 'real life' tournaments and a MORSE ranking for online tournaments.
