This didn’t actually happen but almost did, and made me curious.
A player’s membership expired at the end of January. In late February he renewed his membership on site at a tournament. If that organizer didn’t send in the paperwork until sometime in March, would the player still be considered to be a member for rating the February tournament, or would a tournament membership be required? Would his renewed membership expire at the end of February or March 2008?
Thanks.
While technically we should probably backdate the membership so that the member was a current member at the time of the tournament, all we really do at this time is to check that the membership is current through the end of the tournament at the time the event is being validated.
In other words, if an event is being checked today (March 5th) for an event held in February and the membership was not current on February 28th but has been renewed in March, that player will not be flagged as a non-member.
However, if this lenient policy becomes a significant source of abuse, it could be changed. But since most events are submitted within a few days of when they end, I don’t see this as having much potential for abuse.