Since you mentioned this is nothing to do with Bishan, I just drop it.

Regarding my suggestion, my main concern initially is more on “try not to cancel Group A due to not enough players” as same set of staff are working on all three groups of competitions, to reduce the amounts for the prizes could be one of the alternatives, of course, the organizer need to check with the 9 players if they still wish to join the competition with reduced prizes, this is a common practice for those who have experiences in handling competitions and nothing to do with “象总理事诸公如何面对棋友”.

As 象总理事 will be having the usual monthly meeting tonight, we will wait for the latest updates on Group A, e.g. 7-Round or 9-Round.

By the way, I plan to register on 21 Jun if I am free to participate in all rounds except one, currently I am not free on 27 Jun (school 70th Anniversary Celebration) and 11 July (Bishan 7th Anniversary Celebration) after 5 pm, i.e. I can join if it is 7-round but not 9-round.

Furthermore, this could be my last time and 10th time in National Open, during 1998 to 2009 except 2003 and 2006, before moving out of Bishan by Dec 2009. At this moment, I have no plan to join in the next few years due to other personal arrangements.