First Chess Forums Christmas Correspondence Tournament

[lanced]

Tornados post in my game with Perseus and Perseuses reaction to start a new game instead of making our game muddy has given me an idea for a chess tournament. I invite Perseus and Tornado to play. Everyone will play everyone so there will be a total of three games in this thread. All three of us will be playing two games at once: one as black and one as white. The third game will only concern individuals in that its score will help to determine who wins the match, so obviously it will be fun to follow. The winner will be whoever has the most wins (winning both games would do it). Ties for first will remain unresolved and the tournament will have a peacefull outcome.To keep things as clear as possible posts might look something like:

To Perseus: 5. Nf3
To Tornado: 7._h6 Merry Christmas!

I think that the three of us will be able to keep things together although I admit that things will probalby get pretty confusing. This is just a trail balloon and it can be abandoned at any time. Please at least try this even if you think that it wont work. I think that it would be great to have a healthy correspondence section on these forums where someone can always find a game. I try to get people interisted in this section because I think it can be one of the most fun things about these forums. So please try, I thought about it a lot.

[Perseus]

A tournament eh? Well I'm in for it certainly. We'd need some other players to play as well though.

PS:
How did I see the top post? Well, I can't in this section, so I temporarily physically moved it to another secion of the forums to read it.. :\

[gorckat]

Yeah- I can't read these stickied first posts at all I'd be up for a tourney, though.

[Perseus]

Just moved it back and forth to quote the actual content. Think I'll go around doing more of these thread shuffles so everyone can see the top post in a quote. It's a bit tedious perhaps, but until the issue is addressed, it's a decent workaround. Now for a quote of the top post:

Originally Posted by lanced

Tornados post in my game with Perseus and Perseuses reaction to start a new game instead of making our game muddy has given me an idea for a chess tournament. I invite Perseus and Tornado to play. Everyone will play everyone so there will be a total of three games in this thread. All three of us will be playing two games at once: one as black and one as white. The third game will only concern individuals in that its score will help to determine who wins the match, so obviously it will be fun to follow. The winner will be whoever has the most wins (winning both games would do it). Ties for first will remain unresolved and the tournament will have a peacefull outcome.To keep things as clear as possible posts might look something like:

To Perseus: 5. Nf3
To Tornado: 7._h6 Merry Christmas!

I think that the three of us will be able to keep things together although I admit that things will probalby get pretty confusing. This is just a trail balloon and it can be abandoned at any time. Please at least try this even if you think that it wont work. I think that it would be great to have a healthy correspondence section on these forums where someone can always find a game. I try to get people interisted in this section because I think it can be one of the most fun things about these forums. So please try, I thought about it a lot.

I would suggest a slightly different layout, Lanced.

Let's just assume (in case of 4 players) we're playing 3 games simultaneously. Note how I only add moves (in bold print) for games I'm playing in this example. It's a suggestion.
Game 1
Lanced - Perseus
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6

Game 2
Perseus - Tornado
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5

Game 3
Gorckat - Perseus
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. b3 d5

Game 4
Lanced - Tornado
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3

Game 5
Lanced - Gorckat
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3

Game 6
Tornado - Gorckat
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2


Assuming we can get a good group of people committed to playing this frenzy of correspondence games, I'd like to start playing as soon as possible.
A better idea on rules of conduct and a tournament format would be helpful though. To get a better idea, I took a look at some websites. Some things that come to mind (quoted text in italics):

- 'Time controls'.
We could give both players a set ammount of hours, let's say we chop the days up in pieces of 6 hours. The first move for white won't take up time. The first black move won't either, but after that the game starts. If white then moves within 6 hours of his opponent's reply, no time will be subtracted from his total. If white takes longer than 6 hours, 6 hours will be subtracted, if white takes more than 12, 12 hours will be subtracted etc. As with anything, if your 'timer' expires, you lose. Or, do we forego time controls altogether?
- 'Tournament format'
What overal format? How many games at once? Elimination, double elimination, double round-robin, round-robin (wouldn't advice Swiss)? In a double round-robin system, we could play half (or even all) games at once). Hmm... in which case, related to my comment on time controls, I suppose you'd have to make a move in all your active games in order to prevent things to become confusing.

Some thoughts anyway

[lanced]

Im happy that there is intrest in a tournament. That you must post the moves of all of your games at once makes sence, although it is a bit unflexible it will keep order and keep all the games moving along; it does seem necessary and I was thinking it myself. I don't like the idea of a time controll though so somehow we will have to agree on something: maybe one move per day? One move per day even on the first moves because things still will get going very fast. I agree that we should start as soon as possible. I do not know what Round Robin is or Swiss so I will read about them tonight.

Is it four of us then then? I am not at all against rules being chosen that the players have to accept if they want to play. grockat are you in? Perseus? If you are then we have three. I hope tornado shows up, within the next few posts we should be able to get started I hope.

[Perseus]

Heh, if you're into football (the variety that frowns on touching the ball with your hands) chances are you know how round robin works.

The first round of the UEFA-cup is setup as round robin. Each team plays once against the other, the pairings at the beginning decide which team gets the home field advantage.
Most regular competitions are setup as double round robin. Which means you play twice against every team, once your own stadium, once in your opponent's.
Eliminations is the well-known knockout system.
Double elimination is the knockout system with a twist. You're not out of the tournament unless you lose two games. Basically, a seperate 'losers' knockout system runs parallel to the 'winners' one. A little too elaborate I think.
Swiss is the one system I never (bothered to get) figured out. It basically sets up the pairings according to ratings and all that.

Well, I'm in of course. I'm a little troubled that the difference in people's um activity on this forum (which I know is based in part on time available) will make the games get out of synch.

[lanced]

Thats great soccer (I live in the U.S.) is my sport. Yes that is a concern, but grockat im sure will come through and I myself will only become more dependable because I will be less busy, not more, during the holidays. Tornado is new and can't be sure if he will be a regular, if hes not that wont be a problem because he won't even know that this tournament exists. I'm sure there is someone who will play that will be serious. Do you have anything against my first suggestion where the guy with the most wins wins? I do not mind a tiebreaker if you like. But maybe we are thinking differently about how games will last; I think of it as regular corrispondence games which will take some time as it is so I see no reason for not trying to end it all in one round. Your sugesstions suggest to me that you want to speed the play up and the formats seem good for tournament play but unpractical for long distance. Whatever it is one round is definately a manageble goal and I would be very happy with it.

[lanced]

Are you interisted for real Perseus? Why no more talk? Still need another guy, anyone want to play? cmon guys don't leave me hanging, at least talk to say that it is off, if that is the case.

[Perseus]

Well, I'm in, sure (3rd time I said that I think? )

I'm suggesting a 4-player field if no one else is interested, but I'll be posting a little 'add' in the news/announcement section just in case.

If anyone wishes to start off games against me in my absence. I play 1. e4 with white, and 1. e4 e5, 1. d4 Nf6, 1. c4 Nf6, 1. Nf3 Nf6 with black.

[lanced]

ok thats great! I am surprised not many people are interisted in coorispondence, maybe a few will come though.