Greg Strong wrote on Sat, May 13, 2017 06:10 AM UTC:
It has been eight years since we've had a chess variant tournament here at the Chess Variant Pages, so we might be overdue :) This is because we have had a shortage of both interested players willing to commit and editors willing to commit the time to organize (which is not insignificant.) I'm interersted and happy to commit the time to run a tournament if there is enthuiasm within our Game Courier community. It looks like we have at least 25 regularly active players on Game Courier and if we had even 9 committed participants we should be able to have a successful tournament. So this post is a feeler to see if we have that threshold. Please respond if interested.
My plan (subject to feedback) goes basically like this. Each player will play 8 games, each against a different opponent. The games played will be selected from a list, so players will have a choice about what to play, and no one should have to play a game they really don't like (unless they are really picky, in which case they probably shouldn't enter.) Time controls are liberal, although any pair playing a game can choose stricter time controls if they like. Each player will play two games at a time.
My thought on game selection is as follows. I'm trying to balance (A) giving flexibility so players play games they like, (B) selecting games from a reasonable list so we don't play a hundred different games, (C) we are playing, although not exclusively, established variants so we, as a community, continue to promote and study those games, (D) everyone plays a variety of different games to challenge them, and (E) no one is forced to play something too radical or complicated. Given those goals, this is my idea.
There are 8 categories of games. Since each player will play 8 games, they will play one game from each category. Each category has approximately 5 games. You will be assigned an opponent for each category, and you, together with your opponent, will chose the game you want to play. If there is not easy agreement, no problem, you each submit a ranked list of those games from most preferred to least preferred to me and I will assign the game that results in the least displeasure from any player.
Here is the provisional list of categories and games. I am happy to consider changes to this, provided that this basic format and the aformentioned goals are preserved, and there is no community opposition to proposed changes. If this descends into chaos, I will call it off.
It has been eight years since we've had a chess variant tournament here at the Chess Variant Pages, so we might be overdue :) This is because we have had a shortage of both interested players willing to commit and editors willing to commit the time to organize (which is not insignificant.) I'm interersted and happy to commit the time to run a tournament if there is enthuiasm within our Game Courier community. It looks like we have at least 25 regularly active players on Game Courier and if we had even 9 committed participants we should be able to have a successful tournament. So this post is a feeler to see if we have that threshold. Please respond if interested.
My plan (subject to feedback) goes basically like this. Each player will play 8 games, each against a different opponent. The games played will be selected from a list, so players will have a choice about what to play, and no one should have to play a game they really don't like (unless they are really picky, in which case they probably shouldn't enter.) Time controls are liberal, although any pair playing a game can choose stricter time controls if they like. Each player will play two games at a time.
My thought on game selection is as follows. I'm trying to balance (A) giving flexibility so players play games they like, (B) selecting games from a reasonable list so we don't play a hundred different games, (C) we are playing, although not exclusively, established variants so we, as a community, continue to promote and study those games, (D) everyone plays a variety of different games to challenge them, and (E) no one is forced to play something too radical or complicated. Given those goals, this is my idea.
There are 8 categories of games. Since each player will play 8 games, they will play one game from each category. Each category has approximately 5 games. You will be assigned an opponent for each category, and you, together with your opponent, will chose the game you want to play. If there is not easy agreement, no problem, you each submit a ranked list of those games from most preferred to least preferred to me and I will assign the game that results in the least displeasure from any player.
Here is the provisional list of categories and games. I am happy to consider changes to this, provided that this basic format and the aformentioned goals are preserved, and there is no community opposition to proposed changes. If this descends into chaos, I will call it off.
Ok, who's (provisionally) in? Let's first decide who is willing to play within these basic parameters before we get into changes.