Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Well, I for one would like to congratulate Bored. That win has bumped his rating up by 68 points, and moved him above me in the standings, thanks to the tie break.

In the Under 1100 tournament meanwhile, I got a win on time myself on Tuesday which strengthens my chances of a podium finish. It's an odd one though as a) the opponent who timed out isn't a slow player (they've been in my group earlier in this same tournament as well), b) they were in a far from hopeless position and c) they're still going in their other two group matches.

[Bored Of Education]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

I think that anyone can see that I had matej on the ropes before the time out and I will claim that point

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

It's just possible that ChessGrandMaster2015 might be a tiny bit of a twat(scroll down to the discussion thread below the table/rules).

[Etienne]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

All over.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Jolly good. Congrats to Alex on his title. Wouter, are you happy to resume the organiser/TD role for the next OTF tournament? I'm up for participating, though in no particular hurry.

[Bored Of Education]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Yeah, congratulations Etienne and Sam. Apologies that I wasn't a better opponent. I probably should have resigned but I can never quite do it thinking that all moves of all games are an education.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Here's another ratings snapshot, with the figure in brackets showing the change since the previous snapshot (which was at the end of OTF 8 on 19 February). Matt's ratings and Bored's were significantly affected by Matt's time-out loss.

IT............ 1972 (-13)
ad hoc..... 1700 (+55)
Alex........ 1611 (+54)
EEG....... 1430 (+2)
Etienne.. 1417 (-4)
VT......... 1373 (-)
Wouter.. 1337 (+18)
Levin.... 1324 (+80)
Matt...... 1300 (-28)
Sam....... 1232 (+44)
Rogin... 854 (-)
Bored... 587 (+63)

[Wouter D]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: Jolly good. Congrats to Alex on his title. Wouter, are you happy to resume the organiser/TD role for the next OTF tournament? I'm up for participating, though in no particular hurry.

Yeah, I'd be happy to. Thanks for filling in, EEG!

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Well done everyone, and I'm looking forward to my first OTF tournament as a 1200+ player.

Excitingly, it looks as if Bored and I might have the chance to play over the board in a few months, and if anyone else fancies meeting up for a game or a pint (or best of all, a game and a pint) in July/August, let me know. I'll be in Bristol (meeting Bored in Bath), Manchester and London. If you're in London in late July I could even invite Alex too, as he'll be over for some of the same time I'm there.

[Wouter D]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Registration for OTF Chess 10 has opened. I've sent out invites to the ten people that occasionally participate; forum lurkers that want to give it a try are also more than welcome. If you don't have an invite and want one, please let me know.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Excitingly, it looks as if Bored and I might have the chance to play over the board in a few months, and if anyone else fancies meeting up for a game or a pint (or best of all, a game and a pint) in July/August, let me know. I'll be in Bristol (meeting Bored in Bath), Manchester and London. If you're in London in late July I could even invite Alex too, as he'll be over for some of the same time I'm there.

From my point of view, shame about the timing, as I'd have been up for a trip down from Cambridge to London for that, but I'm away on hols in Scotland and the Lake District with wife and daughter for 3 weeks from mid July to early August.

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Well, Alex is coming back to BA on the 9th August, which is the same day my girlfriend arrives in the UK, so depending how early in August you'll be back, we might be able to manage something (once my girlfriend gets over I think she'll be quite annoyed if I take time out of one of our limited number of days in London to go and play chess with someone from an internet forum).

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Tsk, girlfriends, eh? Sadly I don't think I'll be free for a London trip until later into August, so I'll hope to catch you on your next visit to these shores.

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

To be fair to her, it's only going to be her second visit to London, and her first that isn't literally a few days before Christmas, so we'll be doing a fair bit of touristy stuff. I managed to throw a spanner in the works of our previous visit by dislocating my shoulder one evening, so I'm going to make an effort to be better behaved this time. Obviously if you make it down to BA in the interim we can grab a game (that goes for the rest of you, too).

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Hmmm, two players being inseparable even after the tie breaker has rather thrown EEG's 960 tournament out of kilter.

2nd round is 5 groups of 5, leading to 3 groups of 5, then a group of 4 and one of 5 and finally a group of 6. For 5 rounds in total.

That's not how it's turning out. As I noted in my immediate response to Levin's post quoted above, the system can spring surprises on you, and so it turns out: my group in the current round is complete, and there appear to be only two of us going through to the next round. What I deduce from that observation, and from my experience of the other tournament as set out in detail in my post above, is that in a format billed as 6->3, the system will allow 3 from each group to progress as long as at least one group has 6 members, but as soon as all groups are down to 5 members, it will only allow 2 through to the following round. I feel a bit sorry for the guy who came 3rd in our group and has presumably just got a nasty surprise (and I note that Wouter looks to be heading for 3rd in his group...).

[Wouter D]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

How annoying. I'm starting to regret selecting chess.com as the place where I do my online 64-field business.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Wouter, with regard to OTF 10, have VT, Alex, ad hoc, IT and Matt all declined, or are you still waiting to hear back from some of them? (I'm just curious, not in any hurry to start as I have loads of active tournament games at the moment.)

[Wouter D]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: Wouter, with regard to OTF 10, have VT, Alex, ad hoc, IT and Matt all declined, or are you still waiting to hear back from some of them? (I'm just curious, not in any hurry to start as I have loads of active tournament games at the moment.)

VT, Alex, and ad hoc haven't reacted to the invite yet.

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

I've just sent Alex a WhatsApp to let him know he's been invited (I wouldn't have spotted my invite if I'd not been paying attention to this thread).

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

I'm going to have to pass, sorry. Much as I love the game and the OTF tournaments, my life got rather busier recently. I'm also moving jobs (out of Somalia and into the wider East Africa region) and I'm covering both jobs until July. Plus the usual domestic stuff (I work away but still take an active role remotely and run round like a blue arsed fly when in the UK). So please don't wait for me and I'll rejoin when I get time.

[Wouter D]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Vicarious Thrillseeker wrote: I'm going to have to pass, sorry. Much as I love the game and the OTF tournaments, my life got rather busier recently. I'm also moving jobs (out of Somalia and into the wider East Africa region) and I'm covering both jobs until July. Plus the usual domestic stuff (I work away but still take an active role remotely and run round like a blue arsed fly when in the UK). So please don't wait for me and I'll rejoin when I get time.

No worries. The invitation does not carry an obligation. Thanks for letting me know!

[Bored Of Education]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Bloody hell, I was impressed enough playing Sam in Argentina. Didn't realise that VT was in Somalia.

[ad hoc]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

I've attempted to decline the invitation on the site Wouter but I have no idea if that has registered in any way.

Nothing personal obviously just a bit time poor these days

[Sam]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Bordeaux Education wrote: Bloody hell, I was impressed enough playing Sam in Argentina. Didn't realise that VT was in Somalia.

I thought everyone knew VT was in Somalia.

[Etienne]

Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

Is it worth doing with so few people? Maybe wait until some people have more time?