Apologies for the slight tardiness of this. I’ve been traveling today, and now am up later than optimal trying to finish this. (Your most recent comments have been noted; will respond later.)
Quick version
This week’s pairings are below. Time control is 15/30. Mostly common-sense rules review is here. (One of them is “Don’t cheat.”)
And if you save the PGN, you can easily post the games using chessflash.com.
| Week 1 Pairings |
| White |
Black |
| Sciurus |
Chessaholic |
| Blunderprone |
Polly |
| Tom |
Drunknknite |
| Takchess |
Donnie |
| Wang |
Ivan |
| Wahrheit |
Bye |
(Takchess: I should be able to do any day after 7pm EDT, or anytime on the weekend. Just let me know.)
Details
Unfortunately, I got some pushback from the US government, so Kim Jong Il is now ineligible to play. Shaq and Space Ghost mysteriously dropped out.
Participants…take note of your number!
The order was based on FICS standard rating, if there was one with a reasonably large history. If not, I used other ratings found via your websites (ie, Ivan, Sciurus, Takchess, Wang, and chessaholic). So this certainly not an exact indicator of playing strength!
There are two divisions, each being a round-robin. The winner of each division will play for the championship!
Unfortunately, no matter the format, some people would have had to take byes. Sorry, Alex Chiu divisioners! (If you want to recruit a 12th, I’ve no prob with the late entry, though.)
| Dr. Gene Ray Division |
Alex Chiu Division |
| drunknknite |
Ivan |
| Polly |
LEP |
| Sciurus |
Wahrheit |
| Blunderprone |
Takchess |
| Rhuiden |
Wang |
| chessaholic |
The Bye |
The schedules look like this if you want to plan ahead:
| Round |
Dr. Gene Ray Division Schedule |
| 1 |
5:11 |
7:3 |
9:1 |
| 2 |
1:11 |
3:9 |
5:7 |
| 3 |
3:11 |
5:1 |
7:9 |
| 4 |
11:9 |
1:7 |
3:5 |
| 5 |
11:7 |
9:5 |
1:3 |
| Round |
Alex Chiu Division Schedule |
| 1 |
6:12 |
8:4 |
10:2 |
| 2 |
2:12 |
4:10 |
6:8 |
| 3 |
4:12 |
6:2 |
8:10 |
| 4 |
12:10 |
2:8 |
4:6 |
| 5 |
12:8 |
10:6 |
2:4 |
Week 6 will be the championship between the two division leaders!
June 9th, 2008
9 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Tournament of Lepers
I was looking through Donnie’s copies of Chess Life, and they were pretty boring. That’s probably because the publishers were suppressing all the juicy stuff. So maybe I’m going to publish a chess magazine of my own, if it doesn’t take too much work.
June 7th, 2008
18 comments
Posted by The Mascot
Filed under Chess
First, thanking the “sponsors”
Allen, for offering a $5 McDonald’s gift card to anyone who finishes with either perfect or 0 score.
Tacticus has offered to post games from the tournament using his software in development (it’s actually rather impressive) chessflash.com. We’ll be able to upload PGN files–there’s more stuff on his page about it.
Tournament Format
The first tournament was a 9-week marathon. As a few people mentioned (and I agree), it was simply too long. This time, I want to cap it to six weeks at most.
A few ideas were to do two smaller round robins, a Swiss, or just truncate a full round robin schedule. I kinda like the first, but it may not work well with an odd number of players since people will be playing different numbers of games. Your thoughts are welcome.
June 7th, 2008
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Tournament of Lepers
Er, last time I said pairing would be out June 1. Sorry. It’ll be June 8.
I already regret doing this poster (click for big size). It’s late; I hope everyone’s name is spelled right. If you want in, let me know before Sunday. (More info here.)
June 4th, 2008
18 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Bad Ads, Chess, Tournament of Lepers
Last week, while going to the supermarket, I stumbled upon one of those blood donation vans. There was some portly dude in shades trying to lure me with Marlins tickets into handing over my hard-earned blood. Being overdue for a donation, I let him pretend he was a good salesman and agreed to enter the van.
One of the blood-taker girls was about to leave for the day when she asked to look at my veins. Nodding and “mmm-hmm”ing like she had her choice of men at La Bare, she asked my blood type (O+). She was extra-satisfied at this response, knowing that most people can receive O+ blood.
I think she was a vampire.
They asked me to do a double red blood cell collection, which takes longer and makes me ineligible to donate in four months rather than two. I agreed, and they were kind enough to give my plasma and platelets back.
I was actually slightly light-headed afterwards, which is unusual. And will probably affect me breaking a 13-minute mile in the near future. But it saved someone’s life, and I got two free Marlins tickets and an apple juice.
I fail at chess.
Two Wednesdays ago, I played a USCF-rated game for the first time in months. I managed only a draw against a 3rd grader, rated 1180. (Grats to him; no one below 1300 has managed a draw against me before.) He vaguely resembled me as a kid and used a MonRoi, which completely threw me off psychologically. At least that’s the best excuse I could come up with.
He seemed about as tactically aware as I was, and was really eager to exchange off his Knight for a Bishop. He never generated any real threats, but I wasn’t good enough to hurt him. Need to post this game later.
May 26th, 2008
5 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Burning Agony, Chess, Grilled Cheese
The pairings will be announced on June 1, so that it’s after the Memorial Day weekend and gives the people at Squirrel Chess a chance to get back from traveling.
For the uninitiated, this an online chess tournament where chess bloggers show off their epeen. Or not; the amount of trash talk has been sorely deficient. We play one 15/30 game a week, and you get a chance to win your way to a $5 McDonald’s gift card. (Or lose your way to it, that works too.) So grab yourself an FICS account, let me know your handle, and you’re in.
(More info here.)
May 19th, 2008
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Tournament of Lepers
There’s been some sort of nerdy chess player dust-up on some chick named Vicary’s blog. FIDE Master Jon Jacobs had the following to say:
They and their blogs carry colorful handles like Liquid Egg Product, blunderprone, Wahrheit, and even Man de la Maza….Less politely, they could be described as a “cult”…
Fellow bloggers, including BDK, Wahrheit, and chessloser went to bat for me, indicating that I am not part of the de la Maza cult.
Unfortunately, Mr. Jacobs is closer to the mark than I’ve been letting on.
You see, last December the Mascot converted to Mazaism, and we helped him build a dark temple in his basement so he could worship the requisite three times a day. (Worship sessions consist of constant repetition of the phrase “de la Maza is teh bomb” while moving around in circles. It’s not my cup of tea, but whatever.)
A couple months ago, FM Jon Jacobs snuck into the Mascot’s basement, snapped some photographs, and threatened to release them to the world if we at Liquid Egg Product didn’t pay up. Even though we’ve been FAITHFULLY paying the hush money every week, he went ahead and PUBLICLY outed this site yesterday.
We’ve stopped the payments, and are looking into ways we can legally recover the blackmail money.
No, the Mascot’s Dark Temple is not available for tours. Sorry.
May 8th, 2008
15 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Religion
Yes, there will be a second one. Consider this a place to sign-up. If you didn’t participate last time, let me know your FICS handle as well.
Depending on how many people participate, the format may change. Last time was a round-robin, but there weren’t that many people involved. If participation warrants, there may be a couple sections based on strength. Perhaps even West and East circuits, if there are enough interested Eastern hemisphere residents (or Western hemisphere residents running on East time). But we’ll see about that.
EDIT: Expected start date week of May 18 June 1.
Quick FAQ for those few of you who have no clue what’s going on:
What’s this about?
The Tournament of Lepers is an on-line chess tournament played via FICS, primarily involving those in the chess blogging world. It’s very casual, with one game a week and a time control of 15/30. It’s more an excuse to “meet” your fellow chess bloggers.
How do I enter?
Leave a comment here, e-mail, or on the forum.
Are there any requirements?
You must have an FICS handle (it’s free; visit freechess.org to sign up).
Also, there are no set times for the games–the participants are responsible for setting up a convenient time each week. Most players are from the US, so keep that in mind if you’re not living in the Western hemisphere.
I’m flexible about games being played late as long as I’m kept in the loop.
How much dough does the winner get?
Nothing promised. Allen does offer a $5 McDonald’s gift card for anyone with either an unblemished or completely blemished record. I’ll come up with some sort of prize for the winner. Last winner, drunknknite, received a USCF gift certificate and a chance to cameo in a movie with the Mascot. (He didn’t seem to enthusiastic about the movie, though, probably because it will never get done.)
May 6th, 2008
21 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Tournament of Lepers
First of all, thank you for your contributions yesterday on how to handle unwanted suitors and stories of unrequited gay love.
Catching up on other chess blogs, I was struck by an observation: most of them are trying to get better at chess.
Yes, I enjoy the game and want to be good. I have a (fairly) competitive spirit. But the amount of time I dedicate to chess improvement has been close to nil for a long time.
I started competitive chess in 1998, playing until 2000, when I took 5 years off before jumping back in. Several months were (relatively) hardcore, actually playing 40 or so rated games before tapering off again. Even then, almost all my time was spent playing; studying was relegated to when I was taking a dump in the lavatory.
Right now, I’m 1600-ish, the same as 10 years ago without putting effort into improvement. What would happen if I tried? Does the thought of “maybe there’s an Expert somewhere in here” motivate me enough to work?
More likely, the “I’m sufficiently skilled so most people can’t dismiss me; that’s good enough” win out (again).
April 29th, 2008
14 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Grilled Cheese
thank...