Signup Thread
Format:
The Elephant Chess Cup is a new chess event. Teams will be playing in teams of four, on four separate boards. The player on board one will play the player on board one of the other team and so on, for four total matches in a matchup. For every win on a board, the team of the winning player gets one game point, (half a point each for a draw). The team that gains more points across four boards gets two board points for the team (one in the event of a 2-2 draw). The time control for every match is 15+5, meaning that every player has 15 minutes to make all their moves and gains 5 additional seconds after making a move. For more information on the game of chess, here is the Wikipedia article on chess. Chess knowledge is absolutely not required for RPing this tournament, though.
ICly, the tournament takes place over a weekend, with the first 4 matches on Friday (11:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 18:00 local time) the next four on Saturday at the same times, and the last match and the final on Sunday (13:00, 16:00).
The format used for matchups is called a Casaran (or Swiss) system. The first match will be a completely random draw. After the first match, teams will be ordered in a table, and the top teams will be playing each other for the next match. This process continues for a total of nine matches, although teams will never play a team they already played previously. After that, the top two teams in the standings will play in the final, with the team playing first having draw odds. There will also be placement games for 3rd, 5th, and 7th, with draw odds for the higher placing teams.
There are some available options to automate Casaran/Swiss matchups, however, I haven’t gotten one to work for me (and most do not eliminate rematches, anyway). Therefore, I will be doing matchups “by hand”. For transparency, my system will be to sort teams by the regular tiebreakers (up to Board Points), and break any ties after that by alphabet. Then, I will have the first team play against the second, third against fourth, and so on. If, for example, the 3rd and 4th teams in the standings have already played, the 3rd team will play the 5th one instead, and so on.
Tiebreakers:
The tiebreakers will be, in that order:
Game points
Board points
H2H game points
Buchholz points (total game points by all opponents, to reward teams with tougher schedules)
IC coinflip (scorinated game)
OOC coinflip
If a tie between multiple teams must be broken and one team wins the tiebreaker at any stage, while the remaining teams are still tied, the tiebreakers start at the top of the list again to break the tie between the remaining teams.
Schedule:
The cut-offs for every scorination will be occurring between 17:30 and 19:00 UTC every matchday.
June 18th: MD1 and 2
June 20th: MD3 and 4
June 22nd: MD5 and 6
June 24th: MD7 and 8
June 26th: MD9
June 28th: Final and placement games
RP Information:
You may now start posting in this thread. The best way to do that is by posting a roster, to give your opponents an idea of who they’re going up against. Names should be the minimum, and you can go into further detail about whatever you want (ages, heritage, club team (if any), play style, favourite openings etc.). Otherwise, you can Roleplay about whatever you like; it doesn’t have to be chess, either.
You are also advised to include a Roleplay permissions box in your roster post. An example may look like this:
My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my lineup: Yes/No
Decide board results: Yes/No
Decide moves made: Yes/No
Godmod game events: Yes/No
Godmod other events: Yes/No
This can reduce conflicts between you and your opponent when you both want to RP the same match, but the best plan to do that remains to message your opponent on discord or by telegram.
Otherwise, I, as the host of this competition, ask you to not to inflict any damage to South Newlandian people or property without talking to me first. I generally am okay with stuff like that, but I do not enjoy being blindsided about those things. The same goes for clear proof of an opponent cheating (although accusations and stuff are fine).
Matchups for matchday 1:
(the team listed first has white on boards two and four)
South Newlandia – Newolo
Quemorr Isles – Sannyamathland
Mertagne – Raspotochje
Bollonich/Græntfjall - Quebec and Shingoryeo
New Jacobland - Natanians and Nosts
Hebitaka – Eshialand
Norrhem - Shell Shock Troop Clan
The Grearish Union – Sylestone
Atheara - Dotivija/Srednjaci
If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a telegram or message me on discord.