Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

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cliff
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Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:47 pm

Saturday, September 15, 2012.

“... (15) The rules may be changed to help the tournament proceed more smoothly.”


Such a nice rule, isn't it?

And that's going to be the rule that saves this year's Zapper Memorial Tournament! And, despite server issues, computer viruses, my vision problems, Brian's own troubles, Chris's departure, and player withdrawals, this Zapper WILL be played to a conclusion!

First, a quick summary of the last two months:

– The final games of Round One ended in mid-August. Indeed, by that stage, they made no difference to which team would be eliminated, so according to the rules, Round Two COULD have started. However, my final cataract operation was the third week in August, and I (erroneously, as Fate had it) thought I'd be back online by then also. I chose to wait, exercising Rule 11;
“...(11) If only several games remain in a previous rounds and standings for the next round are NOT affected, the next round MAY begin at the discretion of the Tournament Director.”

So far, so good. No rules broken there, agreed?

– I posted the final Round One scores in the tournament, noting that The Beerdrinkers had finished last and were eliminated from Round Two, and the players would go into the Standby Pool,as noted in rule 6;

“...(6) At the end of Round One, the lowest scoring team will be eliminated. Those players will be on standby to fill in for vacant spots, should remaining players drop out. The replacements will be as close to the departed players in rating as is possible.”

– Chris (Cmulligan, Captain of What's Sportsmanship?) mentioned in the forum that he was taking some time off, so Johnb was asked to re-enter the tournament, taking Chris's place. Chris had a rating of 2254, and John had a rating of 2249* – a mere five point difference. So again, the rule 6 was followed precisely!
(*Note: John's rating currently is 2315. Sometimes a month can make a big difference!)

– On August 21, I sent emails to Josh (Iamachessstudent), Jan (Jpost), Brian (Islanderfan), and Henry (Hgrayson) with the lineups to post for Round Two in their various boards.Board Three was posted that day, and began August 25. Board Five was posted by Henry on August 2, and began September 5. Also Board Two was posted that day, and is still waiting for Krambambuli and Dmitryogoblin to join. Brian posted an incorrect Board Four Lineup on September 8, reposted the correct lineup on September13, and the board is now in play. A second email has been sent to Josh yesterday, as still no word has been heard from him, so Board One remains unposted.

So that pretty much brings us up to date, I think. Jan (Jvanmechelen) and Gerald (Gkthomas) will possibly be asked to rejoin the Tournament, replacing Krambambuli and Dmitryogoblin if they don't join by September 20, which will be fifteen days after Jpost posted the Board challenge. This is in accordance with the new rule 14(c), and Board One will be dropped from the event if not posted by September 25, under the new rule 14(b). The new rule 14(d) will probably not come into play here, as I doubt sufficient players will remain in the pool.

So, Rule 14 now reads:

“...(14) (a) If by March 24, insufficient players have entered for six teams, the Zapper 2012 will go with five teams. The fifth place team will be eliminated in Round One, and the remaining teams will play two-games vs each other board player in Round Two.. Round Two will be the medal round, and the tournament will be a two-round event.”
“(14) (b) Board(s) not posted within three weeks after the start of the final round will be dropped, and only those boards played shall be counted towards team scores. Prior to a board being dropped however, the TD shall make three attempts at contacting the appropriate player responsible for posting it.”
“(14) (c) Players not joining a posted Board challenge within ten days shall be considered to have withdrawn from the tournament, and replaced from the Alternate Pool.”
(14) (d) If sufficient players remain in the Alternate Pool, an entire Board may be replaced, but priority will be given to partially filled lineups first.”


So, with three little amendments to Rule 14, the 2012 Zapper will be in play no later than ten days to a month, by my reasoning. And it was that simple little Rule 15 that made it work! Greg was a genius to include that in the rules for the Open.
------------------------------------------------------

Seriously speaking, I'm somewhat disappointed in this year's Zapper. It started out so well, and I was just really getting into the reporting end of it. Perhaps I lacked some of Eugene's flair, but then again, it was early on in the event. The 2012 Zapper began about the first or second week of April, and by the third week I was offline. Not much of a chance to really warm up, eh?

All that notwithstanding, Round One did come off without a hitch. All Boards began and finished, Capacuba replaced Langelli before the round started, all players finished the round, and as far as I know, there was not a single time-out. Also, as you can see from the above, all the rules were followed precisely. They worked. The first round also contained some good games, some excellently analyzed by Josh. Lack of response proved too annoying/depressing for him, though, and he dropped the topic in the forum.

For that reason and more, I'm certain that Josh isn't abandoning this year's Zapper. I believe he's still going to University, and probably has had a lot to do recently. Hence, he likely has not had the time to post his Board, or answer emails. Because of that, we'll wait until September 26, rather than September 20 before dropping Board One. Any players who haven't joined Board Two by September 20 will be replaced from the Alternate Pool, who are all willing to rejoin.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed that everyone joins and all the boards are running instead though
Okay?

– Cliff.
(p.S. We had the “Classic Zapper” in 2010, “Zapper Madness” in 2011, and I think the 2012 event should be called the “Rule 15 Zapper!”)

8)
Last edited by cliff on Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

islanderfan
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by islanderfan » Sat Sep 15, 2012 6:11 pm

nicely said Cliff. this year's had so much trouble. Hopefully next year's will be smoother!

ecperreault
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by ecperreault » Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:40 pm

Agreed...
For stability the tournament should always OFFICIALLY referred to as [Year] Zapper Memorial Chess Tournament.
Of course when just discussing it it can be referred to as 'The Zapper'.
Hang in there, Cliff!
Next year's 'UNBIASED Reports' are taking shape. There are 4 long 'skits' complete, appx 25 short 'skits', appx 400 images cleaned of EXIF data and edited, and there are a few new characters with a few 'regulars' tagging along.

iamachessstudent
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by iamachessstudent » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:25 pm

hey all!!

OMG I didnt even check my e mails!
Ill look at them now
What will i have to do ..I need to get this
IM SO SORRY:(
geeeez

Joshua

iamachessstudent
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by iamachessstudent » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:30 pm

Ok guys

ROUND 2 BOARD 1 is up and in the games section!
again, sorry for the delay!:)

islanderfan
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by islanderfan » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:40 pm

figures it would be Josh. 8)

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:39 pm

Fantastic! I figured you were busy, Josh! Nice to have you back, chum!

And I'm looking forward to the skits and new characters, Eugene! They were what I couldn't bring to it, even if I had been online and healthy all year!

And, Brian, what's this I hear about you and your pal Gary Bettman messing up the hockey season? This was the year the Leafs were poised to win it all!


---ummmmm....yeah, right....

:roll: :roll: :roll:

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:46 pm

Well, I just "spoke" to Jan and will send a PM to Gkthomas tommorrow about rejoining the Zapper for Board 2, Round 2. Jan is in, so is Pete (if needed), and if Gk is ready, we can get Board 2 going.

Just hope the same luck holds for Board 1, now that Josh has it up, and we'll be fully functional!

"Warp Speed!"

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Sat Sep 22, 2012 3:42 pm

Board Two in in play, and that only leaves Board One.

Since it's been nearly a week since Josh posted Board One, and still no of the other participants have joined, it's about time to look at the fail safes, in case the Board remains unstarted by the 26th of this month.
I don't think an entirely new rule or amendment to a rule is needed in this case. I think a simple, common-sense interpretation of rules 6 and 14 (b) and '(c);

“(14) (b) Board(s)† not posted within three weeks after the start of the final round will be dropped, and only those boards played shall be counted towards team scores.
(c) Players not joining a posted Board challenge within ten days shall be considered to have withdrawn from the tournament, and replaced from the Alternate Pool.
(6) At the end of Round One, the lowest scoring team will be eliminated. Those players will be on standby to fill in for vacant spots, should remaining players drop out. The replacements will be as close to the departed players in rating as is possible.”

If one or two players join, the player(s) from the alternate pool will just fill in normally, as per Rule 6, which was already used on Board Two. If no other players join, however, A very liberal interpretation of Rule 14 will solve the problem, as follows:
†“Board(s)...” will be interpreted here to refer to players...so read “Only those players play(ing) shall be counted ...” in Rule 14. So if no other players join Board One, Pwillows and Tmitchell will take the place of two players, as per Rule 6, which will also decide who is replaced and by which alternate player. The player that isn't replaced will be considered to have forfeited all his games in that round, and The scores will reflect forfeit wins for his opponents. Naturally, this will only be applicable to the Zapper scores, and have no effect on his Net-Chess record. In future Zappers, however, captains may want to take note of players that drop out without notification before drafting them....I know I will.
But that's a matter for a different day....

energy
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by energy » Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:24 pm

cliff wrote:“(14) (b) Board(s)† not posted within three weeks after the start of the final round will be dropped, and only those boards played shall be counted towards team scores.
(c) Players not joining a posted Board challenge within ten days shall be considered to have withdrawn from the tournament, and replaced from the Alternate Pool.
(6) At the end of Round One, the lowest scoring team will be eliminated. Those players will be on standby to fill in for vacant spots, should remaining players drop out. The replacements will be as close to the departed players in rating as is possible.”
I suppose that excludes me as a possible replacement candidate... :|
Nils

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islanderfan
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by islanderfan » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:28 pm

I would say join Nils, but you know Cliff is a dictator! 8)

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:32 am

energy wrote:
cliff wrote:“(14) (b) Board(s)† not posted within three weeks after the start of the final round will be dropped, and only those boards played shall be counted towards team scores.
(c) Players not joining a posted Board challenge within ten days shall be considered to have withdrawn from the tournament, and replaced from the Alternate Pool.
(6) At the end of Round One, the lowest scoring team will be eliminated. Those players will be on standby to fill in for vacant spots, should remaining players drop out. The replacements will be as close to the departed players in rating as is possible.”
I suppose that excludes me as a possible replacement candidate... :|
Well, in the matter of Nils joining for Round Two, after giving the matter some thought, I decided that since I'm a 'dictator', I can kind of make a really quick ruling here! Hell, I can just go to my good old Rule 15, for that matter!

Rule 6 states:

(6) At the end of Round One, the lowest scoring team will be eliminated. Those players will be on standby to fill in for vacant spots, should remaining players drop out. The replacements will be as close to the departed players in rating as is possible.”

At this point, neither none of us know which of Katagamsky, Asoka, or Pcmvr will join, or even if any of them will, we have no idea which team Nils would end up playing for. That being the case, I don't think it's unfair to let Nils play!

So the verdict is:

a) If one or two of the scheduled players join, Rule 14(c) applies:

“(14) (c) Players not joining a posted Board challenge within ten days shall be considered to have withdrawn from the tournament, and replaced from the Alternate Pool.”
In which case, Pete and Tom from the Alternate Pool will take the place of the missing one or two players.

But, if none of the three scheduled players join, Nils will take the place of the third missing player, and “...The replacements will be as close to the departed players in rating as is possible.”

Bottom line is we'll know by Wednesday, the 26th of the month!.

(Personally, I hope nobody joins now, and the calculations end up putting Nils on Team Tyr, again!)

:twisted:

- Cliff

ecperreault
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by ecperreault » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:11 pm

I like the rules posted idea.
Cliff, if you would remember to send me a COMPLETED set of rules for next year's Zapper Memorial, I could post them in the opening of the 2013 Zapper Memorial Tournament Reports - which I will start a couple weeks before the team tournament started.
It would be a VERY easy location for everyone to see them.
'The snot-nosed kid'

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:33 pm

I just sent you a email, Eugene...well, maybe it's more like a novel, really!

:)

It contains some of the data about next years Zapper - more will follow soon.


- Cliff

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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:36 pm

Well, the 26th is here, and so far only Asoka has joined Josh on Board one. That means Pete and Tom will be replacing them tommorrow, barring a miracle. I'm sending Josh an email to repost the board, and I'll do the calculations tonight to see who replaces whom.

I'll post that tomorrow!

Hopefully, we'll have all the boards running (finally!) by this weekend!

- Cliff.

ecperreault
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by ecperreault » Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:56 pm

Hey, Cliff!
That long 2-Volume email was yesterday's news.
I replied with a 3-Volume Leather Binder Set - YESTERDAY!

islanderfan
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by islanderfan » Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:57 pm

Cliff give Pete and Kata a bit more. I think Peter is on vacation or in Euro terms, holiday.

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:31 pm

First, to Brian: Okay. How about until October 1? Methinks that's Monday. If they haven't joined by then, gotta dump them, okay?

:|
ecperreault wrote:Hey, Cliff!
That long 2-Volume email was yesterday's news.
I replied with a 3-Volume Leather Binder Set - YESTERDAY!

Secondly, to Eugene; You're right! We don't exchange emails - we exchange novels! I haven't done a word count yet, but combined, didn't we top 'War and Peace' with those two emails?

:lol:

Anyway, Deb's away for the weekend, so I've been working on a preliminary set of rules for the Zapper 2013. I'll send them tomorrow!

8)

- Cliff

ecperreault
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by ecperreault » Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:17 pm

.
Last edited by ecperreault on Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

cliff
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by cliff » Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:00 pm

You hit the nail on the head there, Eugene!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

It's funny how, suddenly this morning, after looking at my "To Do" List, the whole weekend was eaten up! heck, she may need to stay away for another week if she expects all this done!!!!

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Hmmm....Does this mean I shouldn't have partied last night with George?

:oops: :oops: :oops:

Sorry all. no Zapper reports or email today! I gotta actually break down and do some work, it seems.....

:x :x :x

Bah! Humbug!

ecperreault
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Re: Tournament Director's Zapper 2012 Announcement!

Post by ecperreault » Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:15 pm

Hee hee... Reality sucks... :P

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