08-01-2014, 02:24 PM
Nobody is guaranteed 5 rounds in a weekend swiss. Perform badly and you may suffer the dreaded full point bye. So at the start of the tournament all players run the risk of not having an opponent at all in one round. If the pairing rules were adapted to stipulate that a venue player could not be paired against a remote opponent more than once, for those who would rather have a flesh and blood opponent opposite them, is that vastly different from not having an opponent at all.
You may want to make the arbiters life more fun by stipulating that you can't have a full point win by default and a remote opponent in one tournament. So if you get a bye you'd be safe from a remote opponent and vice versa.
Maybe we should simply be looking at updating the current rules for telephone matches to incorporate games by any means of "instant" communication and letting those who wish to organise events decide whether to include such games.
Alternatively, Chess Scotland could be proactive about promoting and giving support to the game in the Highlands and Islands and other areas where chess players are isolated, using the internet to create opportunities for the creation of clubs, leagues and other competitions.
At the moment, as far as I am aware, there are two clubs at opposite ends of the country who do not (through no fault of their own) have a local league, largely due to the nearest club being quite a distance away. Would the players from present clubs such as Inverness and Dumfries and potential clubs such as Stornoway, Lerwick, Wick and Fort William benefit from having a set of guidelines for games played over the internet to be acceptable for grading? Such guidelines may allow the formation of a "Remote" league which could, in theory, be open to every club in Scotland.
Going back a few posts, I think Ian Brownlee's suggestion of a Chess Scotland schools internet chess competition is a superb one and serious consideration should be given to getting something in place for the 2014-15 season.
You may want to make the arbiters life more fun by stipulating that you can't have a full point win by default and a remote opponent in one tournament. So if you get a bye you'd be safe from a remote opponent and vice versa.
Maybe we should simply be looking at updating the current rules for telephone matches to incorporate games by any means of "instant" communication and letting those who wish to organise events decide whether to include such games.
Alternatively, Chess Scotland could be proactive about promoting and giving support to the game in the Highlands and Islands and other areas where chess players are isolated, using the internet to create opportunities for the creation of clubs, leagues and other competitions.
At the moment, as far as I am aware, there are two clubs at opposite ends of the country who do not (through no fault of their own) have a local league, largely due to the nearest club being quite a distance away. Would the players from present clubs such as Inverness and Dumfries and potential clubs such as Stornoway, Lerwick, Wick and Fort William benefit from having a set of guidelines for games played over the internet to be acceptable for grading? Such guidelines may allow the formation of a "Remote" league which could, in theory, be open to every club in Scotland.
Going back a few posts, I think Ian Brownlee's suggestion of a Chess Scotland schools internet chess competition is a superb one and serious consideration should be given to getting something in place for the 2014-15 season.
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