Official Rules:

This tournament will be swiss system, 5 rounds, with each round lasting exactly ONE WEEK. The deadline to complete your games will be midnight, Sunday, Pacific time (GMT-8). New pairings for the next round will be posted by Noon, Monday, at the latest.

The deadline will be strictly enforced. If you are unable to complete your games within the timeframe, you MUST PM ME WITH AN EXPLANATION, or else you are assumed to forfeit. If both players fail to PM me, it will be scored 0-0. If one player PMs me and the other doesn't, it will be scored 1-0. If both players PM me, it will be scored either 1-0 or 1/2-1/2, depending on whether one player is clearly at fault or not, in the game not being played. When you PM me, please let me know if you think the round ought to be scored as a draw or a 1-0 forfeit, so I can take your opinion into account in my ruling. Any player who forfeits (and fails to PM me) twice will be removed from the tournament.

Each round will be a four game match, played at a time control of 5 minutes, with a 2 second increment. If the match result is 2-2, the round will be scored 1/2-1/2. Any other match result will be scored 1-0 in favor of the victor. Total games won will be the first tie-breaker, though, so there is value in winning 4-0 instead of 2 1/2 - 1 1/2. Games are to be played on FICS, unless both players agree to play elsewhere. If the game is played elsewhere, PGN results MUST be posted for it to count. Please double check all pairings to make sure color assignments are followed.

Registration will be open for one week, and will close at midnight next Sunday (June 26th). Pairings will be posted Monday morning for round 1. IN ORDER TO REGISTER, PLEASE SEND ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE INDICATING THAT YOU WANT TO PLAY. THIS IS TO PROVE TO ME THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO USE PMs, AS THEY ARE AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE RULE STRUCTURE.

Please post results in this thread. PGN records (or links to FICSgames.com) are always encouraged, as is analysis of your games. Please, take advantage of this opportunity to not just play chess, but to discuss it afterward. Discussion of other players' games is also welcome. Just remember to please keep things civil, pointing out a blunder is fine but be respectful about it, and if your blunders are discussed please be gracious about it, and rest assured that whoever noticed it has certainly made blunders of their own before. We all have.

Please do NOT use this thread to discuss difficulties you may have in scheduling your match, or to report abusive chat, or if you suspect your opponent used computer assistance or otherwise cheated, or for anything else that could be construed as an accusation. If you have any such issues, please contact me via PRIVATE message, and we can resolve them appropriately. This thread is for discussion of chess, the games that have been played, tournament standings, and FRIENDLY trash talking. Thank you, and good luck to everyone!

Player list (FICS screenname):
Gorgonian (Gorgonian)
HipHopRTR (HipHopBandit)
ganstaman (ganstaman)
chocaholic (chocaholic)
Noir_Desir (NeroDesiderio) - Round 1 Half Point Bye
Cadaz (Cadaz)
Tomukas (Tomukas)
Nikachu
Punker (NoJoking)
Pawntificator
mt_david (mdasdmd)
DON CASTI (DONCASTI)

firsssssst

Might do live video commentary for my matches, too. I'm on that kick lately

Potentially second.

I start my residency July 1st, so let's hope I have time for all my matches.

Video commentary would be interesting. I look forward to it.

To avoid confusion, I mean record it live (as I'm playing and recording the screen) and upload it to youtube afterwards. Not like livestream or something.

You juggle! It always looks cool, even if you will claim to not be so good.

heh. Yeah I used to be pretty heavily into juggling. It's a good time. And no, I am not any good.

About time this came around

Bump for weekend registration. We have 49 hours to expand the current 9-player field. Come on people, haven't you been waiting for this?

In.

I guess, its summer's fault... Ppl are having their vacations, not willing to play chess

Round 1 Pairings:
HipHopRTR v Gorgonian 1-0
chocaholic v Punker 0-1
Tomukas v Nikachu 0-1
Pawntificator v ganstaman 0-1

Cadaz 1-0 Bye
Noir_Desir 1/2-1/2 Bye
mt_david 1/2-1/2 Bye
Velocity 1/2-1/2 Bye

I am LEAVING REGISTRATION OPEN FOR THE DURATION OF ROUND 1 Anyone who registers late will receive a half point bye. Alternatively, anyone registering late may play a match against another late registrant (or Cadaz), and have that match scored as a round 1 result. Cadaz of course has the option to refuse such challenges and keep his full point bye, but I suspect he'd rather play. There will be no forfeits assessed if late registrants fail to play a match, just half-point byes. However anyone who manages to find an opponent and get their match played by the deadline of next Sunday will have their games scored.

Additionally, based on the turnout, I'm reducing this from a five round tourney to a four round event. IF late registrants raise the player count to 16+, then I will increase the rounds back to five. Length will be finalized by the end of round 1.

Good luck everyone! And if you want to play, sign up, it's not too late!

In... If it's not too late... Pm sent.

mt_david and DON CASTI are both in. They have the option of playing each other in round 1, or playing Cadaz if he's interested in giving up his full-point bye, or waiting for someone else to join and playing them, or just taking a half-point bye and playing their first game in round two. If other people register late I'll add them to the list ASAP

I'm more interested in playing than getting a bye although I'm travelling quite a lot this week so time might be tight.

Deadline for Rnd I? This Sunday?

so i play with mt_david? cadaz? bye?

Playing me is as good as a full point bye... lol.

Should we wait for a ruling from BJJ or draw straws?

I won my match 3-1.

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[White "chocaholic"]
[Black "NoJoking"]
[WhiteElo "1601"]
[BlackElo "1800"]
[TimeControl "300+2"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. f4 e5 2. e4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Bd6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bc4 Qe7+ 7. Kf2
Ng4+ 8. Kf1 O-O 9. d4 Ne3+ 10. Bxe3 fxe3 11. Qe2 Bg4 12. Re1 Re8 13. h3
Bh5 14. g4 Bg6 15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. dxe5 Qxe5 17. Kg2 Nd7 18. Rhf1 Nb6 19. Bb3
a5 20. a4 Be4+ 21. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 22. Kg1 Nxd5 23. Qb5 Nf4 24. Rxf4 Qxf4 25. Rf1
Qg3+ 26. Kh1 Qxh3+ 27. Kg1 Qg3+ 28. Kh1 Qh3+ 29. Kg1 Qxg4+ 30. Kh1 Rf8 31. Qd5
e2
{White resigns} 0-1


[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[White "NoJoking"]
[Black "chocaholic"]
[WhiteElo "1804"]
[BlackElo "1597"]
[TimeControl "300+2"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3 dxc3 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. O-O Nf6 7. e5 Ne4
8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 9. Qd5+ Ke8 10. Qxe4 cxb2 11. Bxb2 Qe7 12. Nbd2 d6 13. exd6
Qxe4 14. Nxe4 Bxd6 15. Nxd6+ cxd6 16. Bxg7 Rg8 17. Bc3 Bg4 18. Rfe1+ Kf7
19. Nd2 d5 20. Rab1 d4 21. Rxb7+ Kg6 22. Nc4 dxc3 23. Rc7 Rge8 24. Rxc6+
Kg5 25. Ne3 Rac8 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. Rc1 Be6 28. a3 Kf4 29. Kf1 Ke4 30. Ke2
Bc4+ 31. Nxc4 Rxc4 32. f3+ Kd4 33. Rd1+ Kc5 34. Kd3 Ra4 35. Rc1 Rxa3 36. Rxc3+
Rxc3+ 37. Kxc3 a5 38. f4 Kb5 39. f5 Kc5 40. g4 Kd5 41. Kb3 Ke5 42. Ka4 h5
43. h3
{Black resigns} 1-0

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[White "chocaholic"]
[Black "NoJoking"]
[WhiteElo "1593"]
[BlackElo "1808"]
[TimeControl "300+2"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Bd3 Nbc6
8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Bd2 c4 10. Be2 Qa4 11. O-O O-O 12. Ne1 a6 13. f4 Na7 14. g4
Nb5 15. Nf3 Bd7 16. Nh4 Nc6 17. f5 Ncxd4 18. cxd4 Nxd4 19. Bb4 Nxe2+ 20. Qxe2
Rfe8 21. f6 a5 22. Bd6 d4 23. Qf2 g5 24. Nf3 h6 25. Qxd4 Bc6 26. Qd2 Rad8
27. Nd4 Be4 28. h4 Rxd6 29. exd6 e5 30. Nf5 Qxc2 31. Qxc2 Bxc2 32. Nxh6+
Kf8 33. hxg5 Rd8 34. Nf5 b5 35. Rac1 Bd3 36. Rf2 b4 37. Rh2 Kg8 38. axb4
axb4 39. Kf2 b3 40. Rch1 Bxf5 41. Rh8#
{Black checkmated} 1-0

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[White "NoJoking"]
[Black "chocaholic"]
[WhiteElo "1796"]
[BlackElo "1605"]
[TimeControl "300+2"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3 dxc3 5. Bc4 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nxc3 Be7
8. h3 O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Qb3 Qd7 12. Ng5 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5
14. Nxe6 Qxe6 15. Nxd5 Kh8 16. Rae1 Qd7 17. Nxe7 Nxe7 18. Bc5 Rfe8 19. Bxe7
Rxe7 20. Qxb7 Rae8 21. Rd1 Qa4 22. a3 c5 23. Qd5 Re5 24. Qf7 R5e7 25. Qf3
Re2 26. b3 Qxa3 27. Qxe2
{Black resigns} 1-0

You guys play with whomever you can arrange a match with. It's up to you to be proactive and get something set up if you don't want the bye

Correct, this Sunday.

Hiphop wins vs. Gorgonian 4-0.

Games against Gorgonian:

Got very lucky in the games as black. Also recorded a live commentary video while I was playing, so might try to get that online in the near future.

Game 1: http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...86;action=show

Game 2: http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...75;action=show

Game 3: http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...54;action=show

Game 4: http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...34;action=show

Oh awesome. I'm glad you recorded that. I was going to but the time of night you wanted to play my wife was in the recliner next to me and that's just weird

I will definitely do some commentary videos when I'm here by myself.

also hurry hurry upload

Commentary videos will be up on my YouTube page
http://www.youtube.com/user/MelbourneGamesCoach
First game is up & the others are in the process of being produced/uploaded ... if only Camtasia didn't take so long!

Cool! unfortunately it is really hard to understand you in the video. Some weird audio compression things going on or something.

Australian accent perhaps? :P