The main event is here. The four highest rated players (with 10 or more games) on our rating list will do battle in a double round robin tournament to determine the 2+2 Chess Champion! Undertitles are on the line

The nitty gritty:
Each round of the tournament will consist of two 15'2" games, but this time with no tie-break games, 1-1 draws are a valid result. The player who scores best over the six rounds will be declared champion. If two or more players are tied, the first tie-break will be games won (as opposed to matches won), so winning a match 2-0 instead of 1.5-0.5 will have value as a tie-breaker. If two or more players are still tied, an additional match will be scheduled between those players to determine a champion. The format of such a match will be at my discretion, based on the number of players involved.

Each round of each tourney will begin the day pairings are posted. The designated color in the pairings is for game one of the round, colors of course switch for game two. It is the responsibility of the players to arrange a time to play their match. Each round will allow for TWO weeks in order to assure that all games can be played. If all scheduled games are completed prior to the two week deadline, it will end immediately and the new round will begin early. The beginning of a round will be announced both on the forum, and via PM to each player informing them of their pairings.

All games are to be played on FICS, unless both players agree to play elsewhere (such as ICC). Any games not played on FICS *require* that a pgn of each game be submitted. Once players have agreed on a time to play their matches, it is encouraged, though not required, that they post that time on the forum beforehand, so that other posters have the opportunity to watch. This will be particularly encouraged in the final rounds. This tournament is intended not just to crown a champion, but also to add value to these forums by showcasing the best chess Two Plus Two has to offer.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions if any portion of this is unclear. I wish all players the best of luck!

Current standings, and official round 1 pairings:

Good work BBJ....Small detail: even though I would not mind to have the American nationality, I´m afraid that would be too much honour at the present stage of my life. I am proudly from Holland. Hup Oranje!

Damn, I knew nationalities for Niki and YKW, but had no idea re: you and Hackdeath. I'll fix it (and Hackdeath, if USA was the wrong guess for you, I'll change that as well) in future postings

Yeah, I'm from the UK .

lol, I'll fix this too sorry!

can i play

Too late for this year. If you want to put yourself in contention for the 2011 Championship though, play in one of the open tournaments (we'll start #5 when we finish #4, etcetera). Anyone who wins one of those will earn an automatic invitation to the 2011 Candidates Tournament, and the winner of that candidates match will play a match for the title against the winner of this year's event. If you don't win one, but put together a high enough rating based on your performances, there's also a chance some wild cards will earn invites to the Candidates Tourney.

If you're interested, I can put you on a PM list, and make sure to notify you when sign-ups for the next open tournament begin.

Me and Hackdeath are about to start Round 1, spectators welcome!

YKW - Hackdeath 1:1

fairly interesting games

For anyone who wants to see the games, here are links:
Game 1
Game 2

Seeing a round 1 draw is kind of nice, makes it look more likely that the tournament will prove competitive (and hopefully remain interesting right down to the final round).

As soon as Niki and Nezh get their match played, I will go ahead and post the pairings for round 2!

We´ve missed a couple of ocasions both, but are close to ´forging a deal´ I think lol.

Nezh and nikitheone will play their first round match (and their Tourney IV semifinal) on FICS this Saturday, June 19th, at 8:00 PM, CET (Central European Time). For those interested in watching, that translates to 6:00 PM GMT, 2:00 PM Eastern Time, and 11:00 AM Pacific time.

I will be on FICS at the time, to confirm that both players show. If either is a no-show, they will forfeit the round.

Nikitheone was unable to make it, this is not his first no-show, and the two weeks allotted for round 1 are well overdue, so unfortunately that's a forfeit. Nezh wins 2-0. Not how I wanted to see the round decided, but I feel it's the right call. On to round 2!!!

Standings:


Pairings:


GL all, and let's try to decide BOTH matches over the board this time!

gonna play with hackdeath tonight in 3 hours on fics. my handle is nikitheone

Starting now

the game will start ... NOW

1-1

Hackdeath 1-1 nikitheone

http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...40;action=show

First game was interesting, I felt I might have missed some tactics on the h2-b8 diagonal early in the middlegame, but went on to overplay my position with f4 and ended up getting flattened although it falsely appeared that I might have chances.

http://www.ficsgames.com/cgi-bin/sho...43;action=show

The last couple of moves in this game are atrocious, we both blundered, fortunately he didn't take advantage of mine. It was fairly level out of the opening, but white played too passively and I managed to get a winning attack with a KS pawn storm. fwiw I had seen Rg1 but missed the discovered attack of his queen on mine after Nd3+.

on nd3+ kb1 won, missed that one

Me and Nezh are about to begin our match

Nezh 2 - 0 YKW

Intersting games. I got dc´ed in game 1 in a complicated position which seemed to bother YKW to some measure, especially because neither of us knew how to continue the game immediately, it took like 2 minutes to figure out. Still I think a remark like ,,that was one of the weirdest dc´s ever in a complicated position" was uncalled for as it insinuates intent, at least that´s how I perceived it. Whatever. I won the game when with little time on his clock YKW embarked on a va banque attack that didn´t work out. A few moves before white (YKW) had a repetition I think.

In game two, which Black had to win to draw the match, YKW won a pawn in return for some initiative for me. I played the opening bad and too passively but YKW over-stretched and bungled a piece in an already difficult position. Black still generated a strong attack, that I should/could probably have avoided.

Just for the record, that's not exactly what I said. If I remember correctly, the line was something like "That was one weird disconnection, I can tell you that". In a heat of the battle it really seemed to me that way, as it was such a critical position.

However, after calming down I realize it was low class to make a remark like that and I apologize for it, you won fair and square by simply outplaying me Sorry if that insulted you.

Okay, np. It surprised me a bit after the normal and friendly chat we had earlier during the same game. Low class is too harsh though, a dc definitely brakes the rhytm of a game and might give an unfair advantage, but it distracted me as much as it did you. Dunno who outplayed who, the games were interesting, streetfighting chess.