European Team Championship November 2023

[LawrenceCooper]

As Loz says, bronze for Lan Yao

As well as her first IM norm and fifth WGM norm.

[Mick Norris]

That's good news about the IM norm

Hopefully the WGM title will be awarded soon

[Mick Norris]

ECF website

It would be interesting to see the KPIs updated

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Chessbase report here:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/european- ... ip-2023-r9

In this case, the decision as to whether Serbia or Germany would win gold depended on the result of the match between Iceland and Turkey, and the game between Gudmundur Kjartansson (Iceland) and Cemil Can Ali Marandi (Turkey). As Kjartansson drew the final game and the match ended 2-2, Serbia became European champions. If Ali Marandi had won, Germany would have been European champion. The difference is one point in the final score.

No other sport has such a strange way to break a tie.

What is not mentioned there is that Germany had earlier in the tournament beaten Serbia.

Should the first tie-break actually be the result of the match between the teams in the tie-break (of two teams are tied)? Is there a reason not to consider that a better way to break a tie? (Too late for this tournament, obviously, but maybe for future events? And this is not intended to detract in any way from Serbia's magnificent win, which was well deserved.)

Another report here:

https://new.chess24.com/en/wall/news/se ... takes-gold

Carlsen's year of classical chess had set some unwanted personal anti-records.

That was likely Carlsen's last classical game in 2023. 63 games total, the highest since 2019 (79). His score is +30 =27 -6, the lowest score percentage wise (69 %) since 2018.

Even more significant: His 2023 rating performance (2787) is below 2800 for the first time since 2008

[Bulgaria] one of their top performers, Viktoria Radeva, fell so ill during round six that she ended up in hospital and didn't play another game

[LawrenceCooper]

Should the first tie-break actually be the result of the match between the teams in the tie-break (of two teams are tied)? Is there a reason not to consider that a better way to break a tie? (Too late for this tournament, obviously, but maybe for future events? And this is not intended to detract in any way from Serbia's magnificent win, which was well deserved.)

I would prefer that. If the match ended 2-2 though would you go to board count & elimination though or revert to the tie-breaks used? I would favour anything that players and spectators can easily understand.

[Kevin Thurlow]

All tie-break systems have problems. I agree with Lawrence that an easily understandable one is best. If you see a result decided by tie-break, try applying all the tie-breaks you can think of - you will probably get different results, whichever you use.

Many years ago, the tie-break for the London Civil Service League knockout tournament was to replay the ten-board match. If it ended up 5-5 again, you had a second replay over 15 boards (it actually happened once). That's what I call a tie-break...

In the board prizes, were they using rating performance, rather than scores? So Magnus had 2827 (whilst rated 2829), Saric had 2805 (whilst rated 2659), therefore Magnus is first... You could argue that -2 is not as good as +146.

[LawrenceCooper]

In the board prizes, were they using rating performance, rather than scores? So Magnus had 2827 (whilst rated 2829), Saric had 2805 (whilst rated 2659), therefore Magnus is first... You could argue that -2 is not as good as +146.

Yes, as at the European Club Cup it was rating performance rather than score.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Carlsen also won the personal gold medal in this event, though - previously one of the few things he hadn't managed in competitive chess.

(today is also the 10th anniversary of him becoming World Champion btw)

Does he have any more classical chess due this calendar year?

[Mick Norris]

Carlsen also won the personal gold medal in this event, though - previously one of the few things he hadn't managed in competitive chess.

(today is also the 10th anniversary of him becoming World Champion btw)

Does he have any more classical chess due this calendar year?

According to 2700 chess, he plays the Chess.com Global Championship Final 2023 between 9 &16 December, but I think Tarjei posted a note that he wasn't playing any more OTB chess in 2023

Full line up of Wijk aan Zee is being released tomorrow morning (Firouzja plays, which is good to see)

[Mick Norris]

Should the first tie-break actually be the result of the match between the teams in the tie-break (of two teams are tied)? Is there a reason not to consider that a better way to break a tie? (Too late for this tournament, obviously, but maybe for future events? And this is not intended to detract in any way from Serbia's magnificent win, which was well deserved.)

I would prefer that. If the match ended 2-2 though would you go to board count & elimination though or revert to the tie-breaks used? I would favour anything that players and spectators can easily understand.

I think introducing head to head as the first tiebreak would be a step forward, I'm not sure anything more would be possible to persuade people with

What would you do if it were 4 draws?

The MCF floated the idea of lowest average rated team wins for draws in cup matches, that didn't get support

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Carlsen also won the personal gold medal in this event, though - previously one of the few things he hadn't managed in competitive chess.

(today is also the 10th anniversary of him becoming World Champion btw)

Does he have any more classical chess due this calendar year?

According to 2700 chess, he plays the Chess.com Global Championship Final 2023 between 9 &16 December, but I think Tarjei posted a note that he wasn't playing any more OTB chess in 2023

Full line up of Wijk aan Zee is being released tomorrow morning (Firouzja plays, which is good to see)

The format of the Champions Chess Tour confuses me.

https://championschesstour.com/format-regulations/

As far as I can tell, no classic time-control chess. Not sure why 2700.com are listing it. Maybe somewhere in there are some longplay time controls and games that count for FIDE ratings. Not sure I can spot them, though.

[Roger de Coverly]

The MCF floated the idea of lowest average rated team wins for draws in cup matches, that didn't get support

Berkshire runs its cup competition on a handicap basis using total ratings of the six board teams.

This has the side effect that tied matches go to the lower rated team.

The rating scales are

If the difference is between 1 – 750 the stronger side must win 3.5 – 2.5 (or more )
751 – 1125 , 4-2
1126 – 1500 , 4.5-1.5
1501 + 5-1
If total grades are identical 3.5 – 2.5 or better wins

Board Count and bottom board elimination only apply when the total ratings are equal.

Ungraded players could cause problems with estimates, now virtually eliminated with monthly ratings and publication of provisional ratings.

[Ian Thompson]

The format of the Champions Chess Tour confuses me.

I'm not surprised. If you were trying to create a convoluted format you'd do well to beat the format of the Champions Chess Tour.

One curious rule I noticed in the regulations that I've never seen used anywhere else is that in the CCT finals next month they play an all-play-all to start with. The top two finishers in that qualify for a knockout stage semi-final place. The other two semi-final places are decided by a convoluted knockout process amongst the players finishing third to sixth in the all-play-all. What I've never seen before is that the winner of the all-play-all gets to choose which of the players getting the other two semi-final places he plays in the semi-final.

[Mick Norris]

The MCF floated the idea of lowest average rated team wins for draws in cup matches, that didn't get support

Berkshire runs its cup competition on a handicap basis using total ratings of the six board teams.

This has the side effect that tied matches go to the lower rated team.

The rating scales are

If the difference is between 1 – 750 the stronger side must win 3.5 – 2.5 (or more )
751 – 1125 , 4-2
1126 – 1500 , 4.5-1.5
1501 + 5-1
If total grades are identical 3.5 – 2.5 or better wins

Board Count and bottom board elimination only apply when the total ratings are equal.

Ungraded players could cause problems with estimates, now virtually eliminated with monthly ratings and publication of provisional ratings.

Off topic, I know, but the problem of provisional or estimated ratings was one reason our AGM didn't vote for it

[Mick Norris]

The format of the Champions Chess Tour confuses me.

I'm not surprised. If you were trying to create a convoluted format you'd do well to beat the format of the Champions Chess Tour.

One curious rule I noticed in the regulations that I've never seen used anywhere else is that in the CCT finals next month they play an all-play-all to start with. The top two finishers in that qualify for a knockout stage semi-final place. The other two semi-final places are decided by a convoluted knockout process amongst the players finishing third to sixth in the all-play-all. What I've never seen before is that the winner of the all-play-all gets to choose which of the players getting the other two semi-final places he plays in the semi-final.

That's happened before in the Rugby League playoffs, choosing an opponent form 2 choices, but they have dropped it