Maybe. But with fewer teams this year, the 'B' team has to offer the occasional 'courtesy slot'. Hence, this weekend we are effectively playing at least a board down from the start. I doubt Martyn Hamer was troubled; and our score v. MM1 won't be great, I fearMick Norris wrote:MM 2 loss was disappointing but Manx look stronger than seeding and SoA B were seeded to win
Div 3 North 2016-17
Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Wouldn't this mean that the bottom 8 have only 7 possible opponents? And wouldn't it mean that the eleventh best team would probably win? (Forgive me if this is nonsense. I don't know a lot about 4NCL.)Mick Norris wrote:You want each of the 9 top seeds to meet the other 8, so over the first 2 weekends you might want them meeting 1 of the 8 each weekend; you then have 7 rounds left and meet the other 6, plus whichever of the teams out of the top 9 proves to be stronger than expected?
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
It does indicate the difficulty with the seedings; fortunately, the seedings only apply for the first weekend, and can be adjusted for weekend 2David Robertson wrote:Maybe. But with fewer teams this year, the 'B' team has to offer the occasional 'courtesy slot'. Hence, this weekend we are effectively playing at least a board down from the start. I doubt Martyn Hamer was troubled; and our score v. MM1 won't be great, I fearMick Norris wrote:MM 2 loss was disappointing but Manx look stronger than seeding and SoA B were seeded to win
It is always difficult to work out how strong teams will be from weekend to weekend; as long as the 2 strongest get promoted, we won't worry about it
Last edited by Mick Norris on Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
No, all they're doing is staggering the swiss - for most of the rounds it'd be a pure swiss so there can't be any direct accidents.David Williams wrote: Wouldn't this mean that the bottom 8 have only 7 possible opponents? And wouldn't it mean that the eleventh best team would probably win? (Forgive me if this is nonsense. I don't know a lot about 4NCL.)
The problem is that if we do a swiss for all 11 rounds (with 18 teams), the top teams will play each other early on then beat on the weak players in later rounds. So they're really just delaying the swiss a bit.
Strange weekend for Jorvik really. We at least got our semi predictable 3-3 draw vs Manx
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
So, is the conclusion that the Irish players are better than their ratings would suggest?
Look forward to hearing Neil's impressions of his first experience of Div 3 N
Look forward to hearing Neil's impressions of his first experience of Div 3 N
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Or the English players are overrated ; personally most players in the Northern league haven't really played anywhere but England (most of them anywhere outside their region) so cannot make a reasonable judgementMick Norris wrote:So, is the conclusion that the Irish players are better than their ratings would suggest?
Look forward to hearing Neil's impressions of his first experience of Div 3 N
The players who played for Gonzaga and Enniscorthy I have seen a few times I have been in Ireland, and I am not surprised at all they won both matches against the players they played against
Gonzaga will be promoted this year; Enniscorthy are a young squad looking for experience, but I suspect a few more shocks this year from them
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
If there are 11 rounds each of the bottom 9 has to play at least three matches against teams from the top 9. If it's a desirable objective that each of the top 9 plays each of the others, then each of them plays three of the bottom 9. You might as well start with three randomly drawn rounds of top 9 against bottom 9, followed by two separate all-play-alls. And a distinct possibility of one of the bottom group emerging as overall winner.MartinCarpenter wrote:No, all they're doing is staggering the swiss - for most of the rounds it'd be a pure swiss so there can't be any direct accidents.David Williams wrote: Wouldn't this mean that the bottom 8 have only 7 possible opponents? And wouldn't it mean that the eleventh best team would probably win? (Forgive me if this is nonsense. I don't know a lot about 4NCL.)
The problem is that if we do a swiss for all 11 rounds (with 18 teams), the top teams will play each other early on then beat on the weak players in later rounds. So they're really just delaying the swiss a bit.
It's just the notion of the top nine seeds all playing each other that's the problem. Ideally the teams at the top should have played all the other seeds. The team that finishes ninth should have played . . . . well actually it's a bit hard to say, because they should have played all the teams at the top (see above), so equally they should have played all the teams at the bottom, and obviously they should have played all the teams that finish around them . . .
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
The thing about the top 9 seeds playing each other is mostly just a vague aspiration - you only really want that for the top few winners and the Swiss will basically ensure that happens whatever we do.
As for English grades, the MM2 team were all using converted ECF grades and I'm not quite sure how well calibrated that is nowadays. Certainly my 4NCL Fide is bang on my ECF conversion, but I've actually been playing at >200 ECF in the event to achieve that.
As for English grades, the MM2 team were all using converted ECF grades and I'm not quite sure how well calibrated that is nowadays. Certainly my 4NCL Fide is bang on my ECF conversion, but I've actually been playing at >200 ECF in the event to achieve that.
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
In simplistic terms you group the 18 teams into 4 groups comprising of the following 4/4/4/6 (the 6 is the bottom)
Then the groups play the following number of teams in each group
Group 1 (1 to 4) = 3 / 3 / 3 / 2
Group 2 (5-8) = 3 / 3 / 2 / 3
Group 3 (9 to 12) = 3 / 2 / 3 / 3
Group 4 (13 to 18) = 2 / 3 / 3 / 3
This means the top 8 play 7 matches against their peers; and you suspect that the Group 1 & Group 2 match ups against the lower groups mean that you don't get any body sneaking through the back door; but with only 2 promotion spots I suspect that it should only be 2 from Group 1 anyway
You should use rounds 1-6 to clear out the majority of the top vs bottom pairings
Then the groups play the following number of teams in each group
Group 1 (1 to 4) = 3 / 3 / 3 / 2
Group 2 (5-8) = 3 / 3 / 2 / 3
Group 3 (9 to 12) = 3 / 2 / 3 / 3
Group 4 (13 to 18) = 2 / 3 / 3 / 3
This means the top 8 play 7 matches against their peers; and you suspect that the Group 1 & Group 2 match ups against the lower groups mean that you don't get any body sneaking through the back door; but with only 2 promotion spots I suspect that it should only be 2 from Group 1 anyway
You should use rounds 1-6 to clear out the majority of the top vs bottom pairings
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Alan Walton wrote:Or the English players are overrated ;Mick Norris wrote:So, is the conclusion that the Irish players are better than their ratings would suggest?
Good point; relatively the ELO ratings may not be in balance, so Div 3 N will make it easier to see the true position
Will be interesting to see if Gonzaga beat everyone, or like Alba last year fall at the last hurdleAlan Walton wrote:The players who played for Gonzaga and Enniscorthy I have seen a few times I have been in Ireland, and I am not surprised at all they won both matches against the players they played against
Gonzaga will be promoted this year; Enniscorthy are a young squad looking for experience, but I suspect a few more shocks this year from them
Should be a good contest for second place
At least no-one will be taking Enniscorthy lightly now
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Gonzaga are a close knit unit, I believe they are all relatively young and have ties to the school they went to; I suspect they are seriously concentrating on getting to the A Div, and with Maze being registered for them (plays the odd time in the Irish league) I don't think they are expecting any slip ups
The Gonzaga players also are much more experienced than the vast majority in the Division; remember every year these players have been representing their club in the European Club Champs, most players in Div 3N are really just club players with only a few actually entering international tournaments (not counting the British in this), so not used to playing players who regularly play IMs & GMs
The Gonzaga players also are much more experienced than the vast majority in the Division; remember every year these players have been representing their club in the European Club Champs, most players in Div 3N are really just club players with only a few actually entering international tournaments (not counting the British in this), so not used to playing players who regularly play IMs & GMs
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Manchester could/should get close I'd think? Decent team last weekend and there's several potentially quite serious wild cards round the Manchester league if they can be persuaded to target a given weekend/match. Mind you, the organisation/motivation seemingly wasn't really there for that sort of thing last season.
That latter is very true about the league basically being club players. Also plenty of them ultimately aren't really taking things all that seriously.
That latter is very true about the league basically being club players. Also plenty of them ultimately aren't really taking things all that seriously.
Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Yes, spot on. The difference, the big difference, is in the level of prep. In Div 2 (and of course, in Div 1), everyone preps. Everyone knows that games are now public property, and will be inspected by likely opponents. So, unless you're very confident, you need a broader opening repertoire to avoid becoming a sitting duck. Moreover you can't just rock up to the board at start of play without handing your opponent a 90 minute prep advantage. Not everyone in Div 3 knows or cares about this. It's even been a source of contention among our players: several lower down "don't like" their games in public view; and are disinclined to modify their arrangements in the light of reality. Then they wonder why they lose!MartinCarpenter wrote:...basically being club players. Also plenty of them ultimately aren't really taking things all that seriously
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
It's great what you can usually get away with due to everyone assuming/believing this!David Robertson wrote:Yes, spot on. The difference, the big difference, is in the level of prep. In Div 2 (and of course, in Div 1), everyone preps. Everyone knows that games are now public property, and will be inspected by likely opponents.MartinCarpenter wrote:...basically being club players. Also plenty of them ultimately aren't really taking things all that seriously
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Re: Div 3 North 2016-17
Not everyone prepares in either of the top leagues - with 1 hour notice it is not as if it is a 1 round a day international swiss where you get your opponent some 12-16 hours before.
As one player has mentioned to me if he does not know what system/opening he will play in any match how will his opponents know?
As one player has mentioned to me if he does not know what system/opening he will play in any match how will his opponents know?