2012 British Blitz Championship

Details of upcoming UK events, please provide working links if possible.
Steve Rooney
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Steve Rooney » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:47 am

LawrenceCooper wrote:Having just played the European Blitz and Rapid I'm a big fan of double round 3 minute + 2 second increment. Even though twenty six games in a day was tiring it was great fun and although the round times were running about half an hour behind schedule I think they coped pretty well with 400+ players albeit it was a bit of a nightmare fighting your way to the pairings every round!
That sounds like a great event, especially with everyone playing in one huge tournament rather than in sections. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but it would be good to have more blitz events. How long was the playing day with 26 games?

Neill Cooper
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Neill Cooper » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:19 am

Alex Holowczak wrote:
Richard Bates wrote:
Alex Holowczak wrote:
The choice of software was basically either Tournament Director or Swiss Master. We concluded that the latter was preferable out of the two, because it did pairings properly. Double rounds are possible with this, but it's a bit of a faff. Hence single rounds. Neither software does double rounds particularly well.
Why do they find it so difficult? Isn't it just single round pairing rules without colours? How can that be a more problematic algorithm?
The software will do pairings for Round 1. At this point you can either enter the result as 1-0, 0-1 or 1/2-1/2. Unless there's a better way of doing it, the only way around this is to manually input the reverse pairings for Round 2, and put the result as 1-0, 0-1 or 1/2-1/2 again. (OK, you may have other variations, but you get the idea.) There's no option to put in 2-0, 1-1, 0-2, 1/2-1 1/2 or 1 1/2-1/2.

If you don't consider that to be a faff - I do - you still have a problem with this solution. If in Round 1 you were white, and Round 2 you were black, then in Round 3 you'd still be paired as if you were a white seeker, even though you're supposed to be colour neutral.

I'm sure it's not a particularly problematic algorithm to code, but it nevertheless isn't coded!
I use Swiss Perfect 98 which allows multiple games per round and so you could enter, for example 1.5 - 0.5 as the result. It therefore does UKCC scores (3/2/1) and is ideal for that at school.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Wed Dec 21, 2011 12:56 pm

Neill Cooper wrote:I use Swiss Perfect 98 which allows multiple games per round and so you could enter, for example 1.5 - 0.5 as the result. It therefore does UKCC scores (3/2/1) and is ideal for that at school.
I gather it doesn't do the pairings correctly, though.

Neill Cooper
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Neill Cooper » Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:54 pm

Alex Holowczak wrote:
Neill Cooper wrote:I use Swiss Perfect 98 which allows multiple games per round and so you could enter, for example 1.5 - 0.5 as the result. It therefore does UKCC scores (3/2/1) and is ideal for that at school.
I gather it doesn't do the pairings correctly, though.
So I hear. It does them well enough for UKCC, though!

Roger de Coverly
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:13 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote: It's 9 games to qualify isn't it and all existing rated players ( including inactives?) are deemed provisionally rated. So play 9 games out of 11 against players with existing long play ratings, then you get a Blitz rating. That was my understanding of it anyway and why Stewart Reuben is suggesting that Club Blitz evenings can be used to get FIDE Blitz ratings.
I see Hastings are intending to use the all play model, so if you have at least 4 (standard play) rated players out of 10, everyone gets a rating provided they score at least a point.

http://www.hastingschess.com/

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:18 pm

We have 47 entries as things stand, including 3 GM, 2 IM and 2 FM. A full list can be seen here: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=16019

Entries can still be made online here on the website: http://www.britishblitzchess.co.uk

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:15 pm

We're up to 68 entries at the moment.

The colour of the number 1 seed in round 1 will be determined by who bats first in the NZ-SA Test Match. If NZ bat first, white will be on board 1 in round 1. If SA bat first, black will be on board 1 in round 1.

The start of the match has been delayed due to a wet outfield...

Michael Jones
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Michael Jones » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:51 pm

Alex Holowczak wrote:We're up to 68 entries at the moment.

The colour of the number 1 seed in round 1 will be determined by who bats first in the NZ-SA Test Match. If NZ bat first, white will be on board 1 in round 1. If SA bat first, black will be on board 1 in round 1.

The start of the match has been delayed due to a wet outfield...
Is that the method your software came up with? :lol:

After a pitch inspection, it has apparently been decided that the toss will take place at 13.40 local time (00.40 GMT). Looks like bowling first will be preferable.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:58 pm

Michael Jones wrote:
Alex Holowczak wrote:We're up to 68 entries at the moment.

The colour of the number 1 seed in round 1 will be determined by who bats first in the NZ-SA Test Match. If NZ bat first, white will be on board 1 in round 1. If SA bat first, black will be on board 1 in round 1.

The start of the match has been delayed due to a wet outfield...
Is that the method your software came up with? :lol:

After a pitch inspection, it has apparently been decided that the toss will take place at 13.40 local time (00.40 GMT). Looks like bowling first will be preferable.
It came while wondering while looking for a sporting event that started on Thursday night, while I just so-happened to be browsing the Cricinfo website.

I guess a Test Match in New Zealand in March was asking for trouble, really. No doubt someone will come along asking me to apologise for this mistake at some point in the near future. :(

Edit: I'll have to wait until the morning now to see who bats first.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:31 pm

Eventually, New Zealand won the toss, and elected to field. So South Africa batted first, and so the number 1 seed will be black on board 1.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 2012 British Blitz Championship

Post by Alex Holowczak » Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:21 am

There has been an accident overnight on the M5 at Junction 3-4, near Frankley Services. That area of motorway is, as I type, closed. People coming from the south, who may have been getting off at Junction 3 to get to the venue should get off instead at 4, and take the A38 towards Birmingham for 5 miles. When you get to Northfield, turn left on to the B4121, Bell Hill. Continue along the B4121 for 3.5 miles until the island with the A4123, Wolverhampton Road South. Turn left, and you're on Ridgacre Road. The venue is 50 yards down the road on the left-hand side.

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