4NCL Online

[JustinHorton]

. But still, maybe more demand for online events than I had previously thought.

It'll just be good to have a proper game of chess.

[Ian Thompson]

If you'd asked me to guess at the start I would have massively underestimated the likely number of entries, influenced by my own lack of enthusiasm.

We have to wait and see how many teams complete the event. With no entry fee, which maybe was a mistake, there will probably be some teams that thought there was nothing to lose by entering and then withdrawing if they didn't like it after a round or two.

[Nick Burrows]

130 and counting

[David Sedgwick]

130 and counting

I see that the final total was 170.

I was in the right ball park, but too high. A week or so ago, I predicted an entry of 200.

However, as Ian T said, a truer test will be how many teams are still competing in the last round.

[Nick Burrows]

If it is divisions of 12 plus a big swiss, thats a lot of leagues!

[LawrenceCooper]

If it is divisions of 12 plus a big swiss, thats a lot of leagues!

I think they are planning three, four or five divisions of 12 at the top and then a big swiss to cover the rest.

[Nick Burrows]

Ah, I see. Thats a big ol' team swiss!

[Nick Burrows]

The league structure is on the website:

4 divisions of 32 teams, seperated into groups of 8. Plus Div 5 a 10-round swiss.

[Roger Lancaster]

What I haven't worked out yet is why, if the first 4 divisions are over 11 rounds, Division 5 is [doubtless there's a good reason] a Swiss of only 10.

Edit: Mike T has since politely pointed out the error of my ways - all five divisions are 10 rounds and I've signed up for a basic arithmetic course.

[Richard Bates]

Are the games played in complete isolation, or is there anyway you can view other games whilst in play? (which is, after all, arguably part of the essence of team competition). I guess you might be able to search for other team members and load their games onto the screen? (assuming this doesn't trigger some anti-cheating software...)

Appreciate it's been set up very rapidly and with a lot of work obviously gone in to even reach this stage, but I don't know if there is any way that this feature could be added in future (on lichess or elsewhere).

[Nick Burrows]

I believe you can open Lichess in 4 seperate windows, and follow your team mates in the other 3.

[Richard Bates]

What I haven't worked out yet is why, if the first 4 divisions are over 11 rounds, Division 5 is [doubtless there's a good reason] a Swiss of only 10.

Edit: Mike T has since politely pointed out the error of my ways - all five divisions are 10 rounds and I've signed up for a basic arithmetic course.

An "interesting" format. Something of a significant advantage being seeded 5 compared to being seeded 1,2,3 or 4 (if I've understood correctly). Although in the circumstances I guess players would rather be in the top 4. I'm not sure if too many are going to be too bothered about the clauses about promotion and relegation. Or hoping they won't be needed!

I think I would have just done a Swiss for each grouping (would have also protected better against teams dropping out, and/or significantly changing strength after a few weeks as well)

Still, it's only a bit of fun! Hopefully

[Roger Lancaster]

An "interesting" format. Something of a significant advantage being seeded 5 compared to being seeded 1,2,3 or 4 (if I've understood correctly). Although in the circumstances I guess players would rather be in the top 4. I'm not sure if too many are going to be too bothered about the clauses about promotion and relegation. Or hoping they won't be needed!

I think I would have just done a Swiss for each grouping (would have also protected better against teams dropping out, and/or significantly changing strength after a few weeks as well)

Still, it's only a bit of fun! Hopefully

Agreed, seems to benefit seed 5 rather than seed 4, seed 13 rather than seed 12, etc, etc, but since my deficiencies at arithmetic have already been cruelly exposed [see earlier] maybe I'd best leave an expert assessment to others!

[LawrenceCooper]

Starting rank list: http://www.4ncl.co.uk/data/4NCL_online_ ... k_list.pdf

[LawrenceCooper]

Agreed, seems to benefit seed 5 rather than seed 4, seed 13 rather than seed 12, etc, etc, but since my deficiencies at arithmetic have already been cruelly exposed [see earlier] maybe I'd best leave an expert assessment to others!

Agreed, (speaking as captain of seed no. 4)