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        Arimaa >> Events >> 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
        
(Message started by: Adanac on Apr 3^rd, 2012, 11:22am)

Title: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Adanac on Apr 3^rd, 2012, 11:22am

The weekend tournament was a modest success with exactly 20 players registered and, coincidentally, 20 games played. However, some players had trouble finding opponents when they logged in whereas others were able to play multiple times.

Next time I’ll try running some type of Swiss tournament and I’m thinking of June as a target month. Anyone can run a tournament if they so desire, and I’ll offer to be an assistant TD if someone else wants to take the initiative to run an event in May (except 26-27). Last year’s World League began in August so I won’t run events after July if Megajester is planning to create a 2012 World League.

Here are some ideas I’m thinking of, keeping in mind that multiple rounds in the same day (proposals 1 & 2) will require that the tournament revolve somewhere around 14:00 GMT when most of the community is awake at the same time (and that window of time isn’t very big):

1. Two-day four-round 30s/move Swiss tournament, with simultaneous games.
2. One-day four-round 15s/move Swiss tournament, with simultaneous games.
3. Six-week, six-round 45s/move Swiss tournament, with games occurring throughout the week via the Scheduler.
4. Another freestyle tournament, like the one we just had.

Initially I was thinking of #1 but now I’m starting to think that #3 would better accommodate different schedules. All four of these events could accommodate drops & joins mid-way through the tournament. I asked Omar and he agreed that anything but #4 could count towards a WHRE rating.

EDIT: I see in another thread that Fritzlein is hinting there could be a huge Swiss tournament late in 2012 even if the World Championship is a small triple-elimination format again. Maybe #1 is best after all so that we can have a “live” event with simultaneous games that distinguishes itself from the big Swiss tournament in the Fall. Even though it’s difficult to find a time that’s perfect for everyone, the simultaneous weekend tournaments in 2009 created a fun atmosphere in the chatroom.

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 3^rd, 2012, 12:21pm

Thanks for running the tournament last weekend, Greg. I wish I would have been free enough to participate, and I'm glad it was a success without me. Starting mid-May I should have a lot more free time, even though I'm not totally out of school this summer.

I do like paired events with scheduled game times, because leaving the players to schedule their own games has always created issues to offset the advantages of freedom. Also I agree that we should favor all-in-one-sitting tournaments because we suspect that a large one-round-per week tournament is going to happen later on (or be the World Championship) and/or because AWL and Ironman are going to be more one-round-per-week formats. There is a niche for short live tournaments not addressed by anything else currently planned or proposed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we get in four rounds of 30s/move in a single day before? That's only about an hour per game, plus maybe a little buffer between rounds. If we play on Saturday starting 9:00 Pacific/17:00 Europe we should be able to catch both American and European players. I don't see the necessity of playing blitz or limiting fast games to two rounds/day. But maybe my math is off?

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Adanac on Apr 3^rd, 2012, 12:53pm

on 04/03/12 at 12:21:51, Fritzlein wrote:

I do like paired events with scheduled game times, because leaving the players to schedule their own games has always created issues to offset the advantages of freedom. Also I agree that we should favor all-in-one-sitting tournaments because we suspect that a large one-round-per week tournament is going to happen later on (or be the World Championship) and/or because AWL and Ironman are going to be more one-round-per-week formats. There is a niche for short live tournaments not addressed by anything else currently planned or proposed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we get in four rounds of 30s/move in a single day before? That's only about an hour per game, plus maybe a little buffer between rounds. If we play on Saturday starting 9:00 Pacific/17:00 Europe we should be able to catch both American and European players. I don't see the necessity of playing blitz or limiting fast games to two rounds/day. But maybe my math is off?

I like that idea better than mine. It sort of excludes East Asia/Aus/NZ but I can easily run a separate tournament at a different hour if there's demand for that. It also means I can enjoy 3 4 sunny June Saturdays instead of just 2 3. Hopefully, sunny :)

One round every hour could be a bit rushed, especially if some players are consistenly playing 50+ move games. Maybe 1 round every 75 minutes would do the trick and the tournament would end just one round later than your proposal i.e. 14:00 Pacific and 22:00 in Western Europe.

Unless there are multiple objections to this date, I'll propose these times for a 30s/move tournament:

Saturday, June 2nd (all times GMT, I hope my math is correct)
Round 1: 16:00
Round 2: 17:15
Round 3: 18:30
Round 4: 19:45

If there are more than 16 players and two are tied with perfect records (unlikely) then the players can choose to play the tie-breaker immediately, if they're clamoring for a 6th hour of Arimaa, or play it another day otherwise.

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 3^rd, 2012, 1:25pm

on 04/03/12 at 12:53:32, Adanac wrote:

Unless there are multiple objections to this date, I'll propose these times for a 30s/move tournament:

Saturday, June 2nd (all times GMT, I hope my math is correct)
Round 1: 16:00
Round 2: 17:15
Round 3: 18:30
Round 4: 19:45

Sounds like a winner. When people see how cool it is, they will volunteer to run more on other Saturdays.

Quote:

If there are more than 16 players and two are tied with perfect records (unlikely) then the players can choose to play the tie-breaker immediately, if they're clamoring for a 6th hour of Arimaa, or play it another day otherwise.

If participation is that large (has the community really grown that much?), we could think about stratifying.

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Dolus on Apr 3^rd, 2012, 3:53pm

Yes, thank you for running the tournament last weekend. Unfortunately I couldn't get on when other people were on as well, but I saw the standings and it did look like a decent number of games got played.

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Adanac on May 28^th, 2012, 10:30am

There will be a Saturday Open Swiss tournament on June 2nd. You can register from the link in the Announcement section of the gameroom and there is also a link to the Wiki site with the rules. It will last about 6 hours from start to finish with breaks between games (except when a particular game lasts more than 75 moves, then you'll probably play back-to-back games without much time in between).

If you want to join and need to request up to 2 byes, please post your request & which rounds you'll miss here in this thread. Also, please show up 10 minutes prior to the start of the tournament (or the start of your opening round, if you're asking for a first-round bye).

An FYI for the event: A couple of players have joined the tournament with "Guest" accounts. Maybe Omar can confirm, but I'm fairly sure you'll need to create an account to participate in a rated event.

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Fritzlein on May 28^th, 2012, 10:43am

I was intending to play in this event, but I was told on short notice that I have to (get to :)) attend a conference on the mathematics of tomography. It sounds interesting, but I will regret missing the Arimaa. :'(

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by ginrunner on May 30^th, 2012, 11:39pm

CFA test this saturday. Can't sorry

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by chessandgo on May 31^st, 2012, 6:53am

I'll be in Edinburgh, wont be able to play. Have fun!

Title: Re: 2012 Free Weekend Tournaments
Post by Adanac on Jun 4^th, 2012, 8:07pm

on 05/31/12 at 06:53:27, chessandgo wrote:

I'll be in Edinburgh, wont be able to play. Have fun!

Congrats to Thiagor for winning the weekend Swiss tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. Thanks to everyone who participated. I'll try to create a crosstable & summary in the Wiki if I have some extra time next weekend.