AO Chess Pyramid

[Ultimate Anyone?]

Okay, it’s been in the works for a while, and we almost had this up and running once, but the big AO PM glitch erased all the work that had been done. Anyway, without further ado….

Welcome to the AO Chess Pyramid!

This idea was borrowed from the folks at SchemingMind.com, where we played our Fischer Random Chess tournament. The idea is simple: Everyone starts out at Level 1, and you challenge players that are on your level or one level above. If you win, you move up; if you lose to a lesser player, you move down. The levels of the pyramid will police themselves, and thus we’ll have a de facto ranking system. (If you’d like more background on what I’m talking about, see this thread for more history.)

Note: Due to the ongoing nature of this tournament, games played in the Chess Pyramid will not be used in the PMS rankings.

So let’s get down to how we are going to run the games here....

You may challenge 1 player at any time, and you may be challenged by 1 player at any time. Please make sure these are two different people, if possible. (We may open this up to 2 & 2 later, but I don't want to take away from the Chess League or Cup; this is intended to be played on the side, a diversion to the official diversions.)

You may only challenge a player that is at the same level as you, or one level above you, at the time you issue the challenge. You must also accept all challengers (unless you are maxed out, of course). If you do not accept a challenge, it will be deemed a “forfeit”, and the forfeiting player’s ranking will be decreased by one. (The challenger of said match will not gain anything.)

To determine movement in the pyramid, you must look at the ranks of the players at the end of the match. The movement depends on the relative rankings of the players:

Case 1: X beats Y

- If X > Y: X and Y remain at the same level
- If X = Y or X + 1 = Y: X moves up one level, Y moves down one level
- If X + 1 < Y: X moves up two levels, Y moves down 2 levels

Case 2: X loses to Y

- If X < Y: X and Y remain at the same level
- If X = Y or X = Y + 1: X moves down one level, Y moves up one level
- If X > Y + 1: X moves down two levels, Y moves up 2 levels

Case 3: X and Y draw

If X = Y, X = Y + 1, or X = Y – 1: X and Y remain at the same level
If X > Y + 1: X moves down 1 level, Y moves up one level
If X < Y - 1: X moves up 1 level, Y moves down one level

(Yes, for those of you paying close attention, I've been redundant and repeated things twice above, but it should be consistent.)

To get this thing kicked off, we’ll get a list of all people who are interested in participating, as well as see if we have any loopholes we need to watch out for. If you wish to participate, please plan on making at least one move a day (the same pace as the League games).

My goal is to try and keep a current list of everyone’s status, so we can keep track of challenges easily. I’ll show that once we get started. Everyone will start off at Level 1, and we'll watch how things will evolve from there.

So if you are interested in participating, please post to this thread. If we get a workable number, we’ll open the game up with the challenges. As I noted before, this is to be played on the side, and not intended to disrupt the Chess League or Cup Games. We will work out a way for people to have "on hold" status, should they wish to not participate for a while (e.g. exams, vacations, etc.).

Any questions? Who wants in?

[Ultimate Anyone?]

I plan on participating in the Pyramid.

[Utanapishtim]

Sounds like fun. Put me in. Somewhere in the middle (;

[Darth Tater]

I'll be in for this...but I have a few questions:

1) regular chess, not Fischer chess, right?
good
2) How many moves per day will be required?
good
3) Will we play on Schemingmind.com or here?
fine with me.

edited to add answers...

[Hagbard Celine]

Originally Posted by Darth Tater

I'll be in for this...but I have a few questions:

Since I read UAs post, I'll just answer the questions for you!

1) regular chess, not Fischer chess, right?

Yes

2) How many moves per day wilol be requires?

1...same as the Seasons

3) Will we play on Schemingmind.com or here?

Here, but I don't think it would matter if you and your opponent agreed to play on Schemingmind.com. The original idea just came from them.

[Hagbard Celine]

I'm in!

[Happy Professional]

Originally Posted by Darth Tater

1) regular chess, not Fischer chess, right?

Actually, blob chess.

[Car'a'carn]

I'll play after Friday the 13th.

[Drewby]

For my 1000th post, I will agree to play in the AO Chess Pyramid!

[Mel-o-rama]

Count me in! I can't wait to make everyone go to negative levels. Hee hee!