Blob Chess Tournament II

[Mel-o-rama]

Hey everyone! While we're waiting for Season XV to wind down, why not play a few games of Blob Chess? I announce the opening of the Blob Chess Tournament II !! The format this time will be a double elimination tournament.(Note: participation in this tournament is totally separate from ACC Chess activities, and the results will not be considered in any ACC ratings.)

The Tournament is now over. Final Results:

1st place goes to Cynical Realist.

2nd place is a tie to Mel-o-rama and Darth Tater.

Honorable Mention goes to SirVLCIV for making it to Round 3.

Last Honorable Mention goes to rekrap, Macroman, and Werewolf for making it to Round 2.

#  Player            Score    Bracket  #Games
1  Mel-o-rama        3.5-1.5    2nd      5
2  Darth Tater       3.5-1.5    2nd      5
3  Hagbard Celine    0.0-2.0    Elim     X
4  Cynical Realist   4.0-1.0    1st      5
5  Ramanujan         0.0-2.0    Elim     X
6  SirVLCIV          2.0-2.0    Elim     X
7  Macroman          1.0-2.0    Elim     X
8  Werewolf          1.0-2.0    Elim     X
9  rekrap            1.0-2.0    Elim     X

Round 1 Wht    Blk  Result
R1.1     2  vs  4    Win: 2
R1.2     3  vs  1    Win: 1
R1.3     5  vs  2    Win: 2
R1.4     1  vs  6    Win: 1
R1.5     7  vs  5    Win: 7
R1.6     9  vs  3    Win: 9
R1.7     6  vs  9    Win: 6
R1.8     4  vs  8    Win: 4
R1.9     8  vs  7    Win: 8

Round 2 Wht    Blk  Result
R2.1     2  vs  1    Draw
R2.2     9  vs  4    Win: 4
R2.3     7  vs  6    Win: 6
R2.4     8  vs  2    Win: 2

Round 3  Wht    Blk  Result
R3.1     1  vs  2    Win: 1
R3.2     4  vs  6    Win: 4

Round 4  Wht    Blk  Result
R4.1     4  vs  1    Win: 4

The rules are simple. The pieces move as they normally do, including castling, en passant, and pawn promotion. All checks are as normal, and if you can't get out of check, you lose (Blob-mate). However, just like blobs in real-life, there are two restrictions on movement.

Restriction #1) You can move a piece only if it is adjacent (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) to another one of YOUR pieces before you move it. (This implies that a lone piece cannot move. Also, you cannot castle if either your rook or king are not adjacent to anything.)

Restriction #2) The piece must land on a square that is adjacent (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) to another one of YOUR pieces.

You win the game in one of two ways. #1) Put your opponent into check so that he cannot get out of check (Blob-mate). OR #2) Immobilize your opponent so they cannot move at all either due to stalemate or due to the fact that all their pieces are "lone" pieces.

Yes, you read that right. Stalemate = win! The only way to draw is move repitition, no pawn moves for 50 moves, or for both sides to agree to a draw.

Here are the rules of this tournament. Post on this thread to indicate your willingness to play. If enough people sign up today, I'll begin assigning games so you can start playing tomorrow. New entrants can enter the tournament through Sunday, July 9. Then I will close the tournament and assign the final Round 1 games.

In the first round, you will play two games at the same time, one game as white and one as black. Scoring is the same as in standard chess. If you win a game, you earn 1-0. If you lose, you get 0-1. If you draw, you get 1/2-1/2. Note that a draw counts as half a loss. When your cumulative losing score reaches 2 or greater, you are eliminated.

After the first round, some of you may lose both games and be eliminated. In round 2 and subsequent rounds, the rest of you will be placed in 2 brackets. The "winners" bracket will be those with a losing score of 0 or 0.5, and you will continue playing two games at the same time as long as there are enough players in your bracket. The "losers" bracket will be those with a losing score of 1 or 1.5, and they will only play one game at a time.

UPDATED TOURNAMENT RULES: Starting with Round 2, we will play only one game at a time, with one exception.

In a given round, when there is an even number of players total, everyone will play one game. In the event there is an odd # of Losers and an odd # of Winners, then one of the highest Losers will play one of the lowest Winners.

If there is an odd # of players total and everyone has played the same # of games: one of the Winners will play 2 games, and that Winner will play either a Winner or a Loser, depending on where the odd person is. In a future round, if there is an odd # of players again, then the one who played 2 games would earn a "bye" for that future round.

Finally, in the end, there will be just one winner standing!

You can play the games wherever you wish: here at actuary.ca, at Scheming Mind, or anywhere else where both parties agree. If you play at actuary.ca, people have found it useful to use a different login name to keep your regular games separate from the blob chess games. For example, I'll be using Mel-o-ramaTC, which was an ID left over from playing "Three Checks".

As you finish these games, post your results and the moves, and I will update the full results periodically.

ILLEGAL MOVES - If at any time you think your opponent has made an illegal move, immediately request an Undo. If both of you miss the illegal move, then so be it - keep on playing. It's up to the individual to make sure their opponent doesn't make an illegal move. If you're not sure whether or not a move is illegal, you can ask me either in this thread or by PM (I love PMs) and I'll settle the matter. But you really shouldn't have any problems with that as long as you ask yourself two questions: #1) Before you moved the piece, was it adjacent to one of your pieces? #2) After you moved the piece, was it adjacent to one of your pieces? If the answer is "no" to either question, then it was an illegal move, and you better Undo it.

SPEED OF THE GAME - Let's stick to one move a business day as a minimum. Starting after the holiday (July 10), if your opponent isn't making 5 moves a week, then you can declare a win. However, feel free to play as fast as you wish.

GETTING AHEAD OF THE OTHERS - I'll do my best to keep you busy playing games. If it so happens that you're done playing and no one else is ready to play, I'll send you a PM to let you know when it's your turn to play again.

Let the games begin. Have fun. And may the best Mel-o-rama win!!

[Mel-o-rama]

Oh, I want to play! I'll be using my Mel-o-ramaTC ID!

[Darth Tater]

Wow...that was a really long post followed by a realyl short one. I think someone is trying to ad their post count.

[Darth Tater]

I'll play.

[Darth Tater]

I'll play as ZeroVektorTC.

(*What ever happened to three check? Should we consider reviving that again?*)

[rekrap]

Originally Posted by Darth Tater

(*What ever happened to three check? Should we consider reviving that again?*)

This variant?

That was fun.

[Hagbard Celine]

I'll play as Hagbard Celine TC.

[Cynical Realist]

Are there any rules about posting three times in a row?

[Cynical Realist]

I'll Play.

[Mel-o-rama]

I was waiting for one more post from Cynical!!

Anyways, we have enough participants to begin the first two games of the tournament. Here are your number assignments:

1. Mel-o-rama
2. Darth Tater
3. Hagbard Celine
4. Cynical Realist

Here are the randomly generated game assignments (the first player listed plays white):
R1.1: 2 vs 4
R1.2: 3 vs 1

(The number convention is "R1" for Round 1 and ".1" for game #1 in that round.)

As more people sign up, I'll randomly assign the newcomers. You may end up playing either 1 or 2 games depending on how the dice roll. On July 10, I'll finish off the assignments so that everyone will have 2 games.

Good luck and Blob away!

(edited to clarify which player plays white)