20/10/2020: These clubs have registered teams for our MCA Online Tournament 2020/21:
Prescot & Knotty Ash: 2 teams
Wallasey: 2 teams
Waterloo: 1 team
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The deadline is Thursday, 05/11/2020.
Regards,
Martin
The good news is: the cheaters are a minority
The bad news: sadly cheaters exist and can do a lot of damage
Let's be fair and avoide any cheating.
In this extraordinary corona dominated times we can not play face-to-face OTB chess. But we are in a better position than e.g. football players: we can continue our sport and play chess online.
Let’s make a joke about this:
Nothing is better than eternal happiness. Playing chess online is better than nothing. Conclusion: Playing chess online is better than eternal happiness. Play chess online and have fun!
| By registering a team for this tournament you agree to the regulations, terms and conditions. Thank you for your understanding. |
|
| Venue: | Online Tournament using Lichess.org |
| Players: | - A player can only be a member of one team, he/she can not play in two teams - Players must have a Lichess.org account in order to play in this tournament - All players must have an ECF Ref number |
| Entry Fee: | There is no tournament fee. The ECF may or may not charge a fee for online matches and/or rating. When we get the information from the ECF, we will inform everyone and ask him or her to pay the fee, if there is one. |
| Registration: | Clubs may register teams by e-mail to the tournament controllers. A squad can have more that four players. Requirements for registration: Players: Full name, grade/rating, e-mail address, phone or mobile, link to his Lichess-profile A team captain must be named. Every team captain must be registered on the MCA website and will get all necessary rights to submit results online. Deadline for Registration: 05/11/2020 |
| Tournament Mode: | 9 rounds Swiss system, computer-pairing (Sevilla 18.3.1 or later) White challenges his opponent on Lichess.org. Team Points: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a lost match Board Points: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a lost game In case of equal team points and board points, the ranking will be decided by first Buchholz, second Sonnborn-Berger, third number of wins (Tie Break System) |
| Time Control: | 60 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move |
| Match day and Start time | The default match day is Monday, the fallback match day is Wednesday. If both days are not suitable, both team captains have to agree another day and time and get the consent of the tournament controllers. The default start time is 7.30 p.m. |
| Rounds: | round 1: Monday, 09/11/2020, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 13/11/2020 round 2: Monday, 23/11/2020, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 27/11/2020 round 3: Monday, 07/12/2020, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 11/12/2021 - Christmas and New Year break - round 4: Monday, 11/01/2021, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 15/01/2021 round 5: Monday, 25/01/2021, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 29/01/2021 round 6: Monday, 08/02/2021, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 12/02/2021 round 7: Monday, 22/02/2021, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 26/02/2021 round 8: Monday, 08/03/2021, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 12/03/2021 round 9: Monday, 22/03/2021, 7.30 p.m. - Friday, 26/03/2021 |
| Reporting match results: | Team Captains shall report the match result at latest by Saturday midday after the end of the round. Team captains shall send PGN-files to the tournament controllers at latest by Sunday after the end of the round. |
| Board Colour: | The home team (= first-named team) plays black on odd boards, and white on even boards, the away team (= second-named team) plays white on odd boards, and black on even boards. Home team: black – white – black – white Away team: white – black – white – black |
| Grading: | This tournament is registered for ECF online grading |
| Tournament Controller: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
| Fair Play: | All players commit themselves to fair play and to try to solve problems in good faith together with their opponents, team captains and tournament controllers. The success of this tournament depends on you all and on your co-operation. |
Every player who registers for our 1st MCA Online 2020/2021 has to submit the link to his Lichess-profile.
Go to https://lichess.org/signup, enter a username, password and your e-mail, agree to all four points listed, and click on "Register". You will get a welcome e-mail.
Login at Lichess, click in the top-right on your Lichess-profile and click on "Profile". Then click on the gearwheel-icon (= edit profile). Go to "Privacy" and change "Let other players challenge you" to "always".
If you play white: A list of all players with their linked Lichess-profile is on our website. Simply login at Lichess with your standard browser and then click on the Lichess-link of your opponent. Now click on the "crossed sword icon" at the top-right of his profile, choose Variant "Standard", Time Control "Real Time", Minutes per side = 60 and Increment in seconds = 30 and select "Rated". As you are playing with white, click on the "White King Icon". Now wait for your opponent.
If you play black: You opponent challenges you. You will see the number "1" (in white on a red background at the "Two crossed swords" icon at the top-left the Lichess-window. Click on this icon and accept the challenge by clicking on the green tick.
Now the game starts.
Remarks: Choose always "Rated". because "Casual" will turn off the Lichess Anti-Cheating measures.
For additional information on how to use Lichess, please visit: Guide to Playing Matches on Lichess, provided by the 4NCL.
Playing white: You challenge your opponent, but he does not respond. There can be several reasons: if your opponent in not online on Lichess.org, wait until he is online. If he does not turn up for 30 minutes, you can claim the game.
Your opponent is online and probably made a mistake, contact your opponent using the communication system provided by Lichess.org and ask him what happened.
Playing black: You are waiting for your opponent, but no challenge appears. There can be several reasons: if your opponent in not online on Lichess.org, wait until he is online. If he does not turn up for 30 minutes, you can claim the game.
Your opponent is online and has probably made a mistake, contact your opponent using the communication system provided by Lichess.org and ask him what happened.
There are two different communication systems on Lichess.org: 
1.) Liches-Chat
Left o the board there is the Lichess-Chat. Everything you post here is visible to everyone watching your game. The text posted here will not be saved and no-one can restore the text. (see image directly on the right)
2.) Inbox
Click on your Lichess name and then on “Inbox”. This leads you to the site where you can send and receive individual messages. The messages will be stored until you delete them.
Click around, the systems explains itself. See image below.
We all want to play chess and want to have fun. There are no prizes to win. The success of this tournament depends on you all and on your co-operation. I assume that no-one will cheat and no-one will use computer chess programs, books or whatever.
If someone cheats, then he has to live with this shame, his guilty conscience and his moral failures. Shame on him!
Please be aware that Lichess.org applies anti-cheating technology. If you cheat, Lichess will discover this and ban you from the server. You will no longer be allowed to play chess on Lichess.org.
If a player is banned by Liches.org, he can not continue playing in this tournament. The player may contact Lichess.org to convince them to lift the ban. Only after Lichess.org has lifted his ban, he can continue playing.
After the end of the game, the players of the home team must download the pgn-file of his game and sends it to his team captain.
To get the PGN-file on Lichess, click on “Analysis Board” (see screenshot on the right),
then scroll down (if necessary) and click on „FEN & PGN“ (see screenshot):
Select „Download raw“ and save the file on your computer. Then send it as an attachment to your team captain.
Alternatively you can copy the pgn-file and paste it into your e-mail to your team captain.
If your team captain wants to get your PGN-file by himself, he will tell you.
Example for a PGN-file:
[Event "Rated Classical game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/z4pDlo9Y"]
[Date "2020.07.27"]
[White "PhilRam"]
[Black "Martin_Blasczyk"]
[Result "0-1"]
[UTCDate "2020.07.27"]
[UTCTime "18:27:58"]
[WhiteElo "1875"]
[BlackElo "1736"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-27"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+59"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "3600+30"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Opening "Indian Game"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Qd2 d6 6. O-O-O Nbd7 7. Bh6 c5 8. Bxg7 Kxg7 9. h4 h5 10. Be2 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Ne5 12. f4 Nc6 13. Qd2 Ng4 14. Rf1 f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Bxg4 Bxg4 17. Nf3 e5 18. g3 Qa5 19. Ng5 Nd4 20. fxe5 dxe5 21. a3 Rad8 22. Qe3 Qc5 23. Kb1 Bf5 24. Rxf5 Rxf5 25. Rd1 Qe7 26. Nce4 Rdf8 27. Nc5 Rf1 28. Nce6+ Nxe6 29. Qxe5+ Kg8 30. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 31. Ka2 Qf6 32. Qxe6+ Qxe6+ 33. Nxe6 Kf7 34. Nd8+ Ke7 35. Nxb7 Rf3 36. b4 Rxg3 37. c4 Rg4 38. c5 Rxh4 39. Kb3 Kd7 40. b5 Rf4 41. c6+ Kc7 42. Nc5 Rf3+ 43. Kb4 h4 44. a4 h3 45. Ne6+ Kc8 46. Ng5 Rf4+ 47. Ka5 h2 48. b6 axb6+ 0-1
The tournament controllers need the PGN-files for proof of the result and for publishing the games online on our website in the CLM.
An internet connection can be disrupted or interrupted. This can happen if the internet connection is too slow, or if the Lichess-Server crashes.
A green dot in front of a Lichess username indicates that the player is online and connected. If this dot turns grey, the player is no longer online on Lichess.org.
If you are disconnected from the Lichess-Server, you should keep the Lichess-window open and try to re-establish the connection. Reload the page. If you have been logged out, login once again, click on “1 game in play”, click in the displayed board and continue your game.
If your internet connection is interrupted, re-establish it, go to Lichess.org, login and continue your game.
Please be aware that the clock is ticking. If you fail to reconnect quickly you may loose the game on time.
If nothing works and if you are not able to continue your game, please inform your team captain as soon as possible. Provide clear and unambiguous evidence for the problem. The tournament controller will make an appropriate decision to resolve any problems.
Team captains have to submit all requested details of members of their squad to the tournament controllers. The details for every player are:
Full Name, grade/rating, e-mail address, phone or mobile, link to his Lichess-profile (add access rights).
If the details of a player are not complete, he won’t be accepted as a member of the squad and as a consequence he can not play.
A player without an ECF Ref-Number can not play in this tournament. Every player has to be first registered at the ECF as a member of your club. Then he will get an ECF Ref-Number and now he can play in the tournament, assuming that he has a Lichess-profile and so on (see above).
Both team captains have to announce/nominate the players at latest by the Friday before the match. The deadlines are:
round 1: Friday, 06/11/2020
round 2: Friday, 20/11/2020
round 3: Friday, 04/12/2021
- Christmas and New Year break -
round 4: Friday, 08/01/2021
round 5: Friday, 22/01/2021
round 6: Friday, 05/02/2021
round 7: Friday, 19/02/2021
round 8: Friday, 05/03/2021
round 9: Friday, 19/03/2021
Descending order: The players must be listed according their rating, i.e, the higher rated player plays on the higher board. There is no exception to this rule. If two players have the same rating, the team captain may choose the order. This order can not be changed during this tournament.
The rating used is that at the start of the competition.
If a team captain fails to announce/nominate the players for the next round, his team has lost the match.
If a team captain violates the order of players (descending order according to the rating), the order of players will be edited fulfilling the rule.
To announce the players simply login to the CLM (see: Submit match results online) and choose the players from the drop-down-list.
Save the entry.
Every team captain should login to the CLM and submit the match results as usual.
Team Captains shall report the match result at latest by Saturday midday after the end of the round.
4. Sending the PGN-files to the tournament controllers
Team captains shall send PGN-files to the tournament controllers at latest by Sunday after the end of the round.
Before sending the PGN-files we ask you to do some changes.
| Edit the header | with: |
| [Event "Rated Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/z4pDlo9Y"] [Date "2020.07.27"] [White "PhilRam"] [Black "Martin_Blasczyk"] [Result "0-1"] [UTCDate "2020.07.27"] [UTCTime "18:27:58"] [WhiteElo "1875"] [BlackElo "1736"] [WhiteRatingDiff "-27"] [BlackRatingDiff "+59"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "3600+30"] [ECO "A45"] [Opening "Indian Game"] [Termination "Normal"] |
[Event "MCA Online 2020/2021"] [Site "https://lichess.org/z4pDlo9Y"] [Date "2020.07.27"] [Round " "] [Board " "] [White "Ramsey, Phil"] [Black "Blasczyk, Martin"] [WhiteTeam "Aigburth 2"] [BlackTeam "Atticus 1"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1875"] [BlackElo "1736"] [TimeControl "3600+30"] [ECO "A45"] [Opening "Indian Game"] |
Changes to be made:
- replace [Event "Rated Classical game"] with [Event "MCA Online 2020/2021"]
- add [Round " "] and enter the number of the round here. Example: [Round "3"]
- add [Board " "] and enter the number of the board here. Example: [Board "3"]
- [White "PhilRam"]: replace the Lichess-profile with the name of the players in the same format as they are published on the MCA website.
Example: [White "PhilRam"] changes to [White "Ramsey, Phil"]
- [Black "Martin_Blasczyk"]: replace the Lichess-profile with the name of the players in the same format as they are published on the MCA website.
Example: [Black "Martin_Blasczyk"] changes to [Black "Blasczyk, Martin"]
- add [WhiteTeam " "] and enter the name of the team; example: [WhiteTeam "Aigburth 2"]
- add [BlackTeam " "] and enter the name of the team, example: [BlackTeam "Atticus 1"]
- delete [UTCDate "2020.07.27"] and [UTCTime "18:27:58"]
- delete [WhiteRatingDiff "-27"], [BlackRatingDiff "+59"], [Variant "Standard"] and [Termination "Normal"]
That’s it.
All players and all team captains agree that their name, rating and link to their Lichess-profile are published on the MCA website in the public area.
All players and all team captains agree that their e-mail address and phone or mobile number are published in an internal part of the MCA website, only accessible by team captains and tournament controllers of this tournament.
Anyone who opposed to this can not play in this tournament.
The tournament controller will make an appropriate decision to resolve any problems.
You can register as many teams as you like. Please make sure that each of your squads has enough players.
A player can only play for one team and can only be a member of one squad. If a player has played at least one game for a team, then he is bound to this team.
If a player has not played a game for a team, then the club is allowed to withdraw him from one squad and assign him to another squad.
Go to https://lichess.org/signup, enter a username, password and your e-mail, agree to all four points listed, and click on "Register". You will get a welcome e-mail. Then click in the top-right on your Lichess-profile and click on "Profile". Click on the gearwheel-icon (= edit profile). Go to "Privacy" and change "Let other players challenge you" to "always".
Yes, if the player has not played for another team and if the player fulfils the requested requirements (see above): Full Name, grade/rating, e-mail address, phone or mobile, link to his Lichess-profile, agreement to the tournament regulations and he has to have at least the of status of an ECF supporter.
Both tournament controllers have to be informed immediately about new players.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchholz_system
The method is to give each player a raw score of one point for each win and a half point for each draw. When used as an alternate scoring system, each player's Buchholz score is calculated by adding the raw scores of each of the opponents he played and multiplying this total by the player's raw score (Hooper & Whyld 1992). When used for tie-breaking among players with the same raw score, no multiplying is necessary and the sum of the raw scores of the opponents played is used to break ties (Golombek 1977). When used as a tie-break system, it is equivalent to the Solkoff system.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonneborn%E2%80%93Berger_score
The Sonneborn–Berger score (or the Neustadtl score) is computed by summing the conventional score of each defeated opponent, and half the conventional score of each drawn opponent.
Yes. ECF Membership is not a requirement for a published rating.
The answer is (13/10/2020): we don’t know. We contacted the ECF officers but till now (13/10/2020) we haven’t got a definitive answer.
As soon as we know the answer, we will inform eyery player. If there is a fee, everyone may pay it then by himself.
Thank you for your understanding.
Please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The ECF offers a "Club Finder" and an "English Online Club finder". Registration is free, no costs involved.
To register your club or to ammend your club details, please visit: Submit Your Chess Club
Newsletter No. 1 July 2020
We are introducing this monthly newsletter as a way of keeping in touch with the MCA league clubs and their members during these difficult times. All contributions welcome. As with most elements of day to day life, normal chess community life has changed dramatically and the impacts of Coronovirus on the game are numerous. In this initial newsletter, we will update you on the outcome of the committee’s decision with regards resolving the 2019-20 season and start the conversation on planning for a 2020-21 season, if that proves possible. I don’t need to tell you haw complex and uncertain future planning has become as a result of the virus’ impact on society so do bear with us as the conversation progresses!
In good news I know a few of the clubs have taken up internet chess in matches with each other and reports I’ve heard back have been that they’ve been good fun. Even I (technophobia is deffo one of my flaws!) have attempted a blitz match with Liverpool Chess Cub recently and whilst I was enormously rusty having not played properly for months, I can certainly see the appeal more now that I’ve tried it so would encourage others to do the same. It’s worth giving it a go if you can, even if you’re an over-the-board player at heart like me. It’s easier to connect in from a computer or mobile phone than I’d expected and it could help prevent you getting as rusty as I am! Do get in touch if your club is running internet chess matches and we can start to pool the relevant info to share with other clubs via this newsletter or other means.
I would very much like to gain more understanding of the different MCA clubs positions at the moment, in regards things such as likely levels of interest in internet chess; how your home venues are getting on in terms of re-opening plans and their position in relation to clubs attending; the general appetite and confidence levels of membership as it relates to playing in person next season subject to rules & regs etc. I will be in touch with club secretaries by phone by the end of this month to start these informal conversations. My email box is a pretty depressing place right now (!) so calls will likely work better than emails if that suits everyone. Also I would like to talk to some human beings that aren’t in my immediate circle please!
I hope that you and yours are weathering the storm and most importantly staying healthy. I very much look forward to a time when we will be able to be and play together again.
Sylvia
The majority opinion of the clubs which responded to our consultation on how to wrap up last years season is that the past season should be considered cancelled and no trophies awarded in all league and cup competitions.
We appreciate this is really hard for some, particularly those who were looking strong for winning their divisions. It was a difficult decision to take.
We are not able to start the new season until we, and English Chess, determine how to play over the board chess in a manner that is covid safe, complies with government regulations and with which players feel confident. The ECF has published a statement here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/chess-clubs-and-covid-19/ for your information.
From the date we agree it is possible to restart, we will need approximately 8 weeks to organise the league into divisions, prepare the fixtures and arrange a limited AGM.
Currently, the earliest date we can envisage making the decision to restart is 1st September, 2020 which would mean a likely league start date of about 1st November. This date is, of course, speculative and could be delayed.
At this stage it is difficult to foresee the make-up of the league for the coming season. We will possibly lose players, teams and even clubs from the previous season.
We ask clubs to begin assessment of how many teams they are likely to enter next season so that when a decision is made to restart we receive entries quickly and speed up the start date.
If clubs feel that any of their teams should be promoted on the basis of last season’s performance, please let the secretary know in writing.
We welcome input into how the decision to restart will be made.
In the meantime, we are looking to start an internet chess league. In order to start this league as soon as possible please consider your club’s position and likely entry.
The treasurer will be happy to collect trophies to ensure we keep tracks of their whereabouts for next year. Please could clubs contact the treasurer direct to arrange.
Dave & Leon
The Committee welcomes your club's views on the above and if people feel a committee meeting over remote video conferencing platform would be useful, do let me know.
Regards,
Dave