Farewell from the Minnow

Sadly I will be taking a long break from chess. I have a long road to recovery from illness and I just don’t have the energy to carry on as Clan Leader nor play much chess.

I have a few games to finish but I’ve passed the mantle on to Widget who will no doubt be looking to rebuild IVV over the next 12 months. The Canadian’s axe needs a new head and body, but it will be the same axe 😊

Just some thoughts

Best player (of similar rating) Patrick06
Best Player (any rating) RTMiller
Trickiest player Blanca
Favourite Pawn Pusher Arayn
Favourite opponent 64quaresofpain
Best PGN Player Mickey Jenkins

I’ve really enjoyed my time at RHP and met some great people … special shout to

Mischas, Ragwort, NoFriendsPete, , Beatlemania, Wycombe Al, 64squaresofpain, my good friend Vespin and my dear brothers GMForsythe, Medullah and Bychan
I hope you all do well in 2022 …. If IVV can do it, then so can you all

It’s a tough job being clan leader …. I never imagined it would take so much time (although I still only took 5 minutes on each challenge 😊 )

Anyways, see you all in another life.

Ian (Aka Max, who is no longer a minnow)

@Maxtheminnow
Wishing you well on your road to recovery (sorry to hear about your illness).
I will issue a response to your assessment of the clan system.
It's not perfect, but I don't think your solution will solve everything.
Some of the more serious issues (2016 collusion and abuse of the goodwill of the system) have been resolved, with more improvements to come.

@maxtheminnow said
Sadly I will be taking a long break from chess. I have a long road to recovery from illness and I just don’t have the energy to carry on as Clan Leader nor play much chess.

I have a few games to finish but I’ve passed the mantle on to Widget who will no doubt be looking to rebuild IVV over the next 12 months. The Canadian’s axe needs a new head and body, but it will b ...[text shortened]... challenge 😊 )

Anyways, see you all in another life.

Ian (Aka Max, who is no longer a minnow)

You're right about the time consuming element of leading a clan properly.
I think that's why so many clans fade away.
I've never played you ,but your comments in the forums have always been sensible and relevant(unlike some)
All the best for your recovery and continuing health thereafter

Dave

hopefully you will be back one day Ian!

All the best and happy new year, Al

Good luck Ian :-)

@maxtheminnow said
Sadly I will be taking a long break from chess. I have a long road to recovery from illness and I just don’t have the energy to carry on as Clan Leader nor play much chess.

I have a few games to finish but I’ve passed the mantle on to Widget who will no doubt be looking to rebuild IVV over the next 12 months. The Canadian’s axe needs a new head and body, but it will b ...[text shortened]... challenge 😊 )

Anyways, see you all in another life.

Ian (Aka Max, who is no longer a minnow)

Welcome back. 😛

@mghrn55 on the 12th day of Xmas instead of 12 drummers Max returns!

@wycombe-al said
@mghrn55 on the 12th day of Xmas instead of 12 drummers Max returns!

mghrn55 and Al, you guys really didn't expect him to be far away did you?

Lets hope he doesn't get as easy challenges as he did in 2021. You both saw it as did I, but you both kept your mouths shut about it as it would seem like whining, but he was getting very easy challenges, if he gets the same again this year IVV will win again.

As of yet no evidence he took a lot of games into 2021 although there are some, too few to mention. We will see as time goes by.

-VR

@very-rusty said
mghrn55 and Al, you guys really didn't expect him to be far away did you?

Lets hope he doesn't get as easy challenges as he did in 2021. You both saw it as did I, but you both kept your mouths shut about it as it would seem like whining, but he was getting very easy challenges, if he gets the same again this year IVV will win again.

As of yet no evidence he took a l ...[text shortened]... of games into 2021 although there are some, too few to mention. We will see as time goes by.

-VR

We'll let Max respond to that one. 🙂

@mghrn55 said
We'll let Max respond to that one. 🙂

I don't know who 'we' are.

But I already know the answer the clan leaders thought they were fair challenges.

Prove otherwise! It is impossible. He has more Clan Leaders on his side than I think either one of us know. Do you think everyone enjoys watching Metallica win year after year? That question is for you mghrn55.

-VR

@Very-Rusty
I agree.....
When a clan wins the title 7 years in a row, it will obviously have a target on it's back.
And I think the 2021 champion won fair and square. I certainly did not see any cheating going on.
There may have been some "soft tilts" in the challenges of various clans, but nothing that gets Russ involved.
And I also think that when one clan wins year after year, interest in the clan feature may decline and calls for changes in the clan feature may increase.
That's normal.

What wasn't normal in 2016 was ....
- the collusion that went on between several clans.
- and the ill-fated attempt to completely attempt to turn the clan feature upside down. Russ' beta version of a clan rating that he eventually had to abandon was ill-fated from the start. This was a change driven by a couple of individuals in an attempt to stick it to one clan.

The lesson learned in 2016 was that changes to a feature should never be driven by the agenda of a very few individuals who need to have their personal grievances petted.
(One individual got his "there there now pat on the head" and then got a site ban when that wasn't good enough).

At the end of the day, it was one clan that stepped up in 2021 and did what was necessary to win.
A leader who did his homework, set a lot of challenges, and won more challenges than he lost.
That is the formula for winning.
Sitting around and whining about another clan and then trying to abuse the nature of the feature is not the formula.
And kudos to a couple of other clans who stepped up and participated in the feature and set a lot of challenges. And supported the feature.
I don't need to name the clans. They know who they are.

There may be some suggestions for changes worth putting forward.
But I am thinking that after the 2016 debacle, Russ may not have an appetite for further changes.
I am quite sure he has enough on his plate.

@mghrn55

Yup some soft challenges for sure!

And you're right Clans don't like seeing the same clan win every year.

I know you saw the soft challenges and just didn't say anything in the public forums about it. AS you said nothing can be proven. If the same thing happens again this year then the same result will happen.

This is something I hope I am very wrong about and I don't see the lop sided challenges I saw last year. Agreed good to see some other clans getting in on the action.

There is absolutely nothing anyone can do if Clan Leaders decide they want to give out soft challenges. We are partly on the same page here I think.

I believe the lesson learned in 2016 was how not to go about it.

EDIT: the aforementioned was typed before you made your edits to change pretty much of what you first said about soft challenges, so be it. I quoted what you said then removed it and copied what I had said back. Your alerts stayed up for some reason, but had to do with words you used before you EDITED your posting.
EDIT:2 Something you will rarely hear from me 'My Apology', the part I thought you got one of the alerts for is still there.

-VR

i didn't see much evidence of weakened challenges, unless you are talking about the one where Breaking Bad are currently kicking IVV arse 7-2

@wycombe-al said
i didn't see much evidence of weakened challenges

Seriously Al? As a clan Leader you should be paying closer attention to challenges!

-VR