A completely unnacceptable situation

I have waited, and moaned about the non-starting of round 2 of the Beta midi quickfire for over a week now. I had to go away on a business trip for a 36 hour period - and I wanted to be sure of the status of this tournament before leaving - if it had started I would have had to find an internet connection while away - I didn't have to worry about any other games since they all have timebanks.

I have been away from a computer less than 40 hours - I come back and I have been timed out of three of the four games in this round without even making a move. It is bloody ridiculous. How can I be timed out without even making a move? Why did it take so long for the tournament to restart and why has it started at some arbitrary point when there is no timebank? We should all have been warned. I expected it to start the moment the final match of round one finished.

This is unnacceptable and a complete mockery to concept of competition and chess. Not to mention the stupid effect it has had on my rating. I am f***ing furious.

😠

Originally posted by Gatecrasher
I have waited, and moaned about the non-starting of round 2 of the Beta midi quickfire for over a week now. I had to go away on a business trip for a 36 hour period - and I wanted to be sure of the status of this tournament before leavi ...[text shortened]... tupid effect it has had on my rating. I am f***ing furious.

😠

I think the point you raise is valid - especially on tournaments with short timeouts I think it would be vitally important to notify the participants some time before the start of the second round.

At the same time, the start of the next round should perhaps be automated - so that once the last game has finished, an e-mail (and PM) notification would be sent to the people that made it to the second round, saying that the next round will start, for example, in two days, and then, at the time specified in the note, the round would be automatically started.

But I'm afraid there's really nothing you can do about your misfortune - in tournaments, games can't be deleted, so they will get timed out instead, even if no moves have been made. Also, an auto-time-out will occur once you're two days over the limit, so your opponents may not have the opportunity to respect your vacation setting.

-Jarno

Game 455814

This is very weird - My opponent made a move in this game less than 6 hours ago, but I have been timed out. How is that possible? Surely I have 24 hours after my opponents last move to reply? 🙄

Just checked my rating - it has not been affected by these "losses". So what is going on? Help!

Originally posted by Gatecrasher
Game 455814

This is very weird - My opponent made a move in this game less than 6 hours ago, but I have been timed out. How is that possible? Surely I have 24 hours after my opponents last move to reply? 🙄

Just checked my rating - it has not been affected by these "losses". So what is going on? Help!

This seems like a matter you should contact Russ about directly... really weird. A bug on the site perhaps?

-Jarno

Okay, now that my fury has abated.... I now realise that it is obviously a bug.

I have four games. In one game my opponent moved +-6 hours ago but it has timed out against me. In another game my opponent has moved, I have replied and all is well.

The other two games where I am white appear to have automatically timed out, long before the two day limit. I suppose it is possible that my opponents claimed the win, but I seriously doubt it, especially as one of them only made his first move as white 6 hours ago. Still, I would like some clarity. I have written to Russ.

Nah, after more investigation it appears that timing your opponent out updates the last move field so the 4 matches were created on Mar 25 18.45 (my timezone) and the timeouts occured on Mar 26 18.46, 18.58 and 20.37. Clearly timedout by my 2 brave opponents. I only got back from my overnight business trip this evening and logged on at Mar 26 22.29. My previous move had been on Mar 25 03.34. And I thought chess was a game of skill.... 🙄

Also strange is that the commencement of the new round did not generate any email messages (as it does at the commencement of a tournament). If it had, I would have noticed when I was faxed my email this morning.

On the positive side, though, I must now surely hold the record as the player suffering the fastest timeout in RHP history. 1 day and 1 minute. Fame at last. 😀

Next time, Russ, we need to know in advance when new rounds in these zero timebank tournaments are going to be created, especially when the start has been delayed for sooooo long. Right now, it all seems so arbitrary and disappointing.

Originally posted by Gatecrasher
Nah, after more investigation it appears that timing your opponent out updates the last move field so the 4 matches were created on Mar 25 18.45 (my timezone) and the timeouts occured on Mar 26 18.46, 18.58 and 20.37. Clearly timedout by my 2 brave opponents. I only got back from my overnight business trip this evening and logged on at Mar 26 22.29. My ...[text shortened]... rt has been delayed for sooooo long. Right now, it all seems so arbitrary and disappointing.

I will close this thread, as a thread has been started in the help and site ideas forum too.

(Read thread : Beta Midi - Why no game notification??? )

http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/threadlist.php?forumid=2

-Russ