Unfair entries!

Alright, my turn to vent. I am part of the Gamma mid length ROOKIE duel, and I was expecting to be pitted against people around my own level of play.(1100-1250) But while looking through the participants, I find two people rated 1400+, one of which is a 1600 player, undefeated in 12 games!

Looking at the other threads, I see this happens a lot, but for crying out loud! Do I really need to be reminded that I am not a 1600 player while playing in a tournament for lower ratings?

So mmhare and Moldy Crow, this is a request that you pull yourselfs out of the Rookie duel, and allow the people who that tournament was intended for to have a fair chance at winning it.

-Fatty

Fatty, here's the skinny: be lucky to have the chance to play a higher rated player. Don't focus on win-lose but on learning from sharp play. Low-rated players fail to expose our bad moves. Be happy. --little C

As much as I love the oppurtunity to play people that are higher rated than I am.(awrightus is one of my opponents in the 2005 championship, and I am spending lots of extra time trying to put up a good fight) I feel it should be expected that when I enter a tournament for lower level players, or banded tournaments for that matter, that I should be playing against people that fit into the skill level for the restrictions on the tournament. Do you honestly think it is fair that someone who is obviously better than everyone else in the field can enter and dominate the entire thing?

I play in some of the grouped random tournaments, and get matched with players that are out of my league, and I'm ok with that. When I want to play some learning games, I will do that. But if I want to play some people that I have a shot at winning against, or people that I can have an exciting game with, I want to be able to enter a tournament like that, and expect to have those results.

Now, of course I want to win this thing(I can't see any reason of entering a tournament without wanting to win it) But I want it(and all other tournaments) to be fair. And don't you think a 1600 player playing in a rookie duel is unfair?

-Fatty

I agree with the initial quote. It's actually quite easy to get games against higher rated players if you're below 1700 yourself. Just enter any random tournament and you'll either face a strong player in your first round or stand a good chance of progressing and meeting lots of good players. The idea of the banded tournament (I thought) was that similarly levelled players battled it out so that it is hard to predict an eventual winner, and every game is potentially important and at the least challenging. This gets undermined if people enter tournaments that they know they are well above the range for. Upsets might happen, but there's still an overwhelming favourite. The big problem with the majority of the tournaments on the site is that many of the results (in individual games) are a forgone conclusion, taking a lot of excitement out of the competition.

Originally posted by Fat mans revenge
As much as I love the oppurtunity to play people that are higher rated than I am.(awrightus is one of my opponents in the 2005 championship, and I am spending lots of extra time trying to put up a good fight) I feel it should be expected that when I enter a tournament for lower level players, or banded tournaments for that matter, that I should be ...[text shortened]... s) to be fair. And don't you think a 1600 player playing in a rookie duel is unfair?

-Fatty

Couldn't agree with you more here, but I don't think it would be right to "boot" them between rounds. I just wish some of these players would show some sportsmanship and not sneak their way into tournys that are way below their level.
I don't really see any way to stop it as it is right now.
All that was already discussed in the other thread..

Originally posted by Fat mans revenge
Alright, my turn to vent. I am part of the Gamma mid length [b]ROOKIE duel, and I was expecting to be pitted against people around my own level of play.(1100-1250) But while looking through the participants, I find two people rated 1400+, one of which is a 1600 player, undefeated in 12 games!

Looking at the other threads, I see this happens ...[text shortened]... w the people who that tournament was intended for to have a fair chance at winning it.

-Fatty[/b]

i completely agree with you ther fatty as you no i do, but moldy vrow is a very good friend of mine, hes new, and he didn't no what rating he would be, it was an easy mistake to make, he entered that tournment the day he joined i think so give him a bit of air please

Originally posted by Fat mans revenge
Alright, my turn to vent. I am part of the Gamma mid length [b]ROOKIE duel, and I was expecting to be pitted against people around my own level of play.(1100-1250) But while looking through the participants, I find two people rated 1400+, one of which is a 1600 player, undefeated in 12 games!

Looking at the other threads, I see this happens ...[text shortened]... w the people who that tournament was intended for to have a fair chance at winning it.

-Fatty[/b]

Whilst you make a good point, where do you draw the line? for example when I first joined I made 2 finals in rookie events but was beaten by 2 players rated >2100 (by the time I made the final I think I was about 1500-1600. But without my opponent someone at say a rating of 1400 may have felt hard done by, but without me maybe a 1300 player would feel hard done by. I don't think there is an answer....unless you ban players with less than a number of completed games from entering tournaments?

Alright, Moldy Crow, with the information I have, I can understand you entering the tournament. And I have no hard feelings towards you entering. So good luck with your future rounds, and here's hoping that no one in the tournament is 2000+.

-Fatty

Originally posted by Fat mans revenge
Alright, Moldy Crow, with the information I have, I can understand you entering the tournament. And I have no hard feelings towards you entering. So good luck with your future rounds, and here's hoping that no one in the tournament is 2000+.

-Fatty

Fat man (and anyone else ) -
I'm new to the site , so here's what happened , where I was comming from , and an honest question as to what I should do about it now to be sporting .
When I first joined the site , I was extremely frustrated in trying to get games . The site I came from had a different rating system , but with some seat of the pants math I figured I should be at about a 1500-1550 rating . I prefer playing people at around 100 +/- my rating . I could get no such games . No one on this site wants to play provissionals . I solicited on the forums for games . I could not join a team . I could only get other provissionals . For a few weeks , I had under 10 games going . I'm used to 35 . I saw a rookie tournament open to provissionals . I entered . By 'rookie' , I assumed it meant newcommer . They used to have newcommer welcoming tournies on the other site , and it was understood there would be a mix of the full spectrum of experience levels . That's what I thought I joined . If the expectation in this tournament is that it is for beginning level chess players , I will withdraw from it . I'm not , nor have I ever been - looking to boost my rating by beating the crap out of beginners . I like evenly matched games . As to my rating and record ?- It's inflated right now . It's inflated partly because the only games I could get early on were with players under my skill level . I can just about gauranty you will never again see me go on a 12-0 tear . Now that I'm in some clans , have enough games to show any kind of rating at all , I'm getting games with players at my level . I lost one yesterday , and have about 3 more that I'm down in . I've got some I'm winning and some 'left-over' games from when I first joined where I'm most likely going to walk away with them , (if the opponent even decides to finish ). So my rating will probably go up , then come down and level out .
Now , that in mind , what should I do ? Simply resign my games in this tournament ? How do I withdraw without messing up the tourney ? How do I get out without being peanalized rating points . (While I don't look to pad my rating by playing beginners , at the same time I'm proud of it , and don't want to lose points due to a mistake ). Can I be substitued ? Some guidance from some old-timers on the site would be appreciated in this . If there's overwhelming advise favoring one course of action that would be deemed fair by the general membership I will abide by it , even if it does cost me points . I do value fairness , and getting along more than points .
Advise please .

PS - Sorry to any and all who feel I put them on the short end of the stick .

Originally posted by Moldy Crow
Fat man (and anyone else ) -
I'm new to the site , so here's what happened , where I was comming from , and an honest question as to what I should do about it now to be sporting .
When I first joined the site , I was extremely frustrated in trying to get games . The site I came from had a different rating system , but with some seat of the pants math ...[text shortened]... Advise please .

PS - Sorry to any and all who feel I put them on the short end of the stick .

Read my post above, I'm a similiarly rated player to you, but lost 2 rookie tornament (maybe 3 I forget) finals to >2100 rated players when I first joined the site. Don't worry about it you haven't done anything wrong

Originally posted by Moldy Crow
Fat man (and anyone else ) -
I'm new to the site , so here's what happened , where I was comming from , and an honest question as to what I should do about it now to be sporting .
When I first joined the site , I was extremely frustrated in trying to get games . The site I came from had a different rating system , but with some seat of the pants math ...[text shortened]... Advise please .

PS - Sorry to any and all who feel I put them on the short end of the stick .

I think you just took the best course of action you could.
You explained why you entered the tourney and apologized to the other players in it.
Good show of sportsmanship.
For the tourney, you could wait until it progresses to the next round then resign all your games before making a move. You will not lose rating points in a game with less than two moves made.
Since you explained why you entered and you didn't intend any harm, I think you could play it out.
I think both of these options would be respectable.

Originally posted by Moldy Crow
Fat man (and anyone else ) -
I'm new to the site , so here's what happened , where I was comming from , and an honest question as to what I should do about it now to be sporting .
When I first joined the site , I was extremely frustrated in trying to get games . The site I came from had a different rating system , but with some seat of the pants math ...[text shortened]... Advise please .

PS - Sorry to any and all who feel I put them on the short end of the stick .

Well, I would like to thank you, and apologize, I kinda put you on the spot in my frustration. So no hard feelings? I'm really glad that I got this answer straight from the horses mouth.

That being said, I have no problem you continuing through the tournament, especially now that I have the facts behind everything, and really wouldn't mind playing you in future rounds. The last thing I want to have done is you get docked points for making an honest mistake. Good luck in the rest of the tournament. And any future tournaments you enter.

I suppose that brings my vent to a close.

-Fatty

No hard feelings , Fatty - I understand the feelings . I've been in games and tournaments with 2100 + players . I've played net chess with guys with rating in the 2000's and notice their opponent av rating around 1200-1400 . It pisses me off too . These forums are great , and I think you responsibly called me out . You/anyone can always Message me personally at any time too .
I'm going to wait to see what the ratings are after the first round . I'm playing a guy right now who's pretty tough . There's also an odd coincidence that this guy is my team capt for Clon Clon , and we're using this tourn 1st round so he can check me out . But if everyone's ratings are disproportionately low compared to mine , I'll strongly consider pulling out .

Best of luck to you Fatty