What is the point of these Team Battles? • page 1/1 • Fischer Random Chess Center • lichess.org

I participated my first Daily Team Battle and felt this format was not effective. Many teams had only one or two players and in later rounds I was often paired with too weak opponents while there were comparable opponents in the same team! Of course, I welcome an opportunity to play 960 at any time I like.... Isn't it better to have a long Arena (individual competition) instead?

MHamina

Well, ... the point is to take part into the team tournament and represent your team.
However, in these Chess960 team battles this is not working very well.
Why?

There is one predator! The predator team https://lichess.org/team/fischer-random-chess-center is large, with many members. All are specialized for Chess960 and have considerably high ratings. Many participants to Chess960 team battles come from this predator team. Look result lists from past tournaments.
@hnishy From your point of view (strong Chess960 players point of view) you are not getting strong opponents because you are playing in the predator team. You will not be paired with your strong teammates. In order to get strong opponents, you should join and play in some other team than the predator team.
My (my team's) point of view is different. My team plays mostly standard chess. We are mediocre Chess960 players ratings ranging from about 1400 to 1750. We play Chess960 team battles ocasionally for fun.
Our problem is the predator team, too. We get bruised and badly beaten by stronger opponent, which are queuing for victims. Well, that is life. We try again!

As a team Fischer Random Chess Center is working fine. Thanks to the leader @FisherRandomChess . He is doing excellent work. The team offers also individual Arena tournaments. See the team page.

Note, that there are about 9620 weekly Chess960 players. That is not much!
Personally I would like to see at least one tournament within week with rapid time control with at least 2 second increment.
I am very well aware of the problem with this kind of tournaments.

Well, ... the point is to take part into the team tournament and represent your team. However, in these Chess960 team battles this is not working very well. Why? 1. There is one predator! The predator team https://lichess.org/team/fischer-random-chess-center is large, with many members. All are specialized for Chess960 and have considerably high ratings. Many participants to Chess960 team battles come from this predator team. Look result lists from past tournaments. 2. @hnishy From your point of view (strong Chess960 players point of view) you are not getting strong opponents because you are playing in the predator team. You will not be paired with your strong teammates. In order to get strong opponents, you should join and play in some other team than the predator team. 3. My (my team's) point of view is different. My team plays mostly standard chess. We are mediocre Chess960 players ratings ranging from about 1400 to 1750. We play Chess960 team battles ocasionally for fun. Our problem is the predator team, too. We get bruised and badly beaten by stronger opponent, which are queuing for victims. Well, that is life. We try again! As a team Fischer Random Chess Center is working fine. Thanks to the leader @FisherRandomChess . He is doing excellent work. The team offers also individual Arena tournaments. See the team page. Note, that there are about 9620 weekly Chess960 players. That is not much! Personally I would like to see at least one tournament within week with rapid time control with at least 2 second increment. I am very well aware of the problem with this kind of tournaments.

hnishy

edited

Another problem is that the duration is too long (12h), giving very small chances for other teams than FRCC to win. How about 3h Team Battle and 3h Arena (for individuals) alternately? This will solve most of the problems, I think.

MHamina

True, the 12h duration is long.
However, you should take into account that FRCC provides Chess960 team battles all over the world. These battles are in many cases divided into two 12h time windows. For me and my team (Europe time zones) the other ranging from 11 am to 11 pm is suitable. The other battle is in the night and early morning. Therefore, as a team leader I do not pick it to the team tournament list.

Long 12h duration gives occasional participants the possibility to play some games just for fun.
Shorter duration would rise to time zonal problems and overlapping problems with other tournaments.
In my opinion it is not a problem that FRCC is very likely winning these tournaments.

For these reasons I find 12 hours duration acceptable.

The only problems are:
*There should be more players. The weekly number of Chess960 players is about 10 000. That is not much.
*The pairing should be better. For strong players, there is not much point to shred much weaker players into pieces. For lower level players it is not fun to be shredded into pieces by much stronger players.
This would be considerably better if players from FRCC would play in other teams or would build new Chess960 teams.

Moreover, it is possible to find several Chess960 tournaments from Lichess Arena tournaments.

FRCC is doing good work!

PS. There is a saying that you learn from lost games. The good thing is that I am learning a lot!

True, the 12h duration is long. However, you should take into account that FRCC provides Chess960 team battles all over the world. These battles are in many cases divided into two 12h time windows. For me and my team (Europe time zones) the other ranging from 11 am to 11 pm is suitable. The other battle is in the night and early morning. Therefore, as a team leader I do not pick it to the team tournament list. Long 12h duration gives occasional participants the possibility to play some games just for fun. Shorter duration would rise to time zonal problems and overlapping problems with other tournaments. In my opinion it is not a problem that FRCC is very likely winning these tournaments. For these reasons I find 12 hours duration acceptable. The only problems are: *There should be more players. The weekly number of Chess960 players is about 10 000. That is not much. *The pairing should be better. For strong players, there is not much point to shred much weaker players into pieces. For lower level players it is not fun to be shredded into pieces by much stronger players. This would be considerably better if players from FRCC would play in other teams or would build new Chess960 teams. Moreover, it is possible to find several Chess960 tournaments from Lichess Arena tournaments. FRCC is doing good work! PS. There is a saying that you learn from lost games. The good thing is that I am learning a lot!

NM oberschlumpf

Compared to internal arenas battles also adress other teams, therefore they are likely to attract more players.

Also as a remark to #2 : joining other teams is sometimes helpful for everyone! If there are for instance 14 active players and 8 of them are playing in our "predator" team, then FRCC members have to wait more than 25% of the time: because there are only 6 "non"-predators: 2 of the 8 predators always have to wait.

Compared to internal arenas battles also adress other teams, therefore they are likely to attract more players. Also as a remark to #2 : joining other teams is sometimes helpful for everyone! If there are for instance 14 active players and 8 of them are playing in our "predator" team, then FRCC members have to wait more than 25% of the time: because there are only 6 "non"-predators: 2 of the 8 predators always have to wait.

Nimvenkatesan

well a large team like Elite chess players union can maybe win if they try