Mass Resignation?

Hi All

Quick query regarding a tournament I am currently directing.

I started a tournament for 8 players, and we reached about halfway through the tournament. At this point, the slowest player (who had approximately 160+ games on the go at the time and is a Diamond member), went and resigned all of his in progress games to all players. At the point of resignation he had won two matches against various opponents, and was in progress or had not started all his other games.

I would ideally like to remove him from the tournament and have none of his games register within the tournament, and not to affect any of the players ratings. I have removed him from the Tournament Director page, but all his reults still show (as lost games since he resigned en masse) and he still appears on the online chess games (and therefore affects ratings) of all players.

Is there anyway to resolve this without affecting all players in the tournament, as it appears a bit unfair, as he resigned both winning and losing positions.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

AL

I can imagine that it bothers you. When you start a tournament you want win because you areplaying good not because he resigns.

It's not THAT unusual, actually... that's what happens when someone's vacation runs out; they lose all their games on timeout.

I understand how it can seem a bit unfair to people who had already completed their games against that person, but really I think you're better off leaving the situation as it is, and not trying to enforce a retroactive withdraw (if that's even possible).  Losing on time, even from a winning position, is a "normal" end to a game, it's part of the rules.  In OTB tournaments, if someone has to withdraw mid-round, their opponent is still the lucky beneficiary.

Unless you had explicitly stated PRIOR to the tournament start that players who timeout would be withdrawn, I think you'd be overstepping your boundaries as TD to change the rules mid-tournament.

EDIT: Actually, I went and found the tournament through your profile (http://www.chess.com/tournament/a-friendly-tournament2, for any interested)... considering this guy isn't even really affecting the standings near the top, I'd definitely say leave well enough alone.

Spiffe - thanks for your advice. I just feel for the two guys who lost to him. If they had been inefficient and only moved every 5 days instead of more quickly, then they would have benefitted fomr the mass resignation as well. Just seems a tad unfair on them really...

However, I do take your point, and will probably leave things as is.

Thanks

AL

you also dont know why he mass resigned. there could be a family problem or something and he wanted to respect the other players and he did not want to hold anyone up. unless you have information otherwise that is something you should consider. also if people lost, they lost. time is part of the game. not just the time to make a move but also how fast you move. i think you are creating a problem that really doesnt exist. administering a tournament fairly does not mean arbiting results unless it is something like a lost postion dragging on that doesnt affect the rankings in the tournament but is holding up the whole tournament. 

I know this guy through a group and he actually only resigned the games that would not really affect tourny ranking. He got hung up with the 160 games he had and simply didnt have time to play them all each night.

it is a very annoying incident, i agree. however, it is perfectly in his right to resign any time (even in a winning position). block him and ignore him in the future is my advice.

Hi, AlwaysLearning, I am that guy to resign from your tournament, I really sorry to make you feel uncomfortable, as a diamond member, I care my behaviour than my rating, may I explain what I did ?

- I made a mistake to open too much games in Nov, the peak time is 166 games on go,after I struggle with them for one month (playing during working hours, play 2-3 hours each night), there are still 110+ games, my wife start complain and my reading / training plan could not start.

- So last day I spend 4 hours to review all my current tournaments, leave the message to explain why and then resign from those ones if:

1. my win is zero, the sample is:

http://www.chess.com/tournament/slow-open-quad

2. I win some games, but my resign has no impact on the final result, the sample is:

http://www.chess.com/tournament/5th-chesscom-tournament-1201-1400

the current ranking #1 player will win his last game and go to next round, even he lost the last game and I win all my rest games, he will go to next round with me.

if my resign will make the impact on the final 1~3 places (only the 1st 3 places earn the tournament points), I will not do so, the sample is:

http://www.chess.com/tournament/dark-castles-3rd-amateur-cup

so I still have 30 tournament games on go.

actually I consider more than 15 minutes to decide what I should do at your tournament, I have 2 games with higher players at winning position (you could check), but if I stay, I will hold this tournament for 20-30 days, it is not so good to everybody, and I block some players to attend another tournament.

as the cost of my mistake, my rate drop to 1219 from 1431

I should talk to you before  I quit, please accept my apologize.

Communication is key, and usually makes everyone feel better about everything.  At least you're 'in the loop'!

In my high school metro leauge tournament a high school dropped out half way through, meaning that all games against that school count as 5-0

remove him from the tourney ....

guess so

block him? what an immature attitude. grow up.

It's really unfortunate when this happens -- I don't think that people who resign in this manner realize the unfair impact that they have.  There should be a way to have a result like this adjudicated.  It doesn't even need to be a case for manual intervention.  Multiple resignations within a certain time period effectively resulting in tournament withdrawal could be detected and trigger the invalidation of a players impact in a given tournament.

I just stumbled onto this topic, but I'm compelled to say: jootoo, that was incredibly conscientious of you. Your explanation is detailed and I don't see how anyone could still be annoyed at you.

Appreciate the reply JooToo. Note that I wasnt having a go at you and that I wasn't really annoyed either - I understand the reasons for your withdrawal from the tournament, and accept them at face value. There is certainly no reason to apologise!

The reason for starting the topic was merely to try and ascertain what might be the best course of action in terms of equitable treatment to all players as far as the tournament goes, now that you are unable to continue playing, and whether there should be a workaround in place for future events such as these to avoid any negative impacts for any players (including yourself).

AL

It raises an interesting question:  Does using the withdraw option change how results are counted as compared to resigning all of your games (i.e. does it nullify your completed games from the current round?).

Should it?

Everyone has the right to resign any of their games at any point - it is as legitimate an option as moving a piece or offering a draw, so there should not be a policy to deal with it.

I've been affected by this once because I played my games quickly against the top-rated opponent in a tourney and got one draw one loss. He then mass-resigned and one of the guys who got 2 points for free just beat me to third place. Hey ho, that's part of the game.

I don't think you can nullify any games because it would have a knock-on effect on ratings against anyone who played this player and anyone who played them etc.

Thanks, AlwaysLearning

btw: I am finance manager, too

For the control in future, I have two idea,

1. maybe chess.com should set max No. of games, say 100, or 80, or 60 ...

Only a few people could handle hundreds of games in progress, it really not good to your health, family and chess if you play so much games, you can not enjoy the beauty of chess, and will feel boring, or make the move without deep thinking - I make each move in 1~2 minutes, it is not playing chess but do a repeated job.

I remember one post mentioned this topic but most of reply say "No", for they think everybody could decide what they want to do.

2. Sugguest the tournament director do not set the group size too big, a 12 persons group will force you face 11 or 22 new games suddenly.

in future, I will attend the tournament with 2 or 3 person per group.

jootoo - you can set your own maximum games limit in your settings.

Go to Online Chess - Settings

The first option is max no. of games.

You're right - only a few people can handle large numbers of games, but I think even they struggle to maintain their games sometimes.

I'm not suggesting that rating changes get rolled back -- just tournament results from the current round.