I would like to request Chess.com's Admin to remove the requirement that a player must have atleast 5 finished online games before he can join any tournament. This is a ridiculous requirement as newcomers need games for them to to have more experience. This rule will make life miserable for newcomers as they cannot have online games. Like me, all I do is sit around waiting for team matches which is very difficult to come by. Can we do something about this rule? Thanks a lot.

You need to have some reputation..or as a sign to the Tournament organisers that you wont flee/be careless and timeout etc. 5 games is all they ask

Watch you language! I am talking not only for myself but for all newcomers.

Hello Infinitum,

Thanks for your comment. I understand their concern. But these people went here to play. The group should not be penalized for one rotten apple..

Waiting on team matches for your five games will take longer than necessary.  Instead do what most people do and play five games that are open seeks instead.  Under the "play" tab select online chess then open seeks and see what games are out there for you to play.  If you don't find five good games (and you often won't) then start a new game and play those instead.

It is very easy to get five games in this way.

Ah, if only it were just one bad apple...

But seriously, it is good to require the 5 games.  That way new players get a feel for the game play here, the turn speeds, etc.  And if you look around you can find fast games, jump into 5 at once, and bang zoom... you are there.

DID I ACTUALLY SAY "BANG ZOOM"????

Newcomers can play five single games just from the seeks available, or put on a few seeks themselves, who says you must start of with tournament games. It's the same as saying a marthonist should run the 42 km on the first day he joins a club!

Just go to http://www.chess.com/echess/open_invites.html and play the 5 games you need, a dont forfeit on time on any of your 5 games or you'll need 6 more games (if my math doesn't faill me) because then you have other rule that states you need to be under 10% timeouts to take part in a tournament (5+6=11 1 out of 11 = 9.1 %)

Thanks a lot, raymondc!

Tournaments are based upon matching up persons of equal abilities.  How can we know what level you are if you haven't played 5 matches.  I personally think it should be at least 10 matches.

You can set it to as many games the person has to finist for him/her to be able to join.

When I first joined I wanted to play tournaments straight away, single challenges dont really give me the motivation to play very well as I am quite lazy and casual if there is not something hanging on the game.

I played 5 quick games so I was able to enter tournaments, it was mildly annoying but it didnt bother me blitzing out 5 games,I didnt play too well due to rushing them though hehe, but it was actually quite fun as I never really play quick games.

I dont think asking for 5 completed games is too bad, but maybe there should be a newbie tournament every month for players without any completed games and only players who have not finished a game could enter.

Just an idea

A tournament like that would be bound to fail based on the number of people who start up a game or two and never return to the site.

 It takes a bloody long time 3 weeks for mine.

This requirement helps prevent no-shows...

ADK

I've been here over a month and I still haven't finished five games.

it's ok

It seems to me a reasonable request. I joined this site a week ago, and already have four finished games! The fact is that many members (especialy younger) do not use the "correspondence" tempo of playing, but play fast, even impulsive if I may say so with my short expirience. My only seek was matched within couple of hours, so be patient and good luck!

Tournament players must be of some repute so that tournament can progress smoothly. In the other hand if someone is playing for the first time on the Internet is better he gains some feel of how it works. Even more, how is difficult to complete five games. I thought that chess is a game of patience.

a better idea is to bunch newcomers in a tournament, say "Newcomers Tournament" and pit them against each other..with 2 matches per player..