May 2020 Updates and Announcements
Dear PubXChess Fans,
It has been awhile since we last organized chess. We were really hoping that Covid would “miraculously disappear by April” (as Trump eloquently predicted). However, it is quite evident that life will not revert to normalcy at any time soon – We still have phase 1 of post Circuit breaker to go through, and goodness knows how long that will last (Phase 1, in a nut shell, means no organizing OTB events yet).
Similar to chess, we have to evolve and adapt our gameplay in accordance to the situation. Thus, our weekly tournaments will now be conducted on chess.com for the time being. Several changes and more announcements are also described further below.
Weekly Tournaments
As usual, our tournaments will start automatically at 3PM (Singapore Time) on Sundays. Participants are highly encouraged to log in early to prevent any mishaps from occurring. In order to join the tournament, you must register under “Pubxchess” on chess.com (search under the ‘clubs’ tab) to participate. Tournaments will be set at rated 3+2, 10 rounds swiss with no minimum rating, no minimum number of participant requirement. Online link will be published on Facebook for easier access. These are the rewards for doing well in our Weekly Tournaments:
- Selection to represent PubXChess in our Weekly Online Club Battle (see below)
- Individuals with the greatest number of tournaments won (first place) will be eligible for our OTB Invitationals. There will be only be 3 spots reserved for PubXChess members. Tabulation of victories start from week 1 and will resume count from this Sunday onwards.
- Greatest number of games won, and other accolades will be announced every season (quarter) Seasonal rankings will always be on display on home ground at Thunderbird Bistro.
- Online participants must disclose their identity to qualify for above.
Online Club Battle
This is still in the beta stages – We are intending to conduct weekly club battles around the world. This will be in the format of 10 v 10, whereby both camps send their strongest 10, and each individual will play 2 matches against his allocated opponent (ratings paired as closely as possible). The cumulative result of each match will determine the club score.
Online club battles will be hosted on Saturdays instead of Sundays, and timings may vary depending on the time difference of our opponents.
It is our hope that Club Battles will continue even after post Covid to both gain further international exposure and broaden our network in overseas communities.
The first Online Club Battle will be held this Saturday at 8PM, Singapore time. We will be up against a chess group from Istanbul. Lineup from both camps with details will be announced shortly.
Cheating
Cheating online is highly prevalent. However, we have utmost faith in chess.com’s algorithm to detect cheaters. Should any accounts be banned, that individual will no longer be allowed to join future events conducted by PubXChess, be it online or OTB.
Club Battles are thoroughly peer reviewed with engine algorithms and statistics. High correlation with engine use for suspected cheaters will have their games and names submitted to FIDE and may face a ban from any subsequent chess tournaments.
Invitationals
The Invitationals have returned. This is an OTB event that sees the fastest, strongest blitz monsters go all out in a round robin brawl to see who wields the lightning! Some changes and patch notes to the Invitationals:
- The Invitationals will now be an annual event instead of quarterly. The event will be held in November with exact dates to be released later.
- There will only be 10 invitees. 3 will be selected PubXChess members who have fought hard for their spots, the other 3 are past Invitationals top 3 winners, and the final 4 will be rotational invited masters.
With that, we hope more individuals are encouraged to play chess online. And when things return to normal, we can go back to pushing physical pawns.
In the meantime, stay safe and try not to mouse slip.
Regards,
The Organizer
