Going Competitive With Team Matches!
Hello, everyone!
It's been a while since my Chess.com activity has flourished, but I come back bringing ideas of competition and glory to you all. When we (myself, Donna (RookedonChess), David (Pruess), & Danny (Rensch)) started this group almost five years ago, one of the first things we determined was that this would be a non-competitive group outside the group itself through Team Matches or Vote Chess. As many of you know, we held internal tournaments for prizes, with great success.
Over the past few months, with Danny's OK, I've been working on something that will change all that. We will now launch this group into competition with other groups by instituting Team Matches. Now, these matches will be just for fun, but they will be rated, and you will be playing, not only for yourself, but for this great group. Does that sound good? Of course it does! :D
Once things get moving and these matches catch on, we may be handing out prizes for things like Best Game Played, Biggest Upset, and as Danny suggested, having winners announced and congratulated on Chess.com/TV Shows! Does THAT sound good too?! Of COURSE it does! :D
Here are the settings for each match:
1. 8 players/team max (minimum of 4)
2. 2 days/move
3. 2 concurrent games
4. Rated
5. NO VACATION TIME! - we don't want any games slowed down to a crawl because of this. (Exceptions will be made for emergency.)
6. Matches AUTO-START
7. Minimum 20 online (correspondence) games played
8. Here are the ratings that will be used.
a. <1200
b. 1201-1400
c. 1401-1600
d. 1601-1800
e. 1801-2000
f. >2000
*Rating categories may be eliminated if the “minimum game” requirement is not met.
Seeing as this group—which we hold very dear—is sanctioned officially by Chess.com, it goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: all interaction as representatives of this group falls under the group’s and site’s decorum. Play your best, making yourself and this group proud with good sportsmanship and respect throughout. With that said, we hope you join in the fun!
So, are you ready for some competitive fun? Let us know! There is a “2015 Team Matches” forum for members to post questions, comments and suggestions.
Thanks everyone and looking forward to it! 
And to join the Official Chess.com/TV Group and be part of this and more, click this link.
-Mark and Donna (RookedOnChess)
