Clubs, their admins and leagues on Chess.com: Open letter to Magnus Carlsen
Dear Magnus,
we're writing this message to you as Chess.com's ambassador: We're convinced, that you know quite well, what's needed to manage chess clubs and their participation in competitions. Unfortunately Chess.com shows some long lasting difficulties to understand these needs of clubs, their admins and leagues.
One of your five clubs on Chess.com are The Great Viking Warriors: They are a well known and a very strong virtual chess club, which participates e.g. in the TEAM MATCH CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE (TMCL) and the ONE WORLD League (1WL) on Chess.com. For years this club has been managed by GM Thorsten Michael Haub (@DJ_Haubi).
A few weeks ago, Thorsten has been muted by Chess.com for "club spamming" after having sent – as usual – several messages to club members to prepare an important match for one of his clubs. This muting for fourteen days was one of many, which prevents admins from doing their job. During the last few months Chess.com is more and more rigorously chasing members, who are sending out a few more messages than others.
Many club admins have already reduced or completely stopped their activities recently: Thorsten did the same after receiving an automated message from Chess.com accusing him showing a "behavior, that negatively impacts the community". From his point of view, it looked to be pointless continuing his activities in an environment, which looks to be detrimental for clubs, their admins and leagues.
His case is only the most prominent one and muting more and more admins is only one of several structural problems that clubs, their admins and leagues are facing on Chess.com. For those, who are interested, there are several others described in this blog post: https://www.chess.com/blog/Tournamentix/structural-problems-for-clubs-on-chess-com
For a long time many of us club admins have tried to be heard and understood by Chess.com – without success. For clubs, their admins and leagues, nothing became better during the last few years. Quite sure, that you can help us, if you like to do so: With your support, there should be a way towards improvements and a better environment for our activities on Chess.com.
Best regards,
Signatories in the name of competitions:
@Chambro1970 (County Championship Council UK & Ireland), @ImperfectAge (US Team Chess League), @Libra_64 (TCMAC), @tournamentix (ONE WORLD League and European InterRegio Championship)
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Signatories in the name of clubs:
@ahsanbd (Glory of Red Green), @al2fresco (The Great British Empire.), @Andrea (Oracles, Asger’s Children Of The Revolution), @AndrewSmith (Team Match Chess, Chess Bombers, Chess House Cafe, Adults allowed, Glamorgan), @AugustoMacri (Argentina Chess Club), @blackfirestorm („too many clubs to name“), @Chambro1970 (Hertfordshire County Chess, Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire BDG, Bedfordshire-Northamptonshire, Edinburgh-Lothian, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Munster, Oxford Ospreys, Team Connacht, Team Leinster, Team Wiltshire), @Chess_Star88 (3 CHECK FUN), @Commando-Poppins (Squadron Commandos, Total 960), @Dollbraegen (Warriors of the Rainbow), @DragonWest (Devon Chess Club), @Garbeyes (Catholic Chess Club, Team Asturias), @Giampero111 (Team Italia DOC), @gibsori (Warwickshire County Chess), @GordonRichardson (Eagles Nest), @GrandURAL (⇚✯УРАЛ✯URAL✯⇛) @ikeepminehidden (NO PASARAN, Battle For Victory, Chexx Pistols), @ImperfectAge (The Golden Phoenix, Powder Monkeys, Team Oregon, Munster), @JIDEMONI (Royal Wallachian Chess Club, TJ Valašská Bystřice - šachy) @JRC_96 (The Globetrotters, TEAM IRAN+ and others), @kcbarnes (Big Game Hunters), @knetfan (Adriana Nikolova FANCLUB, Anna Muzychuk Fan Club, FanatikClub, Friends of Femme Fatales, Magnus Carlsen’s fan club, Young Beauties), @Libra_64 (1 day per move club), @lvali40 (BEAUTIFUL ROMANIA), @martinhind3 (Inverness Chess Club, Team Scotland and others), @MindlessDirt (Friends Uniting Against Mental Illness Chess Club), @N8Sun (Dhaka Warriors), @Nachogm57 (Team México), @Naitikkadam (Asia National Team, The Royal Falcon Club, Vedic Warriors), @Obifunk-Kenobi (Exercitatio Artem Parat, Ab Imo Pectore), @phantomisback (Eternals-Superheroes, Asian Chess Masters, Europe National Team), @Pomb113 (Los amigos de Chanquete), @Rodic68 (SK LESTANE, Free World League and others), @tjanus71 (Mateisci i Drwale), @tournamentix (Art Of Chess, Earthlings United, European Chess Players, Peace for Ukraine, Union der Regionalvereine, Cevennes Chess Club, Adlerauge Brandenburg, Berliner Schachbären, Bremer Schachartisten, Die Baden-Württemberger, Die Rheinländer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rochade Südbayern, Rot-Weiß Hessen, Sachsen-Anhalt Team, Schachfreunde Franken, Schachfreunde Hamburg, Schachfreunde Sachsen, Springer Niedersachsen, Springer Westfalen-Lippe, Union Rheinland-Pfalz-Saar, Team Thorsten Michael Haub and others), @Tricky_Dicky (Yorkshire Terriers), @uglyork (ANTI NAZI LEAGUE, PURPLE HAZE), @weeding45 (Little Big Pawn, NAMASTÉ, Earth Air Fire Water, Team Utopia), @yahary (Peak Performers, Alpha Female Sorority)
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[Addendum] New supporters:
5 competitions and 133+ clubs now
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@CenturioneRomanoXXX (TCMAC), @herdwars (The Netherlands, Iron Maiden, Elite Chess Team, Premium Members, Knights of Honor), @Honor_Leslie (The Green Team, Chess Tourists, Team anime and manga), @M-DinhHoangViet (Thí Vua Lấy Tốt - TungJohn Playing Chess), @Rapszodia (Zwei Konzertetüden, 2SetViolin), @racine6 (LEGIO I ITALICA, Team Sicilia, Team Italia), @Rodic68 (SLOVENSKO BRATSTVO, CIGORIN MIHAIL, Balkan Team, BUGHOUSE CLUB, Serbia-Russia Team, Team Beograd, ISK Craven Zvezda, Svetozar Gligoric Chess Club, Chess Club Cukarica Bgd., Poisoned Pawn, Karpov Fans, BLITZ WORLD LEAGUE, Israel - Russia - SA, Sahovska sekcija TQM Centar), @Ukranian_boy (Team Ternopil, Chess Team Zaporizhzhia)
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Feel free to support our initiative with your statement here.
By supporting us you accept to be mentioned and quoted.
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There is also a public forum, which you can use to discuss the situation: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/clubs-and-teams/clubs-their-admins-and-leagues-on-chess-com-open-letter-to-magnus-carlsen-89109185
