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Who wants to play in the new 2015 season? Games begin in February. Finals in October. Team (Admins): The Dark Knights (Billium248, RayD)Animal Lovers (Billium248, Blackfirestorm666)Chess Nuts! (chess_kebabs, Coopah, DaveShack)Ultimate Vote Chess Group (Commander_Riker, ricky1969) Please post in this thread if you would like to play in the 2015 season.

SVCL Official Rules (Updated for Season 5 (2015)): The SVCL (formerly the FSVL) will have ?? teams this season (still to be determined).(Registration is still open, so the number of teams may still go up slightly) Each team will have 6 games scheduled in the Regular Season (up from 5 last season). Each season will now run from February thru October. Games will now be scheduled once per month rather than the previous format of once per fortnight. At some point during each month, each team will complete one game of Vote Chess against the team on their schedule for that month. It is the responsibility of the Team Administrators to coordinate start times with their opposing teams each month. The SVCL HQ takes no responsibility for games that do not get played. All games will be played on a Saturday starting at 13:00 Universal Time UNLESS both teams agree on an alternate day and/or time. If the 2 teams cannot agree on a date, the default date will be the last Saturday in the calendar month (Mar 28, Apr 25, etc.) All games must be played during the month they are scheduled. No early (or late) games will count. Exception (new this season): due to various personal schedules and holidays, each "month" will include the week just before and after the actual calendar month giving each team 6-7 weekends in which to schedule their game. Example: Month 1 (February) will go from Jan 25 to Mar 7. Month 2 (March) will go from Feb 22 to Apr 7. etc. Once the start time has been agreed upon, a team will forfeit the match if they do not accept the challenge within 1 hour of the scheduled start time. Every Vote Chess game will be played at 10-minutes per turn. Every Vote Chess game will be played with random color settings. In case of a Draw during the Playoffs, the teams will play again with reversed colors. If tied again, 3rd game is random colors, then reversed, etc. The first 6 months (February - July) will be the “Regular Season” with the next 3 months being the “Post Season” or “Playoffs.” Teams will be ranked according to this point system:Win (by checkmate/resignation or in 16 moves or more) = 3 points Win (by timeout/forfeit (in less than 16 moves)) = 2 points Draw = 1 point Loss = 0 points Ties are broken via Head to Head results first, the Chess.com Tournament Tie-Breaker system second (Opponent's Strength), fewest number of forfeits third, fewest number of timeouts fourth, and then the “First Blood” system last (if two teams have the same number of points, the team that scored their points first is ranked higher). Only games that timeout in less than 16 moves will be counted as a timeout for both points and tie-breaking purposes. There will be no more conferences or wild cards. The Top 8 teams at the end of the Regular Season will advance to the playoffs. Month 7 (August) will be the Quarter Finals with only the Top 8 teams competing.The #1 team will play the #8 team The #2 team will play the #7 team The #3 team will play the #6 team The #4 team will play the #5 team Month 8 (September) will be the Semi-Finals between the four Quarter-Final winners.The #1 team will play the #4 team The #2 team will play the #3 team Month 9 (October) will be the Finals between the winners of each Semi-Final game. The winner of this game will be the Champion for that Season. Good Luck Everyone!!! Have Fun and Don't Time Out!!!

STEP 1 You CHECK THIS FORUM to see what team you are playing. It contains ALL the information you need (team name AND contact for who to speak to). STEP 2 You CHECK with your team to find out dates that people are available. Maybe suggest a couple of dates (usually a Saturday but can be any day if both teams agree) and a time to start the game. Ideally this will be done with at least 1-2 weeks notice. STEP 3 You CONTACT the admin in the opposing team suggesting the AGREED dates and time from your team members to see which is most suitable for them.If a date and time cannot be agreed upon then you contact the admins in the SVC League Group so that the default time and date can be set. STEP 4 Once a date and time is agreed on you NEED TO INFORM your teams members so that they can plan to be there. STEP 5 You issue the challenge approx 30-45 minutes BEFORE the agreed start time so that the challenge can be accepted and started ready for the agreed start time. ANY QUESTIONS???

So the formal process is that I need to ask you guys to support me taking back over as owner so that I can reconstitute this league. So here I am asking for you guys to support me restarting this league back up.

The Alan Tudor run groups which won and was highly influential in last few years had a large number of eventually banned players partcipating, including himself. His main group, BurningPawns, especially were able to win large number of games by being orgainised to have a Houdini user in every time zone. They were able to beat teams with only a few Houdini users by playing dull, sound chess, and eventually picking off the opponent when reached a time zone were moves were being played by human. (Alternatively in one game reviewed, the one opponent using Houdini fell asleep after many moves). The strongest human player regularly participating is now IM Kacparow. He is a young player who you would think would be ideal player for making fast decisions in this format. In fact though the team he participated with almost always lost against teams like Burning pawns. So afraid the idea that cheating doesn't occur in these "fast" games is ridiculus. The fact is the tactical accuracy of the teams with best results was very high. It is even less plausible, compared to regular vote chess, that this would be acheived by club player strength players honestly when under stress to make decisions in 9 minutes.

This was a huge debate once before, but since we are starting a new season, before we actually get started, I wanted to get everyone's input on what (if anything) we should do about chat rooms. If I remember correctly the last thing we said was that a ban on chat rooms would be hard to justify and even harder to enforce. Is that still the general consensus? There are clearly a number of players who would still like to see chat rooms banned completely. I totally understand how a few bad apples have abused the priveledge (and had their accounts closed as a result of it), but should that prohibit the honest teams from using a tool which is clearly beneficial? If chat rooms are used, should the comments be re-posted in the game comments? Even if you are only using the game notes, you can still go back and edit posts. So if you are a dishonest player looking for a way to cheat, there's no way we can completely stop you from covering your tracks, but I'd like to believe that those players are in the minority and that most of us want to have some good clean honest fun. Before the new season gets underway, I'd really like to hear everyone's opinion on how we should proceed so that we are all on the same page.

Even tho we keep taking these long extended breaks (mostly cuz I no longer have the extended hours that I used to dedicate to it), there still seems to be a lot of interest in this league. I think a set annual schedule will help in making sure things don't break down again in the future. This is one of the topics being discussed in the Season 5 thread. Please check it out and voice your opinion on the various topics so that we can have a system that everybody can live with. This thread will be for registering teams in the new Season. Any team wishing to compete in the upcoming Season 5 needs to post in this thread. Please do not send me personal messages to register. We need everyone's signature in one place. Every group must designate one person who is primarily responsible for starting the games, and 2 other admins who agree to keep the games alive. All 3 must be a member of this group in order to qualify. Also, due to the high volume of dropouts/timeouts/no shows that we've had in the past, in order to play in the SVC League, your team must have played a mimimum of 5 games at 10-mins per move that all lasted a mimimum of 16 moves each, without timing out. Games lasting 15 moves or less will not count. This is what I would like to see (including the links (if possible)): Group: The Dark KnightsPrimary Admin: Billium248Secondary Admins: Ray_D, vijaykulkarniGroup: Animal LoversPrimary Admin: Billium248Secondary Admins: blackfirestorm666, wpostma, Kacparov Potential Teams: 1487 - Team India - IN1451 - Super Troopers - IN1435 - Team Philippines United - OUT1420 - Chess Nuts - OUT1415 - Sacred Pawn Legion - IN1410 - Fast Players Group - OUT1376 - Glorious Chess - OUT1376 - Red Army - IN1360 - Animal Lovers - IN1347 - Burning Pawns - OUT1324 - Turk Chess Players - OUT1316 - The Optimum - IN1274 - The Dark Knights - IN1248 - The c4 Club1236 - International 10 Minute Vote Chess Group - IN1216 - Icelandic Group - maybe1210 - Chess Unlimited - IN1210 - The Power of Chess - OUT1205 - Wallyjack's Premium Members Group - IN1184 - Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz - IN1179 - Team Antarctica1172 - The Scotch Fans Team1160 - Chess Empire - OUT1155 - Quick Moves - maybe1153 - We Chat Global1073 - Light Force1055 - Chess Society - asking their members1052 - The Emperors of Chess - OUT1050 - Checkmate!0000 - Ultimate Vote Chess Group - IN .

First i like to say welcome to any new teams reading this subject! Good luck! To enter the league all a team needs to do is play a SVC game at 10 minutes a move(Standard, no Chess 960 or Thematic or etc). The game must go beyond 5+ hrs. Here is the issue to many teams have qualified and later left after playing 1-2 games for several reasons. We have had several top teams leave as of lately. So now it turns to focus on the new teams entering the league. On my experience the average game between 2 good teams is 12+ hrs easy. During that period teams have to have develped good communication skills playing with each other. Not having this may result in some serious frustration. This same communication is needed when picking a day to start and a starting time. Preperation is required but not needed to win. but doubt that a team may go far without it. The SA or Admin can simply qualify his team by them alone playing for 5+hrs. For just one game. To easy! That is not SVC is about trust me. The me, myself and I method is will result in that group leaves the league or T.O. or forfeits. With that said.... Improving the method to qualify may be the way to go to keep the new teams that enter and qualify. As it takes a player a while to make adjustments to playing a SVC game while some adjust faster than others. The fun starts when players/teams have a clear view of what it takes to play a SVC game! Then comes............... "The Labor of Love". The 2 sides are on a level playing field with the fundamentals of SVC. Where the team that is most like to win can win or the underdog can take out the so called might team. Let the better team at the time win! Not at the 11th hour with the game tied up and the SA or Admin having his members leave due not having realized that his players have to leave at a certain time. That is where they have to have experiece in preparation and communication. How will they adjust? Invite new members. This happens to all teams! Experience with your players is the only way to prepare as many players may say they will be in the game for a while ....things happen! They have to leave. Maybe they are truthful(most likely)! What is your next move?

I'd like to propose a modification for next season's tiebreaker system. Add another column, number of times opponent forfeited or timed out. Score timeouts in lost positions as normal, for the purpose of this tiebreaker. (*) Yes, I know that lost positions are not very well defined. This issue deferred till after we see if the proposal makes sense. Put this tiebreaker after "head to head" in the order, before "first blood". Teams with fewer timeout/forfeit wins seeded higher. Motivation: wins by timeout/forfeit are less indicative of a team's "strength" than decisive wins.

Would anyone know where a link is to a page showing the winners of the first four seasons? Or does anyone know off hand who the four winners were? Thanks!

Ok, since I inadvertently dragged Season 4 out for about 2 years, did we want to jump right into Season 5 when these playoffs are over? My guess is that everyone's had enuf time off to last a while. So if the Finals for Season 4 is scheduled for August, did we want to start Season 5 in September or October?

Hi, I am new here, so I apologize if I am asking a question that has been discussed elsewhere (it likely has been) or is common knowledge. What happens when a draw occurs in the playoffs or the Final? Thank you.

Hi everyone. Happy Memorial Day!! Sorry my life sucks so much right now, and that has spilled over onto all of you. All of the admins have been promoted to Super to help buffer the impact of how much I suck. We also have a new member on the admin team!! Congrats to Coopah who took the time to do all the math I was dreading and calculated the current standings / Playoff Pairings!!! So here is the schedule for the month of June: #1 Chess Unlimited (SVC) vs #8 Animal Lovers #2 The Dark Knights vs #7 Wallyjack's Premium Members Group #3 Burning Nuts (SVC) vs #6 Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz #4 Super Troopers (SVC) vs #5 Sacred Pawn Legion Semi-Finals between the four winning teams will be in July: #1 Chess Unlimited vs #5 Sacred Pawn Legion #2 Dark Knights vs #3 Burning Nuts The Finals between the last two remaining teams will be in August. #1 vs #2 Sorry again. Have fun everybody!! Good Luck and Don't Time Out!!!

Season 4 Current Standings (as of 2/25): W=Wins, L=Losses, D=Draws, Pts=Points, TB=Tie Breaker Points, F=Forfeits, TO=Time Outs Rank Team W L D Pts TB F TO 1 Chess Unlimited (SVC) 4 0 0 12 19 0 0 2 Burning Nuts (SVC) 4 0 0 12 13 0 0 3 The Dark Knights 4 0 0 12 8 0 0 4 Super Troopers (SVC) 3 0 1 10 17 0 0 5 Animal Lovers 3 1 0 9 7 0 0 6 Wallyjack's Premium Members Group 3 1 0 9 0 0 0 7 Sacred Pawn Legion 2 0 2 8 9.5 0 0 8 Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz 2 1 1 7 2 0 0 9 Chess Society 2 2 0 6 0 0 1 10 Red Army 1 1 2 5 5 0 1 11 Icelandic Group 1 2 1 4 6.5 0 0 12 Chess Empire 1 2 1 4 3.5 0 1 13 Chess Team Holland 1 2 1 4 2.5 0 1 14 Fast Players Group 0 3 1 1 2.5 0 2 15 Light Force 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 16 Checkmate 0 4 0 0 0 2 1 17 Electronic Team 0 4 0 0 0 3 1 18 The Power of Chess (withdrawn) 0 5 0 -1 0 3 0 Season 4 Games: 01: Chess Empire vs Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz (draw - move 23)02: The Power of Chess vs The Dark Knights (Knockout - move 32)03: Red Army vs Chess Team Holland (Draw - move 31)04: Chess Unlimited vs Icelandic Group (Submission - move 28)05: Fast Players Group vs Animal Lovers (Timeout - move 26)06: Light Force vs Chess Society (Timeout - move 12)07: Burning Nuts vs Checkmate (Submission - move 32)08: Electronic Team vs Wallyjack's Premium Members Group (Forfeit)09: Super Troopers vs Sacred Pawn Legion (Draw - move 39)10: Checkmate vs Wallyjack's Premium Members Group (Timeout - move 4)11: Animal Lovers vs Chess Society (Submission - move 28)12: The Dark Knights vs Icelandic Group (Submission - move 18)13: Sacred Pawn Legion vs Fast Players Group (Draw - move 47)14: Chess Empire vs Electronic Team (Forfeit)15: Super Troopers vs Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz (Knockout - move 26)16: Chess Unlimited vs Red Army (Timeout - move 11)17: Burning Nuts vs Light Force (Timeout - move 1)18: Chess Team Holland vs The Power of Chess (Submission - move 40)19: Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz vs The Power of Chess (Forfeit)20: Animal Lovers vs Checkmate (Forfeit)21: Super Troopers vs Chess Society (Timeout - move 24)22: Fast Players Group vs Chess Unlimited (Submission - move 41)23: Chess Empire vs Burning Nuts (Timeout - move 2)24: Icelandic Group vs Red Army (Draw - move 27)25: The Dark Knights vs Chess Team Holland (Timeout - move 25)26: Light Force vs Wallyjack's Premium Members Group (Knockout - move 20)27: Sacred Pawn Legion vs Electronic Team (Timeout - move 14)28: Super Troopers vs The Power of Chess (Forfeit)29: Chess Society vs Checkmate (Forfeit)30: Wallyjack's Premium Members Group vs Burning Nuts (Submission - move 43)31: Icelandic Group vs Chess Team Holland (Submission - move 39)32: Light Force vs The Dark Knights (Submission - move 20)33: Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz vs Electronic Team (Forfeit)34: Fast Players Group vs Red Army (Timeout - move 16)35: Animal Lovers vs Chess Unlimited (Submission - move 29)36: Sacred Pawn Legion vs Chess Empire (Knockout - move 52)37: Icelandic Group vs The Power of Chess (Forfeit)38: bn vs et39: wp vs ce40: ww vs cm41: st vs al42: fp vs cs43: lf vs sp44: ra vs dk45: cu vs ch46: qf47: qf48: qf49: qf50: sf51: sf52: f .

Post the agreed upon start times and game links for March games in this thread. March Power of Chess vs Icelandic Group - ForfeitBurning Nuts vs Electronic TeamWallyjack's Premium Members Group vs Chess EmpireWallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz vs CheckMateSuper Troopers vs Animal LoversFast Players Group vs Chess SocietyLight Force vs Sacred Pawn LegionRed Army vs The Dark KnightsChess Unlimited vs Chess Team Holland

Please post all arranged games in here: February BN vs WPET vs WWCE vs SPST vs PCAL vs CUCS vs CMRA vs FPDK vs LFIG vs CH Contact details are as follows: (AL) Animal Lovers (1442)Billium248 (-5), blackfirestorm666 (+0), wpostma (+13) (BN) Burning Nuts (SVC) (1668)Alan_Tudor (-5), Chess_Kebabs (+10.5), King_Chapo (-8) (CM) Checkmate! (1141)OpeningGambit (+0), Sonia_Xue (+8), hypertroll (+0) (CE) Chess Empire (1253)Kacparov (+1), pbpostma (+13), royalbishop (???) (CS) Chess Society (1245)badonders (+1), johanpalmer (+1) (CH) Chess Team Holland (unrated)oldbones (+0), Hynder (+1), Klimto (+1) (CU) Chess Unlimited (SVC) (1176)Alan_Tudor (-5), King_Chapo (-8), jaller435718 (-6) (ET) Electronic Team (1455)matthew455 (-5), monroe721 (-5), fundandniceisme (-7) (FP) Fast Players Group (1272)Mithras (+0), monroe721 (-5), GeniusKJ (-8) (IG) Icelandic Group (1198)Jokko (+0), Tapirus (+1) (LF) Light Force (1177)Zhane (-6), mk_master_365 (-8), Kacparov (+1) (RA) Red Army (1487)EternalHope (-5), VuduChile (-4), Manchero (+9) (SP) Sacred Pawn Legion (unrated)Pawell (+4), mab23 (-8), Jimvger20 (-6) (ST) Super Troopers (SVC) (1505)blackfirestorm666 (+0), Mikhail007 (+13), Tricky_Dicky (+0) (DK) The Dark Knights (1338)Billium248 (-5), Ray_D (-5) (PC) The Power of Chess (1266)CaptainJimTKirk (+2), GeniusKJ (-8), malvinstardust (+0) (WP) Wallyjack's Premium Members Group (1283)baz-30 (+0), wallyjack (+10.5) (WW) Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz (1183)baz-30 (+0), wallyjack (+10.5)

Please post all agreed upon start times and game links for January's games in this thread. Thank you. BN vs CEET vs SPWP vs LFST vs CSAL vs CMFP vs CURA vs IGDK vs CHPC vs WW

Please post in this thread when a game time has been set and agreed upon. Thank you. December BN vs LF - 18.12.11 @ 1500GMTET vs CEWP vs CM - 10.12.11 @ 1100GMTST vs WW - 17.12.11 @ 1100GMT AL vs CS - 10.12.11 @ 1300GMT FP vs SPRA vs CUDK vs IGPC vs CH

Please post in this thread when a game time has been set and agreed upon. Thank you. November 11/05 10:00 Chess Empire vs Wallyjack's Wizards of Oz (Draw - move 23)11/12 13:00 Power of Chess vs Dark Knights (Knockout - move 32)11/12 14:00 Red Army vs Chess Team Holland (Draw - move 31)11/12 15:00 Chess Unlimited vs Icelandic Group (Submission - move 28)11/19 13:00 Fast Players Group vs Animal Lovers (Timeout - move 26)11/19 14:00 Light Force vs Chess Society (Timeout - move 12)11/19 15:00 Burning Nuts vs CheckMate (Submission - move 32)11/26 13:00 Electronic Team vs Wallyjack's Premium Members (Forfeit)11/26 14:00 Super Troopers vs Sacred Pawn Legion (Draw - move 39) Non League games: 11/23 King Executors vs Team Best Star/Soviet Sovietics (timeout - move 1)11/29 The Old School vs We Are Admins (timeout - move 1) .

Hello everybody, I promise that Season 4 will start in November. I am filling out my spread sheet right now, and will have the pairings posted by next week. All I need right now is a confirmation from those who are playing. Please post in this thread if you are in. This is all the information I need: Team Name, Primary and Secondary Admins in charge of STARTING the games (not just any admin - the one who will START the games) and their time zomes (do NOT use daylight savings time as it will change during the season - use standard times). The Dark KnightsPrimary: Billium248 (GMT-5)Secondary: Ray_D (GMT-5) Animal LoversPrimary: Billium248 (GMT-5)Secondary: Blackfirestorm666(GMT+0) Here are all the teams who are qualified to play, and their status: Animal Lovers - Yes (Confirmed) Black Shield Assassins - No Bosnia and Herzegovina - No Burning Pawns (Burning Nuts SVC) - Yes (Confirmed) Checkmate! - Yes (Confirmed) Chess & Cola Club - No Chess Club Finland - No Chess Destination - No Chess Empire - Yes (Confirmed) Chess Maniacs - No Chess Nuts! - No Chess Society (formerly Rapid Chess) - Yes (Confirmed) Chess Team Holland - Yes (Confirmed) Chess Unlimited (SVC)- Yes (Confirmed) Chess Worldwide - No Dragon Warrior! - No Electronic Team - Yes (Confirmed) Fast Players Group - Yes (Confirmed) Glorius Chess - No Icelandic Group - Yes (Confirmed) Kairav's Chess Masters - No Light Force - Yes (Confirmed) Lovers of Chess - No Narz's People - No Night Owls Insanity Club - No Red Army - Yes (Confirmed) Sacred Pawn Legion - Yes (Confirmed) SnowWhite - No Super Troopers (SVC) - Yes (Confirmed) Team Antarctica - No Team India - No Team Indonesia - No The Bad Bishops - No The Best - No The Blakenators - No The Brain Strainers of Chess.com - No The Dark Knights - Yes (Confirmed) The Greatest - No The Learning Group - No The Power of Chess - Yes (Confirmed) The Premiere of All - No The Scotch Fans Team - No The Winning Team - No Turk Chess Players - No Wallyjack's Premium Members Group - Yes (Confirmed) Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz - Yes (Confirmed) We Chat Global - No