FYI, the White Team can now see what moves you all vote for as soon as you vote for them. You can also see their votes. Announcement: "Vote for Your Move (Responses)" spreadsheets are now public..
Hey Black Team,
Is there anything I can do to improve the voting system?
I tried making it as clear as possible, but haven't gotten any feedback: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/official-thread-to-follow-the-spell-chess-team-game?page=2#comment-115582168
@MaldiniGoatDefender I noticed you voted for a different move after the deadline again so would like to get your thoughts specifically. Maybe if you were just unavailable previously it could be helpful to increase the time per move to 48 hours instead of 24? Or do something else like require 3 votes from a team minimum before the team vote is official?
As you can see, my move votes for move 6 were just 3 minutes apart. I forgot to consult the team before my vote and quickly realized after. So my apologies, it caused confusion. But I think requiring 3 votes minimum is a pretty good way to ascertain cohesion in a team and perhaps also increase engagement. Tysm LTF
Thanks. I'm thinking requiring 3 votes may be too stringent, but I might start waiting a bit longer than 24 hours before posting a move in this official thread to make sure that the votes are all in.
9. Bxc4 was played >24 hours ago and the Black Team doesn't have any votes yet. I know the time of the day of the votes has shifted, but hopefully you all can get your vote in within the next 5-10 hours? Looking forward to seeing what you play.
Only one vote in 30+ hours. Where are you at Black Team?
FYI I removed the recently-added minimum vote requirement. From now a single vote will suffice. Nobody on the black team has voted for a 10th move within the 24 hours, so the first move submitted will be made official.
@daanb100, it appears that you're the only active player left on your team. Are you happy to continue with just you or would you like some help recruiting others to join your team? We can also just end the game if nobody is interested anymore.
Announcement in the main group: End the game or continue?
There are still a few people who help discuss moves but they often don't vote. And yesterday I forgot to vote as well. I wanna keep going though
There are still a few people who help discuss moves but they often don't vote. And yesterday I forgot to vote as well. I wanna keep going though
Sounds good.
Regarding your team's 14th move, both you and @Fleex255 were late, so should I go with the move you voted for since you voted first or the move @Fleex255 voted for since they are higher rated?
(Normally higher-rated takes precedent, but when the team misses the 24-hour deadline, the heuristic would normally be "as soon as someone votes it'll be official" however I didn't check to see if someone voted until after both of you did.)
I'm inclined to wait a few hours for one of you to decide or for a third person on your team to vote.
@DaanB100, at first glance it seems that 14... Nd5 allows 15. freeze@f7&Bg5+ freeze@f4&h6 16. Bxd5+ hxg5 17. Bxa8 and I think we stay down the exchange? Is there another line I missed?
In two hours, at 8pm CST I'm going to make Black's vote 14...Nd5 unless before then one of you two comments that it shall be otherwise or unless a different move gets two or more votes.
I made the official move 14...Nd5.
(While I don't look at your Discussion thread, I do look at this one.)
Continuing with your line, white can win a second pawn, which I would hope would be enough for white to win, but maybe not given the ability to freeze at the end.
19. freeze@e7 Bxc6 freeze@d5 Rf820. Rg7 dxc621. Rxh7
The reason I rejected 15. freeze@f7 Bg5+ for white was that Black doesn't have to rush to play Bxh1 and can instead play: 15. freeze@f7 Bg5+ freeze@g5 Nxc3 leading to something like this, which looked even, or something like this, in which black is up a pawn.
In any case, we didn't go down this line.
If you need help, please contact our Help and Support team.
1. [Black] Team Spell Chess - Vote for Your Move - Use this Google Form to vote for your team's moves throughout the game.
2. You may see what moves your teammates voted for by consulting this spreadsheet: [Black] Team Spell Chess - Vote for Your Move (Responses).
Note that only I, LongTermFuture (the game host), and players on the White Team have access to the voting form and the responses spreadsheet.
As the game host, my plan is to check the form to see what moves the team voted for and then declare the official move for the team in the main game thread: Official Thread to follow the Spell Chess Team Game.
Question: What determines which move is the official move? What happens if different players on the same team vote for different moves on the same turn?
Answer: The move I select as the team's official move will be the move that the highest-rated blitz spell chess player who voted for a move on that turn voted for. (Keep in mind the 24-hour deadline to vote for your move after the opposing team's last move is posted in the official game thread.)
Question: If I don't have a high spell chess rating, should I still vote for moves using the Google Form?
Answer: Yes, it is highly encouraged to vote for a move on every turn you'd like to. Why?
First, keep in mind that the highest-rated players on your team may not be available every day to vote, so your vote may end up counting if no higher-rated player comes in to vote for a different move before the 24-hour turn deadline.
Second, voting for your preferred move each turn is a way to create a record of your opinion throughout the game. At the end of the game, I will likely create a visualization of all the votes cast throughout the game and it will be interesting to see how much agreement or disagreement there was about each move throughout the course of the game. (At the very least, we will have the spreadsheet as a concise record of what each member of each team thought.)
It is my hope that voter participation will be high for both teams. I also hope that voting participation will rise rather than fall throughout the game, so feel free to invite your friends to join your team (just invite them to your team club), even after the game has already begun!