European League 2022 Problem Fixing

Have a look who of them currently is actually active about opening matches,

Write to them in a way that makes it most likely that they can easily react and work together about opening the match with you.

I provide a lot of help in the World League about opening matches. In the European League, the admins really very usually are skilful enough so that they do not need my help about it.

I'm with Stephen here. If there is no penalty for failing to organize your matches within a certain time, what's to stop them from waiting until very late in the year and then arrange all the matches? Surely there must be some kind of deadline.

I think you are tempted to completely misunderstand the most common reason for not being able to organize the match.

Admins in the EL have been very much able to organize matches with each other, and to help each other become active again when they had been less active for a while for whatever reason.

If EL admins do not start to mistakenly assume strange new reasons about bad intentions for other to not be starting a match, then I see no reason why EL should not just as easily be able to do the same kind of successful work about getting matches organized as it would be possible if I started to help them, by doing just the same thing as they would do about communicating with each other.

The EL is designed to be very, very low maintenance for directors. This is possible because the experienced admins in the EL very usually are able to organize matches with each other even at times when everything does not run the smoothest possible way. There had been years in which the director did nothing whatsoever for many, many months, and the EL still kept going.

Some might be confused by the fact that I currently am able to do a lot of work about the WL. And they may not realize that it would be absolutely unrealistic for me to even try to start doing the same kind of amount of work for yet another league. Especially given the fact that the EL is designed to require very little director work, and the EL has very experienced admins who will be very much able to organize matches with each other if they do not start to assume strange things.

Since my previous challenge to Team PORTUGAL was completely ignored, I'll post my second and final challenge as proof it's been sent....

EL2022 R2: Team Wales vs Team PORTUGAL

https://www.chess.com/clubs/match_challenge/2451921

I am doing the same.

EL2022 R5: Team Norway vs Team Portugal, challenge sent:

https://www.chess.com/clubs/match_challenge/2454251

Sent a note to all Portugal's admins, urging them to accept the challenge asap.

One of their super admins (the group owner) has had their account closed. There should be a mechanic on Chess.com for removing such users from the group.

Do not worry about group owners.

Often the group owners founded the group a very long time ago, and are no longe related to current admin activity.

Some years ago, chess.com started to show the group owners again among the admins by default, that is just how it has been since then.

@dervich of Team PORTUGAL seems to be responsible for setting up matches for his(?) team so I've sent my second message to him as follows...

"Do you have some objection to your team (Team PORTUGAL) playing Team Wales in round 2 of the current EL season?

This is my second challenge and fourth message asking for a match to be opened. If you'd prefer to issue your own challenge that's fine but I've made every effort to get a match started and will be claiming a forfeit if your team fails to do so."

It's a little odd that he's helped to open matches in R3, R4, R6, R7 and R9 but stubbornly refuses to do so for the remainder?

These are not easy times for anyone; Some folks have life issues we know nothing about, and after all this is just a game. I'm sure it will work out eventually.

Perhaps but I'm not clear why that would stop someone acceting a challenge, or replying to the challenger? He's logging in regularly and playing day by day, so that suggests a certain level of calm and composure I think.

Question: when I click a challenge link and I get an error message saying that the challenge is no longer available... does that mean the challenge was rejected? Or is there a time limit for accepting?

If you did not receive message I doubt that it is cancelled, probably only expired

You should make sure that you accept challenges for league matches quickly.

If a challenge remains unaccepted for some time (something like a week, or 10 days), chess.com automatically cancels the challenge.

Tell that to Team Portugal. They're the ones who have failed to respond to my challenges and let them expire.

Here's the challenge sent one last time: https://www.chess.com/clubs/match_challenge/2465535

Uh... yeah, good luck with that.

Thanks for the work you do, ilmago, but I propose that Portugal forfeit these matches, as they have failed to respond to all challenges. This has been thoroughly documented by several group admins.

Can you please simply send them a fresh challenge now and post the challenge link?

This is now the time for trying to save the matches, and to still get them organized before the deadline.

Helping to run a number of smaller leagues, I can well understand some of the difficulties involved in organising them on the scale of the WL and EL but with respect, I think it's time to sit down with the other league admins and hammer out some form of rule or policy on how to deal with non-responsive teams?

This simply won't work - expecting us to send one challenge after another, only to be ignored, isn't reasonable.

Please note that the only active representative of Portugal (@dervich) has helped to open a number of matches already and is consistently online but refuses to accept the challenges from several teams or to cooperate with their admins.

It looks deliberate to me.

It would seem unreasonable to me to expect the challenger to have to send repeated attempts when they are seemingly being selectively ignored. At some point the TD must make a decision to get involved even in a low maintenance league such as EL.

On a connected issue of potentially forfeited matches where are the official results and tables now published? I believe that the Chess Teams site is showing the current results as unofficial.

Please do not underestimate the specific aim of the European Legaue towards the admins trying their best to organize the matches.

Many other leagues have a completely different focus.

Now is still the time to try to organize the matches.

I will be able to deal with matches when they have not been organized after the deadline, but we do have a much stronger habit of expecting admins to try their best in the EL, relying much much less on giving up hope and working with forfeits than in most other leagues.

On the reply to my first point, I would say that the admins of those sending challenges have done as much as could be expected but Team Portugal, for whatever reason, are unable or have refused to respond.

On my second point, re official results, I don't think I can see an answer. Any chance of some information?

We will find something about that when it is time for EL final results.

Maybe the site will simply revert to saying it is official.

Maybe their tables will be simply copied and used as official.

Maybe some final results will need to be made here or so.