Proposal for the 2nd Edition of Votechess Byzantine

Hello everyone, how are you doing? I hope you’re enjoying chess and the tournaments.

For the upcoming second edition of Votechess Byzantine, I’d like to share a proposal to improve the format compared to the first edition.

In the previous edition, each round included two games (one with White and one with Black), and players had 3 days to vote for each move. For the new edition, my idea is to simplify and make the tournament more dynamic: play only one game per round instead of two, and reduce the voting time from 3 days to just 1 day.

The color of the pieces (White or Black) for each round would be decided by lottery/draw, ensuring fairness and balance for all teams.

I’d also like to apply this same system already in the playoffs of the current edition (which is still ongoing), so that the final stage is faster and more exciting, and the second edition can start with this format already established.

I’d love to hear your thoughts: whether it’s new ideas to improve the tournament or simply confirming if you agree with this proposal. Once we’ve gathered everyone’s opinions, we can organize a vote to decide if we move forward with this format.

With the best moves ahead,
Pedro José Griñán Cano, SA TCMAC 

I completely agree with your proposals. Perhaps they'll attract new clubs, in addition to the confirmation of clubs that participated in the first edition.

I know many teams won't play at 1 day per move. It does not leave time for enough discussion especially for teams spread around several timezones.

So let's extend the time per move to two days instead of one as Pedro proposed, one for discussion and one for voting. Is 24 hours for discussion acceptable? Also, from what I see, some people vote on their own without even reading the team discussion.

2 Days per move would be acceptable for us, 1 Day is just too short with players in different time zones as already mentioned. We soon educate or get rid of members who are not aware, or choose to ignore, the team comments function.

I enjoy a game with each colour but I understand it can take a while but 2 days a move is acceptable for that I'd say , 1 game and 1 day per move would be fine but I think 2 days a move and 2 games is fine also but I gwt 1 game make the event faster I suppose

2 days, two games played. That's what I would like. We won't participate in one day per move vote chess matches... Not that there's anything wrong with them, but I don't like them personally. 😉

1 day per move does not allow serious discussions, many members (particularly of teams with players around the world) would not be able to really discuss their moves. 2 days is o.k. though. But then also 2 games should be possible. Usually, Leagues do 3d/2g, 2d/2g or 3d/1g. Iwould stick to that.

I agree it should be at least two days, one for discussion and one for voting.

Having one or two games per round matters to me, I would prefer 1 game per round as I have a small club but for larger clubs they probably would prefer two games per round, both options have pros and cons, if we did 1 game I would suggest having it be up to chess.com's random color algorithm. (Have color be set to random in the vote chess seek)

I would be fine with either one or two games per round, I just prefer 1 game per round.

(There are probably more pros and cons for both that I'm not coming up with at the moment.)

Two games:

Pros:

• More equal chances.
• Less likely to have an upset.

Cons:

• May have less members of a club participate in each game, especially if it's a smaller team.
• May cause a club to have too many current vote chess games (this probably would only effect smaller teams)

-

One Game:

Pros:

• Moves may be better quality than if a team had to focus on double the amount of games.
• May have more members of a club participate.

Cons:

• More likely to have an upset.
• May be less fair than two games. (having it be random color would reduce this)

Hello everyone,
after collecting some good feedback from everyone, if you all agree, we will organize the 2nd Edition with 1 game per round and 2 days per move.
Regarding color selection (white or black), it will be by draw, based on the pairings created for each round: the team on the left will play with white and the team on the right with black.

I am also collecting this feedback so we can already start with the registrations for Season 2 and gather all the results from Season 1 to begin the playoffs.
Please also remember that these rules will apply in the Season 1 playoffs, okay?

I have carefully read every comment and I truly appreciate all the feedback from everyone. Without you, this project wouldn’t exist. Thank you for giving it shape, and let’s enjoy the championships! Good luck to all.

This way, we'll have the edition that ends more or less when the Daily Chess rounds end, so we can start the playoffs right away. For the next edition, the 3rd, I'll create another forum and look at other options (960, 2 days per move, and 2 days per game, among other things, okay?)

I would still prefer the Playoffs for Season 1 to be 2 games per round/2 Days per move.

We've played that through the group stages & it won't take much longer to play 2 consecutive games as it would to play one. The teams who get to the playoffs have proved themselves to be strong over the 2 game format and as it reaches the final stages I don't see any benefit in changing the format. The results over 2 game should be a much fairer reflection than just one game where it could all go badly very quickly!

Just my personal opinion but hopefully others will agree

p.s. Not even sure if we will make the playoffs Is it just the top team or top 2 who make it through?

I've designed the format so that S1 can end sooner and not take too long. I think S2 will be more fun. Keeping the same S1 format for the playoffs could make everything end very late. I'm waiting for other people's comments to see what they think. Regarding the playoffs, which I'll post tomorrow afternoon, I'll publish the results, and the best team from Groups A and B and the two best teams from Group C will advance. According to the rules, it's like this. If I'm wrong, I'll let you know later, but I understand it's like this, to have four teams fighting in the playoffs. Cheers

Prefiero dos partidas, aunque para ganar rapidez, me adpto a una partida.

Un dia me parece demasiado justo, sin dudar reducir el tiempo no soy favorable. Si se puede jugar en un dia, ok, pero en ocasiones no se puede y un solo dia no da opciones.

Gracias por preguntar