Definitions are certainly a regional thing in many cases. For example, you know you're from Michigan if you bake with "soda" and drink "pop". My sister moved away for a while, and was always teased for calling her Pepsi a "pop", so she finally made the switch to calling it a "soda" and now that she's back in Michigan, we all tease her about calling it a "soda." 
List of Leagues at Chess.com
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Nov 19, 2009
0
#23
I wondered if neiljerzynek might be referring to Scheveningen tournaments, because that is apparently how Red Hot Pawn runs its Clans League. I don't know of any intergroup Scheveningen tournaments on chess.com.
I think most of the intergroup tournaments here are organized as all-play-all, with the winners of each division advancing if there is a second round. The only knockout I can think of is the Fortnight Speed Chess League. The 2009 World League, Vote Chess World Cup and the Chess.com TM League HQ all seem to be all-play-all, although there is talk of changing the World League to a Swiss for next year. The Vote Chess League Head Quarters organizes both all-play-all (the Masters series and World Masters) as well as Swisses.
right all :-) a cup has a start (either a knockout or mini league where top 1/2/3 progress to round 2) and the number of teams in each round goes down
a league never ends-everybody plays the same number of games and the top (normally 2) go up a division and bottom '2' go down a division and then you have a new 'season,' this way after the first few seasons strong teams always play strong teams and don't have to go through the motions of playing weak opponents like in a cup
Nov 20, 2009
0
#25
So by that definition, the Vote Chess League HQ's Open Swiss tournament is a League, but the Masters and World Masters tournaments are "cups" I guess. There was talk about switching the Masters to divisions sorted by strength, but we had far too many new teams apply to join for it to work, so we stuck with the two round structure. The World League is indeed a "league," by this definition, and will continue to be one even if we switch to a Swiss.
how can a league switch to a swiss-that is impossible, if it was a league-as soon as it becomes a swiss it is no longer a league
Nov 20, 2009
0
#27
The Greater Toronto Chess League organizes both team knockout championships and individual swisses. The Correspondence Chess League of America organizes individual knockouts and team round-robins. As was suggested above, your use of the word "league" is perhaps specific to the British chess scene.
The World League was probably conceived in imitation of FIDE's Chess Olympiads. They switched from a "league" format to a swiss format quite a few years ago now.
Here's another: The Vote Chess Championship (VCC)
http://www.chess.com/groups/view/vcc-council
although I don't know if it'l do another year, or if it was 1 year only.
Well, we are half way thru Season 2, and I'm just now finding the time to post all the final results from Season 1. Sorry about that!!
The Fortnight Speed Vote League Champions for Season 1 (The Freddy vs Jason Season) are:
Fast Players Group
Congratulations!!! I think it's pretty appropriate that FPG win the first Speed Vote Tournament since without their help, we probably wouldn't even have the option of 10-min vote chess to begin with!!
Way back in the day, there used to be 5, 10, and 15 min options in Vote Chess. They all disappeared (too many quick timeouts), and the fastest option we were left with was 30-minutes/turn. By this time tho, I had gotten a taste of how fun these Blitz Games could be. So I campaigned to get the Speed Vote Games brought back. I don't believe the 10-minute games would have been reinstated without the support of the Fast Players Group and all their members who took the time to post their comments.
My group (The Dark Knights) used to get together every Saturday to send out Speed Vote Open Seeks. Sometimes it would be several hours before another group would be willing to play. More often than not, it was the Fast Players Group who accepted. Most of the other groups would time out within the first dozen moves or so, but the Fast Players Group always played to the end.
This was the reason I formed The Fortnight Speed Vote League in the first place. I couldn't believe that The Dark Knights and the Fast Players Group were the only ones willing to play Speed Vote games all the way thru. I am very glad to see that so many other groups have now been bitten by the Speed Vote bug!! We had a lot of very exciting games in Season 1, and it's been a joy to watch so many of them!! It is very fitting that the Fast Players Group are the League's First Champions!!
The Fast Players Group went undefeated in Season 1 with a perfect 7-0 record, winning 3 games by submission, 2 games by timeout, and 2 games by forfeit. They averaged 30 moves (10 hours) per game (150 total moves). They averaged 5 votes per move (799 total votes). 56 moves had unanimous voting (37%). 33 moves were decided by 1 vote or less (22%).
There were only 4 moves with double-digit votes (13,12,12,10 - all in The Grand Finale Game). There was only 1 move in which only 1 vote was cast (also in The Grand Finale Game - mthinker saved the day). Every other move had between 2-9 votes. They were white in 4 of their 5 games. The only time they played black was in The Grand Finale Game vs Chess Nuts!!
Mthinker deserves extra recognition because he was in every single game from start to finish!! He commented on almost every single move, and I don't believe he missed a single vote!! That's some serious dedication!!
Now, let me introduce you to the players of the Season 1 Champion Fast Players Group:
cheekychops (C) - Creator and Super-Administrator, commented in games 2,3,5
mthinker (A) Administrator and Team Captain, the only player to comment in every single game (and on almost every single move)
shamback (B) - commented in games 2,3,5
jjengla (B) - commented in games 3,4,5
DracoAter (A) - commented in games 4,5
Mithras (B) - commented in games 1,4
grey_pieces (B) - commented in games 2,3
OLYMPIAKARAS (B) - commented in games 2,5
Chief523 (B) - commented in games 4,5
JDudar (B) - commented in games 4,5
kanoutis (C) - commented in games 3,5
xphileprof (C) - commented in games 4,5
phils_gambit (A) - commented in game 1
gimmewuchagot (B) - commented in game 1
bostonbaked (C) - commented in game 1
MICK952 (C) - commented in game 1
NOLAUPT (C) - commented in game 1
Il-Gran-Rifiuto (A) - commented in game 2
jmhet42 (A) - commented in game 2
yetkin_ozturk (A) - commented in game 2
HiggsBoson (B) - commented in game 2
sebastian11 (B) - commented in game 2
mwaltenburg (C) - commented in game 2
Petescorner (A) - commented in game 3
DW_Batty (B) - commented in game 4
P_U_N (B) - commented in game 4
howlzamimaru (B) - commented in game 5
langkisau (B) - commented in game 5
Lunien (B) - commented in game 5
rocketman8 (B) - commented in game 5
tomerg (B) - commented in game 5
yesmynameisjack (B) - commented in game 5
Ratings Guide: (A) = 2000+, (B) = 1500-2000, (C) = 1000-1500, (D) = 500-1000, (E) = 0-500
Here are the Final Standings from Season 1:
Teams in red are the leaders in their division (automatically seeded #1-4).
Teams in bold have gone the distance.
Teams in italics have timed out.
As of November 7:
#1: 21 points - Fast Players Group (7-0) (North) (Champion)
#2: 19 points - Chess Nuts(6-1-1) (West) (Finalist)
#3: 12 points - Kairav's Chess Masters (4-1) (South) (Semi-Finalist)
#4: 11 points - Animal Lovers (3-2-2) (East) (Semi-Finalist)
#5: 12 points - Team Antarctica (4-1) (South) (Quarter-Finalist)
#6: 10 points - The Blakenators (3-1-1) (East) (Quarter-Finalist)
#7: 9 points - The Power of Chess (3-2) (West) (Quarter-Finalist)
#8: 9 points - The Premiere of All (3-2) (North) (Quarter-Finalist)
#9: 6 points - Narz's People (2-2) (West)
#10: 6 points - The Dark Knights (2-2) (South)
#11: 6 points - Supreme Pawns (2-2) (North)
#12: 6 points - Chess & Cola Club (2-2) (East)
#13: 3 points - Chess Unlimited (1-3) (South)
#14: 3 points - Rapid Chess (1-3) (East)
#15: 3 points - Wizards of Oz (1-3) (West)
#16: 3 points - Chess Empire (1-3) (East)
#17: withdrawn - The Best (1-3) (North)
#18: withdrawn - Chess Team Holland (0-4) (West)
#19: withdrawn - Team Benelux "de Leeuwen" (0-4) (South)
#20: withdrawn - Chess Friends for Friends (0-4) (North)
Season 1 Games:
01: Team Antarctica vs Team Benelux "de Leeuwen" - Timeout (move 1)
02: Rapid Chess vs Chess & Cola Club - Submission (move 33)
03: The Power of Chess vs Wizards of Oz - Submission (move 37)
04: Chess Nuts vs Narz's People - Submission (move 37)
05: Chess Unlimited vs The Dark Knights - Knockout (move 32)
06: Chess Friends for Friends vs The Best - Timeout (move 1)
07: The Blakenators vs Chess Empire - Timeout (move 14)
08: Fast Players Group vs Supreme Pawns - Timeout (move 9)
09: Narz's People vs Wizards of Oz - Submission (move 18)
10: Chess Unlimited vs Team Antartica - Timeout (move 1)
11: Animal Lovers vs Chess Empire - Timeout (move 13)
12: The Power of Chess vs Chess Nuts - Knockout (move 48)
13: Chess Team Holland vs Narz's People - Timeout (move 17)
14: Team Benelux "de Leeuwen" vs Kairav's Chess Masters - Forfeit (move 0)
15: Team Benelux "de Leeuwen" vs Chess Unlimited - Forfeit (move 0)
16: Team Benelux "de Leeuwen" vs The Dark Knights - Forfeit (move 0)
17: Chess Friends for Friends vs Fast Players Group - Forfeit (move 0)
18: Chess Friends for Friends vs The Premiere of All - Forfeit (move 0)
19: Chess Friends for Friends vs Supreme Pawns - Forfeit (move 0)
20: Supreme Pawns vs The Premiere of All - Timeout (move 3)
21: Rapid Chess vs The Blakenators - Timeout (move 24)
22: Kairav's Chess Masters vs Chess Unlimited - Timeout (move 15)
23: Kairav's Chess Masters vs The Dark Knights - Timeout (move 39)
24: Wizards of Oz vs Chess Nuts - Submission (move 30)
25: The Dark Knights vs Team Antartica - Submission (move 19)
26: The Blakenators vs Chess & Cola Club - Submission (move 18)
27: Chess Team Holland vs The Power of Chess - Timeout (move 1)
28: Animal Lovers vs Rapid Chess - Timeout (move 1)
29: The Best vs Fast Players Group - Forfeit (move 0)
30: The Power of Chess vs Narz's People - Timeout (move 2)
31: The Best vs The Premiere of All - Forfeit (move 0)
32: The Best vs Supreme Pawns - Forfeit (move 0)
33: Chess Empire vs Rapid Chess - Knockout (move 30)
34: Team Antartica vs Kairav's Chess Masters - Submission (move 58)
35: Chess & Cola Club vs Animal Lovers - Submission (move 41)
36: Chess Team Holland vs Wizards of Oz - Forfeit (move 0)
37: Chess Team Holland vs Chess Nuts - Forfeit (move 0)
38: The Blakenators vs Animal Lovers - Draw (move 43)
39: Chess Empire vs Chess & Cola Club - Timeout (move 13)
40: Fast Players Group vs The Premiere of All - Submission (move 19)
41: Kairav's Chess Masters vs The Blakenators - Timeout (move 25)
42: Fast Players Group vs The Power of Chess - Submission (move 33)
43: Animal Lovers vs Team Antarctica - Submission (move 20)
44: Chess Nuts vs The Premier of All - Submission (move 26)
45: Animal Lovers vs Chess Nuts - Game One - Draw (move 81)
46: Chess Nuts vs Animal Lovers - Game Two - Submission (move 55)
47: Fast Players Group vs Kairav's Chess Masters - Timeout (move 43)
48: Chess Nuts vs Fast Players Group - Submission (move 46)
Final Stats for Season 1:
22 games were won by white (46%)
13 games were won by black (27%)
2 games were a draw (4%)
11 games were forfeit (23%)
17 games were won by timeout (35%)
15 games were won by submission (32%)
3 games were won by knockout (6%)
Average length of games: 20 moves (6-7 hours)
(946 total moves - 48 total games)
Average length of games that timed out (including forfeits): 8 moves (2-3 hours)
(222 total moves - 28 total games)
Average length of games that went the distance: 36 moves (12-13 hours)
(724 total moves - 20 total games)
Shortest game: 0 moves (10 mins) (3-way tie)
Longest game: 81 moves (27 hours 36 mins)
Overall Opening Statistics:
White Wins:
A49: Indian Game: Pseudo-King's Indian Variation
B01: Scandinavian Defense: Gubinsky-Melts Defense
B21: Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit
B33: Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian, Normal
B50: Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations
B81: Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Keres Attack
B90: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack
C00: French Defense: Normal Variation
C02: French Defense: Advance Variation, Nimzowitsch System
C62: Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense
E12: Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation
Black Wins:
A04: Zukertort Opening: Symmetrical Variation
B28: Sicilian Defense: O'Kelly Variation, Normal System, Taimanov Line
B32: Sicilian Defense: Kalashnikov Variation
B33: Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian, Normal
B50: Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations, Anti-Qxd4 Move Order
B90: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack
C57: Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack
Draws:
B05: Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Main Line
E42: Nimzo-Indian Defense: Huebner Variation, Rubinstein Variation
Timeouts:
A21: English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian
A45: Indian Game: Pawn Push Variation
B28: Sicilian Defense: O'Kelly Variation, Maroczy Bind, Paulsen Line
B56: Sicilian Defense: Classical Variation
B90: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack
C29: Vienna Game: Vienna Gambit, Breyer Variation
C55: Italian Game: Two Knights Defense
D10: Queen's Gambit: Slav Defense
E21: Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights Variation, Duchamp Variation
Mar 8, 2010
0
#30
The preliminaries of the first Vote Chess Masters tournament are over, and Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe, Indian Marauders and Team Canada will be playing off in the final. Congratulations to all three teams.
In the first Vote Chess Open Swiss tournament, after three rounds, Team Canada is leading on tiebreak, followed by Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe, Team Italia and Narz's People. In round 4, Team Canada is playing Team Italia, while Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe is taking on Narz's People.
In the first Vote Chess World Masters tournament, Team Romania, Team Canada, Team Bangladesh and Team Slovakia are leading their respective divisions.
For more information on these and our other vote chess tournaments, see the Vote Chess League Tournaments group.
The Fortnight Speed Vote League Champions for Season 2 (The Frankenstein vs Dracula Season) are:
Animal Lovers!! 
Congratulations!!! That's pretty good for a group that only entered Season 1 cuz we needed one more team to make 20. That's like the last kid to get picked for the team who ends up making the winning play. 
Animal Lovers finished the season with 6 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw. Their 1 loss came in the regular season against Chess Unlimited, and their 1 draw came in the playoffs against Red Army. This is appropriate because in the regular season, Chess Unlimited beat Animal Lovers, Animal Lovers beat Red Army, and Red Army beat Chess Unlimited (ironically, all 3 games were won by black). All 3 made it to the playoffs.
In the playoffs, they found themselves once again in the Semi-Finals, and once again, their opponent was the Chess Nuts!! This time however, it was the Animal Lovers who would be advancing to the Finals. No one knew who the Animal Lovers, the Cinderella team who barely squeaked into the playoffs last season, would face in the final round. Burning Pawns and Super Troopers waged a war that lasted for 138 moves (that's 2 moves longer than the combined total of Chess Nuts vs Animal Lovers last season)!!! Shock waves from that contest were felt all over the league. In the end, it was Burning Pawns who would take home the Silver Medal.
The Grand Finale Game was doubly ironic since the Burning Pawns opened up with an opening named after an Animal, and the Animal Lovers ended up promoting a Pawn. Here's a few links to threads that deal specifically with this game:
http://blog.chess.com/view/how-to-tame-your-dragon-or-al-v-bp-101
http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/final-game-al-vs-burning-pawns
The Animal Lovers averaged 41.5 moves (13.83 hours) per game.
Here are each of the players, and how many games they played:
| Name | Games |
| Billium248 | 6 |
| blackfirestorm666 | 5 |
| wpostma | 5 |
| drieske23 | 4 |
| OLYMPIAKARAS | 4 |
| Rekees | 4 |
| _Chess_Boy_ | 3 |
| fredgleeson | 3 |
| Horned_Owl | 3 |
| RELKEEL | 3 |
| seminoleman | 3 |
| votechess | 3 |
| BlackNight_13 | 2 |
| bluebottle | 2 |
| ped123 | 2 |
| PoseidonXIII | 2 |
| rrrttt | 2 |
| amrita1 | 1 |
| bluskey | 1 |
| chesstrophy | 1 |
| emtofaan | 1 |
| falling-upwards | 1 |
| filart | 1 |
| FOFO1 | 1 |
| Gambitbuster | 1 |
| idosheepallnight | 1 |
| jaller435718 | 1 |
| KittyB | 1 |
| maxwell4 | 1 |
| nicetoall | 1 |
| pegasususa | 1 |
| Sly4Ever | 1 |
| spidermorsy_p3 | 1 |
| timmygadget | 1 |
| why0712 | 1 |
| WolfLeader | 1 |
Here is the link to the Fortnight Speed Vote League Headquarters where everyone is welcomed and encouraged to follow along with all the fun:
http://www.chess.com/groups/home/the-fortnight-speed-vote-league-headquarters
And here are the Final Results from Season #2:
Teams in red are the leaders in their division (automatically seeded #1-4).
Teams in bold have gone the distance.
Teams in italics have timed out.
Standings (Final):
#1: 19 points - Animal Lovers (6-1-1) (West) (Season 2 Champions!!)
#2: 19 points - Burning Pawns (6-1-1) (South) (Finalist)
#3: 15 points - Chess Nuts (5-1) (North) (Semi-Finalist)
#4: 14 points - Super Troopers (4-1-2) (East) (Semi-Finalist)
#5: 10 points - Red Army (3-2-1) (West) (Quarter-Finalist)
#6: 9 points - Fast Players Group (3-2) (South) (Quarter-Finalist)
#7: 7 points - Chess Unlimited (2-2-1) (West) (Quarter-Finalist)
#8: 7 points - Light Force (2-2-1) (East) (Quarter-Finalist)
#9: 7 points - The Dark Knights (2-1-1) (North) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#10: 7 points - Chess Empire (2-1-1) (North) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#11: 6 points - The Power of Chess (2-2) (East) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#12: 6 points - We Chat Global (2-2) (South) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#13: 6 points - Team Antarctica (2-2) (East) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#14: 4 points - Wizards of Oz (1-2-1) (West) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#15: 3 points - The Scotch Fans Team (1-3) (South) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#16: 0 points - Rapid Chess (0-4) (South) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#17: 0 points - Checkmate! (0-4) (North) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#18: 0 points - The Winning Team (0-4) (North) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#19: 0 points - Chess Maniacs (0-4) (East) (eliminated from the playoffs)
#20: withdrawn - The Premiere of All (0-4) (West) (eliminated from the playoffs)
Season 2 Games:
01: We Chat Global vs Burning Pawns - Submission (move 40)
02: The Power of Chess vs Light Force - Timeout (move 21)
03: The Dark Knights vs Chess Empire - Draw (move 27)
04: Rapid Chess vs The Scotch Fans Team - Submission (move 34)
05: Team Antarctica vs Super Troopers - Submission (move 30)
06: The Premier of All vs Chess Unlimited - Timeout (move 35)
07: Burning Pawns vs The Scotch Fans Team - Knockout (move 23)
08: Chess Nuts vs The Winning Team - Forfeit (Move 0)
09: Fast Players Group vs We Chat Global - Submission (move 43)
10: Super Troopers vs Chess Maniacs - Timeout (move 1)
11: Animal Lovers vs Wizards of Oz - Forfeit (move 0)
12: Chess Unlimited vs The Red Army - Submission (move 56)
13: Checkmate vs The Dark Knights - Timeout (move 0)
14: Chess Empire vs Chess Nuts - Timeout (move 53)
15: Animal Lovers vs Chess Unlimited - Submission (move 52)
16: Light Force vs Team Antarctica - Submission (move 28)
17: Red Army vs Animal Lovers - Timeout (move 40)
18: Chess Nuts vs Checkmate - Submission (move 21)
19: Wizards of Oz vs Chess Unlimited - Draw (move 31)
20: The Premier of All vs Animal Lovers - Forfeit (move 0)
21: The Premier of All vs Wizards of Oz - Forfeit (move 0)
22: The Premier of All vs Red Army - Forfeit (move 0)
23: Light Force vs Chess Maniacs - Timeout (move 2)
24: We Chat Global vs Rapid Chess - Knockout (move 36)
25: Chess Empire vs The Winning Team - Timeout (move 1)
26: Burning Pawns vs Fast Players Group - Submission (move 48)
27: Chess Nuts vs The Dark Knights - Submission (move 23)
28: Light Force vs Super Troopers - Draw (move 30)
29: Red Army vs Wizards of Oz - Submission (move 53)
30: The Dark Knights vs The Winning Team - Forfeit (move 0)
31: Chess Maniacs vs The Power of Chess - Timeout (move 4)
32: Team Antarctica vs The Power of Chess - Timeout (move 20)
33: Rapid Chess vs Burning Pawns - Timeout (move 35)
34: Chess Empire vs Checkmate - Submission (move 55)
35: The Scotch Fans Team vs Fast Players Group - Submission (move 58)
36: We Chat Global vs The Scotch Fans Team - Timeout (move 2)
37: Team Antarctica vs Chess Maniacs - Forfeit (move 0)
38: Fast Players Group vs Rapid Chess - Submission (move 30)
39: Super Troopers vs The Power of Chess - Submission (move 52)
40: The Winning Team vs Checkmate - Double Forfeit (move 0)
41: Burning Pawns vs Chess Unlimited - Submission (move 28)
42: Chess Nuts vs Light Force - Knockout (move 26)
43: Super Troopers vs Fast Players Group - Submission (move 50)
44: Animal Lovers vs Red Army - Draw (move 41)
45: Red Army vs Animal Lovers - Timeout (move 33)
46: Super Troopers vs Burning Pawns - Draw (move 75)
47: Animal Lovers vs Chess Nuts - Submission (move 33)
48: Burning Pawns vs Super Troopers - Submission (move 63)
49: Animal Lovers vs Burning Pawns - Submission (move 50)
Complete Statistics for Season 2:
23 games were won by White (47%)
13 games were won by Black (27%)
8 games were forfeit (16%)
5 games were drawn (10%)
20 games were won by Submission (41%)
13 games were won by Timeout (27%)
3 games were won by Knockout (6%)
Average length of games: 28.22 moves (9.41 hours)
(1383 total moves - 49 total games)
Average length of games that timed out (including forfeits): 11.76 moves (3.92 hours)
(247 total moves - 21 total games)
Average length of games that went the distance: 40.57 moves (13.52 hours)
(1136 total moves - 28 total games)
Shortest game: 0 moves (0 hours 10 mins)
Longest game: 75 moves (25 hours +)
Fastest Knockout: 23 moves (7 hours 30 mins)
Fastest Submission: 21 moves (6 hours 50 mins)
Overall Breakdown on Openings:
White Wins:
A03: Bird Opening: Dutch Variation
A42: Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon
B02: Alekhine Defense: Two Pawn Attack
B03: Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation
B30: Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian
B50: Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations
B54: Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations
B76: Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack Modern Line
B90: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Adams Attack
C45: Scotch Game: Mieses Variation
C45: Scotch Game: Mieses Variation
C65: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Fishing Pole Variation
C70: Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Caro Variation
C78: Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense
D15: Slav Defense: Three Knights Variation
E00: Indian Game: East Indian Defense
E10: Indian Game: Anti-Nimzo-Indian
E91: King's Indian Defense: Kazakh Variation
Black Wins:
A45: Indian Game: Tartakower Attack
A46: Indian Game: Knight's Variation
B33: Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian, Normal
B70: Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation
B90: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack
B90: Sicilain Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack
B96: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation
B99: Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Main Line
C45: Scotch Game: Mieses Variation
E12: Queen's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation
E19: Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation Main Line
Draws:
B08: Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, Quiet System
B33: Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation
B50: Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations
C17: French Defense: Winnawer Variation, Advance Variation
C67: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio de Janeiro Variation
Timeouts:
A50: Indian Game: Normal Variation
B27: Sicilian Defense: Misc. Defenses
B36: Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon
FSVL Leaderboard:
Now that we've played a couple seasons, I decided to combine the results into one table (I just love working with spreadsheets ). Since there are 20 teams per season, I gave 20 points to 1st place, 19 points to 2nd place,... 2 points to 19th place, 1 point to 20th place, etc..
Since this is the same table I use to figure out which of the new teams are most qualified to enter the league (and will probably also help me in making out the divisions), the table is sorted next by Longest Game (LG) (I want to know if they can go the distance cuz some of our games are real marathons, so the longer they've gone, the better), then by Time Out Percentage (T%) (Cuz timeouts are what this league was founded to avoid). And since a team with 0% timout in 10 games is better than a team with 0% timeout in 1 game, the next sort is by Number of Games Played (GP) (The TO column is the actual number of Timeouts (for reference purposes)). Finally we have the Wins (W), Losses (L), and Draw (D) columns.
League games which were forfeits are not included - only games that were actually started (even if they timed out before any move was made). The exception to this rule is all the games that were "timed out" due to the site crashing (repeatedly) on December 12th, 2009. Several teams were victims of this crash, and anyone who was playing that day remembers it well. I'm not about to blemish someone's perfect timeout record with something they had no control over (especially since the games needed to be re-played anyway).
Teams with an (*) probably have incomplete stats. If you are a member of one of these teams and would like to give me more accurate numbers, I'll be sure to include them (believe it or not, I'm not a member of EVERY group on Chess.com ).
The Power of Chess has a few boxes empty cuz I didn't feel like looking thru another 117 games to get those stats. If you feel like taking the time to compile those numbers, I'll be sure to fill in the blanks with whatever you find.
And finally, you'll notice a lot of teams at the bottom who have never played a single game. Any team that has ever had even a remote interest in joining this league is on this list. Some decided not to play after all. Some kept saying they wanted to join, but never played a qualifying game. They're all listed alphabetically.
As of April 7, 2010:
| Team | Pts | LG | T% | TO | GP | W | L | D |
| Animal Lovers (Season 2 Champs) | 37 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| Chess Nuts | 37 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| Fast Players Group * (Season 1 Champs) | 35 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Team Antartica | 24 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| The Power of Chess | 24 | 52 | 117 | |||||
| The Dark Knights | 23 | 43 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 |
| Chess Unlimited | 22 | 56 | 36 | 24 | 67 | 35 | 31 | 1 |
| Burning Pawns | 19 | 75 | 32 | 18 | 57 | 32 | 22 | 3 |
| Kairav's Chess Masters | 18 | 58 | 27 | 8 | 30 | 18 | 11 | 1 |
| Super Troopers | 17 | 75 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Red Army | 16 | 56 | 14 | 3 | 22 | 18 | 3 | 1 |
| Chess Empire | 16 | 55 | 42 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| The Blakenators | 15 | 42 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| The Premiere of All * | 14 | 35 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Wallyjack's Wonderful Wizards of Oz | 13 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Light Force | 13 | 31 | 30 | 7 | 23 | 9 | 13 | 1 |
| Narz's People | 12 | 37 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Rapid Chess | 12 | 36 | 40 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Supreme Pawns | 10 | 10 | 57 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| We Chat Global | 9 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Chess & Cola Club | 9 | 41 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| The Scotch Fans Team | 6 | 58 | 43 | 18 | 42 | 19 | 21 | 2 |
| Checkmate | 4 | 55 | 53 | 9 | 17 | 4 | 12 | 1 |
| The Best * | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chess Team Holland * | 3 | 16 | 100 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| The Winning Team | 3 | 11 | 91 | 20 | 22 | 2 | 20 | 0 |
| Chess Maniacs | 2 | 17 | 80 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Team Benelux "de Leeuwen" * | 2 | 1 | 100 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chess Friends for Friends | 1 | 1 | 50 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Icelandic Group | 0 | 48 | 45 | 13 | 29 | 14 | 15 | 0 |
| SnowWhite | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Glorius Chess | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Chess Destination | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chetumal * | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Team Indonesia * | 0 | 32 | 22 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| The Learning Group | 0 | 23 | 50 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Chess Club Finland * | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Black Shield Assassins | 0 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| The Cool Boys and Girls Chess Group | 0 | 4 | 60 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Chess Association | 0 | 1 | 100 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Black or White | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cheers! | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chess Mistresses * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| European Union Team * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Funtastic Chessmates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| International Chess Masters * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sacred Pawn Legion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| The Dream Team * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| The Three Kingdoms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| The Ultimate Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tough and Social * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Good Luck to Everyone in Season 3!!!
May 18, 2010
0
#33
A few of the newer vote chess leagues:
The World Cup Headquarters organizes a World Cup tournament between all the various national teams on chess.com. Teams play each other as black and white in small divisions with 4 simultaneous games. The Time control is 2 days per move. The first round is under way, but because of the large number of teams involved, this tournament may take several years to complete. This was founded by kokino, but Ko7 has been running it. This is the largest vote chess tournament on chess.com. Team Slovakia, Team Canada, Indian Marauders, Team Italia, Team Philippines, Team Romania, Team Germany, Team England et al are all playing.
Ko7 recently set up the Tergirmon Vote Cup. Teams such as SuperTroopers, Indian Marauders, Black Or White and THE POWER OF CHESS are competing against each other in tournaments at 1, 2 or 3 days per move.
The High Speed Vote Championships organized by Team India for teams with over 100 members.
The S & S Vote Chess League organized by wilt18. Ten teams compete at a time control of 3 days per move.
The Top 10 TM + Vote Chess League HQ runs tournaments amongst THE POWER OF CHESS, Team Romania, The Dream Team, D'Chessbomb at al.
Aug 7, 2010
0
#34
The Vote Chess League's first Masters tournament has finally finished with Team Canada emerging as the winner, ahead of fellow finalists Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe and Indian Marauders. Thanks go out to all who participated. The crosstables for the Masters I preliminaries and finals are given below. The Masters II preliminaries are still under way, as are Open Swiss I, Open Swiss II and the World Masters finals. You can find all the results and announcements of upcoming tournaments in the Vote Chess League Tournaments group forum.
Aug 7, 2010
0
#35
| Vote Chess League Masters Division A | TC | IM | NP | FDF | EL | CTI | CCP | Score | TB | |
| =1 | Team Canada | x | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/6 | 9.75 |
| =1 | Indian Marauders | 1/2 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/6 | 9.75 |
| 3 | Narz's People | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3/6 | 5 |
| 4 | French Defense Fanatics | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3/6 | 3 |
| 5 | Endgame Lovers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2/6 | 1 |
| 6 | Chess Team International | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 2/6 | 3 |
| 7 | Connecticut Chess Players | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0/6 | 0 |
Aug 7, 2010
0
#36
| Vote Chess League Masters Division B | CVCC | TIt | TPOC | TRo | TPOA | TBe | WW | Score | TB | |
| 1 | Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe | x | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/6 | 13.25 |
| 2 | Team Italia | 1/2 | x | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5/6 | 9.75 |
| =3 | THE POWER OF CHESS | 0 | 1/2 | x | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4/6 | 7.25 |
| =3 | Team Romania | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4/6 | 7.25 |
| 5 | THE PREMIER OF ALL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2/6 | 1 |
| 6 | The Best | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1/6 | 0 |
| 7 | Wayne's World | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0/6 | 0 |
Aug 7, 2010
0
#37
| VCL Masters I Finals | Team Canada | Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe | Indian Marauders | Score |
| Team Canada | X | 1 | 1 | 2/2 |
| Cheers! Vote Chess Cafe | 0 | X | 1 | 1/2 |
| Indian Marauders | 0 | 0 | X | 0/2 |
Happy Halloween Everybody!!!
The regular season is over, and it's time for the Playoffs!!!
Here are your match ups for
The Fortnight Speed Vote League Season 3 Quarter Finals:
#1 Burning Pawns (SVC) vs #8 Chess Destination
#2 Fast Players Group vs #7 Super Troopers (SVC)
#3 Glorius Chess vs #6 Red Army
#4 Chess Nuts vs #5 Animal Lovers
This makes 3 consecutive seasons (100%) that the Chess Nuts and Animal Lovers have met in the playoffs. 
Each of them took one of the previous wins. Now it's time for the tie-breaker game. 
This time however, it's in the Quarter Finals instead of the Semi-Finals. Fast Players Group are also making their 3rd appearance in the Playoffs.
Burning Pawns, Super Troopers, and Red Army all joined the FSVL last season, and all 3 made the playoffs last season as well, getting as far as the Finals, Semi-Finals, and Quarter Finals respectively.
Chess Destination and Glorius Chess are brand new to the FSVL making it into the playoffs in their very first season!!
Good Luck to all the teams who have made it this far!!
Have Fun and Don't Time Out!!!
Dec 7, 2010
0
#39
The Vote Chess League's first World Masters tournament has finished! Team Slovakia took GOLD in the final, ahead of Team Canada (SILVER) and Team Romania (BRONZE). Congratulations, and thanks to all teams for a splendid tournament!
| World Masters Final | Slo | Can | Rom | Ita | Score | TB | |
| 1 | Team Slovakia | X | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 2.5/3 | 2.75 |
| 2 | Team Canada | 1/2 | X | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.5/3 | 2.25 |
| 3 | Team Romania | 0 | 1/2 | X | 1 | 1.5/3 | 1.25 |
| 4 | Team Italia | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | X | 0.5/3 | 0.75 |
| World Masters A Division | Rom | Fin | SAf | Alg | Score | Tb | |
| 1 | Team Romania | x | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 2.5/3 | 3.25 |
| =2 | Chess Club Finland | 0 | x | 1/2 | 1 | 1.5/3 | 1.25 |
| =2 | Team South Africa | 0 | 1/2 | x | 1 | 1.5/3 | 1.25 |
| 4 | Team Algeria | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | x | 0.5/3 | 1.25 |
| World Masters B Division | Ita | Ban | Por | Swe | Score | Tb | |
| 1 | Team Italia | x | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 2.5/3 | 2.75 |
| 2 | Team Bangladesh | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2/3 | 1 |
| 3 | Team Portugal | 1/2 | 0 | x | 1 | 1.5/3 | 0.75 |
| 4 | Team Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0/3 | 0 |
| World Masters C Division | Can | Spa | Ame | Eng | Score | Tb | |
| 1 | Team Canada | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3/3 | 3 |
| 2 | Team Spain | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2/3 | 1 |
| 3 | American Group | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1/3 | 0 |
| 4 | Team England | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0/3 | 0 |
| World Masters D Division | Slo | Ind | Ger | Chi | Score | Tb | |
| 1 | Team Slovakia | x | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3/3 | 2 |
| 2 | Indian Marauders | 0 | x | 1 | 1 | 2/3 | 1 |
| 3 | Team Germany | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 1/3 | 0 |
| 4 | Team China | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0/3 | 0 |
I know that a lot of the content here is somewhat dated. I would grateful for advice as to how to play for my international team in either/both of the World and European Leagues. Firstly, I guess, are both leagues running and meaningful? Would my first step be to apply to join the international team and then hopefully play some non-league international matches, joining in the World or European leagues when their schedules allow? Is there merit in these international games? What are people's views?
Technically, all "cups" (in which some move on and some are eliminated) qualify as "leagues". A league is simply a group of individuals or teams that come together to play a common game by common rules. I believe that neiljerzynek is using a much stricter definition in which there is no playoff system. Everyone simply totals up their number of wins, and the champion is decided that way, kinda like a simple one-round tournament. According to his definitions, anything that has a "win or go home" format is a "cup". To me, the "cup" is the prize you win for being the best in the "league" (i.e. the Stanley Cup is awarded to the best hockey team in the National Hockey League).