I get very frustrated by juvenile Vote Chess, where people simply vote without any discussion or rationale for a move.
So I have devised some "Good practice rules" for Vote Chess
These rules cannot be enforced, but they make for a more effective Vote Chess
Rule 1: No team member should vote until the last 12hrs in order to ensure proper discussion, or when the flag goes up for the Team-sanctioned vote.
Rule 2: If people do not participate in the Team discussion, they should abstain from voting
Rule 3: When people make a suggestion for the "next move", they should provide a continuation for the next 2-4 moves for both white and black. Otherwise, it is simply a fancy when we need substantive arguments. GMs do not simply consider "the next move"
Rule 4: I f the Team Leader is merely administering the team and not fostering discussion among Team members, and hence fostrering intra-team learning - the essential purpose of "Vote Chess" - then he/she is not a "Team-based" leader . Ask for a real Team Leader (not an Administrator) or resign from the mob. A "team" where everyone votes independently is a rabble or mob, NOT a Team.
well said,,,
It is a good idea to have vote chess for beginners but you already have this per the records of some teams. However if you have a vote chess team where members just vote without much discussion--nobody on the team learns how to play better.
If you wish to play strong vote chess it requires good play and WORK and discussions and analysis. [not just voting]. No early voting allowed unless the move is quite forced.
Discussion and analysis by several players. In a vote chess game i am playing in--on the current move we have 6 diagrams with analysis AND much more analysis without diagrams AND many comments on which of about 7 moves we should play.
Even the team members who are not active in discussing a certain move learn a whole lot from the discussions and diagrams. Even the very strong players who are using diagrams and discussions--learn a whole lot from each other!