The Dark Knight Opens (group 2)

Congratulations to JustBeforeDawn and Geoffb01 for being the only two left standing at the end of 4 rounds!!  I'm not sure how Chess.com will determine who gets the 3rd place trophy, but it's obvious that both of these accomplished players will be sporting a Dark Knight Custom Trophy in their Showcase!!  One of them will even be moving on to The Dark Knight Finals with a whole different set of trophies up for grabs!!

Good Luck to both of you in Round 5, and don't forget to OPEN WITH YOUR DARK KNIGHT!!!

The Dark Knight Opens

One Year Later

As The Joker said, “Let’s rewind the clocks back a year.”  Can you believe it’s been a whole year already?  Tournaments were a brand new thing on Chess.com back then, and none of us had any idea how long these things were going to end up taking.  This was the very first tournament I had personally set up, and it’s certainly been a learning experience!!

On July 18, 2008 we had 300 people begin this unique adventure together.  It is now July 18, 2009 and only 25 of those 300 remain.  Along the way, The Dark Knight was released on DVD, and 84 new players joined the game along with 16 former players who seized this opportunity to try again.  Only 7 of those 100 remain leaving a total of 32 players still in contention for The Dark KnightCustom Trophies. 

My group, The Dark Knights, has grown in number, and steadily climbed the leader boards in both Team Matches and Vote Chess.  If any of you have not joined yet, I invite you to do so now.  For a while I was tracking the tournament in great detail in my Dark Knight Tournament Blog, and giving out all kinds of trophies to everyone who was eliminated, advanced, or completed a checkmate with their Dark Knight.

There was even a spin-off tournament (called The Dark Knight: Redemption) started by a player who was forced to resign for opening with a black pawn instead of his Dark Knight.  Yes, it’s been quite a year!!

I know I still owe a lot of trophies to a lot of people, and I still plan on fulfilling those obligations.  “Do I look like a man with a plan?  I’m like a dog chasing cars.  I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it.  I show schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.”  Check the “Notify me of new comments” for this blog, and I’ll try to be better about keeping it up-to-date.  In the meantime, this is where we’re at exactly one year later:

Group 1 – 7 players remaining – 13 games left in Round 3

Group 2 – 5 players remaining – 8 games left in Round 4

Group 3 – 13 players remaining – 6 games left in Round 2

Group 4 – 7 players remaining – 14 games left in Round 3

I hope everyone else is still enjoying this as much as I am.  Ok, I doubt anyone is really enjoying it quite as much as I am, but I hope you’re enjoying it none-the-less.  In honor of the one-year anniversary, I’ve just finished watching my DVD copy of The Dark Knight… Twice (back to back)!!   Heath Ledger was by far the best Joker ever!!!

Thanks to everyone who joined and made my first tournament such a success!!  Good Luck to all 32 players who are still active!!  The Custom Trophies await you!!

Billium

Congratulations to the 6 of you who have made it to Round 4!!!

Whenever a new round begins, someone inevitably forgets that these new games are still part of the DARK KNIGHT tournament, and forgets to Open with their DARK KNIGHT.

Since this is Round 4, I don't think I have to explain the rules anymore, but I do want to remind everyone:

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR 1ST MOVE AS BLACK IS A KNIGHT!!!!

So far there have been no moves made by black in any of the 12 games, so it's not too late to make sure that all 12 games start correctly, and we don't have any more defaults and forfeits.

Thanks for paying attention to this annoying little detail, and congratulations to all of you who have made it this far.

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry to say that Chess.com has appaently changed their rules regarding games less than 4 moves.  These games never used to affect your rating, but now they do.  I've been contacted by a number of players who resigned from their forfeit games in less than 4 moves, and they still lost rating points.  I'm REAL sorry about that.  I don't know when they changed that rule.  I thank you VERY much for your good sportsmanship, especially now when it is that much more expensive.

In future rounds, PLEASE REMEMBER TO OPEN WITH YOUR DARK KNIGHT!!!  It is a lot more costly now than it used to be if you default with a black pawn instead.

Thanks.

Congratulations on being the 1st group into the 3rd round!!  I see that there were 10 games in which someone defaulted with a black pawn instead of opening with their DARK KNIGHT.  Of those 10 games, 7 have already been resigned showing a great deal of cooperation and good sportsmanship.  Thank you!  If you are still playing in one of the last 3 games, please resign as quickly as possible.  Your rating will not be affected if the game is less than 4 moves.  Thank you all for your cooperation and good sportsmanship.

To anyone who wishes they had another chance at this tournament without all the timeouts and forfeits, here's your opportunity:

The Dark Knight Opens on DVD tomorrow (Dec 9).  I will be starting up the 4th and final group to be sent to The Dark Knight Finals (whenever that will be - I can't believe how long this is taking).

Anyone from the original Dark Knight Opens Tournament is welcome to try again.  This time however, standard minimum requirements apply, and the time controls are a little faster.  There's a new set of Custom Trophies up for grabs too.

Good Luck Everybody!!

http://www.chess.com/tournament/the-dark-knight-opens-on-dvd

http://blog.chess.com/Billium248/the-dark-knight-tournament-blog

http://www.chess.com/groups/view/the-dark-knights

Hello everybody,

Welcome to the 2nd round.  Of the 3 major groups, you are the 1st to make it to Round 2!!  Congratulations.  Wow, it has taken a long time, eh?

I've gotten a couple messages from people who forgot to move their Dark Knight 1st because it's been so long since the last round started.  Unfortunately, that was kinda the whole point of this tournament.  If you have not yet moved in your games as black: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember to open with your Dark Knight!!!

Thanks,

Billium

Happy Labor Day everyone!

There are less than 100 games remaining in Round One.  I hope everyone is having fun.  I’ve started a group here called The Dark Knights, and you’re all invited to join.

http://www.chess.com/groups/view/the-dark-knights

Also, don’t forget to check out The Dark Knight Tournament Blog.  So far, I’m the only one that’s really posting in it.  I would LOVE to hear some different perspectives.

http://blog.chess.com/Billium248/the-dark-knight-tournament-blog

Hello all Dark Knight players,

We are now 2 weeks into the tournament.  I hope everyone is having fun.

I have set up a Dark Knight Tournament Blog for everyone to share their perspectives and keep abreast of how the tournament is progressing overall (It saves me from posting the same thing on 3 different Tournament Home Pages).  I’d love to hear about some of your more exciting games, and how you saw them.  Please feel free to share anything and everything.

We’ve still got a few “Jokers” who are not playing by the rules (22 to be exact – in 36 games).  If you accidentally opened with your black pawn instead of your Dark Knight, I’m sorry, but that game is forfeit.  I know this sucks, but please be a good sport about it and resign.  Everyone else has.  Please!  It’s the right thing to do.

For those who were inquiring about the default stats:

Out of 300 players in 900 games:  71 players in 123 games opened with a pawn by mistake.

Black never made a 1^st move in 289 games (including the 3 people currently on vacation).

So the Dark Knight Opened in only 488 games (54%).

Thanks to everyone for joining my tournament.  I enjoy looking thru some of your games.  I hope you don’t mind if I post a few of the really cool ones in the Dark Knight Tournament Blog.  I hope a lot of you will post some games in the Blog as well (or anything else you want to post there).  It’s because of all of you that this thing is so cool.

Thanks again,

Billium

Once again everybody:

In your games as white, you may open with any piece you choose.

In your games as black, YOU MUST OPEN WITH YOUR KNIGHT!!!

If you accidentally opened with a black pawn instead of your Dark Knight, I’m sorry but YOU MUST RESIGN FROM THAT GAME!

To those of you who have already resigned from such games:  Thank you for your cooperation and good sportsmanship.