Lichess4545 Ledger 019

Lichess4545 Ledger

Issue #019 - March 29, 2017

State of the League

Season 7 starts this week. Season 7 is our biggest yet with 30 teams and close to ~250 players including alternates. As we embark on a new and exciting season there are a few things to wrap up regarding Season 6 as well as many important changes for season 7. There is probably too much here in this issue, and I promise future issues of the ledger will be more manageable.

First of all welcome to all the new players! We hope things have not been too overwhelming for you! We're sure you'll catch on soon. There are 2 things the mods have worked on to help you all out.

  1. The FAQ document has been updated to better answer many common questions. There are also a few updates to the Rules and Regulations document and Captain's guidelines document. Be sure to take a look at all these documents and the Player Guide Handbook. These can be found in the documents menu on our site.
  2. The moderator team has added the #announcements channel so that important announcements are not missed by members. Please be sure to check this often for league updates.

New and Returning Moderators

Second, the 4545 moderators have added 2 active mods to help out with the day to day issues of the league. First we welcome back @MrLegilimens (a participant since season 1 and moderator for just about as long). Secondly, we welcome a new moderator @yago666! Feel free to contact them or any of the other mods regarding issues you have in the league.

ChessLeagueTV

ChessLeagueTV is returning to Lichess4545. For those who do not know, @doberm4n started ChessLeagueTV to livestream a few selected games during season 5. This season @DETERMINATION has stepped forward to revamp and return with more streams during season 7. You can find them at https://www.twitch.tv/chessleaguetv.

  1. They are looking for anyone willing to help out with commentary to help co-host whenever available (no rating requirements).
  2. Moreover, they wold really appreciate someone with graphic design experience (Putting together a better layout and potentially coming up with a banner). Be sure to join #kibitz-stream-discord on slack to express your interest!

Season 6 Wrap Up

For all the Season 6 participants @seb32 has provided a writeup of the survey results. This can be found below in the main content section of the newsletter.

Moreover, many of you have probably seen the youtube reviews for Season 6 by IM Andras Toth.

To be transparent on the process of selecting the games:

The prior 2 seasons (for the Astaneh and ChessExplained reviews) it was JPTriton the LW mod who selected the games. He enlisted the help of his chess club members, anonymized the games and they reviewed them and selected the ones they found interesting. We typically only get 20 nominations so 3-4 per board. For season 6 the games were voted on by the 4545 mods (6 voters were @tnan123, @somethingpretentious, @Mrlegilimens, @seb32, @endrawes0, and @prune2000). 

We got 21 nominations this past season. And only 1 board 5 nomination and thus eventually decided to not include a board 5 game (and selected two board 1 games instead) for the 6 we sent to Andras. In seasons 2-3 the community voted for the JB and TonyRo reviews, but we really didn't get lots of participation. As a result we changed to the current nomination process and then closed voting based on the community nominations. If you want this to change please let the mods know.

Below is the comprehensive list of selected games:

League Updates

Lonewolf: It has been a while since there was an update on Lonewolf. They have just finished their Lonewolf #6. Congratulations to @sanadan for taking first place. Also congrats to @tapcon in second, @nonnocere in third, and @pgabrail for winnning the U1600 prize. See the full standings and summary at https://www.lichess4545.com/lonewolf/season/6/summary/

Finally, check out the stats section below which includes season best/worst stats over the entire 11 rounds of Lonewolf.

#Ladder: @Alex_slow currently continues holds the top spot. Will he ever be toppled? If you are interested in participating in ladder join #ladder on slack.

#Blitz-battle: The 8th iteration of the blitz battle was contested this past weekend on 26th March. New lichess4545 member @Dzeiti took first place! Be sure to join #blitz-battle on slack to learn more and take part in the action.

Coaches Corner

This is a new feature in the Ledger and hopefully other chess coaches in our community will find something to contribute.

Due to the many league updates since the last ledger. This section will take a hiatus till the next newsletter.

Notable Lichess4545 community member video/contributions

Due to the many league updates since the last ledger. This section will take a hiatus till the next newsletter.

Stats from 45+45: Thanks to @somethingpretentious for his work to automate the process of coming up with these stats. It is much appreciated!

No stats for 45+45.

Stats from Season 6 of Lonewolf: (takes into account the entire season)

  • Biggest upset: 459 point difference Round 11 Romelofeu 1457 beats Gary_Blackwood 1916 Gamelink
  • Lowest ACPL game: 3 ACPL Round 10 by H_badorties against dose7781 Gamelink
  • Lowest combined ACPL game: 16 combined ACPL Round 3 by FelixNL vs hetraie Gamelink
  • Highest ACPL game: 129 ACPL Round 6 by StriderJ against dose7781 Gamelink
  • Highest combined ACPL game: TIE 233 combined ACPL
  • Longest game: Reached move 95 Round 11 NM Unicornz vs Groundhopping Gamelink
  • Quickest mate: Mate on move 10 Round 9 by themanp15 against spuntachessTs Gamelink
  • Fastest draw: Ends on move 11 Round 10 Flaneur vs tipau Gamelink
  • Fastest resign: Resignation on move 7 Round 9 by Lightendiary against seb32 Gamelink
     
  • Accuracy King: @ramz_mihailov averaged 17 CPL in all his Lonewolf games (7 played games)
  • Fast Finisher: @jameslatham avg gamelength was only 37 ply / 18-19 moves (5 played games)
  • Marathon Man: @cyanfish win his 2nd marathon man (won the S4 4545 award) with avg gamelength of 110 ply / 55 moves (8 played games)
  • Giri Award: @FelixNL has a 3rd Giri Award (S4 Lonewolf, S6 4545) with 4 draws (10 played games)
  • Biggest rating gain in season 6: (includes all played lichess games) @cintronsauvage gained 189 lichess classical rating points during the Lonewolf #6 season
  • Biggest rating loss in season 6: TIE @Atrophied and @bolsa both lost 125 lichess classical rating points during Lonewolf # 6

 

Finally as always feel free to join #lichessledger on slack if you want to help or contribute in any way to this newsletter.

Chess For You

Season 6 End of Season Survey Writeup

by @seb32

As we finished up season 6, I took a look at the responses to our end-of-season survey and what it says about what we need to work on in future seasons. Each (important) question is shown with the responses (raw data) and my breakdown/interpretation.

Screenshot 2017-03-27 at 2.58.57 AM.png

Breakdown: This an extremely high approval rate, one we should be very happy with and strive to continue into future seasons.

Breakdown: This also is a very high approval rating that we can’t be unsatisfied with. Keep it up!

If you were an alternate, what suggestions do you have to make the alternate experience better?

The mods got a few answers about the lack of opportunities for games for alternates. It's important to make sure we have the correct number of alternates and that they are balanced on boards is for league success. Mods will try to track the number of alternates needed for every week throughout this season or get some past data so that we can make fully informed decisions when creating teams next year.

 


Breakdown: The majority of players are comfortable with being split up from their team requests in favor of balance, so we can be a little less concerned with friend requests when creating teams. Hopefully by next season @somethingpretentious’s program will make team formation completely automated

Breakdown: The vast majority of players like the 6-man teams, and I think we should stick with it.

Breakdown: Again, the vast majority of players think the current size is about right. This is something we should pay attention to for future seasons as season 7 has expanded the league size roughly 20% from season 6. Notice how this affects team engagement, interaction, etc.

Breakdown: Notably, the majority of players think that even if the league were too large, it shouldn’t be split up. This indicates that people don’t feel too strongly about the league being too large or at least dont think any of these options are good.

Breakdown: Again, roughly 80% of players think that the current season length is about the right length. This could be significant in season 7, as we are considering expanding to 9 or 10 weeks due to an increasing number of teams.

Breakdown: This is one of the closest votes in the poll: people are largely split. Due to the fact that the cost is coming from a small number of members and the benefit only goes to the 12 people who get games reviewed, we should definitely consider looking into the value of YT reviews. The PR generated vs. sense of legitimacy in the team are also important factors to count.

Which youtuber?

Responses:

Andras Toth (x3), Astaneh (x1), Ben Finegold (x3), ChessNetwork (x4), Chessbrahs (x2), Chesswhiztv (x1), Daniel King (x2), David Preuss (x3), TonyRo (x3), Greg Shahade (x1), Kingscrusher (x2), John Bartholomew (x12)

Breakdown

JB’s reviews were by far the most requested, although he declined to make them this time. If he plays in lonewolf this coming season, this would generate some great excitement. Either way, this list gives us a great start for who to contact next season if we do decide to get a review.

Breakdown: I’d be very skeptical of these numbers, simply because we did not get nearly as much as this would indicate for donations at the end of season 6. When we take into account our donation budget next season, anything above ~$200 is probably pushing our limit.

If you answered ‘No’ to a youtube review, would you want something else for the end of Season 6?

A few suggestions:

  1. An embedded study with all season 6 games for one strong player, annotated.

  2. The reviewer could always be in house, like how the 1896 Hastings book was noted by all the players.

  3. A huge article where every player is at least mentioned once maybe with an example of a good move/position he/she played. That could be composed by several authors of course, maybe the team captain of each team could contribute the chapter about the players from their team. It would feel more personalized, even though I know it would be some work.

  4. Maybe an award/list for best/most entertaining games per board.

  5. I look forward to the ledger at the end of every week.

  6. I think the anniversary 15+15 lichess tournament was great. Hoping something like that will happen again some time.

  7. Encourage teams to do reviews within themselves

  8. maybe a real-life meetup

Breakdown: A lot of the suggestions center around community-focused and driven analysis rather than a famous person from outside the league. I think trying this for one season and seeing how it goes over is entirely feasible, especially with a mega-ledger article/study or something.

How would you change the leagues rules and regulations

Select Responses

  1. Stricter enforcement of 48 hours for making contact. Some other threshold after which the game is forfeited.

  2. I'd like the boards to be worth different amounts. In my old high school team league, board 1 was worth 12, board 2 was 11, all the way down to board 6 being worth 7. Ties split the points. It was a more interesting scoring system and gave more value to the games that were usually more competitive.

  3. Scheduling still feels like it needs some tuning but I don't know what.

  4. Stricter punishment for no shows. Also, 48 hours is too long to contact opponent. I think it should be between 12-24 hours after parings

  5. I think a longer season with maybe a 1 week break in the middle. Would be cool to have two divisions, then have an "All Star" game in the 1 week break that picked the best player from each board in each division for an "East vs West" or similar matchup. Even if we kept the 8 week season, I still think an "All Star" match would be cool at the end. Season + Playoffs would also be fun.

  6. If two opposing players both require a sub for a specific round, simply adjudicate a draw (the same as if the players couldn't arrange a suitable time) rather than having two subs play each other.

  7. 2 more boards to play much players and tolerance zero with the cheaters

  8. the "message your opponent within 48 hours after pairings out" could be extended to something like 60 or 72 hours in case somebody has 2 busy days or just forgets

  9. Teams should be made by people who know each other

Breakdown: Wow, a lot to cover here. First thing is that about half of these center of scheduling, so perhaps that needs some work. Not sure what to make of (3), (7), and (9). I like the suggestion of (5); (6) is already implemented to some extent. (4) and (8) cancel each other out i.e. i think 48 hours is a good middle ground between the two sides. (1) is by far the most important to me, especially the way that alternates are handled. We’ve been both very inconsistent and lenient with these rulings and I think that needs to be improved.

How would you improve the lichess4545.com website and/or @chesster?

Responses

  1. I think making the player handbook a little more visible would be helpful to a lot of new players, its kinda hidden where it is IMO (Note: I am GnarlyGoat)

  2. Some automated support for organising times for games would be fantastic :). For example, each player could register their available times (in their own time zone) in order of preference and a time slot could be chosen algorithmically.

  3. Scheduling tools! A system where both players submit their availability and the website and or chesster responds with for games that fit in both player's schedule. It would deal with time zones itself and allow players to select the times and automate scheduling instead of posting to the channel. Make it so that the channel is no longer needed!

  4. I had a list of things written down to suggest, but I seem to have misplaced the piece of paper :( but off the top of my head: For chesster: 1. When chesster posts a link to the game in the chat, include the board number, e.g. "@ethanpowell vs @hattilla on Board 1: http://en.lichess.org/YkcXAeBw" 2. Not specifically chesster-related, but please at least consider moving to discord over slack - they are very similar platforms from a usability perspective, and discord doesn't truncate the chat logs the way slack does, which is already a real issue with the number of people in the various channels and will get worse if the league grows. 3. Unsure if this was related to #2 or not, but a number of people have issues with chesster's game notification system (e.g. for all players on one's team) - hopefully this is fixable! For the website: 1. Include start/end-of-round time in the schedule on the TV page 2. Make it easy to find out how many rounds are in the tournament - at one stage I forgot and it took me quite a bit of digging to find the info on the site 3. The crosstable is 4. If the schedule can adjust its times for the timezone of the user, why can this not also be done for the times on the team-pairings page? 5. Move the 'register' link a the top-right of the page to the "Season x" menu - containing a link with that text in that position conflicts with existing affordances that will make users think that the link is used to sign up *for the site* rather than the tournament. 6. With the large number of teams, the crosstable can get a bit difficult to follow. I'd suggest adding some css like the following to help make the scores more identifiable (with whatever hacky solution you prefer to get colums working as well): table#table-crosstable>tbody>tr:hover { background: #e4e5e6; font-weight: bold; border-style: none solid; }

  5. Unified time scheduling program or website

Breakdown: (2), (3), and (5) all discuss some form of scheduling improvement, keeping with the theme of the last question. Seems like it will be important. (1) I dont think is too important, its in the documents tab on the website. (4) should be forwarded to lakin and cyan, or added as an issue on github.

How would you improve the Lichess Ledger, as created by @tnan123?

Select Responses

  1. I love the Ledger, it's already excellent. Maybe more embedded annotated games?

  2. Maybe some opening report stuff?

  3. I think the ledger is amazing. Talk to Thibault and see if we can't find a place for it somewhere on the main site

  4. I'll keep it at the same size, it's already quite daunting to read when you're busy all week.

  5. Game of the week analysis whether written or video (if possible) and league member spotlights/interview.

  6. For me personally, including analysis of 1-2 games played in the tournament for each issue would be a worthwhile improvement. Of course, I realise that that requires the time of a decent player, but it's nice to see things commented on as they are happening.

  7. Randomly pick up a player ( member or alt ) and send an interwiew with 10 questions for short answers ..and you can call that section " Blitz in 10 moves "

Breakdown: A lot of positive feedback

General comments/suggestions?

Select Responses

  1. Profile badge for top 3 teams (gold/silver/bronze 4545 league season #) would be nice. This league is amazing wish some stuff could be intergrated with the lichess.org site tho but keep up the good work

  2. Having teams feels kind of pointless because everybody just plays his games and that's about it. Currently it's more like a 4545 lonewolf disguised as a team league. But I have no idea what to do about it.

  3. As a first-seasoner, my biggest thing was time zones. I found it hard to schedule games with people who were 5+ hours ahead of me, and I realized I don't really want to play long internet games on the weekend. Although I thought the league was amazingly well run and it satisfied my goal of getting more experience with longer time controls, I'm unsure whether I'll play again unless the league is split up by USA/Europe.

  4. Continue putting announcements on the website. It's too easy to miss important information when it's on Slack.

  5. I would not mind for the review to be done by a startup chess channel which from time to time seem to start out of this league. Would probably also reduce the cost :D

  6. Divide league according to play times so that player's availability is better matched (I often ended up playing at 6am due to all players being other side of the world, I might not be able to play future seasons in current format). I'd be happy to have more variability in opponent rating in exchange for more convenient play times.

  7. Unified time scheduling program or website

Breakdown: I like the idea of (1) a lot, wouldn't mind talking with thibault or other lichess mods about it. That and lonewolf badges would be a really cool addition. We might have to think about the ramifications with cheating this could have though. (2) is something we should really try to avoid, hope this was a single-team issue and not pervasive. (3), (6), and (7), once again come back to scheduling. (4) is dealt with by #announcements. (5) I guess refers to asking atrophied / chessleaguetv / god666 / commonboy for commentary. Which, i think can be ok if we talk with them ahead of time.

 

Chess Puzzle

From a round 11 game in Lonewolf: @Qualm vs @mariuseg. Black just played Ncxe4. White to move. White can win material here if he finds the only correct first move of a combination. 

For the answer see gamelink.

Gamelink

 

Creative Commons License

Lichess4545 Ledger #019 ©2017 by Thienan Nguyen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Thanks to @seb32, and somethingpretentious for their contributions. Thanks to @petruchio for his help in editing this issue.