Announcing the 2020 Masters Tournament

[goldfinger0303]

Hi everyone,

We are in need of more subs for the tournament. If you're interested in joining, please contact me.

Best,
Gold

[goldfinger0303]

I've also updated scoring to be accurate as of all currently completed games.

Looking at an April 1st launch date for Round 5! Then probably a mid-late May for a combined Rounds 6 and 7 launch.

[BobMcBob]

When I first learnt I was accepted into the tournament, I wrote this: "I'll count it as a victory if I make a draw. If I do well, all the better." After drawing two out of three games so far, this tournament is proving to be a resounding success!

[goldfinger0303]

As an update, if anyone is experiencing disruptions to their life due to the coronavirus, please let me know and we can work out pausing your games and for how long they will need be paused. It will not count against your allotment of pause time.

[jmo1121109]

Ah, that's a good call. We need to do that site wide

[Yonni]

Sign me up as a sub

[goldfinger0303]

Hi everyone.

Just a reminder that if you need a pause in your game, ask me. The NMRs are getting out of hand now. I've been somewhat lax on my policy on this, but I've still removed 3-4 people from the tourney for it.

[goldfinger0303]

Alright, as the first Round 4 game has ended, I shall be setting up Round 5 games sometime in the next day or two. Be sure to keep an eye out on your inbox!

As a reminder, Rounds 6-7 will be played concurrently. Looking at a mid-May start date for those.

[goldfinger0303]

Hello everyone. I just sent out the Round 5 game links. A few brief reminders going forward.

1) Please get in touch with me if you face any problems making your turns. There are a few habitual NMR'ing players that my leash is going to be shorter on this round.

2) On that note, there are a number of substitutes whom I have yet to add to the normal scoring page. Yonni, PRINCE WILLIAM, Sunstriker, EvW, stefanodangello and deeply dippy are all either currently or have in that past taken a role in keeping this tournament ongoing. I believe everyone else should find themselves on the scoring page. If you don't, please let me know. I'll also be trying to get them on the official signup as soon as I have the time.

3) Speaking of scoring, as a reminder the scoring system for the tournament is as follows:

1 point for solos
0 points for draws
0.1 points for non-solo board tops
Tiebreak is your strength of schedule (combined score of those you solo'd against, then combined score of those you board topped against)

The scoreboard should now read as follows. We're starting to get more solos now! Bear in mind that there is one ongoing round 2 game and 5 ongoing round 4 games. (Note: I'm not calculating tiebreaks at the moment)

1. kissemo - 1.2 points
T2. Chesney - 1 point
T2. teccles - 1 point
4. The Belgian Bulldog - 0.2 points
5. kgray - 0.15 points
T6. 90kicvesb - 0.1 points
T6. AncientMemories - 0.1 points
T6. Miguel1612 - 0.1 points
T6. MylesP14 - 0.1 points
T6. Octavious - 0.1 points
T6. Powow - 0.1 points
T6. rdrivera2005 - 0.1 points
T6. Restitution - 0.1 points
T6. SirThursday - 0.1 points
T6. Theoneandonly - 0.1 points
T6. VillageIdiot - 0.1 points
T6. Wusti - 0.1 points
T6. Yigg - 0.1 points
19. GalahadIII - 0.05 points

[PRINCE WILLIAM]

Don't worry Gold, you are not losing anything by not having me on the list, I have scored no points as I lost all games I played!

[kissemo]

Congratulation teccles, it was a very nice solo! And like as Chesney from Italian position which can be the worst I think. You won against very good players so it is even more valuable.
My congratulation also for Chesney! Yours was almost the same.
What do you think why Italian position goes better than usual here in the tournament? I could also topboard from that position and I thought that could be the best that can be reached, it's clear I was wrong. :)

[teccles]

I fear I am not the most qualified to answer that question, this being both my first solo and my first game as Italy! But I'll have a go anyway.

I think Italy is a weak power for making the draw, but a strong power for soloing. It is hard to reach a position of security as Italy - gains in Austria are easily reversed and gains in France even more so. However, if you *do* reach security, particularly in the East, you are hard to stop. There is no easy way to stop a strong Italy short of 15 centres (the South, less Warsaw and Moscow). There are then five extremely plausible targets for your final three centres - Warsaw and Moscow take some holding from the North, you are likely to get a chance to take at least Marseilles and perhaps Spain, and Munich is not so far away from your units in Austria.

[TemplarsBane]

Is it just me or has communication been completely anemic in this tournament? People hardly talking, taking days to respond, short messages, it's just been degrading as the games go on.

[Octavious]

Can't say I've noticed it being much different from other tournaments if I'm honest. If anything there's less tournament fatigue than in previous events.

[goldfinger0303]

Hi all, as an update I'm trying to find a sub for the R5G7 game. Will work to get it filled as soon as possible.

[Yonni]

Is this the first Masters since 2013?

[goldfinger0303]

Indeed it is.

[davidclaridge]

As a reminder, Rounds 6-7 will be played concurrently. Looking at a mid-May start date for those.

What's the estimated start date for R6/R7 at this stage?

[goldfinger0303]

So, I want to minimize the number of people who are playing in 3-4 games at once.

So, seeing that I think there's only one Round 4 game left and the Round 5 games are getting on, I was planning on setting them up next week.

[Chaqa]

Is it too late to sign up for this?