Freedomain Radio

I was just talking in the chatroom with a fellow chess enthusiast, and we both simultaneously came up with the idea of having an FDR Chess Tournament!
If you're interested in joining, by all means, say so.

We haven't worked out quite how to organize it, what tournament type we will use, or how we will go about playing the games, so I'm open to suggestions.
I'm thinking the games should probably be played live whenever the participants who are matched with each other are available to play it live.
Maybe Yahoo! Chess, or flyordie.com are options for live games.
Correspondence isn't really an option for tournaments, that would take forever.

I'm thinking the tournament would have to last somewhere between a week and a month, to give enough time for people to play their games, but it shouldn't last too long.
If you can approximate what your ELO is, I'd appreciate it if you post it. Might come in handy for tournament seeding.

So please, post if you want to join! Post your approximate ELO and post any suggestions about sites for play and about tournament types you think are appropriate.

great idea, I'll join

Count me in! http://www.chess.com/livechess/profile/Croga (think my elo is 1000)

Fun idea! I'd like to participate. No idea what my ELO is - I don't play often but I enjoy it

awesome, i was half expecting all the FDR people to have ELOs of like 1700, and it would be a complete shutout for me!
glad to see, so far at least, most people interested are in the novice range like me. I'm probably about 1100 or so.

This sounds very interesting.  Chess is my procrastination tool. :)   Not sure what my elo rating is, but if this is any bit accurate, I'm aroud 1500, though I didn't have the patience to put the full 5mins on each problem, so I'm not sure.  On FICS, for games < 15mins I'm around 1500s, for games > 15mins I'm 1700s.  I'd be happy to play anyone who's interested.

KevinV:

if this is any bit accurate, I'm aroud 1500

that's cool. i hadn't done any test like that before (closest I've done was mate-in-x-moves puzzles). I got 1330

so, so far we've got 6 participants. 2 more and i think we can start the first official FDR Chess Tournament! If more people want to join in, we'll make a new tournament upon completion of this one. if enough people are interested, this could be a regular thing i organize.

Ooo, wish I had time, love da chess!

www.chessmaniac.com allows games that can be 5 minutes / move or 14 days / move. Also, can have teams and play tournaments. Its interface is quite good, though the ads get in the way sometimes.

Otherwise, I'd be glad to enter the tournament.

Earl

KevinV:

This sounds very interesting.  Chess is my procrastination tool. :)   Not sure what my elo rating is, but if this is any bit accurate, I'm aroud 1500, though I didn't have the patience to put the full 5mins on each problem, so I'm not sure.  On FICS, for games < 15mins I'm around 1500s, for games > 15mins I'm 1700s.  I'd be happy to play anyone who's interested.

Not sure about that quiz. I barely know how to play and it estimated me at an ELO of 1395.

This sounds good to me, I enjoys the chess. My elo(Fide) would be roughly 1350, I think, though thats no more than an educated guess.

Awesome idea, I'd love to be a part of this!

alright, these are the participants so far, and their estimated ELOs (if none was given, I'll estimate. correct me if you think you should be given a higher or lower score):

kremlin (1100)
dazed and confused (1200, i know he's at least pretty good, probably better than me)
jonnyD (1000)
philipJ (1000)
chrisR (1250, "better than average")
kevinV (1500)
earl (1250)
kablamos (1350)
j.liz (1000)
earl (1650)
matthew farley (1759)
mattK (1000)
enigma86 (1000)

13 people confirmed. i'll give until friday for new people to join, or for people to tell me to change their rating. In the meanwhile, I'll look into various sites for playing.
Chessmaniac and Yahoo! are our options so far.
As for timing, I think I agree with Chris: the games should give ample time for thought, but I do think they should be live. Yahoo! has customizable time settings which I like.
Currently looking in to Chess.com .