Tapping into Eastern MA Met League Experience...

Tonight I had a great conversation with Ken, a very experienced TD at MetroWest CC to discuss what it means to create OTB Club vs OTB Club competition via webserver correspondence chess. In parallel with getting a Punxsy vs MetroWest match going, we need to think about the long term potential of this form of competition.

Our conversation centered around a few key features of this competition:

• OTB Club vs OTB Club via webserver correspondence chess could leverage the "Met League" concept of the pre-Fischer era...
• Met League died out with weekend chess and people's schedules becoming crazy busy
• Met League expanded to country-wide may be a whole lot of fun!
• OTB Club vs OTB Club "Met League" needs a format to allow for promotion and a "horse race" excitement
• OTB Club vs OTB Club needs a format to allow for an annual championship cycle

We are fortunate that Ken will talk to George M of the Wachusett Chess Club this week. George is a rich resource of chess tradition in Eastern MA. Hopefully we can all start to brainstorm what a USC2L Met League would look like long term. I look forward to hear what they think...

I'm hoping we do a fair amount of discussion on this blog so John Caliguire, President of Punxsy CC can join in!

More on Punxsy vs MetroWest

John Caliguire, President of the Punxsy chess club had questions via email regarding the potential Punxsutawny CC vs MetroWest CC webserver correspondence chess match. I replied with a summary of the details below. I am interested in starting discussion to make sure the first match is a success.

Proposed format for Punxsutawny CC vs MetroWest CC match

• Name of League
• US Chess Club League (USC2L)
• PCC v MCC is first match of USC2L
  
• Type of chess
• Correspondence
• Webserver
  
• Pairing of players
• Teams of 4, one of the players is Captain
  
• Boards ordered USCF regular ELO high to low (since most will have USCF but no correspondence rating)
  
• Venue
• CCLA webserver
• This begs membership in CCLA (*)
• CCLA TD, supplemented with one TD from each Club (total 3)
  
• Time controls
• 30 days per 10 moves (quick)
  
• Adjudicated after 3 months (**) with 2/3 vote on outcome of each game
• Advertised
• We need to market this in blogs, Chessbase, TWIC, US Chess Life, etc.
  

(*) CCLA already offers an "internet only" membership category ($19/yr, magazine in PDF). We should think about testing the waters with an "OTB" category at further reduced rates which is like "internet only" but restricted to "OTB-vs-OTB" competition. This way OTB players can compete in OTB-vs-OTB matches economically, and if they want to further their correspondence chess career, they can upgrade their membership.

(**) Adjudication is necessary if we want to introduce an annual championship cycle, to allow for playoffs, and the Championship itself.

Punxutawny CC vs. MetroWest CC ??

Dan from Punxy CC (PA) and myself from MetroWest CC are considering an OTB Club vs. Club match via webserver correspondence chess. Dan told me today (via a note in a CCLA webserver correspondence chess game) that he might be going to Pittsburgh to meet with the giants at Pittsburgh CC (scholastic/youth tournament?). Could there also be a Pittsburgh CC vs MetroWest CC match in our future?

It's these types of matches that can really energize correspondence chess with fresh vigor from OTB Club players looking for fresh outlets, and a way to play "League" chess (like in the 'old' days?)...

Thoughts?