Hi,

Could you in TL53 change the schema of the complete schedule? What I mean is that the 5th team of each section plays with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams in the first three rounds. It may be irrelevant in lower sections, but in the Fischer section I have the choice of either a) pausing my 5th and 6th player during the three initial rounds or b) have them play against 200-350 higher rated opposition. Both doesn't seem particularly nice.

If you are ok with changing the schema, I volunteer to prepare a new more balanced schema.

Thanks,
MichaÃ…‚

In case you don't know, the schedules are automatically generated based on the statutes at http://www.teamleague.org/schedules.php, which describes the format as "reversed balanced single round robin".

Although that page does not specify the pairings for 8-team sections, as we have this edition, I based the pairings on the rule for 7-team sections. That is where the tough schedule in rounds 1-3 for team #5 comes from. Exception: I don't follow the rules exactly in some sections, in order to force related teams to play each other in the first round.

Personally I don't have a problem with changing the system if you can propose something better.

Pending staff approval. ;)

The easy resolution for this is to ignore the avg rating and randomize seeding once the sections are set. It may annoy some people on the normal 1 seed team, but I'm fine with that.

Hi,

What about just replacing Seed 2 with Seed 6 in the TL tables:

Round 1: Seed 7 vs. Seed 1 and Seed 2 vs. Seed 6 and Seed 5 vs. Seed 3; Bye Week - Seed 4
Round 2: Seed 1 vs. Seed 2 and Seed 6 vs. Seed 5 and Seed 3 vs. Seed 4; Bye Week - Seed 7
Round 3: Seed 5 vs. Seed 1 and Seed 4 vs. Seed 6 and Seed 2 vs. Seed 7; Bye Week - Seed 3
Round 4: Seed 1 vs. Seed 4 and Seed 6 vs. Seed 3 and Seed 7 vs. Seed 5; Bye Week - Seed 2
Round 5: Seed 3 vs. Seed 1 and Seed 4 vs. Seed 7 and Seed 5 vs. Seed 2; Bye Week - Seed 6
Round 6: Seed 1 vs. Seed 6 and Seed 7 vs. Seed 3 and Seed 2 vs. Seed 4; Bye Week - Seed 5
Round 7: Seed 6 vs. Seed 7 and Seed 3 vs. Seed 2 and Seed 4 vs. Seed 5; Bye Week - Seed 1.

If I count correctly, nobody would play Seeds 1, 2, 3 in a row. Nobody would even play 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 in a row. And there is only one case of Seed 8 playing Seed 3 and Seed 2 in a row.

1st seed plays against: 7 2 5 4 3 6 8
2nd seed plays against: 6 5 4 3 8 1 7
3rd seed plays against: 5 4 8 6 1 7 2
4th seed plays against: 8 3 6 1 7 2 5
5th seed plays against: 3 6 1 7 2 8 4
6th seed plays against: 2 1 7 8 5 4 3
7th seed plays against: 1 8 2 5 4 3 6
8th seed plays against: 4 7 3 2 6 5 1

We decided to try Twikki's idea of random team pairings. Fischer random starting positions is an area for future improvement. ;)

Maybe Seirawan Chess with elephants and hawks?