For those having trouble registering, go to "contact STC Bunch" and input your handle, email address and a provisional password, which you can later alter from your profile.
Remember! Your registration is not complete until you got to "My STC Profile" and input your data
MLoizou wins the 2008 Gauntlet!
After five qualifying rounds and a final that lasted five hours , MLoizou is the winner of the 2008 STC Bunch Gauntlet! Many congratulations to him. He wins a copy of David Bronstein's classic book on Zurich 1953.
Thanks as always to everybody who helped make the event happen: if I try to mention everybody I am sure to forget someone, but I should particularly mention blkmagic for his TDing, fernbap and seberg for their technical help, and billscotty for his generous ongoing support.
This is the last major of the year, but the schedule for 2009 will be out soon, so keep an eye out for that.
The final of the STC Bunch Gauntlet 2008 will take place on FICS starting at 07:00 server time on Saturday, December 13 (that's 10:00 ICC and WCL time). It will be a three round Swiss with all games taking place on that one day--a gruelling end to a gruelling tournament!
A couple of section winners couldn't make the final, so the invitees are GreatSachin and lingye from FICS, MLoizou, mitus and Endgamer from ICC and mace from WCL. With luck they will all be able to make it, but further substitutes may be called on if they cannot.
I hope some of you will find the time to show your support for the event by dropping into channel 90 on FICS at some point during the final and watching a game or two--the whole thing is likely to take something like 5-6 hours.
Round five of the Gauntlet is complete, and the section winners are decided. They are:
FICS group A: ZwaartePaard FICS group B: jjgsmm FICS Wild Card: lingye ICC group A: MLoizou ICC group B: mitus ICC Wild Card: Endgamer WCL group: mace
If you are one of the winners, I will be contacting you shortly about the live final, which is due to take place on the weekend of December 13-14. This will be a three round Swiss with all games taking place on the same day. The winner will receive one of the following classic books as a prize:
David Bronstein, Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953. Dover edition, and a true classic. Perhaps the greatest tournament book ever written.
Mikhail Tal, Tal-Botvinnik 1960. Hannon Russell's translation. Perhaps the greatest match book ever written.
Bobby Fischer, My Sixty Memorable Games. The new Batsford edition, which is in algebraic notation but otherwise, the publishers say, completely unchanged from the original edition. Perhaps the greatest single-player game collection ever written.
To those who didn't make it this time: thanks for playing, and I'll see you in 2009!
Round one pairings for the Gauntlet are up! If you're in the event, you should be able to access your game forum (the link is on the left) and start to arrange your games with your opponent. Remember, you need to play your two 60 15 games (plus armageddon tie-breaker if needed) by 21:00 GMT on Monday, Novemeber 11; that's 16:00 ICC and WCL time, 13:00 FICS time. More details can be found in the Player Guide , which is highly recommended reading.
If you've missed round one, you can still latejoin until the beginning of round two via the entry page . Good chess to you all!
This five week tournament starts on November 3 and combines knock-out and Swiss sections with a live final involving players from all three servers (ICC, FICS and WCL).
Signups are now open . You can find the necessary link, along with links to other relevant pages, on the left under the Gauntlet 2008 header.
But before you register, please check this brief summary of the event so you know what you're committing yourself to (click on "Read More" below to see it).
