SB Weekly 5 Info

In a nutshell

  • Six or seven weeks, starting on Tuesday, January 5th 2027
  • Round Robin format
  • One game per week on FICS
  • Default game control: 90' + 30'' inc.; you can set other preferences in your profile
  • SB tourney feature "Schedule ahead": enabled

Joining

1. Understand how Snailbucket works.
2. If you have not yet done so: Create your SB account.
3. Log in. Sign up to the tourney between December 15th and December 29th.

The number and rating gaps of newly confirmed players will constantly impact the number, size and format (Single or Double Round Robin) of the provisional buckets. Given enough participants, we're aiming for smaller buckets with smaller rating gaps, rather than one big bucket for everyone (as we've done in the SB Monthly). Buckets will be finalized after the sign-up deadline.

BYEs: No BYE requests; but there's Schedule ahead.

Profile

1. Please speed up negotiations by marking bad times in your profile. Use FICS server time.
2. You may also set Game Control Preferences. If two player's preferences match, that game control will be used. If not, the default (90' + 30'' inc.) will be used.

Dates

Pairings for all rounds will be posted on January 5th, and all game forums will be opened at once.

Start of official rounds: Tuesday, 2200 FICS server time. Access your game forum, start negotiations.
1st contact deadline: Thursday, 2200 FICS server time. Meet this deadline, or you may have to accept one of your opponent's offers.
2nd contact deadline: Friday, 2200 FICS server time. Meet this deadline, or your opponent may claim a forfeit win.

Official rounds work the same way you know from previous SB/TL tournaments, with these start dates:

Round 1: Tuesday, January 5th
Round 2: Tuesday, January 12th
Round 3: Tuesday, January 19th
Round 4: Tuesday, January 26th
Round 5: Tuesday, February 2nd
Round 6: Tuesday, February 9th
Round 7: Tuesday, February 16th (there may be no 7th round)

You may play every game during the respective official round, or the two extension weeks following it. You are also encouraged to schedule (and even play) your games ahead of the official round. This might make scheduling easier for players with full calendars; see Schedule ahead for examples.

Negotiations

Make this tournament a memorable, friendly experience for your opponent.
Please speak English.
Talk to your opponent only in your game forum.
Make at least three distinct time offers (hours apart and/or on different days).
Use FICS server time. That's EDT/EST which you can compare to your local time by typing the date command.
Pay attention to your opponent's bad times.
Reply to your opponent fast (ideally within 24 hours).
Allow 24 hours buffer between setting the clock and game start.

For example, you might post in your game forum:

Hi!

Thanks for your message, your proposed times don't work for me this weekend.
How about the following:

Sat/Sun 1700-2100, or Mon 0700?

FICS settings

Check your server settings. Type (or copy and paste) into your FICS command console:

var

If necessary, make the following adjustments:

set notakeback 1
set private 0
set noescape 0
set rated 1
set autoflag 1

We have written a Help article about avoiding to lose a game accidentally. The short version is:

set f7 !private and !noescape and rated
set formula f7

Starting the game

Check your FICS settings (see above). Send your opponent a match challenge, e.g. "match pchesso 90 30 rated black". If the server warns you that a disconnection will be considered a forfeit, abort the game. You and your opponent must "set noescape 0". Resend the match challenge. If the game got played, please report the result in the game forum by clicking the appropriate button.

If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for your game, your opponent may claim a forfeit win.

Game play

Applicable TL rules apply:

  • silence
  • fair play
  • no kibitzing
  • no takebacks
  • no repetitive draw offers

Assistance of any kind is prohibited during your game.

Tie-breaks

A tie-break round (possibly with shorter time controls) may follow for those who are tied for first place.