Idaho Match Starting Soon!

New Met League will host a match in Idaho called Ada County vs The Rest of the State (ADACT vs TROTS). There will be 7 players on each team.

More later...

Marketing will start during holiday week

Marketing materials are being reviewed. I'm pretty swamped at work, so the marketing hasn't started yet. However, I will coordinate with CCLA to start marketing around the winter holiday week.

Good things are coming!

Professional Review of Marketing Materials

We're having marketing collateral reviewed by a chess professional. Once the review is done, we can start active marketing.

Marketing Campaign Plan - outline submitted to CCLA

An outline of a New Met League marketing campaign has been submitted to CCLA for review. Once review and adjustments are made, we will actively reach out to OTB Clubs and State Orgs throughout America.

Stay tuned, good things are coming!

Busy time at work, will start marketing soon

I've been rather busy at work, but can start to see where daylight might creep in. I have some OTB Clubs in New England that Eric sent me (thanks), and I will be following up with OTB Clubs in Idaho and Florida. More in a few days.

CCLA / New Met League in Susan Polgar's blog!

Susan was kind enough to author a blog entry dedicated to correspondence chess. We replied to it, and she created an additional blog entry especially for CCLA / New Met League!

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/10/ccla-new-met-league.html

Please share with friends and help people get started talking about New Met League :-)

"Introduction to New Met League" now available

An "Introduction to New Met League" is now available on the right hand column under "Documents...". It explains the benefits of New Met League to OTB Clubs, as well as reviews how to join, signup and play.

Newsletter #2 now available

New Met League newsletter #2 is now available. On the right column is a "Newsletter" section, find "Newsletter #2..." and click on it.

We are packed with good news. In the short time since the inception of New Met League, we have four OTB Clubs actively competing in two matches, the CCLA Board has approved the match and fee structure, Idaho is considering an "OTB Club vs. rest-of-Idaho" match and we are fine tuning our processes.

We are now ready to do active marketing. I believe Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have additional interested Clubs. Specifically I'd like to get in touch with:

• Mechanics CC in San Fransisco
• UPitt CC in Pittsburgh
• Boylston CC in Boston (I might see them Saturday)
• Marshall CC in New York

If anyone has contacts in these or other interested clubs, please let me know.

CCLA approves New Met League structure!

This is great news. The CCLA Board has approved the match and fee structure to support the New Met League activity. In the newsletter #2 (should be out tonight), you will see a full description of the partnerships that make New Met League possible.

Idaho looks like they will be the next to jump in. The President of the Idaho Chess Association is thinking they may start with an OTB Club vs. "The State". Since they are a rural state, this may be the way to go. Then OTB chess players across the state can compete against a big time Idaho chess club without travel.

This is a great example of the flexibility offered by New Met League, and the new exciting venues offered by this type of "hybrid" play. Webserver correspondence chess doesn't compete against OTB chess, it helps OTB chess players compete in new ways!

New Met League activity in Idaho?

It looks real, we'll have more on this in a few days :-)

Newsletter #2 is in review

Newsletter #2 draft is complete, and being reviewed by CCLA. It explains all about New Met League and introduces the first four teams in the League! It's a great issue and will be out in the next few days.

Amici Sumus!

Two Matches in progress - Games viewable

We have two matches running right now, on the ICCF webserver, where the sections are managed by CCLA.

The tournaments are viewable by the public:

• Punxsutawney CC vs. Sven Brask CC (tournament crosstable)
• Greater Worcester CC vs. MetroWest CC (tournament crosstable)

NOTE: In the crosstables, you can see the games live minus 5 moves. Move your cursor over the crosstable entries (there is a small dot in each square that represents the game). Once your cursor is over the dot you should see it change since it is over a live link. Click to see the game (minus 5 moves).

You will notice that each match is a different format. The Punxsy/Sven match is an all-play-all format, and the GWCC/MetroWest match is a board by board match. Once we get player feedback we'll determine what format to use going forward. My money is on the board by board match format.

This weekend, I'll continue recruiting clubs. If your OTB Club is interested, please let me know.

Match #2!

MetroWest CC and Greater Worcester CC rosters are in, entry fees in or on the way, and Jerry is creating the section.

I'll post when it's up.

This is great!

The Matches have Started!

As noted in the last post, the Quad format (board for board) proved to be challenging (based on ICCF templates) for the first round so Jerry (of CCLA) lined up the first two teams that sent in their entry fee in an all-play-all format. We are still waiting on Greater Worcester CC (GWCC) to send in their entry fee - Donna assures me it's on the way this weekend.

The first match is Punxsutawney CC vs. Sven Brask, all-play-all

This will be a good way to cut our teeth. Once GCWW has their entry fee in I believe the next match is MetroWest CC vs. GWCC.

After Labor Day, UConn CC and other Clubs will get their rosters in, and we can start a discussion about formats, sequencing of matches, etc so we can try to get a ladder put together. Ideally we should be able to structure matches toward a championship format.

CCLA has a webpage link for the matches:
CCLA homepage: http://chessbymail.com/
CCLA server page (top left link on homepage): http://chessbymail.com/weblink.htm
Link to Punxsy CC vs. Sven Brask CC (look toward bootom of CCLA server page): http://www.iccf-webchess.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=12374

Currently the public can only see the games when they are done, in the future we'd like to see the games with a five move delay.

This is great stuff, and after the initial matches we should be able to get to a good rythym!

Update on first match

The Quad format was presenting challenges to the default templates in the ICCF webserver. CCLA proposed that we have two 2-OTB Club matches instead. This is better since it is simpler for both the TD and the OTB Clubs and players. After we get the kinks out we can always take a fresh look at match structures.

The team lineup is:

• Punxsutawney CC vs. MetroWest CC
• Greater Worcester CC vs. Sven Brask CC
  

After Labor Day, we'll get UConn and other teams online.

All Team Captains need to send in their rosters immediately via email to Jerry Honn of CCLA so he can construct the match on the ICCF websever. Team Captains also need to send in their $25 match fee ($6.25 per player) to Jerry Honn by post. Team Captains have been notified by email.

There is nothing else standing in the way of starting, beyond getting info and fees to Jerry.

CCLA will have links to crosstables online at the CCLA website (see link on the right column under "Resources"). Both players and the public will be able to follow the games live, minus 5 moves. The move delay will discourage the temptation to kibbitz. Remember, it is legal for players to use databases and books, but it is illegal to use chess playing/analysis engines, or other people to determine your moves.

I'll blog when the match starts.

Sven Brask URL fix in Website

The URL for Sven Brask is fixed in the website, and is also given here:
www.svenbraskcc.org

We have ignition!

I was informed by CCLA tonight that everything is in order for the first match, and we can send in the entry fee to get started. Here are the details:

1st New Met League Match
====================

Format:

• Quad, 4 OTB Club teams
  

OTB Clubs in Quad (1 team of 4 players for each OTB Club), with Points of Contacts (POC):

• Punxsutawney CC - Jason Smith
  
• MetroWest CC - Harvey Reed (not playing)
  
• Greater Worcester CC - Donna Alerie
  
• Sven Brask CC - Eric Berkey
  

Time control:

• 30 days / 10 moves

Entry Fee:

• $25.00 per OTB Club ($6.25 per player)
• Details sent in email to New Met League email list
  

Start date:

• ASAP
• I'll send a general announcement to everyone when the exact date is determined
  
• Jerry will then send appropriate emails to players with complete instructions

Further Info:

• Website (new!): http://metrowestchess.org/NewMetLeague/
  
• Blog (new!): http://newmetleague.blogspot.com/ (the original one is for general discussion, use this for all New Met League details)

Misc:

• Other OTB Clubs already in preparation like Univ of Conn CC or the Greater Worcester CC 2nd team, please continue assembling your rosters. Once we get going, everyone will have a chance to play. Look on the New Met League blog (right column) for other OTB Clubs we're in discussion with.
  

This will be a great match - good chess to all!

New Met League Website Up

We have our website up and running with the first page:
http://metrowestchess.org/NewMetLeague/

Please contact me if you have ideas for contributing content.

Welcome to New Met League!

This blog is dedicated to updates and announcements of the New Met League. For background info on how all of this started, visit the "Correspondence Chess In Cyberspace" blog. That blog is dedicated to promoting hybrid activities of OTB and correspondence chess.