c4countdown

This tournament has finished.

• Champion: Bob De Caux.
  Runner-up: Thomas Cappleman.

[/size]
Welcome! Thanks to those who voted and commented on this tournament. The first 32 entrants were guaranteed a place in the tournament, with a standby entrant replacing one of the original 32, who had to withdraw entry.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Here are the details:

• Tourney name..........Gevin's Delight
  Dictionary................English
  Variant.....................Normal
  Format.....................Gevin's Delight
  Start date.................16 April 2012
  End date..................31 May 2012
  Matches...................R32 - best of 3; R16 and QF - best of 5; SF - best of 7; Final - best of 9
  Notes.......................Straight knockout
  Dates.......................R32: 16 April-3 May; R16: 24 April-6 May; QF: 3-11 May; SF: 11-24 May; Final: 31 May. All matches up to and including SF stage were decided by random draw.

About the tournament:
Please note that the original format was tweaked slightly. See the announcement below.
Gevin's Delight is essentially a 15 Rounder with the distribution of letters and numbers rounds reversed, such that there are 11 numbers rounds, 3 letters rounds and a conundrum round (NNNNLNNNNLNNNLC). The other difference from 15 Rounder is that Gevin's Delight is scored under 'Gevin rules', which means that 9 letter words score 9 points rather than the usual 18 points.

No-shows:
If a match is not completed within the allotted time period for a given round, it will be adjudicated at the discretion of the tournament director (me). There will be some flexibility in the dates, especially in the final stages of the tournament, but there should be plenty of time to complete matches. If all of the matches of a round are completed before the provisional date for the following round, I may bring forward the next round to an earlier date. You may withdraw from the tournament at any time, should you so wish.

Tied games:
If scores are tied after 15 rounds, the winner of a game will be decided by tiebreak numbers rounds - an all-new innovation for this tournament! These are just normal numbers rounds that will be played until the tie is broken.



Guaranteed entrants:

1. Michael Wallace (withdrew entry)
2. Martin Long
3. Bob De Caux (Champion)
4. Mark James
5. Andrew Feist
6. Innis Carson
7. Rhys Benjamin
8. Thomas Carey
9. Ian Volante
10. Jason Larsen
11. Steve Balog
12. Graeme Cole
13. Edwin Mead
14. Jamie French
15. John Gillies
16. Jennifer Steadman
17. Andy Platt
18. Gevin Chapwell
19. Marcus Hares
20. Matthew Tassier
21. Nik Mackintosh
22. James Bradley
23. Hugh Binnie
24. Giles Hutchings
25. Kieran Bray
26. Chris Hare
27. Robin McKay
28. Niall Seymour
29. Chris Butler
30. Michael Cullen
31. Nathan Cullen
32. Thomas Cappleman (Runner-up)


Standby entrants:

33. Zarte Siempre (replaced Michael Wallace)


Key: Red indicates that a player was eliminated from the tournament.

Defo in.

Count me in. This should be good!

In please, Adam

In please.

'In', or similar.

(ETA: Perhaps the best thing about this tournament is that, if the format summary page is to be believed, there has been exactly one human-v-human match in this format, ever, so far.)

In.

In! Although I voted for Masters.

In.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

In.

In.

Gin.

In, please.

In please Adam

In, please.

Out.

Shaking it all about.

No laydeez have entered the tourney yet? Time to change that. In.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING FORMAT CHANGES:


After consulting with Charlie, a new "Gevin's Delight" format has been made (thanks Charlie!). The key changes are outlined below and the original post will be edited to reflect them.

• 1) Picks will alternate between Player 1 (P1) and Player 2 (P2)
  2) Tied games will be decided by tiebreak numbers rounds - a brand new innovation for this tournament!

Just to clarify, P1 will pick the odd rounds and P2 will pick the even rounds. If the scores are tied after the conundrum (R15), then tiebreak numbers rounds will be played until there is a clear winner, with P2 picking R16, P1 picking R17 and so on (up to R15, P1 has one more numbers pick than P2, so it makes sense that the first tiebreak pick should go to P2).

There are good reasons for changing the format in this way. First of all, the essence of this format (presumably what prompted people to vote for it) is that it is heavily (although not solely) numbers-based. Therefore, Charlie kindly offered to institute numbers tiebreak rounds, as tiebreak conundrums wouldn't really fit with the theme of the tournament. These tiebreak numbers rounds could well lead to engrossing stand-offs between closely matched players.

Secondly, it should be fairer and more fun in the long run to have alternating picks. Say you are a 4-large specialist and you're playing someone who would normally beat you in a 15 Rounder, but who prefers to pick 1 large. In the old 'Gevin's Delight' format, you could have picked an entire game with 4 large numbers rounds, which may well have helped you to win that game. However, P1 (i.e., the person who would pick all of the rounds) alternates in games between a pair of players, so in the next game, your opponent could effectively nullify your 4-large prowess by picking 1 large throughout. Eventually, the novelty of picking all of the numbers rounds would wear off.

In the new format, both players get the chance to pick in every game, which should still give enough of a chance to the 4-large specialist picking 5 or 6 numbers rounds (rather than all 11) and at the same time, will mean that there's more chance of the 3 letters rounds and the conundrum round playing their part. Also, it's not all that fun to sit back and watch your opponent pick all of the rounds!

I know we've already had some discussion about this and people were generally content with the format as it was, but hopefully it's clear why the new format will be fairer and more exciting at the same time. Plus, you'll be treated to an all-new method of deciding tied games! Hopefully, this revamped format will be a success beyond this tournament, and Charlie has already expressed the possibility of it becoming a high-score format. The new tiebreak system isn't live yet, but will be installed with the next server update (before the tournament begins). As ever, questions and comments are welcome.

Excellent!

In.

Why am I not surprised?

Genius, Jason!

Somebody is entering their own tournament!

In please Adam - it's not as scary as I first thought!

Adam Gillard wrote:IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING FORMAT CHANGES:




1) Picks will alternate between Player 1 (P1) and Player 2 (P2)
2) Tied games will be decided by tiebreak numbers rounds - a brand new innovation for this tournament!

In please.
1) seems rather too fair, but 2) is definitely a good thing.

In please

In please

In please.

I'll give it a try, please.

In, please.

Yes please Adam.

There are 3 guaranteed places left in this tournament; subsequent entrants will have to qualify unless people pull out before the start of the tournament proper. I think Jen would like some female company among the entrants, so if any ladies have been considering entering the tournament, now's the time!

In please

The first round (R32) is now full. I've just realised that I've made a bit of a boo-boo in that if I want 32 people in the first round, but will also allow subsequent entrants to qualify, then I should have left space for qualifiers rather than filling the first round completely with the first 32 people to enter. There are still 10 days left until I said entries would close. I think the best policy now would be to scrap qualifying altogether and any entries from now on will be standbys in case anyone drops out before or during R32 (i.e., the 33rd person to enter will be the first standby, the 34th person to enter will be the second standby and so on). I'm sorry if anyone misses out on a chance to qualify because of my incompetence, but you were too slow to enter!

THE TOURNAMENT IS NOW FULL AND WILL BEGIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Since the tournament is now full, I've decided there's no point in waiting until 1 May to get it started. Some people might not be available to play their match yet and would have entered the tournament in good faith knowing that they wouldn't have to, so I won't change the provisional deadline for first-round (R32) matches - you'll still have until 13 May to complete your best-of-3 - but I'm hoping to kick off the second round (R16) as soon as (about) 14 of the first-round fixtures have been completed, which should hopefully be long before 13 May.

I'll still accept standby entries until the first round is completed. I'll conduct the draw and enter the matches into the tournament system after Charlie has approved the tournament (hopefully at some point today).

I've done the draw. All matches are best-of-3 and have been entered into the tournament system. Gevin's Delight 2012 is go, go, go!

• A) Andrew Feist v Thomas Carey
  B) Andy Platt v Giles Hutchings
  C) Bob De Caux v Steve Balog
  D) Chris Butler v Edwin Mead
  E) Chris Hare v Jen Steadman
  F) Gevin Chapwell v Michael Wallace*
  G) Graeme Cole v Martin Long
  H) Hugh Binnie v Michael Cullen
  I) Ian Volante v Innis Carson
  J) James Bradley v Mark James
  K) Jamie French v Rhys Benjamin
  L) Jason Larsen v Nik Mackintosh
  M) John Gillies v Thomas Cappleman
  N) Kieran Bray v Nathan Cullen
  O) Marcus Hares v Matthew Tassier
  P) Niall Seymour v Robin McKay

*Michael Wallace withdrew from the tournament and was replaced in the draw by Zarte Siempre

All right Nik!

I have to start practising...

Ohhhh bollocks

I've been informed that one of the guaranteed entrants has to pull out of the tournament. I won't disclose who it is yet, as the next person to enter the tournament will take their place in the first round draw (and it would be unfair if they knew who their opponent would be before entering).

The remaining place has been filled by Zarte Siempre. I'll still accept standby entries until the Round of 32 is completed, though.

What the heck happened to Michael Wallace?

Do winners play the winners of the game above/below or is it a fresh draw jobby, Adam?

There will be a fresh random draw before each round (up to and including the semi-finals).

I've gone ahead with the draw for the Round of 16. All Round of 16 matches are best-of-5; the matchups have been added to the tourney system under the new heading of 'Gevin's Delight - Round of 16'. I've put the same provisional deadline as there was for the Round of 32 (13 May), so there should be plenty of time to play the matches.

• A) Andrew Feist v Nathan Cullen
  B) Andy Platt v Niall Seymour
  C) Bob De Caux v Graeme Cole
  D) Chris Butler v Nik Mackintosh
  E) Chris Hare v Gevin Chapwell
  F) Hugh Binnie v Innis Carson
  G) Jamie French v Matthew Tassier
  H) Mark James v Thomas Cappleman

Adam, me and Zarte have played our second game here - http://apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=681691. We didn't use the tournament game because of the earlier problems, but that's our games done now.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Adam, me and Zarte have played our second game here - http://apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=681691. We didn't use the tournament game because of the earlier problems, but that's our games done now.

I've retroactively added it to the tournament, and the tourney system has cleverly recognised it as part of your best-of-3 and declared you the winner of the tie. You will play Chris Hare in the Round of 16 (best of 5).

Adam Gillard wrote:A) Andrew Feist OR Thomas Carey v Nathan Cullen

We're playing our game tomorrow.

Thomas Carey wrote:

Adam Gillard wrote:A) Andrew Feist OR Thomas Carey v Nathan Cullen

We're playing our game tomorrow.

Cool; thanks for letting me know.

I've sent Rhys another email today (he didn't respond to my email of last week) suggesting we play Sunday evening.

Jamie French wrote:I've sent Rhys another email today (he didn't respond to my email of last week) suggesting we play Sunday evening.

OK; thanks Jamie.

I've pressed on with the draw for the Quarter Finals. These will be best-of-5 matches again. Matchups have been added to the tourney system under the new heading of 'Gevin's Delight - Quarter Finals'. I've imposed a deadline 2 weeks today (Thursday 17 May 2012), so there should be plenty of time to play the matches. Here are the fixtures:

• A) Andrew Feist v Andy Platt
  B) Bob De Caux v Matthew Tassier
  C) Chris Butler v Chris Hare
  D) Innis Carson v Thomas Cappleman

Have fun!

I've conducted the draw for the Semi Finals. These will be best-of-7 matches. Matchups have been added to the tourney system under the new heading of 'Gevin's Delight - Semi Finals'. The deadline is Tuesday 22 May 2012, so there should be plenty of time to play the matches. Here are the fixtures:

• A) Andy Platt v Thomas Cappleman
  B) Bob De Caux v Chris Butler

Happy Gevinning!

Crunch time

So, Thomas and Bob emerged victorious from their respective semi-finals and will compete in the best-of-9 final, scheduled for Thursday 31 May 2012 at 2pm.

Be there; be sure of it!

Congratulations to Bob De Caux, Champion of Gevin's Delight 2012, and to Thomas Cappleman, Runner-up. Looks like it was a thrilling final - shame I was busy at the time. That first game was phenomenal!

Thanks to all those who took part in this tournament; you all helped it to run smoothly. It was a long haul from the voting stage to the end of the tournament, but I hope people got what they wanted in the end. Thanks again to everyone for voting so that I could run a tournament based on popular demand, and to Charlie for tweaking the format to make it both fairer and more exciting. I hope everyone who took part had a positive experience; if you have feedback of any kind, then please reply to this thread or send me a private message.

I may well run another tournament around this time next year, probably in a different format based on another forum poll or suchlike. One of the aims of this tournament was to bring a fringe, non-high-score format out of obscurity so that more people could enjoy it. There are already positive signs that 'Gevin's Delight' is being enjoyed outside of the tournament, and not just by Gevin himself! Plus, it's a high score format now, which can only help.

All wrapped up by the end of May - thanks everyone!

I'm thinking of running another tournament in May and got rather nostalgic reading this thread and the earlier voting thread. I'm kind of going to miss things like colouring people's names in when they get knocked out, what with the automatic nature of the apterous sign-ups and the tourney system in general now. The Gevin's Delight tournament last year was a resounding success, largely due to the tournament format being based on a popular vote, and also thanks to people completing their fixtures very promptly. Although it was a great tournament, I want to go with a different format this year. I was thinking perhaps of running the first tournament with the new 15 Rounder format, but that might be a bit boring. I probably won't run it in a non-high-score format again, because I don't think any of them will be popular enough (basically the ones that lost out in the voting last year). Any format ideas will be most welcome; I might run a forum poll again if I get enough decent suggestions. I'd like to go with a format that hasn't been played in an apterous tournament before (excluding one-offs like Marcus's Olympics), or at least one that hasn't been done for a few years.

Blind junior. Niche, not done before, not anywhere near as tough as normal blind? Other than that, how about 9-round goatdown - maybe enough variance to shake up the order a little?