The Clan System
31 Dec '21 23:56While I still believe that the Clan system is the best chess community (Chess.com & Lichess don’t have anything that compares), it is obvious to me that it has become flawed and hence open to abuse. I say this from a position of having no axe to grind given IVV has just finished as top clan of 2021.
I see the number of clans have reduced to 5 pages, where at one stage there were over 30 pages. My guess is the number of clans will continue to reduce, unless there are some radical changes.
Firstly, sandbagging needs to be eradicated. This is easily done by introducing a Clan Entry Rating (CER) similar to TER. Only clan games affect the CER. This will significantly reduce the amount of sandbagging. Over the years ‘some clans’ have systemically abused the current ratings system, and this has undoubtedly aided a monopoly of the clan system.
Secondly, the points system is too heavily geared towards clans with a lot of players. The Net points system, whilst attempting to achieve a semblance of qualitative measure, clearly favours clans with 15+ players. There needs to be a more qualitative scoring system.
In addition, the points system is flawed in that a defeat is a double whammy … you lose the same amount of points as your opponent wins, whether you lose 7-6 or 7-1. There has to be some ‘compensation’ for the losing clan depending on games won.
Each year there is an element of ‘points sandbagging’. For example, ‘some clans’ gave up chasing IVV months ago. Their Net points haven’t changed much in the past 2 months, allowing the Bads to go past. The reason is that ‘some clans’ have been spinning out challenges that are won, thereby not claiming the points in 2021. Just watch how many net wins ‘some clans’ have in January for challenges that really relate to 2022.
I believe that the clan system is RHP’s sole differentiator from the other chess sites. Without it, RHP will struggle to thrive. I believe that making some radical changes and stopping ‘some clans’ from systemically abusing the system would make the clan system fairer and thereby encourage more clans to be formed and fewer clans to be lost.
Of course, just my opinion, but from someone who has spent a lot of time understanding the dynamics of the clan system over the past 12 months, and who has been able to work around the failings and still prove that the sandbaggers can be beaten.
Eitherway, good luck all you clan leaders for 2022. You all do a great job!
I see the number of clans have reduced to 5 pages, where at one stage there were over 30 pages. My guess is the number of clans will continue to reduce, unless there are some radical changes.
Firstly, sandbagging needs to be eradicated. This is easily done by introducing a Clan Entry Rating (CER) similar to TER. Only clan games affect the CER. This will significantly reduce the amount of sandbagging. Over the years ‘some clans’ have systemically abused the current ratings system, and this has undoubtedly aided a monopoly of the clan system.
Secondly, the points system is too heavily geared towards clans with a lot of players. The Net points system, whilst attempting to achieve a semblance of qualitative measure, clearly favours clans with 15+ players. There needs to be a more qualitative scoring system.
In addition, the points system is flawed in that a defeat is a double whammy … you lose the same amount of points as your opponent wins, whether you lose 7-6 or 7-1. There has to be some ‘compensation’ for the losing clan depending on games won.
Each year there is an element of ‘points sandbagging’. For example, ‘some clans’ gave up chasing IVV months ago. Their Net points haven’t changed much in the past 2 months, allowing the Bads to go past. The reason is that ‘some clans’ have been spinning out challenges that are won, thereby not claiming the points in 2021. Just watch how many net wins ‘some clans’ have in January for challenges that really relate to 2022.
I believe that the clan system is RHP’s sole differentiator from the other chess sites. Without it, RHP will struggle to thrive. I believe that making some radical changes and stopping ‘some clans’ from systemically abusing the system would make the clan system fairer and thereby encourage more clans to be formed and fewer clans to be lost.
Of course, just my opinion, but from someone who has spent a lot of time understanding the dynamics of the clan system over the past 12 months, and who has been able to work around the failings and still prove that the sandbaggers can be beaten.
Eitherway, good luck all you clan leaders for 2022. You all do a great job!
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