General Guidelines for our Vote Chess games

Participate:

Be involved. Look at the conversation your team mates are having about the move before voting. Help discuss the move. Please don’t just look at the board, vote, and leave. Vote chess is a team game. So let’s play it as a team, and we’ll all learn from each other in the process!

Make suggestions:

Don’t feel shy to give your opinion. Everyone has good ideas. So if you see a move you think would be good, or think a move someone else suggested wouldn’t be good, please tell us. We love having good friendly debates about moves. Also when you suggest or refute a move, please give your reasons or post a line that supports your move. Doing this will make others more likely to consider your move and will help us all think through the move more thoroughly.

Make the voting situation known:

When you vote and find that others have also voted, please let us know the vote tally. I don’t mean you should post the tally every time someone votes, but if there’s a significant amount of votes already made we need to know. Recently, we have had times where we come to an agreement on which move is best and then find that there are already several votes for another move. Although surprises are fun sometimes, this is not the kind of surprise we like. So please let us know if something like that is going on.

Be aware of the time:

Since we play timed games in this group it is important to be aware of the time we have for a move. If we have 1 day per move, you don't need to vote in the first few hours. Let the move be discussed before you vote so that we can make sure we find the best move. If it is a 72 hour or longer game, make your suggestion and, if possible, give it untill the last 24hrs for a rebuttal before you vote. In a faster 1 day game, you may need to vote and leave, but if you do, please tell us why you voted for the move you did so that we can also consider it.

Join the games:

Join the vote chess games! That’s what we’re here for! We understand that you won’t be able to vote on every move, but it is intimidating for the other team to see we have 20-30-40 players signed up. You only need to play when you have the time, and when you do, join the discussion and have fun!

Openings:

Please don’t suggest wild opening moves because it can cost us the game. We play book openings fairly deep. We are serious about the openings and follow lines in the book that favor us. We use the Game Explorer extensively as well as databases from other websites. We frequently post multiple lines so that players can choose which path we take, but we avoid the lines that are historically bad for our side. We have played many different openings and variations, so if you have an opening you want to try, feel free suggest it.

And finally…

Have fun, be passionate, and improve both your own chess skills and your team’s games. The debate is one of the best parts of vote chess, but it needs input from everyone. Don’t be afraid to stand up for your opinion in a game. All our active members know I will fight for a move I think is right until it is proved wrong or I run out of time. I will also argue against a move I think is not best. I’m not attacking anyone, I’m just being passionate about the game. I credit playing a lot of vote chess with 2000+ players as being the biggest reason I improved from 1500 to 1700 in rating. And remember, if there are two parties with opposing views, only one will get its way. So if the move you think is best is not the one that wins, be a good sport and let it pass by. None of us get our way all the time.

To our top players: Keep doing what you do. We have great leaders here. You explain your moves well and understand that it is a democracy. The move the highest rated player suggests does not always win the vote.

To our middle players: You are the backbone of this group. Most players fall into this range. Think for yourselves and don’t follow the pack blindly, you might see something a higher rated player doesn’t. Treat each move as if it were your own game and suggest your ideas.

To our lower rated players: Don’t be afraid to participate. Suggest your ideas because you will learn whatever the outcome is. Many times a player makes the right move for the wrong reason. Suggest your move with your reasoning, and you will learn a lot from the discussion.

To everyone: Let's all unite together and improve this team and move up in the Vote Chess Leaderboard. Keep up the good work, and fill up the discussion every turn!! See you at the games!

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