Chaos: That is true. I have just been playing in a fast espionage team tournament, invited by the captain to join his team. As I had no fast espionage rating at the time, I was paired with all the other low rated players. 12/12 easy wins :)

But I do agree with Eric as well, it would be much easier and less work if the entry was open. Is it possible to eject people just before the tournament start if they have not met the criteria?

As to when, well firstly need to find someone, then teach them so that they will at least beat your and Eric's student End January, beginning February?

happy hermit: That was my first thought, but  a rating below1500 or unrated still means they could have a very high rating in a different variant. They may just never have played fast espionage.

Chaos:

You can make it, I believe, an open tournament with a rating cap. 1500 seems a reasonable cap and I would guess you would get more participants that way.

I will look for a player right away.

Chaos:

It's Tony Gardner . . . Mark had it.

SL-Mark:

I think some of the Dark Chess players will do well here. :)

Nothingness: Thank you, though it was really a Chaos idea.
I think some method should be applied in assigning the mentors, otherwise Eric will go for those at the top of the Dark Chess ratings, all of whom have not played espionage (here)! :)

edit = spelling correction!

Chaos: I was thinking it was an anagram of his name, rather than a abbreviation! Tony G = tgcon?

Chaos:

Hall of Fame -er :)

happy hermit: HoFer?

SL-Mark:

Can you guess which Sab League HoFer pioneer54 is? :)

will there be a list of trainers... that would be nice to list the trainers and assign a mentor to each newbie that registers. So I think that all the current SL members should Mentor a newbie. In my new job I have a Mentor who helps me through any problems that may occur or questions that i may have. That is a great idea Mark.

happy hermit: That would be a very good choice. Well discovered!
Perhaps I could interest vin in becoming my pupil :)

SL-Mark:

I must go and find a worthy pupil.

Perhaps I can interest pioneer54. :)

Chaos: "I'm already trying to get some beginner's (they've only played a few games) interested in really learning the game. If everyone of you will train 1 pupil the tournament could become very interesting indeed! We can compete with who has trained the winner!"

This is a very interesting idea! Assuming the trainers are reasonably competitive, you are pitting the trainers (through their pupils) against each other too.

lukulus: But even Thursday last year July, it was raining that day too, only it was light rain

SL-Mark: Turist is in July in London and there is lots of rain every day. He asked Londoner "Hey, Do you have summer in London?" And Londoner replied: "Yes, of course, we have. Last year was in Thursday..."

Resher: I'll pack them away for the next few days then. Have a great time!
P.S. What do you call six weeks of rain in Scotland?
Summer!

SL-Mark: I hope they don't all do that - I'm off to Edinburgh for a few days tomorrow and although it's a lovely place, I don't think bagpipes would add much to my enjoyment

A Scotsman visited New York for his annual holiday and stayed at a large hotel. However, he didnae feel that the natives were friendly. "At 4 o'clock every morning," he told a friend, "they hammered on my bedroom door, one the walls, even on the floor and ceiling. Heck, sometimes they hammered so loud I could hardly hear myself playing the bagpipes."

Chaos: Nice One!
Guess who joined the 28 hr mini rush ladder?
Careful you don't get kicked off the site!

Interesting is the difference between Patrick and Fencer. On BK, under Links, there is a long list of other game sites including IYT!!! (they do look like referral links though, so Fencer might receive a few cents if you click them)

SL-Mark: I already directed people to BK in my biographical information at IYT, and now you told me this I recommend BK also in the ratings for all the sabotage games on my profile at IYT

On IYT, a month or so ago, I changed my display name from "SL-Mark" to "SL-Mark playing on http://brainking.com"
Our good friend Patrick has now changed my display name to my login name and I can no longer change my display name!

SL-Mark: ah, this was the game we agreed to place our headquarters on the front line, right?  So I first have to get around those to get to the mines!

Chaos: a1, d1, e1, g1, j1

Celticjim: I was just teasing Jim
You are right about how the instincts improve over time, just that I lack the same confidence to attack blind as you do.
Mmmm, is that a weakness I have exposed?

SL-Mark: So you won't tell me the location of your mines?

Chaos: No no no! Go for victory not the mines. Attack the army every time

aaru: Oops, sorry aaru. Just re-readiing my previous message to Chaos, I didn't mean to imply that you are not a top player too!
I do find it amazing that you have managed to get 100 mines since the achievements started. Congrats

SL-Mark:
It's amazing how often our instincts are right with this game,I think so anyway.I rarely lose a piece throwing it into an unknown opponents...........
point in question,just now I pushed 2 recons up onto an opponents line revealing 4 unknowns and 3 of the 4 were exactly what I thought(2 recons and a 4).I had no clue on the 4th but the other 3 pieces gave clues with the movement.no pieces were taken beforehand ...that's my story and I'm stickin to it

SL-Mark: You mean I should go for mines instead of victory? Ok, if you tell me your mines I promise I'll change my strategy in our game.

Chaos: If all is lost attack the mines.
No mines, shame, but then you are only exhibiting the traits of a top player!

Celticjim: Bah humbug
How many did you get wrong to achieve that score?

aaru: nice one aaru
now I'm curious what you did to get to be the MASTER

aaru: Indeed you're the one and only espionage master so far! I find it hard to get the mines. If I'm in a game about to capture them my oppnent usually resigns.

Celticjim:
http://brainking.com/pl/Achievements?aid=214&submit=Wy%C5%9Blij&p=1

oooh
I'm the 11th Lord of Midnight

espionage achievement-capture 100 unseen enemy pieces

1. [Celticjim, Ireland,23. November 2009, 20:56:33
2. [happy hermit, United States,1. November 2009, 13:47:31
3. [chessik, Czech Republic,24. October 2009, 14:29:26
4. [Chaos, Netherlands,12. October 2009, 09:44:09
5. [AlterMann, Germany, 14. September 2009, 22:51:57
6. [SentineL, United Kingdom, 6. September 2009, 21:21:37
7. [aaru, Poland,21. August 2009, 07:01:24
8. [Borowitz, France,16. July 2009, 23:14:12
9. [FrancescoLR, United States,15. July 2009, 06:37:49
10. [Magrata, Czech Republic,13 July 2009, 12:20:05
11. [ardi, Slovakia,7. July 2009, 07:45:48

Chaos: Great, I'll join in too

Yvet,the poll ends after something like 30 days go by without a vote ....
looks so far like the majority prefer a small fast and quick tourny.Sounds good ta me
I sometimes wonder why there aren't so many more new players picking this game up.Maybe we should think about offering incentives as Nothingness touched on before with the memberships.

who win the original rookie tourney?

Chaos:

Brilliant.

a 4 player variant i think would be great... I think we should gather some ideas and submit it to powers that be!

How often will we use a poll? We obviously cannot use a poll every time we cannot decide on choosing a game type. This process will become very narrow minded and become extremely Boring after awhile. We cannot be a league of only two variants. Regardless of our feelings of certain variants. If we expect to improve our games we must become strong in all aspects of our game. It sis obvious that 90% of us prefer the open ( non-volcano) variants, but we cannot neglect the volcano versions either. the other option is asking for a new variant. Which I feel that could be implemented very quickly on this site. A variant that we all can agree upon.