Group policy.
Group Members can make mandatory game offers to each other (if not otherwise specified). Such challenges may NOT be declined... Matches are negotiated upon cheater-unfriendly conditions that are convincing for the challenging side. Everybody is encouraged to apply. Participation in the SL Chess Community is requirement. Founded on May the 1st 2013.
Ideology. The “anti-doping tests” have long become Standard in various sports. Chess is also sport and all know what “doping” in chess is. Not surprisingly, there appeared some number of quite strong players in SL, including self-declared grandmasters and masters who did not accept blitz challenges, for some reason. They gladly participated in SL tournaments and got paid almost unrestrained. Paid tournaments in SL became a magnet for these people. This group appeared to be the reaction to such Second Life phenomenon. The Core assumption: group Members assume that the relative strengths of chess players are convergent in any variant of chess. In other words if you play blitz/bullet or chess960 (Fischer random chess) the results should reveal statistically your relative strength the same way classical or rapid chess would do (taking into account numerous possible factors that may cause irregularities as well: http://en.lichess.org/forum/team-second-life-chess-community/performance-evaluation#2). So If you are GM or IM you will also be relatively strong in those other variants of chess; but if you're not - then not, as it's hard and sometimes nearly impossible for cheaters to consult engines and setup random positions manually while experiencing time shortages during the game. Chess960 is to be taken seriously: many prominent GM’s - Leko, Svidler, Aronian, Nakamura and others, won Chess960 contests at the very top GM level in respective years. If you would like to join this group you must share this ideology and in addition to that bring the following motivation with you:
1) zero tolerance for cheating at chess. If you believe "it's amusing", "not a big deal"... then you don't qualify for this group, move on.
2) The chess skills of ANY avatar in Second Life can be put in question, and It should be dealt with. Such suspicion is INHERENT to the nature of Second Life and online chess in general; it's okay "not to be sure" about someone; it’s not an insult, given the subtle distinction between suspect and explicit accusation. If you feel yourself insulted because someone challanges you, then you don't qualify for this group. Go your way.
3) If you apply to join this group you confirm that you’re not afraid to lose games; that you value your personal progress higher than a tournament result; that you are ready to expose yourself to various possible tests, including blitz/bullet games, chess960 or combined and to expose them to public viewing too; that having received a challenge from another Member, you will not try to avoid it, instead you will respect the duel and meet it.
4) This group is solely aimed at contributing to the fair play. Hence, if you have ever been seen griefing chess players, have any such issue with any of the existing Members then you can't be in the group as long as those issues are not resolved.
5) Membership and participation in the SL Chess Community ("Lichess team") is now requirement. The current eligible minimum of games to play: 200 games, among them minimum 100 rated games. Group members can send notices and invite new members. An invitation into the group automatically implies such into the Community (which is not working the other way around).
If you agree to these norms, then you can wear the title "Chess Player Verified".
Group Members can make mandatory game offers to each other (if not otherwise specified). Such challenges may NOT be declined... Matches are negotiated upon cheater-unfriendly conditions that are convincing for the challenging side. Everybody is encouraged to apply. Participation in the SL Chess Community is requirement. Founded on May the 1st 2013.
Ideology. The “anti-doping tests” have long become Standard in various sports. Chess is also sport and all know what “doping” in chess is. Not surprisingly, there appeared some number of quite strong players in SL, including self-declared grandmasters and masters who did not accept blitz challenges, for some reason. They gladly participated in SL tournaments and got paid almost unrestrained. Paid tournaments in SL became a magnet for these people. This group appeared to be the reaction to such Second Life phenomenon. The Core assumption: group Members assume that the relative strengths of chess players are convergent in any variant of chess. In other words if you play blitz/bullet or chess960 (Fischer random chess) the results should reveal statistically your relative strength the same way classical or rapid chess would do (taking into account numerous possible factors that may cause irregularities as well: http://en.lichess.org/forum/team-second-life-chess-community/performance-evaluation#2). So If you are GM or IM you will also be relatively strong in those other variants of chess; but if you're not - then not, as it's hard and sometimes nearly impossible for cheaters to consult engines and setup random positions manually while experiencing time shortages during the game. Chess960 is to be taken seriously: many prominent GM’s - Leko, Svidler, Aronian, Nakamura and others, won Chess960 contests at the very top GM level in respective years. If you would like to join this group you must share this ideology and in addition to that bring the following motivation with you:
1) zero tolerance for cheating at chess. If you believe "it's amusing", "not a big deal"... then you don't qualify for this group, move on.
2) The chess skills of ANY avatar in Second Life can be put in question, and It should be dealt with. Such suspicion is INHERENT to the nature of Second Life and online chess in general; it's okay "not to be sure" about someone; it’s not an insult, given the subtle distinction between suspect and explicit accusation. If you feel yourself insulted because someone challanges you, then you don't qualify for this group. Go your way.
3) If you apply to join this group you confirm that you’re not afraid to lose games; that you value your personal progress higher than a tournament result; that you are ready to expose yourself to various possible tests, including blitz/bullet games, chess960 or combined and to expose them to public viewing too; that having received a challenge from another Member, you will not try to avoid it, instead you will respect the duel and meet it.
4) This group is solely aimed at contributing to the fair play. Hence, if you have ever been seen griefing chess players, have any such issue with any of the existing Members then you can't be in the group as long as those issues are not resolved.
5) Membership and participation in the SL Chess Community ("Lichess team") is now requirement. The current eligible minimum of games to play: 200 games, among them minimum 100 rated games. Group members can send notices and invite new members. An invitation into the group automatically implies such into the Community (which is not working the other way around).
If you agree to these norms, then you can wear the title "Chess Player Verified".