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Round Robin system - 9 teams Round 1Team Costa Rica - Team Jamaica - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=488826Uruguay - Nicaragua - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=488532Team USA: North-Central - CUBA - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=492824Equipo Ecuador - Bolivia - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=488674 Round 2CUBA - Equipo Ecuador http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=498678Nicaragua - Team USA: North-Central http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=500348Team Jamaica - Uruguay http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=498520Team Venezuela - Team Costa Rica http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=498346 Round 3Uruguay -Team Venezuela http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=509694Team USA: North-Central - Team Jamaica http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=509372Equipo Ecuador - Nicaragua http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=509642Bolivia - CUBA http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=509768 Round 4Nicaragua - BoliviaTeam Jamaica - Equipo EcuadorTeam Venezuela - Team USA: North-CentralTeam Costa Rica - Uruguay Round 5Team USA: North-Central - Team Costa RicaEquipo Ecuador - Team VenezuelaBolivia - Team JamaicaCUBA - Nicaragua Round 6Team Jamaica - CUBATeam Venezuela - BoliviaTeam Costa Rica - Equipo EcuadorUruguay - Team USA: North-Central Round 7Equipo Ecuador - UruguayBolivia - Team Costa RicaCUBA - Team VenezuelaNicaragua - Team Jamaica Round 8Team Venezuela - NicaraguaTeam Costa Rica - CUBAUruguay - BoliviaTeam USA: North-Central - Equipo Ecuador Round 9Bolivia - Team USA: North-CentralCUBA - UruguayNicaragua - Team Costa RicaTeam Jamaica - Team Venezuela

Round Robin system - 10 teams Round 1Team Colombia - Team USA: Southwest - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=489666Team Canada - Team USA: Northwest - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=488626Team Brazil - Equipo/Team Chile - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=488518Team Argentina - Team USA: Southeast - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=488900Team Peru - Team México - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=491318 Round 2Team USA: Southwest - Team México http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=500076Team USA: Southeast - Team Peru http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=498348Equipo/Team Chile - Team Argentina http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=501210Team USA: Northwest - Team Brazil http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=498128Team Colombia - Team Canada http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=499482 Round 3Team Canada - Team USA: Southwest http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=510138Team Brazil - Team Colombia http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=509608Team Argentina - Team USA: Northwest (0:1 - forfeit) Team Peru - Equipo/Team Chile (0:0 double forfeit)Team México - Team USA: Southeast http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=509740 Round 4Team USA: Southwest - Team USA: Southeast http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=520052Equipo/Team Chile - Team México (0:0 double forfeit)Team USA: Northwest - Team Peru http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=520056Team Colombia - Team Argentina (0:0 double forfeit)Team Canada - Team Brazil http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=519994 Round 5Team Brazil - Team USA: Southwest http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=533106Team Argentina x Team Canada http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=533786Team Peru x Team Colombia http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=534200Team México x Team USA: Northwest (0:0 double forfeit) Team USA: Southeast x Equipo/Team Chile http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=533050 Round 6Team USA: Southwest - Equipo/Team Chile http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=543270Team USA: Northwest x Team USA: Southeast http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=543066Team Colombia x Team México (0:0 double forfeit)Team Canada x Team Peru http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=546136Team Brazil x Team Argentina http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=543274 Round 7Team Argentina - Team USA: Southwest http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=553596Team Peru x Team Brazil http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=553132Team México x Team Canada Team USA: Southeast x Team Colombia http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=552888Equipo/Team Chile x Team USA: Northwest http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=556972 Round 8Team USA: Southwest - Team USA: Northwest http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=565658Team Colombia x Equipo/Team Chile http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=565474Team Canada x Team USA: Southeast http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=565076Team Brazil x Team México http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=566024 Team Argentina x Team Peru http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=565122 Round 9Team Peru - Team USA: SouthwestTeam México x Team ArgentinaTeam USA: Southeast x Team BrazilEquipo/Team Chile x Team CanadaTeam USA: Northwest x Team Colombia

This forum will be for the development and discussion of the field for the 2015 Pan-American League season. Interested teams must provide their contact information to share with the rest of the league. We require two active admins (not just interested members) for each team so that communication issues will be minimized. Team Venezuela / elvis_contreras and piero333 Team USA Southeast / ValleyBoy and MENTAC Team Columbia / Vagamundo and spanishfly25 Equipo/Team Chile / KNO_SirKano and Gonzalo44 Team USA Northwest / knightspawn5 and PhilipN Team Costa Rica / Corvidae_Corvus and lucky52 Nicaragua / Corvidae_Corvus and pichebel Equipo Ecuador / Corvidae_Corvus and Daws74 Bolivia / phinneas and tedy7 Team Brazil / galox2 and phinneas Team Canada / Greywolf52 and JDudar Uruguay / phinneas and ridguay Team Peru / jorgem and Tamakun Team Mexico / Jesvaso and steinitz_attack Team Jamaica / Zebbile and Team USA North-Central / kalstormblud and m74m2008 Cuba / ivanm and GAVILLA Team Argentina / mstagnaro and marcelom2

It appears to me that there are several issues that we must address in the Pan-American League. First, Team Saint Lucia does not appear to be active any longer. They have been withdrawn from the World League, and their team page says that the team is closed. They have no admins any longer and have only three remaining members, so I am also withdrawing Team Saint Lucia fron the Pan-American League since they cannot accept any match challenges. Each of their remaining opponents (including their Round 5 opponent) will be awarded a match win. Second, it appears that many of the teams in Division B may have deactivated their news alerts. I do not know how to explain that every Round 5 match in Division A was started on time, but none of the matches in Division B were. No one from Division B reported any issues with making or accepting challenges. As a result, I am forfeiting all the Division B teams in Round 5. Chess.com has changed the way that News announcements are received, and this change has made it more difficult to get pairing announcements out to the teams. I need the admins to be more vigilant about getting their matches started, to avoid a repeat of the Round 5 forfeits. I will be sending out a Round 6 reminder next weekend. Remember, we start each match around the 5th of each month.

Seedings (according to the current ranking of the teams in the Pan-American League 2014 Div. A and B): Team Brazil Team Colombia Team Argentina Team USA: Southeast Team USA: Southwest Equipo/Team Chile Team México Team USA: Northwest CUBA Nicaragua Team Venezuela Bolivia Guatechess Team Jamaica Pairings by: http://challonge.com/2014 Pan Cup U-1800 Bracket

Registered Teams: Equipo/Team Chile Team Brazil Bolivia Team USA: Southwest Team Colombia CUBA Team Argentina Team Venezuela Team USA: Southeast Nicaragua Team Jamaica Team USA: Northwest Team México Guatechess The competition will be held in knockout format. At the end of the match the winner team advances to the next stage Cheaters will have their points deducted (similar to the procedure adopted by WL) as well as players who defend two ou more teams When all matches are decided, we will begin a new round Tie-breaks: More points gained at board 1 More points gained at board 2 and so on Match configuration Game type: standard chess Days per move: 3 Rating max: 1800 Minimum games: 10 Players per team: Min 4 Concurrent games per opponent: 2 Games are rated Draw Match Links

Please don't forget to set these requirements when you make your challenges each round. Either team can issue the challenge. Match Name: 2014 Pan-American League: your team vs. their team Game Type: Standard Chess Starting Position: Standard Starting Position Days per Move: 3 days Please use the start date feature so that your matches will begin no later than 12:00 noon (Pacific time) on the designated start date. Players per Team: 10 minimum, no maximum Concurrent games per opponent: 2 Games are RATED Round 1 - accept challenge by Jan. 23, start by Feb. 1 Equipo/Team Chile vs. Team Me'xico- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=365246 Team USA: NorthCentral vs. Team Argentina- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=362060 Team Brazil vs. Team USA: Northeast- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=362038 Team USA: Southeast vs. Team Canada- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=361684 Team Colombia vs. Team USA: Southwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=362344 Round 2 - accept challenge by Feb. 20, start by Mar. 1 Team Argentina vs. Team Brazil-http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=372944 Team Canada vs. Equipo/Team Chile- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=373410 Team Mexico vs. Team Colombia- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=373026 Team USA: Northeast vs. Team USA: North-Central- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=378778 Team USA: Southwest vs. Team USA: Southeast- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=372900 Round 3 - accept challenge by Mar. 20, start by Apr. 1 Team Brazil vs. Team Mexico- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=383860 Team Colombia vs. Team Canada- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=383874 Team USA: Southeast vs. Team Argentina- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=384848 Team USA: North-Central vs. Team USA: Southwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=387730 Equipo/Team Chile vs. Team USA: Northeast- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=387758 Round 4 - accept challenge by Apr. 20, start by May 1 Team Canada vs. Team Brazil- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=396376 Team Argentina vs. Team USA: Northeast- Argentina wins by default, 1-0. Team Colombia vs. Team USA: North-Central-http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=396668 Team México vs. Team USA: Southwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=402658 Equipo/Team Chile vs. Team USA: Southeast- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=396388 Round 5 - accept challenge by May 23, start by Jun. 1 Team Canada vs. Team Argentina- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=410090 Team Brazil vs. Team Colombia- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=408702 Team USA: Southwest vs. Equipo/Team Chile- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=408944 Team USA: Northeast vs. Team México-won by Team México, 0-1 default Team USA: Southeast vs. Team USA: North-Central- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=408650 Round 6 - accept challenge by Jun 25, start by Jul. 2 Team USA Southwest vs. Team Brazil- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=421886 Team México vs. Team Canada-http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=421894 Team Argentina vs. Team Colombia-http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=419812 Team USA Northeast vs. Team USA Southeast- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=419836 Team USA North-Central vs. Equipo/Team Chile- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=425118 Round 7 - accept challenge by Jul. 23, start by Aug. 1 Team Brazil vs. Team USA Southeast- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=428320 Team Canada vs. Team USA Southwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=428554 Equipo/Team Chile vs. Team Argentina- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=438354 Team Colombia vs. Team USA Northeast- won by Team Colombia, 1-0 default Team USA North-Central vs. Team Mexico- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=438122

Please report any problems related to the Panamerican 2014 matches here. This includes problems with your opponent accepting the match challenge, locking their roster, meeting the minimum numbers of players, deleting players from their roster, etc. In addition to posting here, please ensure that you have attempted to contact the team representatives of your opponent to try and resolve the problem.

Please post your match links here as the challenges are accepted.

Please don't forget to set these requirements when you make your challenges each round. Either team can issue the challenge. Match Name: 2014 Pan-American League: your team vs. their team Game Type: Standard Chess Starting Position: Standard Starting Position Days per Move: 3 days Please use the start date feature so that your matches will begin no later than 12:00 noon (Pacific time) on the designated start date. Players per Team: 3 minimum, no maximum Concurrent games per opponent: 2 Games are RATED Round 1 - accept challenge by Jan. 23, start by Feb. 1 Team Venezuela vs. Cuba- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=361972 Nicaragua vs. Team USA: Northwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=362116 Team Costa Rica vs. Team Jamaica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=361824 Equipo Ecuador vs. Team Peru- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=361974 Guatechess vs. Bolivia- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=363808 Round 2 - accept challenge by Feb. 20, start by Mar. 1 Team Peru vs. Team Venezuela- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=373440 Bolivia vs. Team USA: Northwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=373420 Team Jamaica vs. Guatechess- scored as double default, 0-0, due to lack of responsiveness Cuba vs. Team Costa Rica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=378572 Equipo Ecuador vs. Nicaragua- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=380832 Round 3 - accept challenge by Mar. 20, start by Apr. 1 Team USA: Northwest vs. Team Peru- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=391452 Nicaragua vs. Team Costa Rica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=386788 Team Venezuela vs. Bolivia- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=383832 Cuba vs. Team Jamaica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=384852 Equipo Ecuador vs. Guatechess- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=388340 Round 4 - accept challenge by Apr. 20, start by May 1 Team Peru vs. Nicaragua- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=396404 Team USA: Northwest vs. Team Venezuela- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=400356 Bolivia vs. Cuba- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=396380 Team Jamaica vs. Equipo Ecuador- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=396908 Guatechess vs. Team Costa Rica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=399056 Round 5 - accept challenge by May 23, start by Jun. 1 Team Costa Rica vs. Team USA: Northwest- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=410030 Team Peru vs. Cuba- won by Cuba, 0-1 default Team Venezuela vs. Equipo Ecuador- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=410078 Bolivia vs. Team Jamaica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=408688 Nicaragua vs. Guatechess- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=410068 Round 6 - accept challenge by Jun 25, start by Jul. 2 Team USA Northwest vs. Cuba- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=420220 Bolivia vs. Team Peru- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=419814 Equipo Ecuador vs. Team Costa Rica-http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=419690 Nicaragua vs. Team Jamaica- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=419840 Guatechess vs. Team Venezuela- double default, 0-0 Round 7 - accept challenge by Jul. 23, start by Aug. 1 Team Costa Rica vs. Team Peru- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=428582 Team USA Northwest vs. Guatechess- 1-0 default Cuba vs. Equipo Ecuador - http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=428476 Nicaragua vs. Bolivia- http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match?id=428430 Team Jamaica vs. Team Venezuela-

Dear team administrators: before the 2nd round match starts look for players whose flag is different from the flag of your team. When you find a player in this situation, check his/her profile, if he/she is part of some other team participating in the tournament, go to match links and check if he/she is included in any confrontation. If he/she is, report, and take action to ban him/her from your team.

We have benefited by several new teams arriving in the league for 2014, bringing our total to 20. The range in size between the smallest and largest teams is greater than last year, and to address this I am proposing to go to a two-division format based on team size. This would provide for two 10-team divisions run as 7-round Swisses. The U1600 division from last year will be dropped. If we maintain a two division structure in the future, I will promote the top two finishers from Division B into Division A, and relegate the bottom two finishers from Division A into Division B. The splits, based on team sizes as of today (Jan. 13), would be as follows: Team Number of members Average rating Division by Size Team México 1207 1418 A Team Brazil 1147 1492 A Team USA: Northeast 934 1439 A Team Canada 915 1523 A Team USA: Southwest 605 1547 A Team Argentina 473 1491 A Team Colombia 391 1433 A Team USA: Southeast 353 1515 A Team USA: North-Central 305 1497 A Equipo/Team Chile 277 1467 A Team Venezuela 275 1412 B Team USA: Northwest 222 1602 B Team Costa Rica 159 1364 B Team Peru 142 1528 B Guatechess 101 1332 B Cuba 92 1525 B Nicaragua 73 1472 B Team Jamaica 63 1360 B Equipo Ecuador 51 1459 B Bolivia 46 1419 B If there are no significant issues with this two division structure raised by the admins this week, I will develop the first round pairings to be posted on Saturday, Jan. 18, with the matches scheduled to start Saturday, Feb. 1. I will also post the schedule for the remaining six rounds.

This forum will be for the development and discussion of the field for the 2014 Pan-American League season. Interested teams can provide their contact information to share with the rest of the league. We will require two active admins for each team so that communication issues will be minimized.

I would like to solicit your feedback on the idea of putting in a rule to provide for league match results to be adjusted to reflect player accounts being closed (for cheating, violation of terms of use, or some other reason). Our league rules do not address this, but if you feel it is necessary, we can do this. Such adjustments are done in the World League and the US Team Chess League, and maybe other leagues as well. Please share your views here.

As of January 2, 2013, here is the roster of confirmed participating teams for the 2013 season: Open U1600 Contacts Team Brazil 0 - 0 0 - 0 PardelsemCasa, bmentges Team Canada 0 - 0 0 - 0 Daws74, JDudar Team Colombia 0 - 0 0 - 0 vagamundo Team México 0 - 0 0 - 0 Jesvaso, mugrosiito Team USA Southeast 0 - 0 0 - 0 ValleyBoy, StanSmokes Team USA Southwest 0 - 0 0 - 0 pdmura, Pikachulord6 Team USA North-Central 0 - 0 0 - 0 m74m2008, Kalstormblud Team USA 0 - 0 0 - 0 wdaly, Corvidae_Corvus Cuba 0 - 0 0 - 0 ivanm, Gavilla Team Argentina 0 - 0 0 - 0 Mstagnaro Team Panama 0 - 0 0 - 0 williamsun Team Venezuela 0 - 0 0 - 0 Sat-Manager Team Peru 0 - 0 0 - 0 Jorgem, chalaco Team Costa Rica 0 - 0 0 - 0 Daws74, chictomana

We presently are at 13 teams, which will require us to use the Swiss system to run the 2013 season. I have collected data for each team's number of members and average team rating. For the Open division, I plan to initially seed teams by their number of members, and for the U1600 division, I will seed the teams by their average team ratings. After Round 1, I will pair the teams for subsequent rounds by their cumulative match scores, so in Round 2 the teams with 1 pt will play each other and teams with 0 points will play each other; in Round 3 the teams with 2 pts will play each other, the teams with 1 pt. will play each other and the teams with 0 points will play each other, etc. The team left unpaired each round will get a one point bye. No team will receive more than one bye in each division. Unless there are significant issues raised about this approach, I will publish the pairings on New Year's Day (January 1), so that the challenges can go out on time by January 5, with a January 12 start date.

ValleyBoy has set up a group called Pan American League, where the players can join, and we can post the results of our tournaments. I sent invitations to all the active admins of World League teams in the Americas: mthinker, pdmura, gmplada (Brazil), JDudar (Canada), Lamneth (Canada), mistermax (Canada), wicksta85, m74m2008, Burnelr, gritmoon, sebastian11, CarVilla, kaichess (Brazil), Mm40, Yoshua, knightspawn5, DHArgentina (Argentina), shadowc (Argentina), vagamundo, artrice (Team USA: Southeast), warriorgame, jorgem and sirselo.

Here is a list of World League teams and their representatives: Brazil - kaichess Canada / World League - rigamagician Canada - JDudar, Chessaurus Chile - sebastian11 Nicaragua - mthinker USA North Central - m74m2008 USA Northwest - Yoshua USA Southeast - ValleyBoy USA Southwest - pdmura, Pikachulord6 Unrepresented countries and regions at present Anguilla (United Kingdom) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina - Team Argentina, FIBDA Aruba (Netherlands) - Team Aruba Bahamas - Team Bahamas Barbados - Team Barbados Belize Bermuda (United Kingdom) Bolivia - Team Bolivia, FIBA Bonaire (Netherlands) British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom) - British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands (United Kingdom) Colombia - Team Columbia, FIBA Costa Rica - Team Costa Rica, FIBA Cuba - Team Cuba, FIBA Curacao (Netherlands) Dominica Dominican Republic - Team Dominicana, Team Dominican Republic, FIBA El Salvador - group el salvador, FIBA Ecuador - Ecuador, FIBA Falkland Islands (United Kingdome) French Guiana (France) Grenada Guadeloupe (France) Guatemala - Guatechess, FIBA Guyana - Team Guyana Haiti - Team Haiti Honduras - Team Honduras, FIBA Jamaica - Team Jamaica Martinique Mexico - Team Mexico, FIBA Montserrat (United Kingdom) Panama - Team Panama, FIBA Paraguay - Paraguay, FIBA Peru - Team Peru, FIBA Puerto Rico (United States) - Team Puerto Rico, FIBA Saba (Netherlands) Saint Kitts and Nevis - Team St. Kitts.Nevis Saint Barthélemy (France) Saint Eustatius (Netherlands) Saint Lucia Saint Martin/Maartin (Netherlands/France) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands (United Kingdom) Suriname Trinidad and Tobago - Trinidad and Tobago Soca Chess Warriors Turks and Caicos Islands (United Kingdom) United States - Team USA: Northeast, Team USA: South Central United States Virgin Islands (United States) Uruguay, Team Uruguay, FIBA Venezuela - Team Venezuala, FIBA