Elite divisions are here

Elite are the last before Champion division. https://www.chess.com/leagues/elite

/ So 8 divisions will produce about 24 players moving on. If they need 50 before a division forms, it looks like the first to make it will have to wait a week before continuing.

There will be at least one more division before Friday, most likely.

i am here just to wait for the cons and pros to speak up their thoughts

now, where is my popcorn..?

Last week's Crystal leader got up to 9648. 

Can someone break 10,000 this week?

/ The lowest trophy total I've seen that moved up was 2,883. 

One the simul fix is in place, it will take some dedication to get 10,000

In two weeks, some will move to the legendary divisions) 😊🥰🥰😊

It will take three weeks. The first Champion division won't fill up next Sunday and will take an additional week to fill.

Ah, yes? Okay...

Elite has been absolutely crazy.  People have upped their games.  I can't imagine Champion.  Perhaps 20,000 points will be the winning number.

White resigned here. At which point does it become (borderline) abuse by simply resigning and starting a new game, only to play biggest volume possible of games, for the sole purpose of league competition?

The rules are a joke if everyone bends them to their will. Everything is questionable. This is chaos.

Edited the names to avoid shaming. I will certainly start reporting these games if there's positive reinforcement here.

I have no chance, I can't do 10,000 trophies a week but it was fun reaching elite without "gaming the system". 

In some league someone didn't advance with 9,000 trophies.

I mean, White is down a pawn and his opponent’s Bishop pair is eyeing the White King pretty directly. There is Qg5, but White might not have seen that. There is also Qf5 intending Qh5 after Qh4, but then you still might have to find Qg5 if g6 after Qf5. Otherwise, Qh4, Re8, and f5 are all ideas for Black. I get that it seems early to resign, especially given the time situation, and I would probably fight on as White, but we have to remember that these games are played in the context of Leagues and often in the context of an arena, both of which discourage playing on in bad positions. With his opponent having an extra pawn, the Bishop pair, and good attacking chances, not to mention that White’s pawn structure is a tiny bit compromised, White could have decided to quit this game and start a new one.

@BeanScreen

You are absolutely right. This is exactly why I didn't report him.

However, it's a pawn difference and arguably worse position. For for a ~1000 Elo match, those arguments become even less relevant. That's why I'm here expressing my disgust.

I didn't accuse. I just pointed out that this behaviour is borderline abuse, since this is one example from a pool of several, similar resigned matches.

I would also add, that draws are not all that valuable in Leagues or arenas. If White does get a Q trade, he’s still down a pawn with a slightly worse Pawn structure, so he might not hope for all that much more than a draw. I remember I faced a strong GM in a 1+0 Arena Kings a few years ago and he resigned in a Rook endgame where he had 3 Pawns to my 4 Pawns, with all the Pawns on the K-side. He was down by a few seconds too. I watched some of the VOD of his stream afterwards, and he basically said draws don’t get you much, so it’s not worth playing on when the best I’m going to get is probably a draw anyway. Games are being played within the larger context of Leagues and probably an arena, so that impacts how much people keep playing in bad positions.

Edit: I didn’t realize the ratings were around 1000; then there are definitely chances. Although if he sees Qh4 coming, and doesn’t see a defense, maybe it’s more understandable.

Resigning early to increase the volume of games has been standard in arena play for years...

... but I'm guessing the jokers who came up with leagues didn't know that.

One thing I didn't consider until weeks later was the being the first to arrive has the advantage of getting to take week off... I know I'd enjoy a break of not playing 10-20 hours every day!

Did it really? I thought it topped out at ~7600 and so this week's elite wouldn't go above ~450, but I might not be remembering correctly.

Last week's top-5 in Crystal:

Total players was 7,511

Oh……my…..god, and I thought I’d make it there…..5k trophies……no way in hell…..

Oh, he was talking about trophies, my mind was on players, my mistake.

Yeah, I noticed they got close to 10k but no one has crossed yet. I expect someone to this week.