World Tafl Federation

[Ded Fomich]

That’s an interesting trick about a ghost player and in general nice idea to give players an opportunity of getting a title regardless tafl variant they prefer. Simultaneously it’s not very easy to get, a player has to be permanently involved in playing games for a long time. It could be an interesting sporting quest, many players would love to get such titles, I think.

[Hagbard]

About the FM/CM idea. A counting through all relevant tournaments (excluding strange variants like Unst etc.) since 2011 gives these names:

FM
Casshern 5 tournaments, rating 2108, 874 games
Adam 3 tournaments, rating 1809, 689 games
Crust 3 tournaments, rating 1848, 3037 games
From the counting, Casshern, Adam and Crust qualify for Federation Masters.

CM
Crust 16 tournaments (GM)
Casshern 12 tournaments (GM)
Altti 14 tournaments (IM)
Duhawk93 10 tournaments, rating 1569, 897 games
Adam 10 tournaments (GM)
Hagbard 10 tournaments, rating 1642, 2737 games
Animals 9 tournaments, rating 1675, 474 games
Xerxes 7 tournaments, rating 1407, 1115 games
Docbullen 6 tournaments, rating 1515, 1136 games
Ded Fomich 5 tournaments, rating 1868, 473 games
Khan Asparukh 5 tournaments, rating 1828, 178 games
Sqaree 5 tournaments, rating 1702, 309 games
Epoc 5 tournaments, rating 1467, 417 games
Nath 4 tournaments (GM)
Arne64 4 tournaments, rating 1697, 495 games
Odinhimself 4 tournaments, (IM)
Klimm 3 tournaments, rating 1573, 207 games
Agmundr 3 tournaments, rating 1557, 1081 games
Sigurd 3 tournaments, rating 1811, 103 games

Some players on the CM list qualified in more than 3 tournaments, and have ratings much more than 1600. However, they played less than 500 games.
If the surplus tournaments and rating are changed into games fx. this way:
1 surplus tournament = 20 games
100 surplus rating = 20 games
100 surplus games = 20 rating
then
Animals would be credited for 474 + 6 * 20 = 594 games
Ded Fomich credited for 473 + 2 * 20 + 2 * 20 = 543 games
Epoc for 417 + 2 * 20 = 457 games
Khan Asparukh for 178 + 2 * 20 + 2 * 20 = 258 games
Arne64 for 495 + 20 = 515 games
Sqaree for 295 + 20 + 20 = 335 games
Sigurd for 103 + 2 * 20 = 143 games
and Xerxes would be credited for rating 1407 + 6 * 20 = 1527
And players qualifying for Candidate Master would be: Duhawk93, Hagbard, Animals, Ded Fomich, Arne64, Docbullen, Agmundr and Xerxes.
(GM and IM players are skipped here, since GM/IM is more than CM).

Players who qualified for 2 tournaments: Plantagenet, Edmond-dantes, Bigwurm91 and Chuck ward.

[Hagbard]

Suggestion of adjusting some hnefatafl titles.

This site has for a long time used the hnefatafl titles (transferred from the chess world) CM and FM, and they have made good sense.

The Grandmaster title (GM) is also used, in a way which was introduced by Peter Kelly, chairman of the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel, at the first Hnefatafl World Championship tournament on the Shetland island Fetlar 2008.
Kelly and the Fetlar Panel decided that the winner of the Championship tournament was the World Champion and also received the title of Hnefatafl Grandmaster.
In the chess world, a Grandmaster is a player of the highest strength. In Fetlar 2008, however, the winner learnt the rules half an hour before the tournament and won.
The Fetlar Panel in 2008 also had to consider how to make an efficient tourist event and how to increase the interest for the event, probably thus the double titles.

The 2008 idea of World Champion = Grandmaster results in two lists being simply identical, so one of them would be redundant.
The 2008 winner did indeed win the World Champion title 2008, but is hardly simultaneously a player of the highest strength such as a Grandmaster.
Now and again some players have complained about the use of "Grandmaster" on the site.

I suggest to adjust the scale of titles used here so that "Grandmaster" gets a place on top of the scale.

The chess world has the titles
GM Grandmaster
IM International Master
FM Federation Master
CM Candidate Master
AM Arena Master
and
NM National Master

Likewise, the Old Norse world had the titles
Dróttar (kings)
Jarlar (earls)
Hersirar (army commanders)
Víkingar (fierce fighters)
Karlar (elite warriors)
Drengjar (young warriors)

I suggest that the classification is done this way:

GM
Max. rating > 2200.
500 games?
3 tournaments with 80% points and 2 opponents of max. rating > 1800.

IM
Max. rating > 2000.
400 games?
3 tournaments with 80% points and 2 opponents of max. rating > 1800.

FM
Max. rating > 1800.
300 games?
3 tournaments with 80% points and 2 opponents of max. rating > 1800.

CM
Max. rating > 1600.
200 games?
3 tournaments with 60% points and 2 opponents of max. rating > 1600.

AM
Max. rating > 1400.
100 games?
3 tournaments with 40% points and 2 opponents of rating > 1400.

A
100 games?
3 tournaments.

For Peter Kelly I would suggest the title of:
Honorary Hnefatafl Master.

[Abbas Agraphicus]

So it would be fx:
- a maximum rating record superior to 2200
- at least 500 games played
- partecipation to 3 tournaments, with at least 80% of points and beating 2 opponents with a record of 1800+

Right?

[Hagbard]

So it would be fx:
- a maximum rating record superior to 2200
- at least 500 games played
- partecipation to 3 tournaments, with at least 80% of points and beating 2 opponents with a record of 1800+

Right?

Yes that's right. Except that you don't have to beat the 2 strong opponents. Perhaps 500 games are also not required; it will be very hard to reach a rating 2200 anyway.

[Abbas Agraphicus]

A thing that came across my mind: could it be nice to have something like "player of the year" (besides the world champ) or like "best revelation of the year" (for players who joined in the last year)? Based on.some criteria to be defined.

[Hagbard]

A thing that came across my mind: could it be nice to have something like "player of the year" (besides the world champ) or like "best revelation of the year" (for players who joined in the last year)? Based on.some criteria to be defined.

Yes? How could they be selected?

[Abbas Agraphicus]

Mmm, "Best Revelation" should be a player who joined the website in the last year, and that made a good amount of points + placements in tournaments.
Example: chosing between the players which joined in 2020 and got a title like AM, CM etc
Draganov comes to my mind for example.

(Forget "player of the year", it doesn't make much sense.)

[Hagbard]

About the titles FM, CM etc.

Drótt, Jarl etc. are the Old Norse words.
Federation Master, Candidate Master etc. come from the chess world.

GM = Grandmaster, Drótt = king.
Max. rating 2200 or more.
Or World Champion and max. rating 2100 or more.

IM = International Master, Jarl = earl.
Max. rating 2000 or more.
Or World Champion and max. rating 1900 or more.

FM = Federation Master, Hersir = army commander.
Max. rating 1800 or more.

CM = Candidate Master, Víkingr= elite warrior.
Max. rating 1600 or more.

AM = Arena Master, Karl = fierce fighter.
Max. rating 1400 or more.

A Drengr = young warrior.
Max. rating below 1400.

Less than 20 games: no title.

[Hagbard]

It was suitable to let the IM threshold for world champions be 1900 instead of the usual 2000. This way all world champions are IM or more.

Suggestion:
Likewise the GM threshold for world champions should be 2100 instead of the usual 2200.