The last batch of teams haven't been approved yet, but it looks like we'll have 18 teams this time. This should allow plenty of viable options, from 3 sections of 6 each, to a 4-7-7, or any combo of 3 4-team sections and one 6-team section.
As usual, make your cases here and I will make a final decision on sections on Friday.

I'd love to see three 6 team sections if that does not mean too much rating range difference. also this would allow for five rounds per section and a final round which I personally feel is more interesting than 4-team sections with each team playing their opponents twice.

if there are 4 team sections and every team playing an opponent twice what about this: first round goes as usual, second round sees board 1 playing board 2, board 3 playing board 4. this way we would not see the same pairing twice.

I think this question about changing which board plays which was asked before by someone else; it's simply not possible without major changes to the TL code. I do agree in principle that larger sections are preferable to allow for more varied opposition.

Is it 17 in total or is there one team missing?

Normally I also prefer larger sections, but with such a low total of teams (I wasn't expecting a number below 20) they simply don't work. And since now 4-team sections also have playoffs, I think there are more pros than cons about them. Giving the current distribution and imagining a couple of adjustments to MBM and MPM by KRM, I'll suggest 5-4-4-4. I don't like 5-team sections, but clearly that's how Fischer is designed this time.

Yeah there's an issue with one of the teams that was submitted. My hunch is that it will be resubmitted and we'll end up at 18, but we can't be sure.

I can pretty much guarantee that if it's 3 sections of 6 I'll have to withdraw a team as I can't make MPM and MBM work in the same section.

As far as changes to make a 4 team section work I'm unsure if it's actually that easy to do. While I can increase MBM rating by doing a switch with a MRM player then would then lower rating of that team that could lead to a clash between MRM and MBM.

I've just got home at around midnight today so I'll have a look tomorrow to see what can be done but I don't think there's an easy quick fix on my end

I had a look this morning and I think I cap swap Marlov and mcstorytaller between MRM and MBM. That would give following averages:

MRM: 1941.5 (8th to 9th)
MBM: 1794 (15th to 13th)
MPM: 1621.75 (17th)

Unfortunately it does mean my team is at the bottom of every section but at least that way sections can be made. I'm unsure how the 18th team would change things so I won't immediately action the change in case I have to do something different

My 2nd team has just been approved. Thanks all for your patience. In view of KRMCHESS' generous swap offers, I suggest 5-6-7, or, if WWW embrace the challenge, 6-6-6.

Hello, pchesso, with 5-6-7 or 6-6-6 sections, NewBlood will have to withdraw one squad, as both Leuko and Erythro will fall in the same section, and this means that teams number will drop to 17 again (not to mention that it will be the first time throughout 13 seasons when NewBlood is forced to reduce the number of squads from 3 to 2).

Pchesso, those schemes ruin it for NewBlood and MM, so basically we'd get punished for trying to put in as many squads as possible. PreZandy and I did separate Leuko and Erythro by 101.5 points, but it seems all teams that used to be in the 1900-1970 range disappeared.

Taking into account the changes KRM is going to make, I suggest 5-4-4-5. Again, I'm not a fan of 5-team sections, but rating-wise it's all pretty balanced. Round 6 could be a bye for all teams in Fischer and Alekhine, and playoffs could take place in round 7.

Apologies, prezandy, and kurumim, I should have checked before posting.

If we're doing 5-team sections again, I shall do the same as last tourney and have a "third place playoff" running alongside the championship match.

Round 6 could be a bye for all teams in Fischer and Alekhine, and playoffs could take place in round 7.

Last season we had a general bye in round 7 and playoffs in round 8, with a mid-season bye for the 5-team section. I'm all for a shorter tourney, I just want to clarify if this is a suggestion to do that and not just a misunderstanding.

I'm just going to add that my swap offer only makes a 5-4-4-4 work or with the new team a 5-4-4-5 or a 5-4-5-4. I've put the request through so when a TL admin approves it the teams should be in right order.

I'm not sure if any 3 section format works without recreating my teams from scratch. I'll add that I'm quite happy to modify teams to help make things work but there aren't a lot of viable solutions that both fulfill rating criteria and avoid clashes as MRM, MBM and MPM have 3 shared players with an average rating of 1755 (below the lowest section cap) that have asked to play every round for two of those teams and having 2 teams in 1 section increases chances of defaults as I can't replace players easily. All this also assumes New Blood can also make things work that I think isn't likely with current players available so I'm not planning to spend too much time working out a hypothetical route that isn't viable even if I make it work at my end

Last season we had a general bye in round 7 and playoffs in round 8, with a mid-season bye for the 5-team section. I'm all for a shorter tourney, I just want to clarify if this is a suggestion to do that and not just a misunderstanding.

Yes, sbc, I'm suggesting a shorter season with 7 weeks/rounds. In T82 Spassky had 7 teams, but now with only 4 and 5-team sections (presumably) I think we can make the season shorter and have more rest time to start the action a bit earlier in 2022. :)

All this also assumes New Blood can also make things work that I think isn't likely with current players available (...)

Right, Kenny, NewBlood currently can't deal with a clash as we're only 8 active players keeping our 3 squads running, totally relying on double spots (and even a triple spot). We're getting a new player to take some pressure off everybody, but PreZandy and I can't make major changes to the squads right now.

For the record, VirtualRed is not playing this season because YavChess and maxysgm are committed to OTB tourneys in October and November. They should be back next season, and I guess there are chances of a return by the Arequepay guys too. As teams like RW, Archbishops and Rangers (now under the name BajoAragon) may have more squads depending on the season, I'm confident we'll see that total number move up again.

Anyone else not a fan of playoffs in 4-team DRRs?

Actually there is one thing that does concern me about numbers and sections that is more a long term issue than an immediate one. It's that as lowest section's average rating is 1775 it means that anyone below that is hard to recruit.

For example for a player under 1500 if you want your team to hit the average in the lowest section you actually need a player rated at least 2050 to cancel them out. You also have issue that higher rated players tend to play in Fischer and Spassky Section and all players rated over 1950 are in the top 11 of 18 teams.

This means that teams either end up quite a bit below the rating limit or just don't take on the lower rated players. Problem is that as these players can't get into teams the average gets pushed up even higher that means more players struggle to get into teams thus creating a vicious cycle. Having looked at teams and players there are more people U1500 in interested players list (8) than playing for all teams combined (5). If you compare it with 2000+ players you have 5 in the interested players list and 26 in various teams. So that implies that 83.6% of 2000+ can get into a team while only 38.5% of U1500 players can get into a team.

Another scary statistic is I figured that if lowest section is U1775 then ideally you want 1800+ players so you can easily place them in sections. That means in the Interested Players list only 14/34 or 41.2% actually meet the criteria if I recruit solely on the basis of rating.

I remember there used to be a U1500 section that didn't get a lot of entries but if we want more teams we need more players and to get more players we have to look at how to get highest % of interested players to actually go on to play. I'll also note that the average adult tournament player in the USCF is rated around 1400 and currently they're not viable to be added so that's definitely an issue that needs careful consideration.

I have said this before, I will say it again: WWW is prepared and willing to play in any division, even if the nearest team in the same division is way above us. And this is not my unilateral view, this is the opinion shared by all our players.
Regards.
blore

Sections are up. Went with 5-4-4-5 as there wasn't much choice to avoid impossible to resolve clashes and so forth. Also, this mostly reflects where the rating gaps are.

Fischer and Alekhine sections will be 5-round SRR followed by a bye in round 6, and playoffs (including a 3rd vs 4th match) in round 7. Spassky and Kasparov will be 6-round DRR, also with playoffs in round 7 (I tend to agree with pchesso that playoffs are a bit redundant in such small sections, but this appears to be a minority view, so playoffs are in).

I'll try to post team pairings tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for their input.

I have often seen discussions on the difficulties caused in sectioning posted here. I will express my view here. I really do not see the compulsion to put up more teams than the number of available players who can play in them. The generally expressed view is one is contributing more teams so more divisions can be kept alive. I do not here seek to offend anyone else's view, but rather just express my own counter-view, which goes against this view held by some.

The league should serve as a forum for everyone who wants to play, to play. If the number of interested players has gone down, then we just have less teams and less divisions. I am not sure there is some special attraction in having several divisions. I understand there are several divisions because it is difficult to accommodate too many teams in a few divisions. However, that compulsion shouldnt become an end in itself. And if "franchises" want to put more teams, I am okay with it, but to overstretch oneself and put out more than one can comfortably manage and thus caue problems of divisions I think creates more hindrance than anything. It is understandable that a player wants to play, but I find it hard to understand why a player feels compelled to play in several teams. Just allowing more teams to play cannot be an end in itself, especially when it doesnt mean more players get to play, but rather the same players playing in more teams.

6-4-4-4 was also viable, especially after blore's feedback, resulting in more games yet not as much balance – e.g., really close teams like RWRojo and Poisoned_Pawns at 1775 and 1773.75, respectively, would fall in different sections. Any scheme is hardly ideal, but we try to achieve as many pros as possible. The current distribution looks pretty good and 5-team sections can offer a bit more variety of opposition.

Thanks once again for your patient, dedicated and skilful work, sbc. Wishing everybody an enjoyable season!

Team pairings are now up. By all means check them and report anything you think looks wrong (I was careful, but they were all done manually so human error is possible).