Congratz to everyone who made it to Elite League

Good luck.

nobody made it to elite league . They will go after 3 hours at 12 midnight

Edited moderator stumpyblitzer 

2 hours

I quit my league ages ago. I wonder what it is all about now Heard some bad rumors lately, like people found a loophole to rise up quickly. And is there a reward for.. what.. winner? 

I wouldn't say mindlessly, you still have to win against someone trying to beat you every single game.

People play arenas all day which gets some bonus points I think, however there could also be account sharing going on by some at the very top but this is purely speculation. 

the reward for 1st place is $10,000

The secret for some of those top people is simuls.  Simuls though is now banned.

Thumbs up to save, Thumbs down to stay

@dfgh123 - the mods here have admitted, even insisted, that the reward structure is designed to incentivize play, not wins. If you mindlessly, play and lose 500 rating points, eventually you’ll get to the point where you can win 50% of your games even if you’re borderline comatose. Unless you are very very good, or very very bad, your win % will always hover around 50%. Always. That’s how ratings work. Win and you play harder opponents, lose and play weaker ones, and at your true rating you win as many as you lose.

So yes, it’s mindless grinding. The only thing elite proves is that you played more games than any sensible person would. It says nothing, zero, nada, about how good you are. Congratulations. 🍾🎈🎊

I made it. Not fun at all.

Was a terrible week trying to balance working full time, grad school, and a consistent exercise/sleeping/eating routine. 

Also I should say that I don't really plan on trying to advance again. I would imagine >8k will be needed to be among the 30 or so who get in to the first round of the champions league, which I would guess would take me around 60-80 hours. 

Advanced as well! Balancing this with school/work is not possible, so I will likely be sitting out this week too. Hoping that you are also able to have a more relaxing week!

I couldn’t promote. Was in a hard group.so i was wondering if the prizes are only for the first batch meaning those who promoted each week.I'd be grateful if anyone can answer 

my friend @lightning made it through the hardest crystal division league :p

@NikkiLikeChikki thumbs up for "borderline comatose". I've noticed even my friends who are consistently strong players have gotten sucked into the mindset of trying to score more league points and their ratings have dropped significantly by about 150 to 200 points. I am total trash at bullet and yet I have tried bullet for the first time and gone from 900 to about 500. It is addicting which I guess is what chess.com had in mind.

completely true. @lightning used to be 2500 bullet and 2400 blitz. His ratings have dropped by about 400 due to grinding leagues.

But I'm not complaining, since that means he will perform worse the next time we play each other otb.

There are two prize groups. Group one is for the first Champion division of 50 players. That will not fill up next week. If there happens to he more than one one completely full Champion division running the first eeek, the other concurrent ones will also have prizes 

Group two is the first 200 in a Champion division get memberships.

Well, at least after next week most people will be freed from chess prison.