Home
Information
Login
Register
Waiting lists
Membership
Hall of fame
Tournaments
Best game
Wikichess
Rating list
Problems
Forum
Links
Help
About
| Install FICGS apps | |
| play chess online |  |
|
Game result (chess) S. Ligon, 2321 M. LaDuke, 2326 1/2-1/2 See game 152178 |
Hot news Discussions Files search Social network
Back to forum
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-08 17:51:15)
Drag & drop...
... isn't implemented yet ! The interface to play is a click & click one.
Go to "My messages", choose a game (click Game # or the rook)... the board appears.. click on the piece to move, wait the page loading, click the destination square, then submit.
Feel free to give me your impressions about the interface. Thank you in advance.
Thibault
Per Lea (2006-04-08 23:23:25)
My messages/My games
I found it extremely confusing that when I wanted to make a move, my games are found under "My messages". To me, the logical place to look is under "My games"... It took me nearly 10 frustrating minutes before I managed to make my first move! Of course, once I know where to look, there's no problem. But it may be a problem for new players!
Per Lea (2006-04-10 09:52:36)
Games appearing in short list
Thanx for obeying my wish - now the "My games" list is much easier to read. But why can't I just click on one of the games in this list when I want to make a move? If you prefer, you could put a symbol (such as the white or black rook) next to the games where it is my move, to make it easier to see where it is my move. Then there is really no need to list the games (where it is my move) under "My messages" as well.
Patrice Verdier (2006-04-11 14:06:50)
French Interface in preferences
In Preferences when I choice the French langage, only list in left of the page (Mes messages, mes parties,...) are writed in French Why not all the site ?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-25 12:10:06)
Messages
Hello Phil.
There's no chat yet, if you want to send a message to players, you can use this forum... Private messages are authorized during the games.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-25 12:22:25)
FICGS__CHESS__CLASS_G__000001
Did you confirm your registration at this tournament ?
(please don't post your messages several times ;))
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-25 12:26:04)
refreshed page
Phil, when your browser ask if you want to submit the form again, you don't only refresh the page... Click on forum to refresh the page.
Please post your messages in a unique thread.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-29 13:06:48)
Sorting games
Hello Trent. That's a fine suggestion, thanks.
Actually, there are several ways to sort games usefully, hard to choose. Now the games (in 'My messages') are sorted according to your time of response. Thus the first game appearing is 'most probably' the one you should consider first.
About one of your messages I forgot to respond (sorry), I'll try to offer to play on a javascript/java interface later [help welcome :)] , but I think HTML is quite ok and most compatible. On some computers it consumes less time on dial-up than other servers using Java...
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-29 13:32:45)
Remaining time
Hello Heinz-Georg !
'My games' is only a short overview of all your running games (as Per suggested), useful when you have a lot of games. Adding clocks would be too much space consuming.
My preferred page is definitely 'My messages'... Using both should be efficient enough.
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2006-05-29 13:51:27)
Remaining time
Hello Thibault!
What a pity! Everything I would like is a short overview of my running games - with the remaining time(s). I don't need the start date of the tournament at this page. You can delete it to get more space. My messages doesn't contain further information which I need.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-06-03 14:05:02)
Repetition of position
Repetition of position doesn't lead to a loss, as it's now impossible to make a move that provokes such a situation. (message would be 'Incorrect move'). So the pure Chinese rules apply.
The change of rules have been announced in the news (page 'My messages'). Everyone is supposed to read it, as it's the first page appearing when you log in.
Cheers.
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2006-07-10 20:06:15)
Vacation and reflection time
Hi Thibault
Vacation seems to be a great problem on all chess servers. The way you manage it is very special. I don't think, that your way is "hard to use". Of course you can always abuse vacation to have more time in time trouble. But your way is very easy. Take 10 days of vacation and play on. And at the end of a year add the not consumed vacation to the reflection time of all of your games.
Now you suggest that a player can not play during his vacation. That is ok. But if the player starts playing during his vacation "loosing the days leave taken and not used yet" is not ok. "Maybe it won't be appreciated in some particular cases". Too much and unnecessary administration. Let the server work.
You don't want to give up your concept (adding vacation time to the reflection time), am I right? You already have announced the corrections on "My messages". If you must change your concept, you would have to rewrite parts of the software.
Nevertheless I would like to say how I imagine the vacation rules on my "perfect server".
I can make the following things with my 4 weeks of holiday:
- If I'm on holiday far away from home or don't like to play chess for a while, I can take a leave in all tournaments.
- If I have much work (sorry - I had to earn money and my employer doesn't take it into consideration, that I would like to play more chess) and can't take care of all tournaments for a while, I take a leave in single tournaments. If the overload is past, I play on without losing the vacation which I perhaps haven't taken.
- I cannot take a leave in a rapid tournament. That is ok - rapid means rapid. There shouldn't be any way to get more time for reflection in this kind of tournament.
It's a pity that no more players express their opinion on this topic in this forum.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-07-19 12:39:31)
Public comments
Hello Gino.
Indeed, no way to message your opponent if not your turn (you may wait to play a move and ask him - message window when confirming your move).
About public comments, maybe we can improve it... 3 ways IMO :
1) Public comments should be available only when the game is finished.
2) A checkbox in your 'Preferences' to authorize public comments from your opponents. (I don't like this one much..)
3) I specify in the rules that comments are simply authorized.
What do you think is best ?
In my opinion, comments should be always available... I see no reason why it could perturb more than private messages.. By the way, this option was asked on the forum previously when looking for a way to warn players who obviously last games too much... Maybe we could see and wait.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-07-24 19:23:24)
Copyright issues
Like everywhere else, Dirk Jan... at your own risks ;)
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html
06. Warranties and limitations of liability
(...) FICGS shall not be liable for what members will do if they don't respect these "Terms and Conditions" or for what members will publish in the forum, news, comments or messages to other members.
Benjamin Aldag (2006-08-20 22:37:05)
How can i send a message to another.....
Hi,
how can i send a messages to another member of FICGS ? Is it only possible by playing with a member move by move, or is there another way ? It would be nice to send a message to anyone anytime.
Benny
Thibault de Vassal (2006-08-22 18:15:39)
Private messages
I don't think a kind of webmail could be really useful... Emails could be displayed (player's choice) for connected players only. What do you think ?
Don Groves (2006-08-23 05:04:33)
What about this case...
An opponent just resigned and said "good game" to me in his message. But now his game no longer shows up in my messages, so how can I answer him and express my gratitude for a good game?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-08-23 14:28:39)
Private messages
Hi Don.
A way is to leave a public comment... I'm thinking about a funny and efficient way to "connect" players (who want to be). Not so easy... All ideas welcome :)
Don Groves (2006-08-24 00:39:25)
re: private messages
ICCF allows this by keeping finished games in a players current game list until the player decides to remove it. This way players can continue to exchange messages about their game until at least one decides to stop. -- Don
Ilmars Cirulis (2006-09-20 01:24:07)
I'm sorry
Please delete one of these two messages.
Ilmars Cirulis (2006-10-03 22:53:33)
... dead!
IMO advantage is 100% enough for win in both variation, at least for me (+engine :D). (It is sad that I don't have money (enough) - I could offer you a bet.) :D P.S. Question not about Traxler - how do you make empty lines in messages?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-03 23:01:05)
not dead
I just added some lines.. Forget about this, Ilmars :) .. there are too many lines to analyze, and there's no way to prove anything !
If you want to bet on this, you'll loose money for sure... ;)
To begin a new line in messages, just type "< br >" (without the spaces)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-09 10:56:23)
Server peaks of charge
Hi all and thanks for sharing your views.
I agree with Marc, there's no reason to slow down games by force. I'm just thinking about an emergency system that would delay (a few minutes at most) the moves to appear in 'My messages' and 'My games' with an appropriate message if too many players are sending moves at the same time - in future. Some games run particularly fast (30 moves played in half an hour).
The idea of delaying the sending of moves is interesting but I'm not convinced yet. I fear it wouldn't be used a lot and too many options is not good IMO. (more, the delay wouldn't be 100% accurate) As for me, I just 'accepted' to have 10 or more pending moves continuously, I delete emails (or set email notification off) and come back later to the server... Another way would be to filter moves responded before a defined time in 'My games'. Not so useful...
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-10 10:42:53)
Thomas
Hi Thomas.
I'll create the games and tournament as soon as all pairings and names / nicknames are ok. I send my list in a few hours. Players will just have to connect and see their running games in 'My games' or 'My messages'...
Best wishes.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-14 18:33:37)
Chess and Go diagrams / Forum update
A major update for FICGS forums (& blogs) !
Now you can insert Chess & Go diagrams in messages...
(useful to submit chess problems, analysis and so on...)
See the FAQ in help section - http://www.ficgs.com/help.html - for details, in example here is the position of the last game in the FIDE world chess championship between Veselin Topalov & Vladimir Kramnik, just before Topalov blunder 44. ...Rxc5 ??
ChessPosition (see diagram)
Diagrams format is quite simple (see Help), please note only one diagram / position will be displayed per message.
Also minor bugs (links, search functions) corrected...
Scott Prestwood (2006-10-28 19:58:33)
Connected players
What is the "Connected players" list in the messages for and why does my name stay on it as others are changing, and the list of others in the tourney I am in do not show up in the list?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-31 09:50:28)
Red mark + Message
Graham, really ? Please note the red mark is only displayed on the 'move' page, when you're to play a move. (not in the viewer page ie.)
Sebastian, that's quite right, messages may be forgotten on the 'move' page... But I thought it would be hard not to see it on the 'move_confirm' (cf. url) page, above the 'send' button... That's a problem to displace the board at the bottom IMO :/ And a popup window wouldn't be appreciated... I have no better idea at this time.
Thanks for feedback.
Daniel Khayman (2006-11-19 18:20:37)
Messages
Hello everyone, I'm new here and have joined after recommendation from Mr. Wayne Lowrence, my good web friend and chess master (watch out for him:-). I've been trying to communicate within the site via text message but that seems to be impossible unless the receiver is your direct opponent; can anybody help me out? Is there a way of sending texts to whoever one likes? Thank you for dropping by, Daniel
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-19 21:05:29)
Messages
Hello Daniel.
Sorry, this feature is not implemented (yet). This kind of webmail shouldn't be necessary here IMO. It has been discussed already, but all suggestions & arguments are welcome :)
Best wishes.
Wayne Lowrance (2006-11-20 21:12:28)
Messages
Hi Dan. Welcome aboard. This is nice site. I agree, the site is a very good place to play CC, But it is not very friendly only because of the feature you mention. When I first came aboard that is the first thing I noticed. Consider this a second vote for a place that we all can converse and get to know each other better. Wayne. ps Dan I know your a tough cookie and will do well here
Daniel Khayman (2006-11-20 22:13:29)
Messages
hello Wayne, i'm glad you've popped in. yeah, apparently not many players here like to have a friendly chat while playing but, hey, you can always find a way around it so, if you wanna talk, my friend, just post a topic here and we'll discuss it......or maybe we can do by the usual e-mails :-). thanks for your welcoming Wayne and hope to meet you soon across the board.. daniel p.s.: today my son has been hospitalised for 10 days to examine what appears to be a certain case of autism: the final diagnosis will be made at the end of this session but i'm not to optimistic anymore; he looked like he'd been improving but it was only a mirage or maybe just my irrational hope that all this be a bad dream from which i'll soon wake up. i've woken up, alright?!?! what can you do? life goes on and he's forever gonna need me so i can't afford to despair. the greatest match of my yet short life has begun. see you around Wayne.
Wayne Lowrance (2006-11-21 01:56:08)
Messages
Dan I will answer you via email. I think it is frowned upon to carry chit chat on this link. Very sorry my friend about your son Wayne
Daniel Khayman (2006-11-21 04:36:37)
Messages
cool
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-21 11:40:05)
Messages
Hello Daniel.
So sorry to read this... Please just tell me if you want your post to be edited.
All the best, Thibault.
Wayne Lowrance (2006-11-21 18:51:35)
Messages
Dan I have lost your e-mail somehow. Dan, Dorothy and I continue to pray for you and your son. Would you send me your e-mail please. I have more to say that best be personnal. Keep up your faith my good friend Thanks to all members of this forum to allow me to communicate with my friend Wayne
Don Groves (2006-11-25 20:42:20)
"Next" request
I would like to see the "Next" function changed to move through a player's games by going to the next game in the list instead of going to the front of the list each time. The reason for this is: if I have skipped over a game because I don't want to move in that game until I have given it more thought, I can't use "Next" to step through my games but must instead use "My Messages" to keep skipping that game. With a long game list, this gets tiresome.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-28 13:38:30)
FICGS chat !
Hello to all.
You probably noticed this new window on the right... :)
This is a chat window, here you can write to everyone in the international chat, and to people from your country only (in your own language !). You can moderate the messages by clicking on the arrow just before each message (please use it with moderation)...
Question is : Should it be permanent or not ??
Two ways :
1. It could appear only from time to time...
2. There should be a way to close the window during the session.
Feel free to tell me if you encounter any problem... Thanks for feedback !
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-28 16:24:12)
Improvements
I just added 2 features on the chat window :
Now you can close it by clicking the arrow just before 'International chat'
Now you can refresh the messages by clicking on 'International chat'
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-22 11:26:58)
problems with playback
Hello Michael.
Sorry, so many things to implement yet :)
What do you mean 'Whenever I play back a game' ?
I use Firefox and Explorer and I didn't see that until now ?! (if I understood well)
I'll add a download button for all games, right now you can try to click the printer icon in 'My games', there's a list of your games in PGN format.
You can see who's online at the bottom of the page 'My messages' or go to http://www.ficgs.com/informations.html
My best.
Michael Finkelstein (2007-01-23 04:37:26)
problems with playback --
Dear Thibault, Thank you for your kind attention to my issue. I appreciate your efforts here very much. When I am at the start of a game which I wish to play back, I hit the forward button to play the next move -- when I do so the screen drops a quarter of a page. I then have to go to my screen up button to move the screen up again so I can see the move buttons. Or, when it is my turn to move, I click on the piece I want to move, and the screen again drops down a quarter of a page -- so I have to do a screen up button to get back to the board and click on the square I want to go to. I assume this is a unique problem to me since I saw no posts on it. What do you think, do I need to do a better job of explaining my situation? In regard to the light by the names of people online, I find it helpful when I logon and go to my games to see in one view which of my opponents is online, that way I can know if I will be making several moves before I log out since my opponent is online too. It is more tedious to search on my messages to see if any of my opponents is online. It would also to nice to have a buddy list so I could see stats in one view on my friends here. Thank you so much for allowing us to download all our games in progress at once. I did not mean to be critical. This is a nice site and you do a nice job here. Thank you again for your response to my question. Mike
Michael Finkelstein (2007-01-23 21:25:52)
problems with playback --
Thibault, When you are looking at your own game, or any game in the site, you see the chess pieces on the chess board on your computer screen. Belown the chess board are the arrows to move the pieces forward and back in the game in order to replay it. When you click on the arrows to move a piece forward or back as you replay the game, the screen drops a quarter of a page. Thus, to get back to the arrows to replay another move in the game you have to scroll the screen up. Also, I just noticed that when viewing my game where it is my turn to move, the arrows for replaying the game are not present. This is a problem since I may not have played that game in many days and would like to replay before making my move to remind myself of how I got into the position. This is a nice play to play, but I do think you shoud visit queenalice.com to see some of the nicer features that you can incorporate here to make the experience better. Thank you for your kind consideration, Thibault. Mike PS I note that when I write here I do put in paragraph spacing but it does not show up in the preview or post. Yet your messages do have paragraph spacing -- how do you do that?
Scott Prestwood (2007-04-16 15:27:14)
skip
I usually have to go to messages to make sure I am attending the game with the greatest amount of time pressure. Would 'skip' go to the next game with the shortest amount of time left?
Thibault de Vassal (2007-06-04 03:38:43)
World Team Championship
Hello Dan.
It's been discussed already... See the last messages of this thread :
http://www.ficgs.com/forum_read_294-Team-Championship.html
Thibault de Vassal (2007-07-17 12:12:43)
Game sorting
The page "My messages" displays only games where it is your move - sorted by 'date of last move played'. I'll probably add this option in september, there will be a (probably long) thread "Wish list" :)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-08-13 05:40:04)
Hello Vitalii...
More accurately :
1) Posting private messages from anyone violates applicable laws.
2) Slander violates applicable laws.
These two were included in the discussion / accusations, whatever the facts about these threatens...
More accurately :
I'll apply the rules letter by letter from now...
... furthermore (not consequently) :
ANYONE WHO WILL POST SUCH ACCUSATIONS AGAIN WILL BE BANNED FROM THE SITE, cause this is definitely not the place for it.
Best wishes, Thibault
Sergei Ivanov (2007-08-13 11:57:51)
Thibault de Vassal
1) "Posting private messages from anyone violates applicable laws."
It was PUBLIC MESSAGE, the message --- [moderator : name deleted] planned murder Dmitry's , saw many people, it has been laid out at forum IM of [moderator : name deleted].
2) "Slander violates applicable laws."
It NOT SLANDER - this TRUTH and it has already confirmed 4 persons.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-08-13 14:03:37)
Sergei Ivanov
1) I didn't say the contrary about this particular point, actually I don't know anything about it... but some private messages were posted (and of course deleted) during the discussion.
2) I didn't say the contrary about this particular point, actually I don't know anything about it... but there were some slander about drugs, weapons or mafia... no proofs, finally this is definitely the place for such accusations.
WARNING :
Writing the name of the accused player in this thread is a way to accuse him again, it will lead to be suspended during a while.
Philip Roe (2007-09-01 04:24:39)
private/public messages
I too would like to send private messages, perhaps to congratulate the winner of my tourney. Also, can one add public comments to a game that is finished? Either ones own game or someone elses?
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-01 10:24:20)
private/public messages
Hello Phillip.
Yes, it is possible to leave a public comment for your own finished games (you can find it through 'My tournaments'). I'll work on the private message facility soon.
Garvin Gray (2007-09-01 10:39:31)
offer
Ilmars offered to swap credits again, but as I had less than ten e points, so couldnt do it.
Obviously Ilmars would have to confirm this offer.
I believe that you can see all the previous chat bar messages, so you can at least follow our conversation about this matter from there.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-09 15:28:33)
FICGS update & wish list
Hello to all.
You probably noticed a new extension to the chat bar, it delivers some random messages and news (forum, problems, public comments, entries, login). It also automatically warns a player if he started an advanced tournament [bullet, lightning or blitz games], which is more convenient... As it refreshes every minute, you shouldn't log out automatically anymore until you close the chat bar.
Other changes :
- Serbia & Montenegro (SCG) has become Serbia (SRB) and Montenegro (MNE).
- New players will start with a 1800 chess rating.
- Lightning tournaments become Advanced tournaments (blitz, lightning, bullet)
- New quotes added from the forum :)
- Some Google optimizations...
- Waiting list for unrated no-engines tournaments is open !
- Minor bugs corrected.
I did not implement the private messages facility yet... I feel it could create some problems (not technically), I still have to think about it.
This is probably a good moment to open a wish list and discuss all changes you'd like to see on the site...
Best wishes, Thibault
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 18:39:27)
Insults
Hello Andrew.
"Limited access to the server" means (like ICC) that a player still can play his moves, but can't post anymore, ie. on the forum. About tolerance, I have been less tolerant in the past, but like in any game, some turned round the rules and the result was not so good. Trust me, it is not possible to say after 15 messages (provocation -> insults) who "started" and who must be banned.
Anyway, "I will always beat you ! - Show me, let's play a game !" won't be considered as provocation, but provocation about the person (including the IQ / rating 'formula') has not its place in this forum IMO.
Don Groves (2007-09-21 04:31:25)
One more thing...
Thibault escrit: "About the clock in My games, should I understand that you never used this page before, after one year playing at FICGS ? :)" I've always used the "My messages" page instead ;-)
Don Groves (2007-09-23 00:46:41)
One more thing...
You are correct, Thibault! My Games is easier to use than My Messages. So why don't you send us directly to My Games after logging in? ;-)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-24 01:16:36)
My games or My messages
Hi Don ;)
Why... why... why such good questions ? :) .. well, I quite like to see all games notations first, to look for the game I'll think about before without clicking all of them. Anyway, taste & colors only ;)
Garvin Gray (2007-09-24 07:41:22)
site messages
Another reason could be so we see any important site change messages as our first port of call
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-27 21:57:34)
New update (2007-09-27)
A new update :
- Private messages facility (see bottom of My messages) has been implemented, you can send a message that will be sent by email to your opponent. You can disallow other members to send messages to you in Preferences
- Now you'll be redirected to the next game by default after sending your move. You can change this option in Preferences.
- Go scorer, now much more convenient, you just have to click on the groups to remove before to score the game.
Garvin Gray (2007-09-28 03:28:13)
pm's
Proposal for site rule, now that private messages has been enabled.
Publication of a private message without the authors expressed permission is forbidden and will lead to ...... (insert penalty here).
Dan Rotaru (2007-12-06 14:37:01)
re: Where is the PM-Tool?
In "My messages" screen, scroll down.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-01-11 21:52:46)
mails, game search
About personal emails, two ways : the form at the bottom of My messages page, or the public comments that are sent by email too.. but I've to make it clearer and easier to use (ie. to find a game that just finished).
About game search, it is possible to enter a game number in the form below the menu. I'll add a title to the form to make it clearer, thanks !
Benjamin Block (2008-04-23 17:51:07)
Free bullet &lightning.
Thanks it is really funny with free entery but bow we will get lots of messages in the chat?
Thibault de Vassal (2008-04-23 22:11:45)
Free bullet & lightning bronze games
Hi Benjamin, I don't think so 'cause chess bullet & lightning bronze waiting lists may be closed soon. A better way is to use the challenges option in "My games" as there are much less chances to start a game while the opponent is offline (and no more messages in the chat).
Volker Koslowski (2008-04-28 10:10:33)
Too much...
Hi Thibault!
The idea is nice but seeing the full conversation history at every move is a little bit to much I think. For me it would be enough to see the last message from my opponent and the message I've sent to him the move before. Maybe it is possible to introduce a new option at the preferences where we can set the number of messages that will be shown at the game?
Regards!
Volker
Thibault de Vassal (2008-04-28 10:40:03)
Conversations
Hi Volker, it is possible to delete past messages with the "delete conversation" option with the javascript interface, but anyway I'll try to find a trick in a few days. Best, Thibault
Volker Koslowski (2008-04-28 11:01:53)
Conversations
Hi Thibault!
That's a reason why I didn't find the delete option. I still use the old plain HTML interface which I prefer more than the javascript interface. So I will wait for your new trick and in the meantime I will switch to the other interface from time to time to delete messages when thy are to much for my taste :)
Thank you and greetings
Volker
Andrew Stephenson (2008-04-29 10:17:10)
messages
Hi Thibault I sent you a private message - did you get it??
Thibault de Vassal (2008-05-19 06:35:14)
Major update (may 2008)
Hello to all, a new update including :
- Regular tournaments with prizes (see thread "Free tournaments with prizes")
- Norms, titles and prizes are now announced by email.
- Players with Epoints are shown in the connected players list (My messages).
- Affiliate links : For each new player referred by your link (see My account) posted on the world wide web, 1 Epoint will be added to your account.
- Search games function improved : You can now search games by opening and by rating (White & Black)
All feedback welcome :)
Thibault de Vassal (2008-06-10 15:19:31)
Rules : 11.1 Netiquette
Hello all, I would like to apologize to all members for reading such unacceptable posts in this forum. Rules are not so easy to apply in some cases, now I've taken measures.
Thanks for understanding.
11. General rules
11. 1. Netiquette
(...) It is possible to leave public comments for your games and to send private messages to other members. No player may post in forums or send to another member any voluntary message that contains abusive, insulting, provocating, advertising, vulgar, foul, racist, sexist or other discriminatory or politically sensitive content. Doing so may lead to being immediately and permanently banned. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic, comment or message at any time should they see fit. Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and may lead to get a limited access to the server during a few weeks, at the moderator's discretion. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private.
Ilmars Cirulis (2008-06-10 16:27:21)
...
Because his messages are so angry. :)
Thibault de Vassal (2008-06-25 12:03:42)
Khaled
Bonjour Khaled, il est également possible (peut etre plus efficace) d'envoyer un message à quiconque par le formulaire situé en bas de la page "My messages".
Cordialement,
Thibault
Marc Lacrosse (2008-07-05 19:36:23)
Qualification information ?
Because i did not realise that I had qualified for two WCh tournaments I recently enrolled for a third one and had three tournaments beginning almost simultaneously in january, which proved to be too much for me.
And now the deadline for the next Wch (005)is approaching and it just seems that i will win WCH_STAGE_1_GROUP_M_01__000004.
So I am hesitating : when will Wch-004 next stage begin ?
I do not wish anymore to have more than one tournament starting almost at the same time.
More generally speaking, I wish I could get the following infos permanently updated on my "My messages" page :
* I enrolled for a tournament of type X on date Y. Presently there are already Z players enrolled for this tournament.
* I registered for championship X on date Y. this is supposed to start on date Z.
* In tournament Wch-X my present result ensures (or leaves the possibility open) that I will be qualified for next stage tournament that is supposed to begin on date Y.
Your opinion ?
Marc
Normajean Yates (2008-07-13 23:08:00)
to make it clearer -
on some machines i see a ticker-tape ie horizontal-scrolling text - messages, quotes, forum posts etc - in a white box. I suppose that is the message box. But no chat column below it.
On others I see a fixed-text chat column.
Sorry, at first i put this into another thread by mistake, staring another thread. I dont know how to delete it.
Normajean Yates (2008-07-13 23:38:50)
ok solved thanks
ok it comes only when i go to my messages. sorry to disturb.
Normajean Yates (2008-07-14 00:19:41)
It has gone again... help!
I logged out and logged in, the chat bar has disappeared again! Whether i am in 'my messages' or not!
I don't understand!
Thibault de Vassal (2008-07-25 21:44:40)
Caire - Utesch
The only running games of François right now are the ones of your match, so I assume he left just before the start of the tournament... Not a real problem yet but definitely I'll have to add more informations in 'My messages' about the start of the next WCH stages.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-09-15 22:22:26)
Chess quizz beta
Another update, a chess 'quizz' : Guess moves in games played at FICGS.
This is a test version in "My messages" only (on the right).
To be continued, but all feedbacks and comments are welcome already.
Denis Ivanchenkov (2008-09-27 02:03:33)
Thanks!
Thibault thanks for the interesting info! :) as to other language site i actually ment that though introduction changes due to language selection other crucial messages remain English. Well, maybe that is even good - we all can communicate.
Normajean Yates (2008-09-27 23:27:51)
how to see private message?
I sent a private test-message to myself. It got sent but I cannot see it. Even after logging out and logging in again.
Can someone help - what can be the problem? In preferences 'private messages' is on (i.e. there is a tick-mark in 'private messages' box in my preferences).
Please, some one send me a private message to test if I can recieve private messages. [maybe self-messages don't appear...] I am member number 3879.
Thank you in advance.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-12-05 14:28:28)
Invite your friends - tool
A new tool that may help to find many new players :)
You may now add your contacts as friends and invite them to join us at FICGS in a single click. See at the bottom of "My messages" page, above the connected players list.
Many features will be added soon to this tool !
Thibault de Vassal (2008-12-10 00:13:19)
Email inviter
It is now possible to add friends by entering their emails (unlimited). It also sends an invitation to them by email.
See "My messages" (bottom -> email mode) for more details.
Normajean Yates (2008-12-17 04:15:15)
Game 26099 - fit case for adjudication?
Game 26099 Salinas - Yates 13...Qe1# {mate} - more than 50 hours ago. On my checkmating move I had sent request to resign.
Salinas posted this in international chat: [I am pasting:]
"salinas marcelo : congratulation ..nice victory Norma. (2008-12-16 00:31:15)"
So he has sent 'final friendly message' also. But in international chat, *not* with resignation! He has *still* not resigned.
If you click 'more messages' and scroll down international chat, you'll see that I had - immediatety after his message, politely explained that he had to resign.
Salinas has blocked private messages.
I feel that all this is annoying and unfriendly, so the game should be adjudicated. (since the purpose of NOT having automatic checkmate-recognition is NOT being served, but the feature is being abused by opponent.)
What do you people think? What is the precedent/convention for such a case on ficgs?
Thibault, adjudicate?
Normajean Yates (2009-01-08 04:36:46)
I find this update excellent!
I've seen that chess sites with social networking features allow people to interfere with chess players by intrusive comments/messages etc.
OTOH, I like Thibault's model - it:
1. keeps an excellent separation between the social networking part and the chess-play part.
2. provides much more privacy.
And why should Thibault not try to make money??? Do you think this is a charity or soup-kitchen or what? How many of you do your jobs [salaried/self-employment/business] for free???
Don Groves (2009-01-09 04:06:59)
Images in messages
Salut, Thibault! What about embedding images in a private message to another player, or in a forum post. Is this doable without too extra work for you?
Thibault de Vassal (2009-01-09 08:47:35)
Images in messages
Salut Don, no this is not an extra work, I can do this easily but I chose not to allow it to avoid kind of spam or authoring problems. But I could add it (just like the photo near the name). Are many of you really interested in this ? I'm not sure :)
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2009-01-17 13:37:41)
Ditto
I got the same messages. Maybe too much socializing taking place.
Garvin Gray (2009-01-18 13:57:42)
to which do you belong
Either that, or that the readers are not sure exactly what you are talking about, to which I am in the second category.
On possibly a related issue, when I click on the links below, the site opens a new window and tells me I have to log in again, but when I log in again, it sends me back to the my messages page. So I can not get to the page you mention from the link.
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2009-03-22 17:58:25)
Captured pieces
Hello Samy,
to know which pieces are captured in your games you can write it into the personal messages of the games:
White: 2B, 2N, 3P
Black: Q,4R
and so on. I think it is a good solution without changing the software.
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2009-03-22 18:04:51)
Captured pieces
Sorry: personal notes, not messages
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2009-04-14 20:20:57)
Draw offer
In my opinion only the marked check box should be a regular draw offer. There is also no way to accept a draw offer and finish a game by sending a message to your opponent.
Messages are nice, but should not have any influence on the game. And we should not misuse Thibault (the referee) to decide if our games are drawn.
Normajean Yates (2009-04-28 09:12:25)
to Don:Ah well, if you dont recall it...
Mr Groves,
So you don't recall it; and then there is the fact that I thought *all* the chat-posts were available for recall if one clicked 'more messages' at the bottom of the chat column, but I saw that there was a cutoff there so unless *someone else* remembers or unless Thibault has the archives, I am in the unenviable position of not being able to prove it...
My memory says there was in fact no emoticon with your comment. But my present higher-than-the-usually-high blood-pressure plus a colitis-attack I am down with, means that I cannot be sure of that...
However, in my experience, my hypertension and the occasional colitis attack doesn't trigger the confabulation of a whole sentence like "what are you smoking"?
In view of the other interactions between you and me here I will let bygones be bygones; and I still would even were that chat-post still available...
However, I try to avoid *unnecessary* stress and complications in my life; so henceforth for my own protection I prefer to keep a safe distace from you, at least for a certain indeterminate cooling-off period. Thats fair enough, I think.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-04-29 14:17:53)
1st team tournament !
Hello all,
As you may have read in the forum previously, the idea of a team chess tournament came up (originally Olympiad, maybe later).
The 1st FICGS CHESS TEAM TOURNAMENT will start on May 15th, 2009. Each team must be made of 4 players, whatever their ratings.
The tournament will be a single round-robin tournament, games will be unrated (just for fun !), time control : 40 days + 40 days / 10 moves.
You may contact other players through the form in My Messages (bottom) or just make a call here in this thread or in the chat bar to find partners, the definitive teams should be announced with their name in this thread to be in !
We might also vote for the funniest team name after the tournament started, be aware ;)
Have fun :-)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-06-08 21:19:20)
New feature : Silent mode !
Due to several problems caused by a few players recently (mainly insults in private messages), I just created a "silent mode".
Every player who will not respect the FICGS general rules & netiquette may be placed in this mode for a certain time or permanently, that way the player can play games and enter new tournaments but it is no more possible to send messages to other players (or receive messages with moves) by any way, this is the only way to avoid troubles in tournaments.
I'm very sorry to anyone who received such messages and I'll take care to avoid and prevent this in the future.
My best wishes,
Thibault
Iouri Basiliev (2009-07-13 14:59:09)
1st team tournament
I'm lost. Where we can see the 1st team tournament reglament? Would be team match points counted or just all players points? Sorry, i can't scan all the messages.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-08-22 22:30:34)
Slow moves & chat bar at Poker
Hello everyone,
You may have noticed that the chat bar disappeared during your poker "moves"... In my opinion poker moves are usually played so fast that it is useless to display it but it may be a problem for players who write long messages with their moves and can be disconnected (the small message box keeps players connected as it refreshes automatically). Is it a problem for many players ?
The other question is : Should the "slow moves" process be kept for poker moves as it is (IMHO) not necessary to confirm such moves in most cases ?
Your feedback is welcome, thanks :)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-08-25 23:55:39)
Chat window
Daniel, by "chat window" we mean the bar on the right where we can send short messages.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-11-03 18:28:43)
Options
Actually this player could do it quite easily by many ways, including private messages.
To be clearer, the options :
1) The thread could be created when the game starts.
2) The thread could be created only when the game finishes.
3) The thread could be created when the game starts, the players can read or write only when the game finishes, the specators can read/write at any time.
4) No thread at all.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-11-16 21:09:57)
First move
Hello Ahsan, feel free to read the Help section - http://www.ficgs.com/help.html
You may play your moves by going to "My games" or "My messages". Feel free to ask if you have any question.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-11-21 01:19:19)
E-mail notifications
Hi Wayne, you mean email notification for your moves or messages posted in the forum?
For the forum, I'll add an option in Preferences within a few days.
Wayne Lowrance (2009-11-21 01:36:52)
e-mails
Howdy Thibault, they are forum posted messages. Actually Thibault I dont really want e-mailes from FICGS. I do want notification when a tourney is announced, etc.
Thank you Wayne
Thibault de Vassal (2009-12-07 16:55:30)
Bernard Lacrosse
I would like to warmly welcome Bernard Lacrosse, brother of Marc and past President of the Belgian Chess Federation, who probably saw our bottle in the sea and the numerous messages in other chess forums...
Thibault de Vassal (2010-02-05 21:48:48)
Advanced games : Problems & solutions
Hi all,
There's a real problem with the advanced games so far, anyone who tested it lost on time at least once without having played and/or won a game because his opponent forgot to play or to retire from the waiting list.
The challenges partly solves the problem as the program verifies if both players are connected to the server (also I added some warning messages explaining how to use the advanced games) but it seems it is far to be enough.....
Anyway I agree that a web interface is not really designed to such games, particularly when it is hard to find an opponent for these games (which is probably the main problem).
Whatever the way, both opponents should probably be able to discuss just before their game in the chat bar, so one solution would be to verify if the players wrote (or even posted a kind of "start" message) in the chat bar during the last few minutes, it would be a way to be "SURE" that both players are ready to play, even if I'm not sure that it would be enough again.
In my opinion, no more advanced game should start if both opponents did not confirm their presence to the other player in the chat bar.
Any opinion on this ? Any other idea to solve this ?
Thanks in advance and sorry again to all players who experienced this.
Garvin Gray (2010-03-23 07:12:12)
Freestyle Cup: April 2010
The my messages page is showing March 3 as the starting date for the freestyle cup.
Benjamin Block (2010-06-04 07:45:52)
Rating update
1 july. Read "My messages"
Thibault de Vassal (2010-08-18 17:37:52)
Newest/oldest posts first
You mean something like the last message at the bottom of the forum page? I may display several (5, 10) messages instead of 1 only, would it be enough?
Thibault de Vassal (2010-08-27 17:08:50)
Newest/oldest posts first
Thinking about it, actually I should change many things in this forum (e.g. response form at the bottom for the way messages are displayed right now...) I'm not sure if top posting is best but an option would do it of course, I'll do it as soon as possible (not so urgent anyway).
Philip Roe (2010-09-01 04:27:05)
Latest deletions of chat
If I'm right, chat messages are deleted by clicking on the triangle to the left. I have no idea whether this is some kind of standard practice, but I must admit that once (long ago) I wondered "What happens if I click on this? Oh dear, I seem to have deleted it" I feel sure that others must have done the same.
So, Thibault, you have to work around the ignorance of people like me.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-10-04 19:17:37)
Private messages to the webmaster
Hi all, it looks like one of my email providers blocks FICGS emails these days so I may have missed a few messages if you sent it to me via the "My messages" form (to "Thibault de Vassal"), that's now fixed, if you noticed I did not reply to your message, please resend it to me.
Sorry about that.
Garvin Gray (2010-10-29 12:48:08)
Freestyle Fun
I think only those that are online at 1300 should be paired in round one. This ensures that the tournament gets started on time.
The only exception would be if someone has let you know that they will be turning up, just will be a bit late.
Players can always be paired starting from round two.
I ask for this for two reasons:
1) It allows you to cover any last minute points and you know that all players have seen the messages because they are actually online. and
2) Not everyone is playing this tournament starting in the afternoon. The tournament starts at 9pm for me, so it will finish each day late enough as it is. I will certainly not be happy at all if I have to wait around for late comers and will not mind saying so.
It will mean that I get 'punished' by not starting on time because of those who could not make it on time without letting you know beforehand. How is that fair?
Thibault de Vassal (2010-12-25 03:01:57)
Paypal box in My messages page
A small question, what would you say about the Paypal box in the My messages page?
1) It is useless
2) It is annoying
3) It is not clear that the site is free
4) It is not important, so why not
5) It is just ok
6) Something else
I hesitate between 3 & 4 actually...
Thanks for your help :)
Garvin Gray (2010-12-25 09:34:36)
Paypal box in My messages page
Thib:
Should this: what would you say about the Paypal box in the My messages page?
Read:
What would you say to ADDING a paypal box in the my messages page?
The reason I ask is that currently I can not see a paypal box on the my messages page. So either I am missing it, or you are planning on adding it and it currently does not exist.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-12-25 23:31:47)
Paypal box in My messages page
Sorry Garvin, I forgot to mention that this option is currently visible only if you do not use https:// , otherwise the whole page wouldn't be secured anymore.
It is visible in My account anyway.
Brian Wood (2010-12-25 23:45:12)
Private messages to the webmaster
Thank you for creating my account so quickly.
Brian Wood
Thibault de Vassal (2010-12-26 00:17:45)
Private messages to the webmaster
Hello Brian,
You're welcome! Merry Christmas...
Peter Unger (2011-01-03 00:26:00)
Private messages to the webmaster
I cant get to the following tournament - why - the accepted participants have no ELO 2300+
FICGS__CHESS__RAPID_SM__000008
(type : rated round-robin, time : 30 days, increment : 1 day / move)
7 players, 6 game (1 game against each opponent)
entry fee : 0 , prize : 20 (E-Points)
elo : 2300+
POL Broniek, Mariusz Maciej 2106
SVK Gazi, Miroslav 2289
USA Nichols, Scott 2200
Scott Nichols (2011-01-03 01:14:21)
Private messages to the webmaster
Either they were over 2300 when they signed up Peter, or as in my case I won a Rapid_M tourney and bought a ticket to move up for the price of 10 e-points.
Garvin Gray (2011-07-23 16:54:42)
E point encouragement
From the my messages page=
Until october 1st 2011, you'll be given 10% E-Points more when buying at least 20 Epoints, 25% E-Points more when buying at least 50 Epoints. It is also possible to win E-Points by becoming an affiliate.
So I understand this correctly. If I buy 50 epoints, I get an extra 12.5 epoints, is that correct?
William Taylor (2011-08-24 13:33:12)
Comments anyone?
Thib - can you see who has removed messages? If so, perhaps you can caution people who remove them for no obvious reason, and remove their ability to do so or ban them from the site if necessary.
Thibault de Vassal (2011-08-25 12:58:02)
Comments anyone?
William got it, that's exactly what I do (cautionning people). Those chat messages are not so important, that's why I think working this way is fair & efficient enough. Having even 10 moderators wouldn't be ok for this IMO.
Philip Roe (2011-09-19 21:44:13)
Phantom ficgs
Hi Thibault,
This happens on an HP Pavilion laptop, when I connect using either IE or Firefox.
There is no apparent pattern to the messages. Just now I got a line from Wikichess, a tornament start announcement, a note from you, part of a thread on Game 58473, advice that a player has just logged on. They seem to be things that have recently appeared above the chat bar.
Thibault de Vassal (2011-11-28 15:10:21)
New feature to block messages
Hi all,
I just added a new feature that enables players to block/ignore all future messages from any other player.
Please note that there is NO WAY to take it back. (abuses would be easy otherwise)
The way to proceed: If a player sends abusing or provocative messages (according to the rules you have to avoid to reply it, the option appears at this condition only), just click the "report message" link THEN you'll see the "ignore future messages from this player" link. Just click it and you're done.
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Jimmy Huggins (2011-11-28 18:13:08)
New feature to block messages
This will be a very useful feature. Thanks for putting it in Thib.
Don Groves (2011-11-30 05:50:01)
New feature to block messages
I didn't know this was such a problem...
Jimmy Huggins (2011-11-30 07:51:22)
New feature to block messages
I have had a couple guys get me to the point of just wanting to resign the game. So I didn't have to listen to them anymore.
Garvin Gray (2011-11-30 15:18:14)
New feature to block messages
I can not recall ever having any issues with people abusing me during games.
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2011-11-30 23:35:40)
New feature to block messages
I agree with Jimmy. I have made the same experiences. I'm also glad that we have this feature now. Thank you very much, Thibault.
Thibault de Vassal (2011-12-01 01:24:23)
New feature to block messages
Yes, unfortunately it was necessary, definitely :/
Don Groves (2011-12-01 08:02:33)
New feature to block messages
I did have one bad experience a few years ago but none since.
Thibault de Vassal (2012-04-21 17:57:05)
LSS
Well, as I said in the chat I'm really surprised by all this... I also had prompt and courteous conversations with Ortwin (years ago) so I recommended Daniel to post in LSS forum to try to know why this winning game was suddenly adjudicated.
Daniel, were you discussing with your opponent during the game? Maybe he reported some messages (rules are probably different on this issue)!?
I hope we'll know more about this.
David Ward (2012-09-12 17:33:33)
Faster Refresh Time
I get the following report after clicking "No refresh" on the "My games" page, but I continue to get messages that Internet Explorer blocked a popup from www.ficgs.com.
"This page will refresh itself when you have a new move to play, then you'll see a (!) at the beginning of the page title.
If you do not see the clock below, your browser could not support Frames & Javascript or it could be turned off. In this case you will have to refresh the page manually.
This option is currently off.
Possible refresh delays for this session: no refresh, 5 sec, 10 sec, 30 sec. "
Thibault de Vassal (2012-11-23 18:01:51)
How to amend rating?
Strange, I did not receive it... maybe retry or try to use the form at the bottom of page "My messages", just enter my name and resend the message.
Thibault de Vassal (2012-12-02 12:45:42)
Problem with new groups for the chess WC
Robert/Stephane, it is also mentioned in the WCH rules: "Groups are built grading all players by rating and distributing them to obtain similar elo averages."
By the way all similar groups must have the same number of players, otherwise it would be impossible to be fair when building the next round tournaments.
@Don: Yes, the deadline does not change but there are a few lines in "My messages" that explain that it is still possible to enter the waiting list (without guarantee to be included in a tournament).
Roy Shapland (2013-01-07 13:08:35)
How to amend rating?
Thibault,
Your not listed in the 'Connected players' on the 'My messages' page. I can't find you in the name search on the 'My messages' page and I don't know you 'id' or how I would find that.
Perhaps you could send me a message that I could reply to?
Thibault de Vassal (2013-01-16 02:14:49)
FICGS admin scam me
Continuation......
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] ..everyone cannot be a bank
(2013-01-16 02:10:12)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] ... already answered too... because it explains that...
(2013-01-16 02:08:54)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] Please do not delete chat messages everyone.. not now
(2013-01-16 02:08:12)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] You clearly misunderstood me and did not read rules
(2013-01-16 02:07:00)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] I answered that already in the forum...
(2013-01-16 02:06:47)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] There's no "if" there anymore... just ask
(2013-01-16 02:05:50)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] why you lied to me in 2010?
(2013-01-16 02:05:18)
Horatiu Adrian Petrescu (2013-01-16 02:16:44)
FICGS admin scam me
petrescu horatiuadrian :
I didn't understand you???? is not even one word about your
(2013-01-16 02:14:41)
devassal thibault :
..everyone cannot be a bank
(2013-01-16 02:10:12)
devassal thibault :
... already answered too... because it explains that...
(2013-01-16 02:08:54)
devassal thibault :
Please do not delete chat messages everyone.. not now
(2013-01-16 02:08:12)
devassal thibault :
You clearly misunderstood me and did not read rules
Thibault de Vassal (2013-01-16 14:11:49)
FICGS admin scam me
continuation of the chat... for archives :)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] I resend it... with another email...
(2013-01-16 14:04:13)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] term
(2013-01-16 14:03:20)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] yours are included in.... :)
(2013-01-16 14:03:12)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] I told you send that emails which you told me about your
(2013-01-16 14:03:10)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] hey admin are you really stupid??you sent all yours emails??
(2013-01-16 14:02:09)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] but I can publish all emails in the forum if you want
(2013-01-16 13:59:08)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] obviously Yahoo blocks when too many messages
(2013-01-16 13:58:38)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] now I have: Remote host said: 554 Message not allowed
(2013-01-16 13:49:41)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] did you receive the first ones?
(2013-01-16 13:49:28)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] terms I will shut up
(2013-01-16 13:44:44)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] if you realy found some email that you told me about your
(2013-01-16 13:44:23)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] no problem
(2013-01-16 13:41:18)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] yahoo email
(2013-01-16 13:39:38)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] what message you found in your arhive ,send it to me to my
(2013-01-16 13:39:29)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] Please use the forum if you have something to add...
(2013-01-16 13:12:13)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
[Remove this comment] game ,set and scam devassal
(2013-01-16 13:05:46)
burrows nick :
[Remove this comment] Game, Set & Match Devassal
(2013-01-16 12:57:23)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] before registering, maybe we can now end this discussion
(2013-01-16 12:51:03)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] added to the fact that you had to understand terms & cond
(2013-01-16 12:50:40)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] the clear conclusion is that I did not lie to you...
(2013-01-16 12:50:14)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] I found a very interesting email in my archives :)
(2013-01-16 12:30:28)
devassal thibault :
[Remove this comment] You should read the last message in forum, Horatiu...
(2013-01-16 12:30:05)
Josef Riha (2013-01-16 19:50:09)
FICGS admin scam me
Your answer is an evidence for racism. I ignore all messages from you in the future.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-01-16 19:56:14)
FICGS admin scam me
I'm very sorry that you had to read this Josef, we shouldn't have more messages from him in the future...
My best regards,
Thibault
Vadim Khachaturov (2013-01-16 20:52:11)
FICGS admin scam me
Thibault, please, instead of sending heaps of messages to this noble man, just send a ten pills of Haldol to him. It will better help him and all of us.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-12-16 18:44:40)
Entry fee for higher class tournament
Right now, it is fully displayed in the rules page only.
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#tickets
The ticket option is reminded (with a link to rules) in each email specifying that a tournament is won and on the "My messages" page. I'll probably add it to the Waiting list pages soon.
By the rules have been updated!
Thibault de Vassal (2016-05-11 19:53:28)
Server crash (april 2016)
Hi all, welcome back :)
First of all, my apologies for this new server crash, about 4 years after the previous one...
The Raid 1 technology has its advantages, the 2 hard drives are almost-exact copies from each other, but it also has its difficulties [e.g. the "almost" part] and I just had to learn much about it to try to restore the server as I encountered not 1, not 2 but 3 hardware failures at the same time, added to a 4th hardware failure at home on the FICGS development PC, and of course added my "famous" incredibly bad internet connection. Murphy's law ^^ ... So, both hard drives and a SATA cable have been replaced on the server. Finally, the system had to be reinstalled and I had to upgrade it, which caused many difficulties these last few days. At the end, it was not possible to restore the very last FICGS database, so we lost a few minutes or hours of moves (fortunately it happened early in the morning). But nothing essential was lost at the end.
I'm still not 100% sure (if it's ever possible) that everything will work fine with this upgraded version of PHP & MySQL, obviously there are some problems with accents for players names (will be fixed soon) but let's go for a try. I probably made mistakes during the whole process that finally took 20 days but the good thing is that I should be able to better prevent such failures in the future. Thanks again for your patience!
As I said in the login/messages page, an email has been sent to warn everyone. If you tried to register or to change your password during the last two weeks, it was not taken in account so you'll have to do it again. 20 days (it was not possible to move during this time) have been added to all players expected to move, and 7 more days have been added to all clocks (including players not expected to move, to avoid any surprise in case of real vacation or something).
One more thing: It may be not possible to connect through SSL with https:// anymore in the future, I still don't know how to configure it on this system.
Let's play! :)
Best wishes,
Thibault
Thibault de Vassal (2016-05-31 19:52:16)
Bugs after the server crash
Glad to read that. Unfortunately, some bugs are much harder to solve in the shadow (the admin interface :)), that's why I can't update some things yet, like the "My messages" page.
Server administration is easy when it works fine already, otherwise... ^^
George Jempty (2016-09-13 14:41:12)
Missing chat
I once accidentally deleted a comment the first time ever I clicked on the triangle -- I did not realize the purpose was to delete. Rather I thought it would "expand" a chat topic. This was probably close to a year ago. In the meantime yes I primarily delete my own comments. However recently Duenas decided to post comments about an ongoing game of his with Cirulis, which to me just seems inappropriate for chat as there is a message box for each move of a game, as well as private messages. Those comments bumped a bunch of other comments possibly relevant to the whole FICGS community off the front page, so I deleted them.
I'm sorry if you Mr. Brodie if you think this makes me a cretin, but I'm just trying to keep the chat relevant to *everybody* on FICGS, not just two players, and in any case I think you rather over-state your case: "illegal hacking", references to "justice", etc. -- it's just a chat board. In any case what you are suggesting is a "policy" issue, but I think there is a "technical" issue too. And that is, once you click on the triangle you get a popup box with one button (an "alert") instead of two buttons (a "confirm"). A confirm would allow you to undo the delete, for instance if you accidentally clicked the triangle. Thib if you are reading this I am a web developer with nearly 20 years experience and could quite easily implement this, as I know you have a lot of other priorities.
George Jempty (2016-09-20 09:06:10)
Missing chat
Well that's as close to an admission you've made, laced with abuse as it is. I didn't abuse anyone except maybe to call you a troll though maybe I did abuse the system. I thought we'd come to some agreement when I came up with the idea of a system where it took two people to delete a chat message and you said "good idea", but then when a bunch of messages subsequently got deleted, you went on to falsely accuse me. Thib could put this all to rest by telling us who deleted the messages on that particular day, but it wasn't me. Could we just agree to a cease fire in the meantime?
George Jempty (2016-09-20 09:25:24)
Missing chat
Thib could you at least acknowledge that on 9/13 the day in question I was *NOT* the one who deleted probably a dozen or more chat messages
Thibault de Vassal (2016-12-14 23:30:09)
Poker Poll
[provocating or insulting messages deleted]
Rules will apply from now, stricto sensu.
Daniel Parmet (2017-08-15 19:08:08)
contact other member
If you click my messages on the top left, scroll to the bottom, you will see Last Name, First Name or ID. Then you fill that out to send that person a message.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-01-17 02:04:09)
Conditional chess moves (again)
Many thanks for this nice proposal Kym! By the way, I have no doubt that you could do much better than me (and with more time).
Well, as you understood FICGS has become a big complex (& quite old) thing that is not easy to shake. Each time I think about conditional moves, the more problems I identify (chess 960, draw offers, messages & so on)
Let's give us a few weeks to think about it. Not a way to throw it away, but I really need time for now to work on apps popularity.
Garvin Gray (2018-01-17 03:45:40)
Conditional chess moves (again)
Problems to identify and solutions:
As a starting point for the games:
Conditional moves would be restricted to the classical chess style. We have to start somewhere and this is the tried and tested format and most well known. So there are already sites out there using conditional moves in classical chess.
As for draw offers. If a player wants to offer a draw, the linear conditional move line stops at that move. They have to input their move and the draw offer by ticking the box.
Then the move passes to player B with the draw offer and they have to accept or decline the draw offer and play their move.
And then play resumes as normal with linear conditional moves.
This is how linear conditional moves worked when I ran the WBCCC events.
I am not sure what you mean by messages?
Thibault de Vassal (2018-01-17 04:41:22)
Conditional chess moves (again)
Yes, of course, way to go... I only mean: to keep coherence may be not easy and it adds some work at the end.
By messages I mean that it can be frustrating to play several moves without seeing any reply.
Kym Farnik (2018-01-17 04:44:57)
Conditional chess moves (again)
Messages to the opponent.
On a technical note, I would envision a JavaScript too that would allow:
1. The move
2. Conditional Move Line 1 and response Moves ...
Maybe more than one conditional lines
The whole web transaction, Move + Conditionals + messages are validated client side via the JS.
Then the transaction is re-validated on the server (to stop hacking).
The whole transaction is accepted or not.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-09-07 16:57:06)
Netiquette reinforcement
Hi all,
Following a few problems of provocation and repeated draw offers, I propose to reinforce and specify the netiquette to help players finding the right things to do according to the situation...
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#general
Particularly this paragraph:
"It is possible to leave public comments for your games and to send private messages to other members. No player may post in forums or send to another member any voluntary message that contains abusive, insulting, provocating, advertising, vulgar, foul, racist, sexist or other discriminatory or politically sensitive content. Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly serveral times in a row. Doing so may lead to instantly lose the game, and/or being immediately and permanently banned.
If a player receives such a message, he may use the "report" link and accepts to use the "block" link that appears then (when playing a move) rather than replying to it. Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and may lead to get a limited access to the server during a few weeks, at the moderator's discretion. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private.
To maintain a friendly community, any cheating complaint should be addressed to the referee and should not be made publicly in games comments or in the forum, otherwise with the same consequences. Please note that no time will be added to any clock in any case, the game will continue in all cases, in example arguing to wait for the referee's decision will not be accepted. Finally, you agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic, comment or message at any time should they see fit.
Publication of a private message without the authors expressed permission is strictly forbidden."
A big difference (I hope) is in the small add "Doing so may lead to instantly lose the game (...)". Better or worst? Any opinions or ideas?
Thibault de Vassal (2018-09-08 04:05:12)
Netiquette reinforcement
Many thanks for sharing your views Garvin.
Well, this is very relevant OTB, I agree. I'm not sure of what happens if a player abuses of complaints (e.g. to gain some time), which is probably unlikely in all cases, but anyway I imagine that a correspondence chess game could continue before to decide any problem related to provocative messages or repeated draw offers at least. And, of course, it makes it much more simple (at a first sight).
Maybe let's give it a try unless you think about clear examples where it couldn't work already, then I'll make such a change if it doesn't prove to be efficient.
William Taylor (2018-11-19 22:15:18)
World Championship Tie-breaks
Paul has also sent abusive private messages to me. At some point action should be taken. This is not the first thread he has de-railed into a flame war.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-11-19 22:25:20)
World Championship Tie-breaks
Please everyone let me finish this discussion with those who feel concerned. Private messages are welcome if necessary.
Paul, the "first" argument is not valid here, it just goes against the netiquette rules, if you read it again.
Thibault de Vassal (2020-12-11 20:57:43)
Repeated draw offers
Well, I took some time to think (again) about this problem. Not an obvious one.
Of course, the best option seem to be to let players to tell the server (and their opponent, or not) what they want to read / receive [draw offers], whenever they want. All other solutions seem to be a part of this solution.
By the way, players could tell the server (and their opponent, or not) what they want to read / receive [private messages], whenever they want.
I must say that all choices [any change, or no change at all] seem not satisfying to me for now... It is a real and complex ethical question to me.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-04-15 14:48:06)
Wch 22 Stage 2 ended
There is no full calendar indeed but that is a mistake... for now, there is a line "Schedule" in My messages that displays when the next WCH & CUP will start, but I could add the same for next rounds if we decide that all next rounds should start with new cycles. A start at 1st of the next month may be not so easy to manage according to the cases.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-04-28 00:56:13)
Players ratings
Hello Misha,
"My messages" page specifies : Dear chessfriends, the correspondence chess ratings and FICGS chess database have been updated on March 02, 2021 (next update around May 01, 2021).
Advanced chess ratings, big chess ratings, Go ratings & poker ratings are updated after each game.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-06-13 16:21:10)
What is the longest game of Big Chess?
Hello Herbert. Don't worry, I saw your messages but I always give players a chance to resign in this case. It will be ended soon anyway.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-07-18 12:14:42)
Next Ficgs World Championship Tournament
Big chess championship just started... We'll have to wait a few more days/weeks for the poker championship.
@ DonGroves: hi Don, did you receive my messages?
Juri Eintalu (2021-11-11 10:18:58)
How to Accept a Draw in Chess
So, now I am using the Fast Moves option. I was offered a draw. On my smartphone, I noticed "Accepted". Then, below the box for messages, I pressed "Send". No draw. I accepted again, but now I pressed the bottom "Send" which is right below the chessboard. Success. I did not have to make a move to accept a draw.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-11-29 02:09:11)
Repeated draw offers
After a case a repeated draw offers, I thought that the rule should evolve from:
"Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly serveral times in a row. Doing so may lead to instantly lose the game, and/or being immediately and permanently banned."
... to ...
"Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly serveral times in a row. Doing so may lead to get a limited access to the server (until to get a response if necessary) then to lose the game, finally to get permanently banned if this behaviour does not stop."
Reason is that it seems not so obvious for certain players to remember all draw offers while playing quite slowly many many games. Also, they may not receive some warning messages.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-11-29 18:03:06)
Repeated draw offers
Juri, it seems it's not obvious for several players at least. Garvin's proposition is probably best, avoiding any human intervention, I agree with that. Maybe I can do something according to player's taste, just like for private messages in games.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-12-01 02:12:36)
Repeated draw offers
I just updated the process and rules... let's give a try to this new version (without any human intervention on the result of the game):
"Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly several times in a row. Doing so may lead to get blocked by your opponents, finally to get a limited access to the server (until to solve the problem)."
It is now possible to report then block draw offers (at least the main message & popup) just like it is possible with private messages in games. Then it shouldn't be annoying anymore.
Bahadir Ozen (2022-02-27 16:34:37)
FICGS support to Ukraine
-1 Messages of love, hope and light can be shared for people in Ukraine. Although the situation seems political, what is happening is happening to humanity...
-2 During this period, the "Special Leave" feature can be given to Ukrainian - resident players.
-3 During this process, the Russian flag may be suspended. (Of course, it is not the fault of the Russian players, but the flag does not comply with the rules of "Gens una Sumus", as it is to represent.
-4 A special tournament can be organized on behalf of Ukraine.
We are going through difficult times. No to war for humanity.
Best regards,
Bahadir
Thibault de Vassal (2022-05-06 16:12:00)
Chess.com blocked in Russia
It seems that the #1 chess website has just been blocked in Russia, probably because of too many messages in favor of Ukraine... about 3.5 million users could be impacted.
Let's hope that other chess websites will not follow this way, isolating more and more our russian chessfriends. I'm just more and more skeptical on how the situation can evolve.
Thibault de Vassal (2026-05-29 16:21:07)
Cheating / Forfeiting
Hello George. Feel free to tell me why (in private messages). Any feedback may be useful.
[Chess forum]
[Rating lists]
[Countries]
[Chess openings]
[Legal informations]
[Contact]
[Social network] [Hot news] [Discussions] [Seo forums] [Meet people] [Directory]
[Social network] [Hot news] [Discussions] [Seo forums] [Meet people] [Directory]
Social network : create your photo albums, discuss with your friends...
Hot news & buzz : discover the latest news and buzz on the internet...
Discussions : questions and answers, forums on almost everything...
Seo forums : search engines optimisation forums, web directory...
Play the strongest international correspondence chess players !
|
Ygouf, Laurent (FRA) [member # 14712] Correspondence chess : 2424 SM Ranked # 71 in the rating list. This member has no profile in the social network. |
 | Correspondence chess World championship Play chess games Go (weiqi, baduk) Advanced chess Play big chess Chess trainer apk Rated tournaments Poker texas hold'em Fischer random chess |  |