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Game result (chess) B. Ozen, 2269 N. Wilson, 2121 1/2-1/2 See game 152323 |
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Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-08 13:10:47)
Things to be implemented...
Hello to all... and thank you for your confidence in this very new server (when no game started yet ! maybe today...)
I expected a high average rating, but not so much :)
The last update provoked the first bug -> in this forum. Sorry to all who tried to post here. It should work now.
Here are things to be implemented in the future :
- Vacations (until, time limit by move is 2 months)
- Conditional moves
- A better interface for the forum...
Don't hesitate if you have ideas to improve the website !
Best wishes.
Hannes Rada (2006-04-08 13:20:52)
Thank you !
Thank you Thibault for this great job of creating a chessfriend clone. Chessfriend had definitely the best and most convenient user-interface for server play. I Hope many chessfriend-players will migrate to this server. Once again thank you for your work and support of the correspondence chess community ! Furthermore -There is an overlap in the class tournaments concerning the minimun elo requirement. Can you clarify this ? - No holiday entitlement is mentioned in the terms and conditions hannes
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-08 13:37:17)
Class tournaments overlap
Hello Hannes. Thank you for support :)
The overlap offers the possibility for players to register to several class tournaments, at least to choose. I think it won't be used a lot, but it could be something more for the stronger players who will choose to register to "under-class" tournament as well as other players who may play sometimes with stronger players.
Feel free to tell me what you think.
Thibault
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-08 14:49:23)
FICGS titles
As you may have read on TCCMB forum, ICCF officials reacted when they learnt about FICGS titles. My idea was it first to be informative (titles from ICCF/IECG/FIDE), because I think players like to know who they play against, particularly if their opponents are titled. It seems obvious to me that FICGS titles are FICGS ones, not "official", not ICCF or FIDE.. even if words are quite the same (titles are FICGS IM, not IM).
I would like to know what you think about that. Do you think FICGS titles should be renamed (ie. FEM, FIM, FSM, FGM), or do you think there's no possible confusion between FIDE/ICCF/IECG/FICGS titles ? This is an interesting debate I invite you to follow :
http://pub11.bravenet.com/forum/924995304/fetch/552912/
Thank you for your advices.
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
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-10 09:45:04)
My games
Per, it's changed. Thank you :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-10 12:53:29)
FICGS and internet
Hello to all & thanks again for support.
I announced FICGS starting into main chess forums (FIDE, TCCMB, Talkchess, France-Echecs...), now working on search engines.
Feel free to talk about it in other forums (in your country or chessclub) and to your chessfriends... Website success is here, and the more players, the more players :)
Thank you in advance. Have good games !
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-11 05:18:57)
FICGS council / staff
About job specification, as I said, I would like FICGS to be a place that fits to the most, and not under a dictatorship (even mine :)), so the idea to create a council with all members who want to be part of it, voting all decisions relating server rules, tournaments, wch cycles, titles... (or simply opinion poll on the website ? or both...)
The FICGS staff should be able to manage the server (registering new members, moderating the forum, referees...) Nothing difficult, just needs motivation. Most important is that it could completely work without me. Of course, if developers want to help, making a drag & drop interface ie. or improving whatelse..) About "go", we'll see later, Hannes :) (it's a fine game, you should learn !)
Anyway I'll send an email to all players responding in this thread soon. We will discuss about that.
Best wishes & thank you !
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-11 14:44:22)
Not exactly...
... but it's true that there are many things to translate yet. Players already helped me with German, I'll continue to translate as soon as possible. (feel free to send to me German & Spanish translations, French is ok for me)
Thank you in advance.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-11 14:54:36)
FICGS titles
Hello to all.
I would like to have players opinion !
As you may have noticed, I already changed FICGS titles to FEM, FIM, FSM, FGM. (not titles obtained elsewhere) Do you agree with titles appearing this way ?
I thought several other ways : EFM, IFM, SFM, GFM, or only to mention norms obtained ! (not titles) At last, of course, we can suppress definitely titles from FICGS, a bad idea in my opinion. What do you think about that ?
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-16 11:58:58)
IECG & ICCF webserver
Hello to all.
Congratulations to Ortwin Paetzold who just started with success (src. IECG forum) the new IECG webserver.
Feel free to compare IECG, ICCF & FICGS servers (if you already played on) in this thread, it may help me to feel future improvements, as I have no more time to play on the other ones :(
Thank you for feedback.
Glen D. Shields (2006-04-16 12:15:33)
A Couple More Suggestions!
Thank you Thibault for your prompt response to my suggestions. Here's another one that you may not be able to do easily. Can you add an option to make the board a little bit larger? And maybe eventually give us chess piece choices or board color choice? My eyesight plays tricks on me as I get older and bt experimenting with the colors, sizes and piece choices it sometimes helps. Just a suggestion! None are big ones. Thanks!
Glen D. Shields (2006-04-16 12:37:05)
Thanks Thibault
Thank you Thibault. Please don't rush to make changes. You can only do so much. Just offering suggestions because you genuinely want to listen to the players. We all appreciate that. Thank you :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-16 17:12:22)
Email notification
Feel free to uncheck the "own moves" checkbox in Preferences if you don't want to receive notification for the moves you just played.
Thank you for feedback.
Daniel Cinca (2006-04-18 16:12:59)
Help (email ficgs)
Dear chessfriends, Can you help me somebody with e-mail address of Mr de Vassal, Thibault?Thank you !Daniel Cinca
Hannes Rada (2006-04-19 22:58:34)
starting date and ending date
Thank you Thibault, But how can I define the starting date and ending date of my vacation ? I can only specificy the number of days.
Elmer Valderrama (2006-04-20 15:38:29)
o.k.
OK, thank you!
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-23 06:01:44)
explanation
Hello Elmer.
It's possible the player entered an ambiguous move in plain text format. The program may have interpreted this move as the first one possible. Anyway he probably did not verify his move before confirmed (inquiring), I can't correct that. I'll fix that as soon as the next update of the site is done. Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-14 16:07:16)
"Blitz" cup...
Thank you Heinz Georg, for the files you sent to me.
Now I understand better the work and ideas of Reimund Lutzenberger in Chessfriend.com, a great experimentation field for sure...
I first concluded some things not to do in FICGS WCH. In example, a player rated 2500 (even provisional rating from fide) shouldn't have to play in the first stage against a low-rated player in a world championship [but that could be possible in a cup tournament cycle]. So I'll add special rules for high rated players (who are not qualified for the WCH knockout tournament) to begin directly in a 2nd stage tournament...
I agree with Dinesh, the aim is not to use the same formulas, even good ones. Anyway I think we can find new interesting (better :)) ones. But as the WCH is already a rapid tournament cycle, the CUP could be an unrated "blitz" (30 days per game with no increment, or even 10 days + 1 hour / move) knockout (2 games / match + playoffs) !! Something quite "brutal" and unfair between correspondence chess & classical rythms. What do you think ?
Wayne Lowrance (2006-05-19 08:05:25)
suggestion
I see your points. I play at another corresponce sight, Pacific-mall.com/chess. They have solved the problem there and incidentally it will satisfy those who have mentioned the desirability to chat with your opponent during the game. At pac-mall you can chat about the game or any subject, others can view the game and drop by to say hello, or what ever. Outsiders do not suggest moves but are allowed to talk about a particuliar line after the fact, but in ten years there I have not seen this done only in rare circumstances. In the talk window you can politely tell your oppent "it is mate come up. giving the forced line" or you can just say "Dan the game is lost for you, give your reason. All accept this decorum there. and it is the friendliest cite on the web. The players there range from novices to close to 2300 which I am. By the way, my name there is globalpac, look me up on the ladders (2). Do me a favor and check it out. Tell me what you think. Thank you With respect.... Wayne
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-19 21:27:30)
Achieved -> Finished
Thank you Wayne :) That's corrected.
Wayne Lowrance (2006-06-01 07:32:45)
other chess websites
okey dokey. Thank you. dunno what I did wrong but I check. by the way, it is not my chess site, I only play there for over 10 years.Thanks Wayne
Lionel Vidal (2006-06-01 15:21:00)
FIGS rules
Thank you, the link through the help section is just fine. Sorry I did not see it at first.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-06-02 20:39:25)
FICGS : Chinese rules !
You convinced me :)
(sorry, I didn't understand well some concepts before)
Good news : I have implemented the non-repetition rules with hash keys...
Now the rules are exactly CHINESE RULES with a 6.5 komi, which is the value which tends to be used in tournaments.
Thank you Lionel :-)
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2006-06-14 14:40:34)
FICGS 1st chess world championship
Hello Thibault!
Thank you for your answer.
Two points:
It isn't sure at all that a player with a rating > 2400 will win his group if he had to play a 1st stage group. The CFC-Ch 2003 has shown, that less than 50 percent of the best rating players (even players with rating > 2600) have won their qualification groups.
In the moment we have about 100 players with a rating < 2300 who have registered themselves for the wch. Their rating avarage is about 1720 (!). Is that right? This means (if I understand your rules) the wch groups of the 1st stage will have this rating (+ or - some points). In these groups for a 2200 player it is nearly impossible (even as winner of a group) to get a tournament performance > 2050 (I suspect that this is the reason that players with rating > 2300 not have to play this stage). After the first stage the distance to 2300 will be greater than before.
I have registered myself and I will play. But I'm not really satisfied with that situation.
Amir Bagheri (2006-06-16 13:08:59)
thibault
thank you for your advice as you probaly saw I have registered for a tournament ( i think I am the only one...) I would be grateful if you could contact Nigel and let him know that i would be interested in playing him. Regards Amir
Tim Bredernitz (2006-06-18 16:35:30)
Confused...
I understand the rules of the tournament fairly well, but I'm still having trouble figuring out when the games will start. The last post says that the deadline is June 15, but when I check the waiting list it says the deadline is July 1st. I'd just like to know when the games will start being played. Thank you.
Tim Bredernitz (2006-06-18 16:37:45)
Sorry
In my previous post there was a typo. Please excuse. "The last post" should be "The first post." Thank you.
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2006-06-19 20:29:55)
FICGS 1st world championship
Hello Thibault,
thank you for your answer. Even I have understood this now. I have always missed the knock-out tournaments in the postings. It wasn't clear to me (and I was probably the only one ...) whether these tournaments take place also.
John Knudsen (2006-07-04 18:50:05)
Symmetrical games
Hi Thibault: The format is unusual, and not desired, IMHO, because you do not need an 8-game match with one opponent to determine who is the superior player. Think about it - it is 4 games with white, and 4 games with black. Overkill. You mention OTB chess players. What OTB player has played an 8-game match with the same opponent, lately? Never happens. It also never happens in serious correspondence chess, except here. I do not want to complain too much, because I thank you for the neat server, and the opportunity to play some serious games for free. However, the format will need to change, in the future, if you want to attract excellent players. John
Glen D. Shields (2006-07-06 03:54:49)
Congratulations - 500 members now !
Not sure how many noticed that FICGS reached 500 members this past week. That's a fantastic milestone considering FICGS is only three months old.
Congratulations Thibault and thank you for making this site available for all of us to enjoy!
Graham Wyborn (2006-07-29 12:33:44)
Thank You
My flag has been changed!
Wayne Lowrance (2006-08-22 03:34:48)
Future Rating
I did not want to post this. I tried to find your e-mail address but could not. How ofton is Future Rating updated. Immediate ? My game 2179 was agreed draw. The result has not appeared in future Rating. It should as I understand it. Future rating for game 2163 was accounted for in future rating. It is the only game (1 game) that is credited. Again wish I could have kept this private via email Thank you Wayne
Benjamin Aldag (2006-08-22 19:18:37)
New Thematic - Tourney Trompowsky !
Hi,
since 3 days i have the Chessbase DVD "The Trompowsky - The easy way" (http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=249&user=&coin=). Thank you for starting a thematic tornament with the Trompowsky-Opening. The right time, to test my knowledge about the DVD.
Benny
Benjamin Aldag (2006-08-29 22:39:48)
English please...
Hey Thibault,
just read your own F.A.Q. !
http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=help
There you will can find this one:
Please speak english only on the forum.
Thank You
Graham Wyborn (2006-09-07 22:15:35)
Site Design
Thank you for making the changes so quickly. Now using "grey plain". So much better.
Benjamin Aldag (2006-09-27 23:19:09)
WOW !!!!
This opening is one of my favorit openings !!!
Thank you for this ! You can find some good lines at wikichess by me ;-)
Benny
Daniel Brunsteins (2006-09-29 01:09:31)
Request to play a SMTournament
Hello, I m very interesting in playing a SM tournament but my Elo is 20 point under.Is it possible to join conditional. Thank you !!! Daniel Brunsteins
Anthony Bingham (2006-10-03 15:47:07)
Introduction
Hello all, my name is Tony, aka (DEwillget8 @ Gameknot). I am looking forward to our upcoming tournament and would like to give a big thank you to all involved. I do have one question. How do I challenge a player here to a match so I can get used to the layout of your site? Thanks, Tony
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-03 19:18:18)
Open letter
Another letter of support to Vladimir Kramnik, written by famous chess grandmasters... (source www.chessbase.com)
Monday 2nd of October 2006
Dear Vladimir,
Through absolutely no fault of your own, you have suffered the consequences of an unprecedented combination of unethical behaviour from your opponent and glaring incompetence, for lack of a stronger word, on the part of the Appeals Committee.
In spite of evidently unfair treatment, which has not only resulted in your being forfeited one game, but also being subjected to petty attacks and ridiculous accusations from the opposing camp, you have agreed to continue the match for the sake of reunifying the chess world. This is a very impressive decision. It testifies to your remarkable sense of honour and is worthy of your true status of World Champion.
Regardless of the final result of this match you have earned the deepest respect of your fellow Grandmasters and colleagues as well as countless chess fans around the world. Thank you for being a model sportsman in a time and place where so many circumstances turned against you. You deserve to win.
With unfailing support,
GM Joel Lautier
IM Almira Skripchenko
GM Viktor Korchnoi
GM Laurent Fressinet
GM Nigel Short
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
GM Pavel Tregubov
GM Pentala Harikrishna
GM Yannick Pelletier
WGM Sophie Milliet
GM Lev Alburt
WIM Anna Hahn
GM Rustam Dautov
GM Yasser Seirawan
GM Emanuel Berg
GM Helmut Pfleger
WIM Olena Boytsun
GM Vladimir Barksij
GM Bartlomiej Macieja
IM Maxim Notkin
GM Alexander Baburin
GM Tony Kosten
GM Alexander Khalifman
Benjamin Aldag (2006-10-18 19:59:02)
Kick this player !!!
Hello, please KICK this player: Arsch, Popo His handle is german "arsch = asshole" ! Thank You !
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-18 21:31:24)
Re: Kick this player !!!
Thank you...
That was my first impression too, but I was not sure. The 'filter' is not perfect yet ;)
Scott Prestwood (2006-10-20 19:32:24)
Time Control Clarification
I am looking for clarification on the interpretation of the time controls, specifically; time : 40 days, increment : 40 days / 10 moves. I presume it is 40 days to make the first 40 moves then it is an additional forty days to make to next 10 (to move 50). This seems to be a disproportionate amount of time for moves 41-50. Thank you, Scott
Scott Prestwood (2006-10-20 19:56:46)
Time Controls
Thank you, it sounds good for a 6 game tournament. From my calculations it has an average of 5 days per move(40 move basis). Are their any other forum readers that are interested in a 7 day(weekly) time control?
Farit Balabaev (2006-10-25 08:28:49)
Rating / 8-game match
Hello Wolfgang, Thank you for the message. 1. John resigned 8 games 2. If you see carefully these 8 games, you make certain of in games 1793,1797,1798 I have a decisive advantage, in games 1791,1792,1794,1796 I have the upper hand, the game 1795 is even (as was established in game Lautier-Leko Batumi 1999) As a result, expected score might be between 7,5 : 0,5 and 5,5 : 2,5 up to me Best , Farit.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-30 18:28:50)
Member No. 1000 !!
Thank you Hannes !
Yes that's great, the number of players regularly increases already, with no more announcements on chess forums (most players come from Google).
I think it will speed up at the beginning of 2007 ;)
Wayne Lowrance (2006-10-31 02:43:50)
2nd FIGS chess WCH waiting list is open
Tribault de Vassal. Would you kindly remove me from the waiting list. Thank you. Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2006-10-31 21:49:40)
2nd FICGS chess WCYH waiting list is ope
Ahhhh, that was the reason. I wanted to enter with my best rating. If I understood you correct, That wont be a problem, given that the waiting lists ratings are updated. I would like to re-submit my name, can you do it, or should I resubmit ? Thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2006-11-03 04:18:01)
Rating change
Hello, sorry, but try as I do I have difficulty with the rating calculaltion here. I am in a dead draw game with a player rated 1765 at table 236. I wonder if you would not mind giving me my expected loss in rating points with this draw. My rating is 2005. By way of information, I have offered twice now, but he plays on. That is ok, that is his privilage. Thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2006-11-03 20:18:14)
Rating change
Ahhhhhh. I just dont understand this I guess, I am confused, my TER at start of tourny was also 1400. This does not make sense to me. Guess the only way I am gonna find out is for this guy to draw. In that vain I will force a playing draw, if the 50 rule does not do it for me. Thank you Wayne
Arthur Alfred Macarsindale (2006-11-14 11:16:06)
Thank you
To all of you who have taken the trouble to read my very very mini auto biography. If I 'pop my socks' tomorrow I can honestly say it was not a boring life!
Ryaad Aabid (2006-11-16 09:28:27)
Suggestion
All openings became known nowadays. If the opponents ends the openinig step, the clock will automatically be changed from 30 or 40 days to 7 or 10 days. If the player has no time enough to visit the website during 7 or 10 days, he/she should take vacation, otherwise to leave! instead of bothering his/her opponents. Thank you Thibault, Ryaad
Glen D. Shields (2006-11-17 06:39:51)
Changing World
It's interesting to read players correspondence chess expectations as technology evolves.
What we see on servers like FICGS is the integration of players with various chess backgrounds and expectations. Players who grew up with the internet, and whose first chess experiences were real time chess servers expect games to move quickly. Players who grew up playing correspondence chess by postcard expect games to move much more slowly.
Personally I'm as equalled annoyed by players who stall (like the one described by Mr. Aabid) as I am by those who think move-a-minute correspondence chess is cute. It's going to take time and creativity by the server owners to balance players needs/interests. My ideal is when both players move at a steady 2-3 days per move pace (with the obvious exception for holidays, work, illness, etc). Those games stay interesting from start to finish and always seem to end with a pleasant thank you and congratulations.
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
Lawrence Nesko (2006-11-20 01:39:51)
Thank you....
...for the timely and informative response, Thibault.
Daniel Khayman (2006-11-21 20:38:51)
many thanks
thank you guys, i appreciate your concern; i'll send you an e-mail immediately, Wayne. and thanks to this site too.
Barry Bell (2006-11-22 05:17:38)
Introduction
Thank you Thibault for your warm welcome, please feel free to create a 178 x 159 pixels jpg providing information about your site and I will post it a soon as possible. P.S. this offer is available to any webmaster that runs an online turn based chess system. Thanks again.
Glen D. Shields (2006-11-22 14:04:56)
Strange Setup
Dear Mr. Bell - being the curious type I followed the link to your site. I don't understand what you're offering and I'm surely not registering to your site until I know. Might I suggest some basic FAQ's accesible prior to registation?
Thank you.
Jason Repa (2006-11-28 20:32:05)
new chat bar
The "chat" bar you have added to the right of the screen is extremely annoying and makes it difficult to concentrate on the chess position. I am requesting that you remove it. You can put a link to the chat in the left "links" pane. It's not necessary to have to view this annoying chat bar constantly. If you're not willing to remove it, at the very least make it the same color as the rest of the page so it doesn't stick out visually as it does. Thank you!
Don Groves (2006-12-04 22:54:28)
Go: "Score" function
That works, thank you!
Lionel Vidal (2006-12-09 14:34:04)
scrabble+?!
I am not sure this scrabble+ would be a better game than the current face to face competitive version. (the rules imply a game of skill; but also of risk management because of the clock and the correctness you may loose, but willingly give up, in a form of bluff very like poker).
The point is, why would one change a game where players can beat computers if one has enough skill (because computers are still bad at valuating the level of openess of a scrabble position), for a game where a searchable tree is (in theory) enough to play the very best moves?
The game then becomes IMO quite void of fun in correspondence play, because the player skill adds nothing to the computer evaluation. Note the difference in chess, where most correspondence players are convinced they do add and choose something worth improving the play. (although I have just give up the idea to buy an engine... gnuchess is enough for me as a sparring partner, and correspondence analysis, I let it to my shaky brain... for shaky analysis :-), but more fun!... And thank you Thibault, you convinced me to play correspondence chess again :-))
The deepness of the game is another wonder: in the current game I have to ponder many possibilities, an probalistic equipartition (sorry for the bad translation) (and good players always keep the count of the remaining letters)... it seems much more complex, though less analytical, than just wandering along a calculation tree?!
Marius Zubac (2006-12-16 02:51:34)
Vacation clock frozen, with 1 exception
Hello Thibault. Before I requested my vacation I have captured all the situation of my running games including the number of days. The clock is frozen for all games except my game 2932 from FICGS_CHESS_CLASS_SM_000002 against Mr. de Silva. Initially it was 51 days. Today I looked again and is 49. Maybe there is a bug somewhere. Please look into it. Thank you. Best whishes for the Holliday season, Marius
Austin Ferrell (2006-12-17 02:23:42)
Thanks for the help!
Thank you for helping... I guess I have a decision to make...
Wayne Lowrance (2006-12-31 22:59:37)
Strong players needed
Class A 000012 Tournament needs two more strong player near 2200 to complete the field. Will be nice strong tournament to start 07 Thank you Wayne
Francesco Laghetti (2007-01-02 14:25:39)
No winner?
Dear FICGS responsible, I would like to know the reason that in the FICGS_CHESS_WCH_STAGE_1_GROUP_09 there is no winner! Thank you very much. Regards, Francesco Laghetti
Wayne Lowrance (2007-01-02 19:36:48)
draw offers
sorry, I have never observed the small envelope. I guess I was right in my statement above " Then again perhaps I am the only careless one here" oh well , thank you Wayne
Graham Wyborn (2007-01-03 00:12:41)
I'll stop moaning!
It appears to me that the "hard rule" re vacation is to stop players wasting time or using time in a mischievous way. All it has done for me and my opponents is waste time that could have been used wisely. This is the only site that I use that applies such hash rules, I wish I had seen the earlier correspondence on this matter, as I would had voiced my opinion then, but now it is too late. Anyway, thank you for the replies. I will stop moaning and look forward to the end of my vacation which will be on January 10th about 4 am!!
Wayne Lowrance (2007-01-14 19:59:13)
Draw declared
Is it possible that a draw take place without confirmation, only e-mail that it had taken place ? No cpmplaint intended in this instance. I was just inquiring if it could happen cause otherwise the draw could not be acceptable to me in another circumstance. The game indeed was drawish and my opponent was higher rated,. Thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2007-01-15 19:01:00)
Draw declared
okey dokey 1) no Stalemate ! 2) if it was adjudicated I was not aware of it. Not to worry. Thank you Wayne
Sandor Marton-Bardocz (2007-01-16 18:29:21)
Conditional Move
Hi there! I noticed that there was a topic regarding conditional moves but it is closed. I think that conditional moves, aren't a bad thing after all..it should be implemented..Just think about the first moves of a game....for now, even the weakest players play theory ( fritz database or something)and this implies that the first moves will be played rather fast...Then why spend time clicking around to get to the games on a starting tournament over&over again, just to play the well known moves? U can overcome the "irritation" issue by limitating the use of conditional moves. Let's say every player has the right to use for example ...10 conditional moves in the begining of the game (in the first 15 moves for example). After that in 10 to 10 moves have let's say 2 possibilities to use conditional moves...This way it's erradicated the annoyance of countless use of premoves. Btw. I think that the example of those players who might use Fritz or whatever chessprogram to play, and then premove the lines indicated by the engine isn't really good..Only if the opponnent against whom they use it ...playes using the same lines indicated by ....an engine :-) Otherwise I can't realise how on earth the replied moves can be the same and matching with....or those lines are really forced..and if that is the case then the use of premoves is normal. Thank You.
Wayne Lowrance (2007-01-17 18:53:15)
Wch Stage 1 group 15 00001
What is next for the winners of WCH stage winners. ? The above group now has a winner (me). What is next ? Sorry, I have to ask, I don't think I understand the formats yet. Thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2007-01-18 17:42:27)
Chess engines
Ahhhh, thank you. I was not familiar with that one. Wayne
Dan Rotaru (2007-01-22 22:13:20)
WORLD_CHAMPIONSHIP Waiting list
Hello. I registered on the waiting list for FICGS__CHESS__WORLD_CHAMPIONSHIP__000002 on January 17 so I assume I am on for replacements during next month. However there are quite a few people before me on the waiting list so I am not sure what my chances to play are. Would it be possible to predict if I can play? I would like to start another tournament by I dont want to have the surprise to have too many games at once. Or will it be wise to wait? Thank you! BTW. I really enjoy this site :-).
Michael Aigner (2007-01-22 22:54:44)
Stage 2
Thank you for the info - I was afraid I missed the start =:-0
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?
Michael Finkelstein (2007-01-26 05:23:20)
playback
Dear Thibault, Thank you for your response. I do indeed ask how can I start a new line in a forum post. You advise that I do the following: please use < br > html tag to begin a new line)", without spaces in BR tag.. I do not know what that is. Mike
Benjamin Aldag (2007-01-29 14:24:07)
engine-free area
Thank You Thibi, for your fast answer. I believe, its more interesting to play vs. Opponents between 800 and 1600 rating. This area is in my opinion "engine-free". yk
Ron Keyston (2007-01-29 15:54:26)
German Translation?
Can I get a german speaking member to translate a couple of lines of text for me? Hattest Du seine mail mit der Datenbank bekommen? Viele Gre and Nein, ich habe keine Datenbank von ihm. Thank you for your help, Ron
Wladyslaw Krol (2007-02-02 17:01:05)
Bryntse opening ?!
Marc, thank you for publish very interesting article. It is new for me. Wladyslaw
Charlie Neil (2007-02-18 12:09:03)
Gameknot Match
Well I know I won my game at Gameknot. And as for further team matches I'll sign up for standard chess without computer assistance thank you. Will Marc and Beranard be Vice Team Captains?.....8-)
Michael Aigner (2007-03-21 16:58:07)
Thanks :-)
Hello Thibault, thank you for the links they helped a lot. Michael
Jason Repa (2007-04-02 03:28:30)
Abuse
How do I report abuse from another player. I took a screenshot but I don't know where to send it. Thank you.
Don Groves (2007-04-12 01:12:45)
Suji
It seems to be an excellent source for Go. Thank you, Mikhail!
Robert Mueller (2007-05-20 20:37:14)
Thank you :)
Thank you, that was very helpful. At least the game will be over before the next rating list update.
Robert Mueller (2007-05-30 06:09:53)
Adjudication
Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-06-14 02:40:05)
Schachfeld
Ok... Thank you for the translation & summary :)
Hannes Rada (2007-06-14 23:18:43)
Figlio - Schuster
Oh, Thank you Wolfgang. Very complicated ... :-) Or let's say unusual.. . I would prefer a 3 stage round robin tournament based on the famous swiss-system. For me that seems to be a more fair competition.
Dan Rotaru (2007-06-17 03:10:29)
Rating lists
Thank you for clarification, it makes sense now and I believe it is a nice feature to have these lists. Maybe you should rename "preliminary /active players" list?
Thibault de Vassal (2007-06-27 03:45:20)
Miguel
I'm sorry if you felt under attack... Of course we're only discussing ideas and I thank you for having submitted this one. I agree that rules are quite hard but it is also quite hard for us to understand how it couldn't be linked to the number of games in any way. There are other factors that we can predict more or less, but it's obviously related IMO. Anyway, maybe 10 days more would help many players to manage their time. Waiting for more opinions...
Ilmars Cirulis (2007-07-24 02:21:03)
Second possibility...
... is to get to next stages of FICGS championship and meet him. I will try.
Thank you for adding more merriment in my life, Jason. :)
Dinesh De Silva (2007-08-05 08:12:35)
Re:
Tano-Urayoan! Thank you very much for the translation. It seems accurate.
Johann Piek (2007-09-08 18:27:23)
Thank you
Hi Thibault ... it's all right ... I'll play it ... cheers, anyway ...
Wayne Lowrance (2007-09-19 00:56:11)
Missing game(s)
I seem to think at least one of my games does not appear in "My games" tab. I see no result for game A_000012 5866. I dunno if this is the game or not. But anyhow I am used to seeing one gamer in the 5k series listed when I click "My games" tab. Hope there are not others as I have many games going. In my Ficgs database of games I do not anotate a win or loss. Help please Thibault......thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2007-09-19 01:50:21)
Ahhhhh
OK, thank you so much......Wayne
Farit Balabaev (2007-09-21 13:07:01)
Figlio - Schuster
Dier Chessfriends Thank you for the discussion. Please don't forget, that I've just suffered in the match with Schuster. The match with Thibault is an attempt to draw everybody's attention to this rule. Best wishes, Farit
Dan Rotaru (2007-09-22 01:16:27)
Games download
Excellent update and new interface, thank you very much Thibault. I really like the new feature which allows to download all games in a particular tournament. On this note it really would be nice to be able to download all one's games in progress. If playing few tournaments in the same time it is not practical to download all of them. Also what about being able to download all the games finished on FICGS from the beginning to date?
Denis Chumakov (2007-09-24 14:23:59)
SM, FEM, FIM
Thibault de Vassal! Thank you!
Hannes Rada (2007-10-03 19:49:56)
Kasparov vs the World
Thank you for the interesting link. It is quite an interesting game and when playing without further and depper analysing it looks like the World did a very good job, which should at least be sufficient for a draw.
Wayne Lowrance (2007-10-12 19:05:54)
Marcelo
Howdy Marcelo, so very sorry that you are resigning your games. Your game with me is very close and I was enjoying it. Thank you for your consideration. All the best for you. Wayne
Peter Schuster (2007-10-15 14:05:23)
match pligin-schuster
Dear Sergey, Thank you very much for your very friendly offer. After my mistake (quick move input) I resign both games because I was so anger about myself. If Thibaut and your team was agree with your suggestion, we continue both games. Best wishes Peter
Thibault de Vassal (2019-06-28 00:27:36)
Android App not working
Thank you all for your help, now I just updated all FICGS apps at Google Play Store. It could solve the problem for everyone (at least it worked for one user already)...
Any feedback is welcome! As you can see, it really helps :)
Wayne Lowrance (2007-10-15 19:18:23)
slippery slope
I was so very proud that of sergie's offer ! This what I like very friendly chess. I would most certainly have made the same offer. So Tribault thank you if it turns out ok Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2007-11-02 00:13:09)
Change in class M rapid
Thibault I dont like that change at all. When I signed the entry was 2200. I do not like that to be lowered to 2100/ I think the division was just fine. Ive been busting my butt to get to that 2200 window. Would you please remove me from the waiting list. Thank you wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2007-11-02 01:40:29)
okey dokie
Thank you, please leave me on the waiting list Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2007-11-18 23:00:53)
Remove me please
Thibault please remove me from Rapid M waiting list #9. I give up on it and I entered standard class M # 15 and it opened up and were playing too my delight. I do not want to be overloaded, I am sorry to ask this,. thank you Wayne
Robert Mueller (2008-01-11 19:24:42)
Personal Mails
Hi Thibault, I am not sure this is a problem. Maybe I just have not figured it out. I would like to be able to send a personal message to my opponent AFTER the game is finished. Sometimes I offer a draw, my opponent accepts, and the game is gone from my list. I would like to send something like "thank you for the game" or "good game". I just don't know how to do that.
Richard Allen (2008-01-17 00:32:08)
time added
thank you!
Gaetano Laghetti (2008-01-22 09:00:36)
congratulations
Dear Philip, it is very kind of you. Thank you also to Thibault for giving me the chance to play in this match. Ciao Gaetano
Wayne Lowrance (2008-01-22 17:12:13)
Database
Yes Mladen, I guess that will work for current games.....I have all current games in a Ficgs database I created. My problem is I do not have the entire database of my games. I tried Thibault's suggestion and it worked fine. Thank you Wayne
Thibault de Vassal (2008-02-08 00:57:29)
Candidates final tie break rule
"But the whole process is a method of determining a challenger for the WCC not a challenger to one of the top eight." << Well, actually it is also in a way, why not ? :) Anyway, thank you for discussing this point and trying to improve the rules, it would be great to know the opinion of other players !
Amir Elnemr (2008-02-15 11:31:11)
How to edit GO games on FICGS
Hello all, I am just starting my first Go tournament, I still struggle to understand the so much alien game to myself, anyway, I like to edit and review my chess games externally with winboard, but I don't seem to be able to do the same with GO games, It seems as if the notation used is different than of that used by my software, I use PANDA-gIGo, so if anyone can help me by suggesting another program that can read the game format on FICGS or give me directions on how to edit it with PANDA-gIGo I will be very grateful. Thank you and have a good day.
Amir Elnemr (2008-02-15 15:21:30)
Thank you
Thanks Thibault this is exactly what I needed, now it will be much easier playing.
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2008-03-15 17:02:14)
Question about ICCF
I have read the ICCF rules but in no place they refer to computer assistance, is this allowed for ICCF games? Could you cite any document concerning it? Thank you for your responses.
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
Dale Leisenring (2008-05-01 10:04:10)
What EXACTLY are the Time Controls?
Would someone PLEASE tell me EXACTLY where is the server, why do I need a new password everytime I log on, what are the time controls? Thank You Very Much!!
Alfonso Di Giandomenico (2015-09-08 15:00:08)
Number of tournament won
thank you :=)
Mik Kris (2008-05-27 19:51:18)
Thanks for the quick response
I am sorry I did not think my original idea it all the way And forgat my manners for a moment there I wold like to thank you for building this great site and this opportunity for me to meet many intersting people Yes I wold like to be able to challenge some one for a simple rank game without starting a tournament one more thing might be nice is to get an "are youre ready to play" message before a game in a bullet or lightning tournament
Wayne Lowrance (2008-06-03 03:56:21)
Entry Rating
Okey Dokey Gavin, your right of course. I just feel like fewer players are inflicted with this misery at 2200-2400. I guess I am biased tho. I forsee that for me reaching 2300 will be almost impossible with the new bracket...I am in several tournaments at the previous bracket rating system, my hope is I can make it in this way, just dunno Thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2008-06-08 22:59:52)
Rapid chess entry rating
Sorry for mispelled name, not my intention. This my last post here with you, I do not wish to engage in insults. I have never claimed to not use a engine. of course I do. I do not know your rating, not bothering to look it up. I am so very busy with my tourny games I have no time for you. I will not forget your last post my friend. After I get a little free time from games I will challenge you to some match games. I doubt you will accept, but I will do it. So long my friend, good c hess, good luck with your problems Wayne p.s. do not bother with a follow. I thank you
Wayne Lowrance (2008-07-03 23:48:22)
mygames copied to fritz data base
sounds like it, but I may not understand it. is...."your games in fritz database" thank you Wayne
Normajean Yates (2008-07-13 04:52:23)
I MEANT DECONSTRUCTION
I *meant* deconstruction, NOT demolition, thank you!
oops, Rodolfo d Ettorre's post is maybe not aimed at me! But, today I celebrate paranoia day ;)
Jonathan Willis (2008-07-18 00:52:18)
Ending a game of Go
Thank you Thibault for the information. I shall be calling a referee now as we are about to enter our fourth round of passes in this game.
Normajean Yates (2008-07-27 20:20:39)
I WOULD IF I DIDN'T HAVE ,,,
... BETTER THINGS TO DO, THANK YOU!
the lunatic is in ... whose head?
Don Groves (2008-08-06 03:06:27)
Thank you Andrew...
... for the correction. I see she has many other good quotes also ;-)
Thibault de Vassal (2008-08-14 18:56:37)
:o)
Thank you... Maybe we'll know about poker in a while :) I feel my Go rating is over estimated though, my first Go games here prove that I really started from zero... anyway, always learning, as a webmaster also :)
Benjamin Block (2008-08-18 08:52:18)
Try to translate!
I think it is something like that?
Hello Xavier and first congratulations on your victory in the match which t'opposait the MI (ICCF) Gino Figlio [Peru] in the final candidates. You should avoid at all costs void in all parties, finally brought blacks t'ont chance, how do you explain this result? X
avier: Hello, thank you for the congratulations. It is true that in case of zero for all parties, the regulation states Figlio winner in the event of a tie with victory (s) and defeat (s) I won the match. So I had to take risks in attacking and it is with blacks that I did it because I thought Gino, in these parts, expected without taking risks to ensure the void.
-- Can you tell us about how you approached this match against Gino and his conduct as different phases of the game?
X: It's pretty simple, in this match I was not at all favorite because with more than 200 ELO points FICGS to my disadvantage, and Gino titled Master International, with more than 2480 ELO ICCF point, I thought I n ' not resist going on 8 simultaneous games as a part everything is possible but on 8 parts ... it was for me a great challenge! In the course of the game I played diversity in my beginnings with white 4 parts 4 different strokes: 1.e4 1.d4 1.c4 1.Cf3. Gino did the same: 1.e4 1.d4 1.Cf3 1.Cc3. What made me doubt also because 1.Cc3 surprised me, I thought he had planned an early tonitruand and this is where I said that I should take risks with blacks. As the different phases of the game I assured the zero positions balanced for me concacrer deal has two parts, one with blanks and one with the black for at least make a difference in part to ensure victory. And ultimately it 3 victories me back, which seemed impossible given the quality of the game Gino played on this site to reach the final of the championship candidates.
-- You have made during a championship course without fault, no losses to report, you also posters statistics stratospheric to 78% against an average elo to about 2200, what's your secret?
X: My secret? I have no secret. If I had a secret I do not dvoilerais if I do win more! I think I got a little lucky because he is required by little I am not qualified to stage 3 (round-robin final) because there were 3 players equally and I had l 'advantage classifying the departure of this tournament as indicated by the regulation. As for my statistics, it is also thanks to the errors of my opponents who allowed me to win parts in balance.
-- What do you think the system mid-ko, semi-all-round championship FICGS and its new dpartages in matches in 8 parties? What changes would it be?
X: Very good question! The system mid-ko for me is a little too fast since a coup by day is overtime analyses to operate a complicated position, which is difficult when several parties in progress. Especially when you work. It is perhaps also through this pace that my opponents lack of time, made some uncertainty regarding postions or exploited my mistakes. But the pace has an advantage over the cadences ICCF which is 5 days a coup is that the parties had to 5 times less time! The dpartage new games to 8 parts is excellent, forcing the favorite to ensure all matches to nil win this duel and otherwise obtain an additional victory against the challenger is a very well thought out. The amendment that I could make is perhaps time management which is fast for a game system per server. Perhaps increase the clock starting 15 days, starting with 45 against 30 days at this time. And also the possibility of taking a vacation only on the tournament underway to manage other parts of the site. For example, take 7 days vacation on a chess tournament championship and be able to play a tournament Big Chess, Go or another chess tournament during the holidays. Being able to choose a start date of holidays in advance would also be appreciated.
-- Why t'tre invested in correspondence chess? T'apportent there are other rewards compared to traditional chess and blitz?
X: I prefer chess match over time. For the classical chess is often play the weekend at a specific time and often on the move to make a tournament. The advantage for me, correspondence chess is that I can connect at any time to play my shots, which allows me, for example, making family meals on weekends and late at night to play a coup, which is not possible chess classics.
-- You knew not to succumb to the temptation and you only play a very reasonable number of parties on the site throughout the championship, do you think nevertheless that the correspondence chess are addictive and at what point? Did they affect your everyday life?
X: Yes! Limiting my number of games in progress is essential for me to try to have parts of quality rather than quantity. Have a lot of parts simultaneously is still something very difficult to manage! This is perhaps the key to my victory against Figlio, I watched its games in progress, it had nearly 90 on the site of the ICCF, it has been felt on his time devoted to analysis our parties on FICGS 8. On the everyday life impacts are family because it is true that I spend more time to analyze the parts and less time with my family, which is quite difficult for me. But when the results are there I do not regret!
-- What do you think about the current position of engines for analysis (Rybka, Shredder, Fritz and others) in correspondence chess? What are the qualities you complementary core player by correspondence, now centaur with the machine for legs?
X: The engines of analyses in chess matches are used by 95% of players ... Now we must adapt and learn to use these machines to calculate. Car simply play the best shot of Rybka 3, Fritz 12 or Hiarcs 12 mentally without thinking leads to zero if the opponent does the same or possibly lose if the opponent gives himself the trouble to consider using them as well. Knowing that when you're in the middle part of these programs give you often 4 to 5 strokes assessed similarly, and that is that we must choose the right time when it is not even necessarily cited by the analysis engine ...
-- You get the Big Chess now on the site, curiosity or interest? What do you think of this strange version of chess?
X: For curiosity and fun and I think Rybka 3 is not yet the Big Chess! This version is almost unprecedented I did not know this form of chess before therefore the one who invented this game was very well done! About I'm the one who asks you a question on the Big chess ... Is there possibility of castle with this game if so, how? (Editor's note: No, it is impossible to castle the Big Chess)
-- And finally the question that everyone arises, especially Francis and Wolfgang disputing that the second final candidates, think you can defend your title next year? :)
X: of course! I will defend the title! I would like if possible to know the timing and pace of the match. And I wish Francis and Wolfgang a beautiful final! I must honor in this competition which is well organized!
-- The match should be able to start during the first week of January 2009, the pace will again 30 days and 1 additional day by coup. Thank you for your answers, and even congratulations for this excellent performance!
X: Thank you! And see you! Bonne continuation to all and good parties!
Andrew Stephenson (2008-08-18 16:06:16)
translation
I will have a go off the top of my head at giving a sense of the interview in english (I dont know the phrase tonitruand but I am guessing it means dynamic!)?: Hi Xavier and first of all congratulations on your success in the candidates final match against IM (ICCF) Gino Figlio [Peru] You had to avoid drawing all the games and finally you succeded with the black pieces. How did that happen? Xavier: Hi thank you. Its true that if all the games had been drawn then under the rules Figlio would have won whereas if the match was drawn but with a win and loss I would win. Because of this I had to take risks and attack. It was with Black that I did this because I thought that Gino would play safely to be sure of a draw. - Tell us how you approched the match and how the different phases of the game went x: Its quite simple, I was not the favorite I have 200 ELO less on FICGS and Gino is an IM on ICCF with a 2480 rating. I did not think I could survive 8 games at once - in a single game anything is possible but 8 games .... it was a big challenge for me! In the openings I chose 4 different moves 1 e4 1 d4 1 c4 1 Nf3 Gino chose 1 e4 1 d4 1 c4 1 Nc3 I was surpised by 1 Nc3 because I was expecting dynamic openings and it was then that I decided I must take some risks with black. I kept most of the games balanced with a draw in hand and concentrated on 2 games 1 white and 1 black to get a result. In the end I got 3 wins which seemed an impossibility given the quality of the games Gino had played on this site to reach the final. - you have not lost any games in the championship and you have fantastic statistics 78% against an average elo of about 2200. What is your secret? x: My secret? I havent any secret and if I did I would not say because I would not win anymore! I think I have been a bit lucky because in the the Round Robin final there were 3 of us on the same score and I went through under the rules because of my rating. As for my statistics I was helped by mistakes by opponents who allowed me to win some drawn games. - What do you think of the system for the FICGS championship (round robin and knock out matches)and what changes would you make? x: Very good question. The matches are a bit too fast for me - 1 day per move when there are hours of analysis needed to exploit a complicated position its difficult when you have several games running Particularly if you are working. Perhaps that is why my opponents have made errors or failed to exploit my mistakes. But this time limit has an advantage over ICCF where it is 5 days per move the games here are 5 times quicker! Having 8 game matches is an excellent idea and obliging the favorite to draw all the games and the challenger to get a at least 1 victory is very well thought out. The change that I would suggest is to have 15 days extra starting time that is 45 days at the start instead of 30 and also the possibilty to take holidays for tournaments for example take 7 days for championship games and to be able to play big chess go or another chess tournament during the holiday. To be able to choose the start of a holiday in advance would also be good. - Why do you like cc and how does it compare to blitz and normal chess? x: I prefer cc because of the time factor. Classical chess is often played at the week end at a fixed time and you have to travel to the tournament. The advantage for me at cc is that I can connect at any time to play a move which allows me for example to have meals with the family at the weekend. Late night moves for example are not possible at classical chess. - You limited the number of your games on the site to a reasonable amount throughout the championship. Do you think nonetheless that cc is addictive? Does it affect your daily life? x: Yes! Limiting the number of my games is essential to try to have games of quality not quantity. Having a lot of games going at the same time is something very difficult to handle. It is perhaps the key to my victory against Figlio - I looked at his games - he had not less than 80 games going on at ICCF this must have affected the amount of time he could spend analysing his 8 games at FICGS. The effects on daily life are felt by the family because the reality is if I spend more time analysing the games I spend less time with the family. Thats difficult for me. But when the results come I dont regret it! - What do you think of the role of chess engines (Rybka Fritz etc)in cc. What are for you the important skills of a cc player - to supplement the machine? x: Chess engines are used in cc by 95% of players. You have to adapt yourself and know how to use the engines. To play just the best move of Rybka 3 Fritz 12 or Hiracs 12 without thinking leads to a draw if your opponent does the same or to a loss if your opponent is thinking. You have to choose bewteen 4 or 5 moves with a similer evaluation from the engine during a game and sometimes the best move is not among these. - You play Big chess. Interest or curiosity? What do you think of this strange version of chess? X : Curiosity and amusement and I think Rrybka 3 cannot yet play Big Chess! This version is new and I did not know it and the inventor has done a good job! By the way I would like to ask is it possible to castle at Big Chess? [No its not possible] - Finally the question that everyone is asking particularly Francois and Wolfgang who are contesting the 2nd candidates final. Do think you will be able to defend your title next year? :) x: Definitely I will defend the title I would like to know if possible the date and time limits for the match. I wish Francois and Wolfgang a great match! I would also like to express my appreciation for this tournament which has been well organised! - the match should start in the first week in January next year the time limit will be 30 days plus 1 day per move. Thank you for your answers and once again congratulations on a great performance. x: Thank you. Cheers. Best wishes to everyone and good games!
Thibault de Vassal (2008-08-21 12:15:00)
O-O
Thank you Marc, I'll correct the program and all games very soon.
Don Groves (2008-08-27 00:21:13)
Merci!
Thank you Thibault -- Ease of use for us lazy types ;-)
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.
Wayne Lowrance (2008-09-29 01:07:57)
copy games/s to *.cbh in fritz
can it be done ? thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2008-09-30 00:14:59)
ownloading ficgs games
thank you Josef. My problem is I see no way to download ficgs games, that is my problem, the rest of the stuff i know. wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2008-09-30 03:13:54)
copy games
Thank you so much Joseph. I followed your instructions. I was able to copy a game, but again when I ried to place it in mydatabase it just didnt happen. Thank you Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2008-10-13 17:15:58)
norms
thank you Thibault. Yes, I see, in M #15 I still do have one running game. I am 5/5 in that tournament so I do have one more game to complete. Wayne
Ben Milton (2008-11-05 15:45:54)
new book
Thank you for the helpful reply, however your method adds new games to an already existing book (e.g. rybka 3.ctg). What i was looking for is to make a new opening book completely based on these games. Is that possible?
Ben Milton (2008-11-05 17:29:08)
..
Ok thank you for your help. p.s. I sent you the link through private message. :-)
Normajean Yates (2008-11-07 07:21:06)
Thanks thibault - I have entered!
So fast! Thibault, thank you - so nice!
I have entered the 1.b4 thematic.
Ben Milton (2008-11-07 19:38:27)
Thank you
Thank you for the helpful reply, however when i try 2200+ for black and white and type Sicilian. it says no games...
Wayne Lowrance (2008-11-14 00:58:53)
Future Rating
Hello Thibault, In the short msg's window all I was asking for was what happened to the feature ! I click on my tournaments, click on magnifying glass, then try to click on elo, but no longer does this respond. What am I doing wrong sir. I accepted a draw offer, wondering what impact it will have Thank you. Wayne
Xavier Pichelin (2008-11-29 10:05:59)
Thank you !
Ok is bug fixed, no problme for restard! Best regards, Xavier.
Wolfgang Utesch (2008-12-25 19:24:04)
Thank you, ...
... but I'm knowing, that my "win" over Francois was not convincing. I was playing with the rules on my side - in final will be the rules on side of Xavier! Merry christmas for all!
Wayne Lowrance (2009-01-04 19:13:20)
Rybka Chess Forum
Ah, works fine this morning Thibault, thank you. I dunno why/what happened. I tried over & over with no luck. B4n Wayne
Ben Milton (2009-01-06 15:24:33)
Thanks
Thank you very much, but the problem is even though i might know what the opponent might play, i still dont know what move to play so it leads to a trap, the best i can do is to go as deep as possible. Also i heard a few things about "IDeA" which is a tool centaurs use to go deeper but unfortunately Fritz 11 does not have that...Any how if youd be willing we can have the games and i am willing to give you all my e-points (12) if you win and if you dont i dont want any e-points in return. I jus want to see the results. How does it sound?
Wayne Lowrance (2009-01-06 17:52:36)
Norms
Good grief! Thank you, i can just sit back for a couple of years before those 3 norms I expect to materialize. It is ok though, no problem, but i cannot agree with with the reasoning. The Tournament info, for example said norm requirement for, example FEM is a resutt of " ". so if a player has achieved the required points, why should that player wait until some ding dong, uninterested guy finish his games. I don't want to make waves Thibaut. Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2009-01-06 23:20:05)
Norms
Thank you Marc, your input is well received. I was a 2300+ rated player on another CC site. I was unaware that I could apply for an appropriate transfer rating. My entry rating here was 1400 which accounts for a mean opponent rating of 2000. I have not cherry picked tournaments, far from it. I always have entered in the highest rated tournament allowed, always. I do not wish special treatment, wont accept it. I think my suggestion is an improvement in this terrific server. Thiabault has always solicited ideas. That was my sole intent, nothing more. I think it is a darn good one. Wayne
Don Groves (2009-01-11 02:04:43)
Ah...
Thank you for enlightening me on this! I should have known you were smarter than that ;-)
Tom Smith (2009-01-11 11:54:02)
Newbie time question
Hi, new player here. I am slightly confused by the time controls, in the rules it states minimum of one move every 60 days (which to me is a little over the top) but the tournaments state 40 days then 40 days /ten moves but it doesnt state if the first 40 days is for each single move or for a set amount of moves, say for example 40 moves in the first 40 days. Could some one please clear this up for me? Thank you. Tom
Tom Smith (2009-01-11 12:16:27)
Engines allowed?!
Hi I have another issue with the rules and conditions here, I came across the following: Computer assistance is authorized, as any other kind of help but in the "no-engines" tournaments. This in itself is confusing, am I to believe that players are allowed to use engines to play for them in the "no engines" tournament?? Unless it is a mistake and means engines are allowed but NOT in the no engines section. If this is true then do most people use enignes here? I really do not want to play on a site where engines use is considered ok!I am far too weak to play engines :) Would somebody please clarify this section of the rules for me please. Thank you Tom
Tom Smith (2009-01-12 18:55:18)
Re:
Thank you both for your replies.I understand "but" was meant to mean except. This brings me back to my original concern, that being engines are actually allowed, IE cheating is allowed, this has made me very reluctant to begin playing on this site, knowing that anyone is allowed to openly cheat! That seems quite crazy to me, and is the reason that I probably wont start any games, I hope that the site admins or owners see this thread as I am sure that a lot of people will be put off by this bizarre rule. Thank you again for your replies
Tom Smith (2009-01-14 18:49:58)
Reply
Thank you all for your comments. I will reiterate again that I am not pointing the finger at anyone, I just asked about this as I do not wish to play against people who just let a computer play their moves, that is all. I do not think that all people who use engines are cheaters, and I apologize to all those who do not blindly let a computer play their games for them. I am astonished now at normajeans hostility, I dont believe I have been offensive to anyone, if I have then it is unintentional. To Normajean, I can only assume that your hostility is due to someone mentioning about selling some software, I can only say, not only have I not heard of any software of this type, but I am in no way involved at any such goings on. I came on the site to join up for some chess and had one issue I wanted to ask about before I started playing, I am beginning to regret this as I did not expect quite such a response! I can maybe understand some suspicion at a new person asking a question of this nature, and understand that some may not like me asking, so again I am sorry for the offense I have caused those players who play a fair game. "Care to confess to the libel under oath in the U.K. and get a taste of the receiving end of libel law?" This comment is ridiculously over the top and again that particular post was unecessarily hostile imo, if you read my posts to this point normajean and still dont see what I am trying to find out about then I shant try any further to answer you as you and some others have obviously found me guilty of a plot of some form against you. I thank the people who answered me honestly and calmly for their comments and I shall try the site out as I said to give it a fair shot.
Tom Smith (2009-01-15 07:10:20)
wow...
normajean you are one crazy lady. Thibault, I have chosen the wrong site I feel, would you please cancel my membership, I entered a standard 40 day tournament, would you please remove from that too as I wouldnt want to hold that up. Thank you
Francisco Gramajo (2009-02-05 05:43:45)
Chess players playing poker...
Is interesting, like Henry Mitchel playing baketball.
See me... playing poker against Pichelin... My dream came true, playing against the champion!!!
Thank you, Mr. Thibault, honestly I am having a really good time here.
God Bless ficgs.com!!!
Only one question?
Is ficgs.com ready to receive a lot of poker players? How many playes is your server capacity?
Hannes Rada (2009-02-25 19:44:59)
Clock corrected
Thank you Thibault !
Thibault de Vassal (2009-02-28 03:35:14)
Svante Carl wins FICGS Go WCH (again)
Congratulations to Svante Carl von Erichsen who keeps the FICGS Go champion title by beating Ke Lu 5d on an impressive 5-0 score, also reaching a rating of 2653 !
A rematch just started between our two top Go players, as Ke Lu convincingly won the 3rd FICGS Go WCH preliminary tournament by 7/7
You can follow the games here :
http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=tournament&tournament=FICGS__GO__WORLD_CHAMPIONSHIP__000003
Svante Carl kindly accepted to answer a few questions on his match :
FICGS - Hello Svante Carl, first of all congratulations for your win in the FICGS correspondence Go championship final. Your opponent was Ke Lu 5 dan, you won 4 games out of 5 already (the last game is not finished yet), how do you explain such a result?
Svante Carl - Hello! Thank you very much! It is certainly astonishing for me that I was able to hold my own in these games. I believe that the main factor that helped me in getting on even terms with such a strong player was that I could spend much more time analyzing each move than in a face-to-face or online direct playing situation.
FICGS - Did you have a particular preparation or plan before to start the games?
Svante Carl - The only things I planned beforehand was to really give my best, and to make the games as distinct as possible.
FICGS - The site will now try to attract more correspondence Go players from Asia (with a few chinese, japanese or korean words on the home page already), what do you think about the games format played at FICGS (30 days + 1 day / move, chinese rules komi 7.5 points) and the championship rules?
Svante Carl - I like the format. I am also interested in the rules of Go as well as the rules that surround Go, like tournament rules and time settings. My current conviction is that the "real, pure" Go rules are area rules with superko, and territory rules should be seen as a shortcut which should give the same result. I have come to think that the "Taiwan rule", i.e. White gets a point of compensation if Black got the last play (before the first pass), is a sensible part of the rules. FICGS has taken a very easy route by declaring the rule set and leaving negotiation of the result to the players. While in the end, it is only important who won, I think that showing a result as e.g. "White+3", "Black+Resign" adds a lot of flavour. As a time system, I think that bonus time (a.k.a. Fischer time), like on FICGS, is a very general and sensible approach to timing a game like Go. I think that many "real-world" tournaments and internet servers will switch to that in the future, for all, blitz, speed, normal, slow, and correspondence games. The championship format is quite nice. I like the title holder/challenger way of tournament series. The only thing I would like to see is some sort of nigiri to determine the colours in the odd game. Attracting players from Asia is really a worthwhile goal. I look forward to playing players from all over the world.
FICGS - Does correspondence Go bring you something more than real time Go? What is more addictive according to you?
Svante Carl - Since I think that analyzing is a forte of mine, I might be a bit stronger at correspondence Go than at "real time" Go. I don't think that one is more addictive than the other.
FICGS - Do you often play real time Go online? What servers do you prefer?
Svante Carl - I usually play on KGS, but not too much, perhaps one or two games per week on average, often in "bursts". KGS is quite nice, but not perfect. Sometimes I play at CyberOro, but there is much less communication; I like to watch pro games there.
FICGS - Do you use softwares that assist you in your games (FICGS rules allow this)? What do you think about computer Go in general nowadays?
Svante Carl - I only use a board or a simple SGF file viewer for analyzing. There are no playing programs that could help me. The programs have advanced quite much recently, but I think that it will still be a long time before they can beat me in an even game. Currently, most tests of these programs are against professional players with high handicaps, and I think that this is a good situation for the bots, since they get exponentially weaker the further the game is from the end -- high handicap practically eliminates the opening, their weakest spot. I would like to see more tests against amateur players at the bots' own level.
FICGS - Do you play other games (board games, video games...), what is your favourite one?
Svante Carl - Go is certainly my absolute favourite. I also know chess, although I am really weak at that. I also like "german board games", there are some really nice pearls there. In video games, well, there are also some pearls, but they get drowned by a mass of ... not so good games..., I don't waste time looking at that scene any more. I also played some online poker, but it wasn't able to keep me interested.
FICGS - Will you defend your title again against Ke Lu who also won the 3rd wch tournament?
Svante Carl - Of course, I am looking forward to that!
FICGS - Could you give us your impressions on the games, how it went from the beginning to the end, do you think that time pressure were a non-negligible factor in the result (the clocks of Ke Lu were quickly near 1 or 2 days left)?
Svante Carl - I was a bit surprised that he let his time drop to such a low level right at the beginning, perhaps he was not familiar yet with the vacancy feature at FICGS. I can't see his reasons for this, or how much time he actually could spend on his games. I was ahead in each game when it timed out, though.
I think that game 2 was quite even from the start. The skirmish in the lower left resulted in me capturing a little group, but he got a nice framework on the lower side. My prospects of reducing this were a bit hampered by the fact that my right side group was not completely settled. I found a way to sacrifice some stones to settle my group while fixing the framework's extent and keeping sente to secure my top side, at which time, the game was still almost even, but I think that I was a few points ahead then. Later, I could seal the top side with some extra points through some rather blunt forcing moves.
In game 3, my opponent made an approach with White 24 that is usually regarded as bad in this situation, because the pincer Black 25 works out very well in conjunction with the stone on the left side. He tried to settle with White 26, but I refused to make things so easy, even though the result from the usual joseki would not have been bad. He resisted Black 27, but I think that White 28 is an overplay. The resulting fight left me with nice profit in that corner and sente, while he made some centre thickness. I then tried to carefully neutralize this thickness, but I may have played some slack moves in the course. Later, I was able to keep a little moyo in the lower right centre, and then I poked into his right-side territory where he had left a serious weakness earlier.
Game 1 started out with an interesting fight in the upper right. After White 42, both the three captured black and the two almost captured white stones retain some serious aji, which I came back to fix on my side a few moves later. When I could set up a splitting attack with Black 77, he was able to connect his two weak groups, but in bad shape. I continued to keep this dragon separated from the top, planning to invade the top side afterwards. However, with White 110, instead of connecting by playing B6, he saved some centre stones, and I proceeded to separate and kill the dragon. He may have overlooked that my upper left side group was still able to live after 110 and 111.
In game 4, after White 22, Black's stones on the left side have a strange relation. The three stones in the corner are a bit far from C10, but putting another move here is way too slow. He tried to remedy this situation with the following moves. After Black 27, there are weaknesses left in both sides' shape. When I entered with White 32, I thought that his weakness at F13 would let me settle easily, but he attacked very hard. After White 60, there are some weaknesses in my shape, but he also has a weakish group in the centre. Playing at K10 with White 76 before taking the two stones with H2 felt very important to me. At move 94, I couldn't find a good move to complete my moyo at the top, but I thought that I had found a good point to invade. This was much harder than I thought, since after Black 95, the 3-3 point fails to live. With 96 and 98, I thought that I would get a ko, but he played a line that I had excluded earlier on account of too many cuts in Black's outside shape. However, with Black 107, he made things very difficult for me, since cutting at P16 doesn't work out too well -- my inside group doesn't have enough liberties. I cut at Q14 instead with the hope to at least get some outside forcing opportunities that might have been able to keep me in the game. I think that Black 115 should have been at R12, because after White 116, R12 and N16 have become miai. Black 117 just doesn't work at all. I really got lucky in the end here. These impressions are naturally one-sided, and I would be really interested what stronger players might say about these games.
FICGS - Thank you very much and have good games !
Svante Carl - Thank you!
Philip Roe (2009-03-06 14:06:34)
Thanks for the check, not for the clock
Thibault,
The notification check on the My Games title is a typically thoughtful touch. Thank you.
However, the clock just adds clutter unless you have a use for it. Can this enhancement be made an optional preference?
Also, since I am not interested in accepting challenges, is there a way to prevent challenges from being issued?
Scott Nichols (2009-03-18 10:28:13)
Ratings floor.
Hi Thibault. One thing I would like to see implemented is a ratings floor here. By this I mean a player can never drop below one class below his/her ratings peak. e.g., a player with a 1951 rating can never drop below 1600, a 2001 player can never drop below 1800. In the U.S. (and maybe worldwide, not sure) we have this system to keep strong players from sandbagging and artificially let their rating drop so they can play in the lower sections of big money tournaments. On FICGS I don't think that is a big problem. The problem here is that Corr. chess takes long term dedication and some players tend to drop out for whatever reason and resign all their games or just quit and let their time run out. This also drops their ratings artificially low levels. Then, as it seems to always happen, Caissa's power sweeps over them and they get back in. Or, they just bought a new super computer and want to show it off. Anyway, when they do get back in....you have an expert player coming in with a very low rating. This to me is unfair to the other players who try very hard on their ratings. e.g., In the current world Ch. cycle I am playing a very strong player who is over 800 points below my rating. I would appreciate any other opinions on this subject. Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-03-23 15:55:15)
Checkmate detection (finally)
A few improvements to come today !
Checkmate detection : Finally I implemented it even if I like the idea that a player should resign by himself (just like for Go). It will be in test for a few days/weeks so it may not work for everyone during this time.
A few informations more in players statistics (number of advanced chess, Go & poker games won, lost, running...)
In Go games, a reminder will appear when a player "pass" (one player has to resign or call referee to end the game, with a link to the Go scorer)
Thank you all for making suggestions that help to improve the site, I know there are many others to implement (e.g. challenges option & so on...), be patient :)
Ranganathan Raman (2009-04-23 01:49:50)
William Taylor
thank you
Normajean Yates (2009-04-24 00:56:04)
re William Taylor's question..
William Taylor asked (whether the question was rhetorical or literal is not germane to this post of mine): 'Would you refuse to take part in the real chess olympiad if you were asked?'
Speaking for myself: Yes, I would refuse. (But I would not hold it against people who didn't, of couse.)
Nationality based competition tends to *divide*. Witness the hatred triggered by England-Argentina football games. Club-based competion is less divisive because players switch clubs much more often than they switch nationality.
The problem is that it 'constructs' 'The Other'. Then one *defines* oneself in opposition to The Other. (Analogous to how the Occident defined itself by constructing 'The Orient': as described in detail for the Levantine ('near'- near what?) East' by late Edward Said in his famous book 'Orientalism' - a theme followed up in his almost equally famous book 'Culture and Imperialism'.)
Thank you for reading this.
Normajean Yates (2009-04-24 03:42:02)
something to be said for both sides...
Nick, there is something to be said for both sides, I think. [In fact for points along the entire spectrum, since William Taylor called my views extreme - not without some justification :) - so I suppose there could be moderate no-country views, moderate pro-country views, centrist views, 'no opinion' views' ... :)
All I am doing is presenting my P.O.V. - I don't insist that I am right - in fact I doubt that the views I expressed are absolutely correct... I would like to see diverse shades of opinion on this, and I presented mine, and I am glad you(and others) presented theirs.
My personal 'thank you' for posting..
P.S.: I watch all the important world cup (football - that is soccer) on the telly :)
I am not *that* consistent - nobody is, I suppose...
Normajean Yates (2009-04-26 17:51:27)
to Don: re courtesy(contd.)
This is a continuation - to be precise, completion - of the post of mine earlier in this thread; the post titled 'Don, why is the tick box there, then?'.
I said in that post 'Some people are *not* courteous': and something stirred in my memory and I remember it now so It has to be said.
In the international chat box some months ago, I posted something about Goerge Orwell fighting in the Spanish civil-war - the anti-fascist-Iberian-uprising part of it, to wit - as part of P.O.U.M. - a marxist but independent-of-moscow (and soon crushed by Moscow) party which co-operated closely with the anarchists (CNT-FAI)(Confederacin Nacional del Trabajo - Federacin Anarquista Ibrica).
Well I only reached as far as the P.O.U.M. when *you* (Don Groves) interrupted by posting (in the international chat box) "what are you smoking, Normajean?"
Now, Mr Groves, I leave it to you to decide whether it is not *extremely* discourteous, not to say downright bloody rude, to innuendo that someone who [in fact] posted something above your intellectual level is therefore not making sense and is in fact on street drugs.
What I smoke or not smoke is my bloody business; the point here is that you are free to take the view find that all string-theory papers (just visit http://arxiv.org/) and so on are nonsense and therfore the authors and the referees are all on street drugs; and Hawkins and Penrose are, and Einstein was, on street drugs likewise (for it is commonly cranky *engineers* who tend to equate general relativity with its weak-field-limit/approximation);
But;
Since I haven't yet heard anything from you that has a hint of a modicum of apology for that *insulting* (or, on the least worst construction, extremely *partonising*) remark of yours; so:
People playing chess against you would be well advised to have clear rather than informal rules, because the evidence suggests that you are part of the 'be-gratuitously-rude' club.
In my opinion.
Thank you for reading this.
Normajean Yates (2009-04-26 21:40:27)
Thibault, of course not! :)
I was happy, in fact! :) And thank you for your appreciation!
As far as the previous post is concerned, it is to remind Don Groves [he is 70 years old and probably doesnt realise when he is insulting / being patronising to people.
That's why if you think it is inappropriate, I request that you wait till Mr Don Groves reads it [or mail it to Mr Don Groves] before you delete that post (and this one)...
But Thib, even if you have to delete the posts, keep the first line of this post, please? - The line about my happiness and my gratitude to you! I am human after all and *need* some appreciation!
Scott Nichols (2009-04-30 23:58:53)
Rated or unrated?
I would play either way. Usually, I only will play rated, but I would think this format would work just as well unrated.
The theme I think is fun here, with fun names. I was thinking of all kinds of bizarre openings to try, but would need to think twice about opening choice if it was rated. It sorta goes back to Michael Aigner's point on unrated tournaments IMHO. Thank you for having this new style.
The incentive in rated games is simply not to lose points if you lose, or to gain points if you win. In team chess, this incentive is not needed. The incentive is that you do not want your teammates to beat you up if you lose. ;-)
Normajean Yates (2009-05-27 05:02:24)
Thank you Thib: and I am so relieved!
First, about the 'thank you' to Thib.: that is for responding :) Now, to business:
>Thib said: Speaking of the server, I'm not afraid of crisis or whatever, the statistics are just better and better now..
I am so relieved! Seriously.
>Thib. said: FICGS grew very slowly during 2 or 3 years but IMO it was based on realistic views..
Exactly! That was one of the first things I noticed when I discovered this site (early June last year, I think) - I phoned my partner [she and I were in different countries on that day; coincidentally, this month also..] - told her this site *will* survive, and chess.com will *not* survive [too much money wasted by Eric of chess.com even then] - [It was only in in May last year that I had noticed chess.com in its present incarnation (earlier it did *not* offer chess-*playing*, it was a chess-reference-material site only)
(My partner doesn't play chess but of course one doesn't have to be a chess-player to be interested in issues like this!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(beginning of digression about chess.com (as a contrasting example):)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well chess.com has *technically speaking* survived; but there is a graded level of paying members [silver-gold-diamond-platinum-what not] - each year paying membership has to be renewed [I am a free member there; I don't play games there now except on special request :) ] -- and..
Guess what, chess.com in a few months intoduced a system that gave a *playing advantage* to paying members: the more expensive grade you are in, the greater the paying advantage. So, as far as correspondence chess is concerned, can chess.com be now considered a chess site?
(In fact I posted a thread there last year suggesting that they should introduce auction: at any time any of the opponents in a game can bid to win a game. [even if they have lone K against K+Q+Q+R :}] - then if opponent doesn't make a bigger bid then the bidder wins the game. Minimum bid 20,00 :) (chess.com is a US site ;) )There was some heated discussion over it.. Eric (the site owner - he is a decent chap, all said and done) prudently stayed away from that discussion :)
I posted in various threads there also directly saying that chess.com is probably the only *chess* site where the more you pay, the greater advantage you have in a *game*. Is that chess?
None of the above is defamatory: it is obviously true for anyone to check - and clearly Erik silently agrees - well good luck to him...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(end of digression about chess.com)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Thib. said: so don't worry, the site will survive after both of us, I'll take care of that :)
:)
I am sure now that you will :) (but not because both of us will suddenly die tomorrow, I hope ;))
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2009-06-08 09:08:57)
Grateful
Thank you Mr(s) Yates, I appreciate your solidarity. I still do not understand this ISO norms that will not let puertoricans use their own flag.
Wayne Lowrance (2009-06-30 05:38:35)
WCH6
Thank you so very much Thibault, sorry for my impatience, my bad, as usual
Wayne
Scott Nichols (2009-07-29 14:26:23)
Excellent
Another nice new feature, thank you Thibault for always working and improving this site!
Vjacheslav Perevozchikov (2009-08-12 18:20:15)
Thank you, Thibault !!!
Thank you, Thibault !!!
Svante Carl von Erichsen (2009-08-28 09:44:30)
Thanks
Thank you very much.
I must admit, though, that I am a bit disappointed that all these games were decided by the clock. Game 1, I am definitely behind, Game 2, I think that I have a winning position, Game 3 is very close and would have been decided by endgame (there are some very large points open), Game 4, I am back in the game after installing a group in his moyo, but I believe he is still slightly ahead, Game 5, I think that he has to defend the group at the bottom now, so I can reduce the left side, then switch to the top right corner; I am still relatively thin at the top (compared to the rest of the board), so I think the game would have had to be decided in a fight there.
So, all in all, I think that these were really interesting games, and it is a pity that they were finished too early. Lu Ke is a very strong player, and I am really lucky to have a positive score against him. I just hope that my next opponent pays a bit more attention to the clock.
Scott Nichols (2009-09-16 08:58:46)
Quick Corr. Chess
With the recent narrowing of the band in standard tournaments, it occurred to me that there is even less opportunity to get games than before. For those of us (and I think it is many) who check the site many times daily waiting for the next move, there just isn't enough games to feed our tremendous appetite for chess. I propose a new catagory, Quick Corr. chess, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but here it is. It would have it's own Quick chess rating. Bands would be, Over 2000, 1600-2000, and under 1600. Time limit-10 days per game, increment-8 hours. I truly believe there is a market for this here. Advanced chess requires that you actually be at the comp. for a length of time till game is done, so it is not an option for many. But as you can see there has been quite an increase in advanced games being played. So---if you are one of those players like me, that check for moves first thing in the morning and last thing at night, sneak your laptop into the bathroom at work to see if your opponent took the sacrifice you just offered, etc., and time after time are disappointed at not seeing any new moves, please offer your support and suggestions on this. Thank you, signed "Starving for chess". :)
Fergal Dalton (2009-09-28 10:28:51)
Deleting an account
Please delete my account too, thank you.
John Smith (2009-09-29 21:23:50)
Human/Centaur
Hi again,
Thank you for replying, therefore a NO_ENGINES flag is not present I better use engines as well as I don't think is meaningful to play vs a human-computer hybrid who probably is rated 1000+ Elo points above me (following the rationale centaur > rybka > SGM > GM > IM > me)
Not 100% what I was looking for but on the other hand this approach has the merit of studying the opening part of the game in great depth as positions can be analyzed to a great extent.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-10-08 12:47:47)
Message transmission (with slow moves)
Hi all,
Sorry to all players who use the slow moves process, I just realized the problem with 'empty moves (-)' at poker, you had to copy your message, now it is fixed... Please just warn me here if you still encounter any problem.
Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-10-17 16:26:23)
Cheers !
Thank you :) Well, there are so many improvements to do yet (an AJAX interface & so on), I still feel that FICGS is in its starting phase, but I'm optimistic, I only hope that more players will mean an even more friendly place !
Thibault de Vassal (2009-10-20 22:49:37)
Quotes added
Finally, the quotes have been added to the FICGS quotes file !
Thank you !
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2009-10-30 00:06:43)
Amazing statistics
Thank you, Thibault, but maybe we should ignore the poker games or divide the number of these moves by 10? Then it would not be so evident :)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-11-05 11:20:56)
#2
Ok, so I'll make some changes to allow players to make comments after the end of the game. Thank you !
Philip Roe (2009-11-06 03:54:51)
Luck is the residue of design
Nick, I did not know that one. It is quite splendid and I thank you for it.
But it may not be Milton. I tried to look it up and quotation sites attribute it to a poem of his called "At a Vacation Exercise in the College" However, it does not occur there, and the Yale book of quotation credits someone called Branch Rickey in Sporting News, Feb 21 1946. A rather different source.
See http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/quotes-uncovered-who-worried-about-events/
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
Wayne Lowrance (2009-12-24 00:33:00)
Merry christmas
A very merry Christmas and happy New Year to all on FICGS. Thank you Thibault for your nice chess server and the prompt service you provide us.
wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2009-12-29 18:40:55)
Rybka demise
William, wow, These are new engines for me, I will look for them.
On cloning, Stockfish is not the engine cloned as for as I know. There are two other engines for which I have downloaded because the moderators of the Rybka forum have deleted all reference to them, including engine name and download site. Vas has admitted that one in particuliar is a clone and the cloning programmer had discussions with Vas letting him know what he was doing, very interesting. Since both these engines are free downloadable making the source code available for all other programmers. It is common on the forum discussions about R3 source code being compromised. Thank you for sharing your Stockfish- Rybka testing results. What time control are your test run. Wayne
Michel van der Kemp (2010-01-05 16:55:19)
If anyone could comment any game...
Thank you.
Would it also be possible to link the new comments back to the forum? So people now which comments were made? Or some other way to browse through the comments?
Could be interesting if some high class players would comment their games.
Philip Roe (2010-01-08 05:09:47)
Marc Lacrosse memorial
Thank you, Rodolfo!
Marc did indeed put enormous effort into this labor of love. I do wonder what his plans were.
I see that there are a lot of ICC games which were presumably speed games of some sort, and perhaps need to be taken with a grain of salt. Anyhow, it doesn't seem that I have made any blunders yet.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-01-12 09:28:43)
Problem with auto-refresh in My games ?
Hello all,
Two players reported a problem for the "My games" page when both 'pending' & 'poker games' (click the icon next to "Here are your pending games") are selected and only in this case. The page wouldn't auto-refresh correctly when there's a new move to play.
As it works fine for me, I would like to know if other players experience the same problem.
Thank you!
Paolo Montrasio (2010-01-20 18:35:57)
No newsletter
Thank you!
Iouri Basiliev (2010-02-25 17:17:37)
mate in N moves. Game is going on :)
Thank you, guys! I got the point(s)!
Wayne Lowrance (2010-03-06 04:21:56)
Help : Tablebases, Rybka 3
I recently had a power failure that crushed my comp. I re installed vista.
Have trouble with R3 executing tablebases.
In a nut shell here is what I can tell you:
My table bases are located on hard drive D:(My Chess- tablebase).
I am pointing to that location for R3 to look for tablebases.
Here is what happens: Using Infinite analysis my pv's are getting TB hits but are not showing the solution path.
Am I missing some file ? some file misplaced ? MY bases are on D, R3 is on C, dont think that is a problem.
I sure could use some help
Thank you
Wayne
Daniel Parmet (2010-03-29 00:28:04)
Remove me from waitinglist
Thank you.
Andres E. Leon (2010-04-01 14:45:00)
Difference between class A / rapid A
Thank you very much for your answer. And someone knows when FICGS__CHESS__WORLD_CHAMPIONSHIP waiting list is going to be open, and when is the estimated date to start the games? Thank you in advance.
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-07 19:53:55)
Replacement in rapid silver 18
Howdy players, I will give the 10 E points to the player who replaces me. BTW I have not moved. Thibault has agreed to the 10 E points
Thank you
Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-10 00:37:13)
Replacement in rapid silver 18
Thank you so very much all. appeciated
Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-15 17:06:14)
Computer keeps locking up... assistance
Thank you Josef. But a lone time back I did see it (I thought). Maybe I remember wrong. Anyone with Fritz11 gui see it ? thank you
Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-20 17:58:10)
Final Match details
Thibault would you post the final match conditions ? I do not know for sure game timer, match format etc etc.
Thank you
Wayne
Garvin Gray (2010-05-15 11:43:02)
Entry fee for higher class tournament
Thank you for your compliment Wayne.
Another benefit is that it will allow the higher divisions to fill quicker, allowing more games between the top players.
I quite often see posts asking for more players to join the top divisions. With this idea, while it will mean one person from the lower group, it will still allow more games between the 6 'genuine' people in that division.
Andres E. Leon (2010-08-09 15:15:52)
Future Rating Question
From the last rating actualization, I finished five games. However, my future rating is now computed with only one game. I believed that in the past when I finished a game, my future rating was instantly actualized. How this issue works in FICGS?. Thank you very much, in advance.
Scott Nichols (2010-08-09 21:12:59)
Entry fee for higher class tournament
Just a note to say how this new rule is affecting at least one player here (me), :) I "earned" entry to a higher class tournament by winning the class just below. I paid my ten E-points and received entry into the next higher class. We have been playing for a while and I am holding my own ok. I have met new players and am overjoyed at the chance to play them. They are all friendly and welcoming. Life couldn't be better, ......but....... Maybe it's just me, but I feel at this point that I never REALLY earned my way into this realm. The old way was to suffer through months and years of climbing the rating ladder a little at a time and then finally reach that next level. Also, just my opinion, is that these days there really isn't a big difference in strengths between 1850 and 2450 given that we all have fast computers running on Rybka mostly. The difference I find is the human side of the ratings. The old days whether Shredder could beat Fritz, or Deep Junior could beat Hiarcs are long gone. So I guess what I'm trying to say without rambling any further, is that as much as I like playing in the higher section, I would prefer to "EARN" it the old way. Just one players opinion, Thank you
Andres E. Leon (2010-08-11 00:41:41)
Future Rating Question
I am sorry to bother you, but I do not understand why the system does not take into account three of my last four games, in the moment to calculate my future rating. For example, the last game that I finished in the FICGS__CHESS__RAPID_A__000075 tournament was:
Game 39469
Last move : 1-0 2010 July 3 22:30:1
[Event "FICGS__CHESS__RAPID_A__000075"]
[Site "FICGS"]
[Date "2010.01.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Leon,Andres E."]
[Black "Faust,Dieter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1904"]
[BlackElo "1980"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.Bd2 Qa5 9.a4 Nbc6 10.Nf3 c4 11.Be2 b5 12.O-O bxa4 13.Ra2 Ba6 14.Rfa1 Bb5 15.h4 h5 16.Qg5 a6 17.Bc1 Kg8 18.Qd2 Nf5 19.Bf1 Rh6 20.g3 Re8 21.Ba3 Rg6 22.Bh3 Rh6 23.Rb1 Rb8 24.Bxf5 exf5 25.Qe3 Nd8 26.Ne1 Ne6 27.Ng2 Rc8 28.Qf3 g6 29.Nf4 Nxf4 30.Qxf4 Rh7 31.Bd6 Rg7 32.e6 fxe6 33.Qh6 Qd8 34.Be5 Qf8 35.Re1 Rc6 36.R2a1 Kf7 37.Qxg7+ Qxg7 38.Bxg7 Kxg7 39.Kf1 Kf7 40.Ke2 Rb6 41.Rab1 Rc6 42.Kd2 Ke7 43.Kc1 Rc7 44.Kb2 Rc6 45.Ka3 Rc7 46.Re5 Kf6 47.Rbe1 Bd7 48.f3 Rc8 49.Ka2 Rg8 50.Rb1 Bb5 51.R5e1 Rc8 52.Rb4 Rg8 53.Rg1 Rb8 54.Ka3 Rb7 55.Rgb1 Rg7 56.Rg1 Rb7 57.R4b1 Rg7 58.Kb4 Rc7 59.Rh1 Rh7 60.Rh2 Rb7 61.Ka5 Rh7 62.Rg1 Ke7 63.g4 fxg4 64.fxg4 hxg4 65.Rxg4 Rh6 66.Rh1 Kd6 67.Rb1 Rh8 68.Rxg6 Rxh4 69.Rbg1 Rh2 70.R6g2 Rh3 71.Kb4 Rh6 72.Rg8 Rh2 73.R1g2 Rxg2 74.Rxg2 Be8 75.Ka5 Bb5 76.Kb6 Kd7 77.Kc5 Kc7 78.Rg7+ Bd7 79.Rh7 a3 80.Rh1 Be8 81.Ra1 Bb5 82.Rxa3 Kd7 83.Ra5 Ke7 84.Ra1 Kd7 85.Rh1 Kc7 86.Rh7+ Bd7 87.Rg7 a5 88.Rh7 1-0
Besides, I am playing the FICGS__CHESS__WCH_STAGE_1_GROUP_13__000008 group of the WCH, and I already finished three games.
Game 45063 Leon - Leclerc
Game 45064 Piantadosi - Leon
Game 45065 Leon - Dsouza
In one of them less than 10 moves were played (Game 45063 Leon - Leclerc ). However, in the other two games more than 20 moves were played, but when I finished these two games they were not taken into account in my future rating. Some of these games, particularly the Game 39469, I like very much and I spend a lot of efforts. It is a bitter that it is not used in my rating. I am afraid that the system is not actualizing my future rating, Can you help me to understand what is happening?
Again, I apologise for this inconvenience and I appreciate any help, thank you very much.
Andres E. Leon (2010-08-11 14:35:34)
Future Rating Question
Thank you very much Thibault, now it is clear. My apologies to waste your time with such things. Thank you very much again and I take the opportunity to congratulate for building this place where all chess fans can play, and discuss about engines, data bases, etc..
Wayne Lowrance (2010-09-24 18:28:56)
whole database transfers made simple
Thank you Daniel. Can we continue with this via PM on ficgs ? There is discussion needed. I will send you a PM.
Thank you
Wayne
Scott Nichols (2010-10-02 13:14:17)
WCH Stage 1 groups (new players)
Can you tell me what the standard is for being seeded into round 2? Then I can just wait until I reach that point (if ever) to join WCH, thank you.
Simone Calvello (2010-10-16 14:58:16)
Serious new Virus
Thank you, Wayne!
By the way, I'd like to say that the sender of the message could also be one of your friends, or so on...
There are also some viruses that enter in the PC and send them to other computers, so every message with an attachment not requested should be deleted immediately!
Ramil Germanes (2010-10-30 12:37:57)
Strong Tournament at Rybka Forum
Thank you sir!
Eros Riccio (2010-10-31 21:33:09)
Eros Riccio wins the 3rd Freestyle Cup !
A big thank you to everyone who played, making this event possible, and especially to Thibault, who did the efforts needed to make this event possible, and also did a great TD Job! (and let's not forget his second place ;-)
Ciao,
Eros.
Jimmy Huggins (2010-11-03 11:59:49)
Strong Tournament at Rybka Forum
All is explained now between my message back to you and I edited what was on the forum. Thank you for you help
Wayne Lowrance (2010-12-08 02:14:53)
Thib can you make this more clear
Thank you
Wayne
Hannes Rada (2010-12-15 21:56:00)
Chess positions too complex for engines
Hi Thibault,
Thank you for the examples.
I do not agree with your position against Peter Schuster. Almost every engine is now playing Qe2 i.o. Tb1 ?
So the engines now 'understand' this position a little bit.
Your position against Wolfgang Utesch is a classical fortress and indeed a bit funny. Here all engines show +5 and Rybka even +6 .... :-)
The 'tragedy' here is not the final position, but the fact the engines would go for such a position in their analysis, as it seems to be a clear win for white. I would file this under typical missing endgame understanding.
I.e. Rybka still does not understand wrong bishop endgames....
Brian Wood (2010-12-25 23:45:12)
Private messages to the webmaster
Thank you for creating my account so quickly.
Brian Wood
Michael Aigner (2010-12-30 12:35:05)
Thanks!
Thank you for the link Igor ;-)
Wayne Lowrance (2011-01-01 00:56:19)
Rybka forum options box
Any one know how to do it. Or could some one pm either Dadi or Felix to reload my Rybka account defaults/ I am unable to do it
Thank you
Wayne
Eros Riccio (2011-01-13 02:36:42)
Eros Riccio is the new FICGS chess champ
Thanks everyone guys... Thank you Edward, it was a real pleasure for me to play with you, not only for the interesting games, but also for the many friendly chats we had during our exchange of the moves, you are a very nice person and I also look forward to playing you again soon in the future.
Vjacheslav Perevozchikov (2011-01-13 05:08:59)
Eros Riccio is the new FICGS chess champ
Hi! Thank you both for the great match. Congratulations to the winner!!!
I have a question. What happened in the only game that not finished in a draw?
24... Rxc2!? wasn't a better choice for black? Or I missed something?
Thibault de Vassal (2011-01-13 14:53:17)
Eros Riccio is the new FICGS chess champ
Two great players, a great match, much fairplay at the end, thank you... it will be hard to wait for about 10 months before the start of the next 12 games match in the 6th cycle (and yes I verified, Eros will not play himself this time :))
Daniel Parmet (2011-03-02 00:58:02)
FICGS chess World Championship #9
I agree there as well. Thank you for this wonderful website. I do not want you to feel like our comments are against the great things you have done. I think we all just want to see the best FICGS we can see.
Alexander Blinchevsky (2011-03-05 23:45:15)
Strange game
@Thib: Thank you. I did it. Wanna see explanation of the opponent :)
@Sebastian: Agreed 100%. For me playing the obviously lost game is also distressing...
Alexander Blinchevsky (2011-03-06 19:33:11)
Strange game
Hi Mariusz!
Thank you for detailed explanation.
For sure, your son needs using all the time till the end of control in such complicated position, am I right? Just for fun, of cause ;)
Wayne Lowrance (2011-05-26 02:50:26)
I am exhausted
Thank you, this hurts,
Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2011-05-26 17:32:15)
I am exhausted
Thank you Jimmy so much. Your prayers will be much appreciated. I decided I would share the full extent of my problem.
My body is ravaged with arthritis. Have had it for man years Its in lower back, right hip and knee...no cartilage, bone on bone. It has progressed in last year. I have to take Pain killer drugs (Vicodin). A Operation is not an option. Doctors told me year or more ago this day would come. The Vicodin helps relieve pain but only for 2-4 hours.My mind is affected from the drug, all in all I am exhausted with chess pressure, trying to play at a level I am accustomed too. Drugs or no drugs, I am still in pain, I am invalid now, cannot walk, sitting hurts my hip, bah...on and on.
I was not gonna share the details but I wanted it known complete reason for my leaving CC world of chess that I love so much.
Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2011-05-30 18:23:03)
I am exhausted
Howdy Kam. Gosh I did not know about your illness. So pleased your feeling much better. Thank you so much for your prayer, helps me to know it. My future does not look promising Kam. The Doctor has told me my arthritic conition is advanced, only offering me drugs, which help some. I am for sure thru with chess Kam, I just cannot any longer do it. I could always just make engine moves, but I would NEVER be able to enjoy that.... I am proud of your play in the Jimmy Tournament, attaway to go Kam
Well b4n
Wayne
Mariusz Maciej Broniek (2011-06-22 16:49:31)
Thank you!
Dear FICGS Friends, Because of very bad health condition I have to take a break of playing chess. I am so sorry. I want to thank you, my Friends, for all good games and friendship. All the best to you! Kind regards, Mariusz M. Broniek
Gaetano Laghetti (2011-06-22 23:07:45)
Thank you!
Dear Mariusz,
I wish you a quick recovery and to return very soon to play chess with us.
Best wishes!
Gaetano Laghetti
Thibault de Vassal (2011-06-23 04:13:20)
Thank you!
Dear Mariusz, I wish you a quick recovery as well!
All the best,
Thibault
Wayne Lowrance (2011-07-19 05:57:38)
More statistics for every player
Yes, Thank you so much. I try and keep up with all here. I love this site and it has been a very part of my life.
wayne
Thibault de Vassal (2011-07-23 01:56:02)
E point encouragement
It is now... Thank you Garvin!
Jimmy Huggins (2011-09-07 00:44:59)
Freestyle Cup 1 update
Here is a couple of threads over at the Rybka forum one is about time control, one is an overall thread and the last is the start time.
Time Control- http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=22927
Start Time- http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=22926
Overall- http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=22925
Please give input and vote. Please and thank you.
Jimmy Huggins (2011-09-07 00:45:32)
Freestyle Cup 1 update
Please give input and vote please and thank you.
Jimmy
Thibault de Vassal (2011-10-28 22:16:09)
4th FICGS freestyle cup
Hi all,
The 4th FICGS freestyle tournament may happen on december 3 & 4 (2011) - three rounds each day at 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 server time. The format should be the same (30 minutes + 15 seconds per move) than the previous one.
That's quite a good moment IMO, just before the start of the next championship cycle.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Thibault
Andres E. Leon (2011-11-04 17:59:19)
Chess world championship #8 Question
Thank you very much for your answer.
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 (2012-01-05 12:59:41)
Unable to stay connected to FICGS
That's right Josef! Thank you, I just added it to the help section.
Paul Campanella (2012-03-05 03:29:32)
FICGS poker ratings
Thank you for the compliment, Scott!
I consider you to be one of the top players and have great respect for you: as both top poker and as a person. You're also a very worthy adversary and our matches are almost always 3-2 (on either side)! :)
Thank you, Thibault, for recognizing my point that it is possible to climb the ladder quite quickly using the current rating system.
I would like to note that it is also possible to climb the ladder without using any strategy. Throughout all of my poker matches on FICGS, I always finished my games (both the winning games and the losing games). I could have easily waited a long time (like some players obviously do on this site) to finish my losing games, but I refuse to do that out of respect for my opponents.
Although poker is a game that requires a combination of luck and skill, I believe that respect belongs here as well. Out of my overall record of 202 completed games, I have won 120 and lost 80. During each game, I was always honorable. For instance, if it is my turn and I know that I am 4 chips away from losing a match 3-0, I will refuse to delay the game and deny my opponent his victory for the next two months even though I have 60 days left on the clock.
Besides, it is my philosophy that the best thing to do when opponent outplays me is to accept the loss, learn from it, and then try to win in a rematch! :)
Paul Campanella (2012-03-06 20:55:20)
50+ Poker Games
Thank you, Thibault.
I am glad that you like it! :)
Pablo Schmid (2012-04-07 16:31:58)
Longest ficgs game of chess
Wow, thank you very much!
Peter W. Anderson (2012-04-22 15:39:16)
Slow tournament entries
Let me start by saying that I really like this place. The software is reliable, the interface is clean and people are generally polite. Thank you Thibault.
I don't buy Daniel's argument about the bandings. It is quite possible to score 5 or 5.5 in a class A, and it is quite possible to move swiftly through class A.
I am trying to move through Class M. I may or may not suceed. If I don't, I won't be complaining about not being able to play stronger players, I will blame myself for not playing better.
My only concern is what happens if I do manage to reach 2300. The rapid time control suits me (I am retired) and I would not have the patience for the slower time control. As far as I can see no-one over 2300 enters rapids. So I might end up having nobody to play apart from in WCH.
There are two solutions that I can see. One is to adopt Garvin's mixed ability group suggestion; this could be in addition to the existing banded tournaments.
The other is simply to get more members, so that there are more people willing to play in a particular category. I for one will try to do my bit to recruit some people onto here.
David Ward (2012-09-10 19:32:47)
Faster Refresh Time
Thank you for putting in the refresh options; however, the "no refresh" option is not working for me.
Charlie Neil (2012-07-28 10:11:05)
FICGS IS BACK !!!!!!!!!
Thibault
Thank you for all your work. I missed my "club". Even down here among the 1200+ graded players we need our chess. We strive to improve.
Paul Campanella (2012-07-29 01:55:41)
FICGS IS BACK !!!!!!!!!
46 days is certainly no joke and I imagine that this was no easy task. Instead of giving up and letting all the data just remain lost, you went above and beyond to recover everything as best as you could. In my opinion, that demonstrates your loyalty, devotion, and determination as the best website administrator around!
On behalf of myself and all of the other members of FICGS, I want to sincerely thank you for looking out for our us doing everything in your power to fix the situation as fast as you could.
3 CHEERS TO THIBAULT DEVASSAL!!!
Now that everything is back to normal... lets all have some imaginary champagne and toast the fact that we are glad that everything is back up and running! :)
Paul Campanella (2012-08-22 15:24:09)
Faster Refresh Time
Yes, customizable for all would be perfect! Thank you, Thibault. :)
Paul Campanella (2012-08-23 14:51:07)
Faster Refresh Time
Thank you, Thibault, this update is working out very well! :)
David Ward (2012-09-13 01:28:06)
Faster Refresh Time
OK. Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2012-09-27 23:39:12)
Eros Riccio wins 6th and 7th chess WCH
By beating Alberto Gueci in the final match of the 6th chess championship & Ostap Hladky in the candidates final of the 7th chess championship, Eros Riccio will remain FICGS chess champion for at least 16 months! After this huge performance, Eros accepted to answer a few questions:
----------------------------------
- Hello Eros and congratulations again for winning your 3rd and 4th (respectively 6th and 7th cycles) FICGS chess championships in a row, beating Alerto Gueci in the 12 games match of the final match and Ostap Hladky in the 8 games match of the candidates final so that you meet yourself in the last round that thus will not happen for the 3rd time of the championship (first time was during the first cycle because there was no champion yet). All games of the two matches were drawn, but it does not say much on the intensity of the match as we all know your strategy since your win in your first final match vs. Edward Kotlyanskiy when you explained that your preferred a draw that guarantees the victory than a possible win where a mouse slip is still possible. Obviously your strategy works very well but one can add that you had an impressive number of running games at the rapid time control, so very much pressure... How did you live these last months of correspondence chess and these two matches?
Hi Thib! And thanks once again for the congratulations. These 28 games (let's not forget also the 8 games match against Gino Figlio) probably started in the worst moment for me, just a few months after the very important European Team Championship on ICCF had started. When I told my captain that I was starting another 28 games... he was very disappointed and worried, as he had repeated a lot of times to every player of our team not to start new tournaments and to focus only on this tournament. Also for this reason I had decided not to join the new Italian Championship and other tournaments and to withdraw from the Champions League, but unfortunately I had no control on when to start my FICGS games. So... my priority was for my ICCF games, and fortunately for me all I needed to do in my FICGS Matches to win was to make draws, and that's what I tried to do in most of my games as fast as possible, and to my surprise my opponents accepted to draw many games quite quickly, not trying to fight each game "to death" like I would have done if I would have been them. This of course only created quick boring games, but I didn't see the point in putting energy in trying to win games myself.... I think my opponents should have done that!
- We all know that you and Alberto are good friends from long time, did it influence your match in the 6th WCH in any way according to you?
Well, it's a good think knowing your opponent's habits... you can send your moves as soon as you know he goes to bed :-)
- Ostap Hladky is undoubtly one of the strongest players at FICGS, was this match (7th WCH candidates final) very different from the other one?
Hladky was the strongest player I had ever played on FICGS, he is very unpredictable, he simply plays unexpected moves that engines don't suggest, but if you show them those moves, they slowly realize those are very good moves. I risked to lose more than one game vs him, even as White. Luckily I still managed to draw, and in my opinion he also accepted some draws too quickly.
- With the last evolutions of chess engines, playing better & better chess, would you say that you now spend less time on each game or not at all?
I don't spend less time on my games, I still try to use (almost) all the time on my "clock". Trying to analyze as many variations as possible with the time you are given has little to do with engines improvement, who still are far from being able to always suggesting the best move by simply letting them run for hours on a static position. You need to analyze going "forward" in the position in order to be able to find the best moves.
- By the way, it is said sometimes (again) that correspondence chess will not survive the decade, what do you think? Do you envisage to change for Go or poker like many players? :)
Wins and Losses still happen even at the highest levels at the present time. I think that many years still have to pass before having all draws in high level tournaments. When that happens... and it will probably happen sooner or later as chess in my opinion is a draw with perfect play... then probably new rules will be introduced, maybe the board will be enlarged and even new pieces with new movements might be invented.
- You now are ICCF GM with an impressive 2624 rating, how are going your other correspondence chess competitions? Do you have any goal to reach yet?
All my ICCF tournaments are going good, and very soon I will be Italian Champion once again (just waiting my last opponent to resign a lost position). I still haven't reached the first place in the italian elo rating list though. That would be a goal I would surely have pleasure in reaching, and of course I would like to win the ICCF's World Championship at least once. After that I can retire :-)
- Thank you Eros, also for this great correspondence chess lesson.
Welcome Thib! A pleasure for me.
Garvin Gray (2012-12-14 02:06:12)
WBCCC 2013
Thank you for your question Robert,
Entries close Wednesday January 9th and play starts Saturday January 12th.
All games are played on software called xfccplay, which is a Rybka designed program and so those who want to play in the event must have tested it and be familiar with how it is used, so I would need to know you are going to play in the next few days so we can organise test games.
Horatiu Adrian Petrescu (2013-01-16 00:23:43)
FICGS admin scam me
This admin is a big liar and scammer. I post here all story.
In 2010 I ask him how I cashout if I wish to.Bellow is our conversation :
"Re : cashoutMonday, January 4, 2010 3:25 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified"Thibault de Vassal" - ficgs at yahoo . com - Add sender to Contacts
Hello,
There's no button, you just have to ask me :) How many Epoints do you want to convert in Euros ?
Please specify your email at Paypal or Moneybookers.
Best wishes,
Thibault
Hi!
I don't see the button for cashout! Where is it? "
He didn't tell me nothing about some condition.Why? Because that time
was not specified.
Bellow is our conversation in the present time :
"Hi, I wish to cashout my 7,14 Epoints, to my Paypal account.Thank you.Regards.
Hello ,
You have to win at least one silver/gold tournament to cash out Epoints, feel free to read the conditions here:
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#prize"
...and on chat:
petrescu horatiuadrian :
you are a charlatan
(2013-01-15 23:46:58)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
I lost more than 7 euros,My deposit was much more
(2013-01-15 23:32:03)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
I just ask my money only ,not a profit or an interest
(2013-01-15 23:31:13)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
not crook.
(2013-01-15 23:29:42)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
you think I care about 7 euros ,I have checked you if are or
petrescu horatiuadrian :
you are a bank,but for you only
(2013-01-15 23:26:30)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
you are just a liar
(2013-01-15 23:25:15)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
your rule
(2013-01-15 23:24:44)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
you told me about L511 ,I checked and write nothing about
devassal thibault :
This is a games server, conditions are clear on this...
(2013-01-15 23:17:12)
devassal thibault :
I would have told you to deposit? So, to be a bank for you?
(2013-01-15 23:16:07)
devassal thibault :
This is only a misunderstanding, obviously. sorry about that
(2013-01-15 23:15:09)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
You lied to me to make deposit here
(2013-01-15 23:14:01)
devassal thibault :
.. and let's see what others think...
(2013-01-15 23:13:59)
devassal thibault :
Just publish this email on the forum...
(2013-01-15 23:13:43)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
you think I am naive?then why you lied me then,in 2010?
(2013-01-15 23:12:10)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
ahaha,you are not lawer ,you are liar,liar, liar
(2013-01-15 23:09:24)
devassal thibault :
I'm not lawyer, but a lawyer told me what I can or cannot do
petrescu horatiuadrian :
from the law
(2013-01-15 22:39:35)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
ok ,tell me the article of legislation or give me the link
(2013-01-15 22:39:27)
devassal thibault :
french laws... but I guess that's the same in most countries
(2013-01-15 22:30:41)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
tell me which laws ,yours laws?or what
(2013-01-15 22:25:52)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
which laws?
(2013-01-15 22:24:57)
burrows nick :
ah!
(2013-01-15 22:02:52)
devassal thibault :
as money prize, by winning silver/gold tournaments
(2013-01-15 21:57:38)
burrows nick :
how is money recouped?
(2013-01-15 21:40:31)
devassal thibault :
FICGS cannot be a bank... that's you ask for
(2013-01-15 21:15:02)
devassal thibault :
In one word : because of laws...
(2013-01-15 21:13:32)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
or you don t want because the terms?
(2013-01-15 20:59:26)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
speak clear
(2013-01-15 20:58:33)
petrescu horatiuadrian :
I don t understand why u cannot,because the server?
(2013-01-15 20:58:24)
devassal thibault :
That's the point of this server after all
(2013-01-15 20:40:34)
devassal thibault :
Anyway, winning one silver game would solve the problem...
(2013-01-15 20:40:10)
devassal thibault :
.. but the fact is that I cannot do this & never could
(2013-01-15 20:39:11)
devassal thibault :
We can even discuss it in the forum if you want...
(2013-01-15 20:37:09)
devassal thibault :
That's specified in the conditions... just read it
(2013-01-15 20:36:18)
devassal thibault :
The number of Epoints had to be a multiple of tournament fee
(2013-01-15 20:35:59)
In my country exist many charlatans but I see in France too.France is beautiful country but "there are lees to every wine".
Garvin Gray (2013-01-24 15:42:35)
Show opponents time
Thank you for this feature. It is certainly beneficial.
No bugs so far.
Also nice that a forum suggestion has been implemented :)
Roy Shapland (2013-03-14 19:47:12)
Accept a draw
Thank you. Click move.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-05-15 13:39:14)
PGN notation for forfeit, loss on time
Thank you Attila. I think I'll add this {time} information very soon.
Garvin Gray (2013-05-22 16:29:35)
Eros Riccio on his win in 8th chess WCH
From - Jeroen Van Assche
Garvin, to the far right of the address bar, maybe a shield is displayed. Click on it and then click Load unsave script.
Bingo, now I can see the diagrams. Thank you Jeroen.
Daniel Parmet (2013-06-09 00:31:35)
Vacation: change for 3 days minimum?
Ah, I understand now. Because someone doesn't agree with you - you must put obscene words in their mouth to describe their untenable position. Everything you just said is COMPLETE horseshit. The fact that someone has a different point of view from you is what reality is.
I have yet to hear of a single example of vacation abuse and I am now coming to the understanding that there isn't a way to abuse vacation. Thank you for the enlightenment.
Daniel Parmet (2013-06-09 01:53:58)
Playing activity top 20 players
Please Thib, I do not point out these problems to complain or make you feel bad. I just want you to know where you can improve. I also want you to know you've done an amazing job here and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you need volunteer time/help, I will be one of the first to come forward to aid you. None of these comments are made as an attack on you, I want you to know I appreciate what you have done.
Regarding rapid/classical time controls, I did not care which I played. The fact that I ended up playing more rapid than classical has to do with the fact I always chose the HARDER option available to me in terms of opponent strength. Since you alternate the rating bands via rapid vs classical - that usually meant only one time control was available to me.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-06-15 23:42:26)
Playing activity top 20 players
I repeat here that I never had the intention to do "better" than ICCF or whatever... When I played at IECG before FICGS, I thought that some things could be different and fit more to a certain number of players (starting by me), so I did it.
I see absolutely no interest to make another IECG or ICCF with less players or so. Consequently, it is fully understandable that ICCF is much better for many players. That's cool! :)
I know that Daniel has a great experience in many chess fields and I always read his posts carefully (whatever my opinion), all opinions and posts in this forum always helped much and I thank you all for this...
Thibault de Vassal (2013-07-15 14:16:39)
Interview with new FICGS Go champion
Yen-Wei Huang, winner of the 8th FICGS Go championship, kindly accepted to answer a few questions for this very interesting interview!
_______________________
- Hello Yen-Wei and congratulations for winning the FICGS Go championship! Xiao Tong was obviously a tough opponent, yet you won 5-0, what happened during this match?
Hi Thib. Thanks again for your kind invitation. Xiao is definitely one of the strongest Go players on FICGS, and I was really, really lucky to have won all five games. In fact, I was behind in three of them until Xiao made some mistakes late in the games: in game 69092, I forced a tough ko fight which jeopardized my lower group. Xiao made a mistake at P2 as he missed my T3 could force another ko. Game 69093 was very close towards the end but I think the move at C13 caused him the game. Game 69096 was even closer that I won by half a point thanks to the big 7.5 komi. The other two games were not easy either and I am glad I could have hung on to the lead. Overall I really enjoyed our match and I would love to have a rematch with Xiao in the future.
- You're from Taiwan, could you tell us a bit more about you? At what age did you learn Go? Do you have any other ranks (e.g. at other sites)?
I learned Go when I was 5 and I have always enjoyed playing all my life. I used to play on servers like KGS and Tygem and I was around 6-7 dan on these sites. Recently I don't have that much time to play so that's why turned to turn-based server like FICGS.
- What do you think about the world of Go these days? Who is the very best player in the world according to you?
I think the past two years were the "warring period" in the world of Go. I would say Lee Sedol was the best player two years ago, but he seems to have lost his dominant position recently. There are many rising stars that are winning the world champions. I am especially keeping an eye on Yuta Iyama, who I think is No. 1 in Japan and has started to threaten the dominance of Chinese and Korean players.
- What about computer Go and its future? How many years do you give to the human before losing to the machine?
As a software engineer I foresee the computer Go beats the world's No. 1 player in two decades. Crazy Stone already beat Yoshio Ishida with four handicap stones earlier this year, and I believe it wouldn't take long for computers to beat pros in two handicap stones. The real challenge will come when computers need to go from handicap games to even games since they need to advance from defensive mode to attack mode. I am really excited to see how Artificial Intelligence can surprise us with its "creative" moves when the time comes.
- Do you use engines or databases? What advice would you give to beginners (and to your future challengers :))?
I know there are many useful Go engines and databases that are being developed these days, unfortunately I don't really know much about them. I do use http://ps.waltheri.net/ if I need to look something up, and I go to http://tom.com for commented games (they're in Chinese, nonetheless). Advice to beginners: just go to any search engine and you can easily find all the free resources you want. Advice to my future challengers: just try the new variations since I know none of them :)
- What new features would you like to see at FICGS?
Firstly I'd like to thank Thib for maintaining such a wonderful site. I enjoy playing Go and Poker here and maybe I'll start playing Chess sometime (I really suck so I'm not ready to embarrass myself yet). The ability to play different games is what makes FICGS unique. As Thib mentioned earlier, we need much more players, and I think FICGS simply needs to host much more tournaments, probably some with shorter time settings. With more games and more player engagement, more people will stick around. Another feature I'd really like to see is FICGS client for cellphones/tablets. The main advantage of turn-based servers is that it allows people to play wherever for whatever period of time: a 1-min ride in the elevator, a 10-min wait at the bus stop, or a couple of hours at home. If playing on FICGS is made easier, I know I will be more addicted to it :)
- Thank you very much and good luck in the next final match...
Thanks! And please go easy on our Poker match...
Joerg Moormann (2013-09-04 18:03:54)
Withdraw from a waiting list?
Thank you.
Garvin Gray (2013-12-26 16:16:26)
FICGS World Chess Championship results
Yes, that now works :) Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-12-26 21:37:21)
FICGS World Chess Championship results
Hello Peter and thank you very much for this!
Just a question: where does the date 13/08/2013 comes from for cycle 8 (eg)?
Dimitrios Ropokis (2014-07-20 12:40:41)
Eros Riccio on his win in 8th chess WCH
Eros thank you! My best wishes to you!!
Thibault de Vassal (2014-09-05 01:25:46)
Ficgs is a money trap * BEWARE *
I must say that Dominique explained some things much better than I could... Thank you! On the second point, I guess that I'll have to deal repeatedly with this "doubt" for ever or for a moment as I tried to update the code for the prizes according to this rule but was not able to do it without making it too heavy, so I'll continue to take Epoints from winner's account each time in such situation before I rewrite the whole thing.
Finally I have to say that reasons for such rule remain at the same time fuzzy (I'm not able to justify it by specific points in the law - that is fuzzy itself) & personal because I want to avoid any risk and because I do think it's fair, which is subjective of course! As I already said, Epoints are taken there, others are offered there... So yes, I could have made another choice, I could even delete this rule (whatever it implies), you can think this is greed on this specific act, but at the end it fits the rules [in despite of the human factor at that time, which is now fixed] and that's the most important thing IMHO.
Thibaut Saccon (2014-12-16 11:49:24)
delete account
I'd like to delete my account cause i start a professional project and i don't wand to be find on google. Thank you in advance.
Thibault de Vassal (2014-10-31 19:46:59)
July 1 2014 Fide laws of chess
I asked because you started the topic. I'm not sure why you did it in this context... but thank you anyway. I'm sorry to have disappointed you so many times but not applying some (most or not) suggestions doesn't mean it was not worth to study it, but you know my thought on all this already. Good luck with your tournaments!
Alvin Alcala (2014-12-08 03:51:57)
6th engine masters: A. Alcala shares 1st
Thank you Thib! :)
Thibault de Vassal (2015-01-11 01:07:34)
Class GM 3 and Rapid SM 12 entry rules
You're absolutely right Garvin... Thank you! Looks like I'm not used to this new rule yet :(
There was a ticket a few days ago for the rapid SM tournament, so I made the necessary here. The entry in class GM seems older but anyway this tournament may not start before a while, or at all. This waiting list is closed for the moment.
Alvin Alcala (2015-05-15 03:49:21)
Alcala wins 1st Centaur Weekend Tourney
Thank you Thib! :)
To those who might get interested to join the remaining grand prix freestyle chess tour schedule is below.
Planned tour dates:
(Friday til Sunday)
CWT 2: June 5th - June 7th
CWT 3: July 3rd - July 5th
CWT 4: August 7th August 9th
CWT 5: September 4th September 6th
CWT 6: October 2nd October 4th
CWT 7: November 6th November 8th
CWT 8: December 4th - December 6th
Jan Ohlin (2015-07-12 07:58:10)
Wch Match Tie Break Rules
Thank you Pablo showing these concrete examples. The tecnical problem occur more often than I expected.
Thibault de Vassal (2015-07-13 01:44:43)
Wch Match Tie Break Rules
Thank you Pablo... also many thanks to Peter, Jan & all participants in this discussion that is not ended for sure :)
Thibault de Vassal (2015-08-06 01:38:48)
Improving netiquette rules
Thank you Scott! Goes right in the heart.
Just trying to find the "best" way, this is really hard in some cases (e.g. such case), that's why help and discussion are always welcome ^^
About this case, I think I'm still following my line (also strongly suggested by Gino during the first months of FICGS) that human decision should be reduced to the minimum. It is obvious that it demands strong rules and patience to all players (particularly during a possible Dead Man Defence)... Here, it is important to check if the "insulting" aspect is subjective enough or not, I must say I don't feel qualified to say it. I had to make a decision by myself, but I'd prefer being able to read it in the rules next time.
Alfonso Di Giandomenico (2015-10-15 09:09:14)
Number of tournament won
Great!!!
Thank you!!
Thibault de Vassal (2016-01-21 19:22:32)
Emails from FICGS
Thank you Alexis!
Garvin Gray (2016-02-12 01:26:27)
FICGS chess cup : proposal
Ahh thank you. Some definite answers about progress. And dates :) This now allows players the opportunity to prepare. Time to get the word out.
This now can set a bit of a FICGS calendar :)
Thibault de Vassal (2016-05-26 21:49:03)
FICGS restarts (2016 May 25)
Thank you very much Herbert & all for the encouragements, it always goes right in the heart and helps me to find solutions, even in desperate situations :)
George, your idea makes sense a lot but such habits are difficult to change, I'm too afraid to forget and make a mistake in the future :/
Marek Trokenheim (2017-08-16 12:10:16)
contact other member
Daniel Palmer, thank you very much! I found it and I used it already :)
Sergey Zemlyanov (2017-10-09 22:16:24)
Ficgs is a money trap * BEWARE *
Dear Thib,
Thank you very much!
I donated e-points to the site. Also, I will focus on my games on ICCF. I do not have only 5 points of the rating to get into the tournament with a grandmaster's norm. I need to put pressure on it!)
Thibault de Vassal (2017-10-09 22:33:01)
Ficgs is a money trap * BEWARE *
Dear Sergey, thank you and also for your understanding... And I must say I'll regret not seeing more nice "gold" games like these ones. Best of luck in your GM title seeking!
Thibault de Vassal (2018-02-27 20:01:33)
Norm qualification criteria, incorrect?
Thank you very much for information! (I must have forgotten... It's about 20 years I didn't play in a FIDE tournament ^^)
I'll have to think about this but I'm not sure it would be easy to keep coherence here. In all cases, you're right, that's the best theorical way.
Steven DuCharme (2018-03-29 08:46:24)
Daily Chess World Championship
GM [moderated]. You are invited to join the Daily Chess World Championship. Decide asap. Thank you. Please answer here. If u decline the next poster will be entered.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-04-09 17:30:02)
unable to play my move!
So, for your 7th move you typed "0-0" or "7...0-0" ? (with zero-zero, not O-O) Sorry, I have to be absolutely sure to be able to reproduce exactly what happened.
Thank you again.
Steven DuCharme (2018-06-25 19:53:46)
I Own Chess
Decree #1 - All players will count to ten or more before each move. Thank you
Ilmars Cirulis (2018-07-02 16:05:07)
Interview with 15th chess WCH finalist
Interesting interview! Thank you.
Gabriele D Agostino (2018-07-29 20:48:31)
On (almost) global forfeits in WCH
Thank you Thibault for trying to improve the rules. There are good reasons in either case, consider all the results or give 1 point to everyone. Any decision will not satisfy anyone.
Such a rule is in the FIDE tournament regulations. (8.2)
https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/Competition_Rules.pdf
Obviously we can choose a different rule.
Graham Kerr (2018-09-25 03:58:57)
Some questions to H. Kruse, WCH finalist
Thank you to Herbert for taking the time to answer these questions...
I have played correspondence since the 90s, by snail mail at first then online. I had always resisted engine-assisted correspondence but a post by Herbert in another forum was what prompted me to give it a try ;-)
Thibault de Vassal (2019-01-28 20:00:01)
James Romig
Thank you William! Indeed, I misunderstood this message. Let's hope...
Marcio B. Oliveira (2019-03-17 02:29:39)
World Championship Groups
@Thibault de Vassal
Thank you!
Marcio B. Oliveira (2019-09-24 22:48:04)
World Championship Groups
Thank you.
Regards,
Marcio
Thibault de Vassal (2020-04-17 18:21:31)
Wch groups, less than 7 players
Finally, fixed... thank you Zbigniew!
Miroslav Gazi (2020-06-09 15:34:02)
Chess DB
Hi Thibault,
thank you for your feedback.
Would you be interested in some sponsoring of FICGS tournaments by our DBs for some promo here?
Best regards
Miro
A. T. S. Broekhuizen (2020-07-04 20:21:10)
Chess WCH #22 (march 1st, 2020)
Ok thank you. I will keep an eye on it.
Stanislas Gounant (2020-09-21 14:07:24)
Stockfish 12, neural network
part 1 very interesting, thank you
Garvin Gray (2020-10-03 04:51:35)
Stockfish 12, neural network
Hello Stanislas,
Thank you for your reply and assistance.
I believe I have been able to solve the issue and it was more simple than I thought.
I was thinking that my attempts to download SF12 and use the engine were being thwarted due to issue with the Neural Network.
But I re-downloaded the engine, loaded it and then changed the parameters and it now loads just fine.
I use Fritz 12 GUI, but I also have Fritz 17 GUI.
And my computer is a decent one and less than a year old, so no issues there.
Dariusz Fraczek (2020-12-13 20:24:26)
Cannot make a move
Fine, thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-04-12 12:16:37)
Poker Rating
Thank you Daniel. Any others?
Misha Allport (2021-06-27 18:47:48)
Withdrawal from Standard Tournament
I respectfully request withdrawal from the Standard Tournament -Class E- #000239 for personal reasons. Thank You, Allport, Misha
Thibault de Vassal (2021-07-04 00:58:51)
Wch 22 Stage 2 ended
Sharing your opinion here was never unhelpful, whatever the consequences... Thank you again for that (whatever the tone ^^), it has become too rare.
That's the fourth time I re-read your answer and I always take time to think about it, and I'm still not ready to answer it. That's probably one reason to that lack of changes, I'm that slow :)
Juri Eintalu (2021-09-08 01:00:41)
ICCF ratings
Thank you.
Juri Eintalu (2021-10-21 16:33:26)
How to Accept a Draw in Chess
You are right. I am using the "slow moves". I thought it is reasonable in correspondence chess. I shall try some other regime. Thank you.
Vadrya Pokshtya (2022-02-19 06:11:11)
Grand Dice Chess
Thank you, Mr. Thibault!
This was facilitated by reducing the distance between the two armies to zero. Each move is a roll of 4 dice or a movement of four pieces. As soon as the pawn chain is opened, events develop at lightning speed. It is also interesting that the right of the first move is not an advantage here for the beginning side. The first games in the test tournament on one of the Russian gaming sites showed this. The balance of white and black victories is kept strictly around 50%. The game turned out to be one of the most strategic among all dice chess variants.
You can try playing against the AI here
https://glukkazan.github.io/checkmate/grand-dice-chess.htm?fbclid=IwAR1Tt6sFmrK8KYRxwPPZJnrGujGss7to2jzdV8GxSons7Pmjdk7udHoJ0PA
This is a direct link to the game with the bot. Registration is not required. The bot is very weak but perfect for understanding the game.
Mr. Thibault, I would be glad if you would consider the possibility of holding a test tournament on your site. It would be interesting to see how many people would take part and what would be their opinion about the game. In any case, everyone would get an unforgettable experience.
Since I am doing this for the game and not for the money, you are free to dispose of Grand Dice Chess as you see fit on your site.
Thank you!
Clodomiro Ortiz (2022-03-06 12:51:04)
Next Ficgs World Championship Tournament
thank you,nice to remind me
Daniel Parmet (2022-04-26 23:05:14)
Ukrainian players clocks during war
An excellent and swift reply. Thank you Thibault.
Thibault de Vassal (2022-04-27 02:35:00)
Ukrainian players clocks during war
Thank you... and thanks Herbert for having pointed it out (I could have missed it after all).
It's all fixed now (including my poker rating & Alexey's one due to that loss that shouldn't have happened), and I'll have the right tools to do it again around June 10. I'm afraid that will be necessary.
Frey Rafferty (2022-08-21 19:07:58)
FICGS Titles
Thank you!
Juri Eintalu (2023-03-31 09:09:17)
RUSSIA AND BELARUS NOT SUSPENDED?
To Thibault de Vassal:
Thank you for taking a look at my open letter on Medium.
“... isn’t it a bit short to compare Russia’s war in Ukraine to what happened in Afghanistan, Iraq or Serbia? (that are quite different cases by the way, involving different groups of countries)”
If country A starts a war against country B, the relevant question is whether that war is justified or unjustified, whether it is a war of aggression or, instead, the attacker has the right to do so.
By now, it is a piece of common knowledge that the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were wars of aggression.
Chess organisations FIDE and ICCF have punished Russian chess organisations for the Russian invasion of Ukraine while not punishing the US chess organisations for the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. FIDE and ICCF have not presented any comprehensive analyses about how justified or unjustified some of those wars are. You are turning the burden of proof around and accusing me of not delivering the arguments that FIDE and ICCF had to present.
“It seems that most russians in Russia still support this war (“special op”) while everyone ignored the truth about those weapons in Irak (in example). Any context should be analysed in depth IMHO.”
Excuse me, but I cannot follow what you are trying to say.
You argue that any context should be analysed in-depth, but you fail to hint at why Russia should be punished and the US should not. Your only fact mentioned, “everyone ignored the truth about those weapons in Irak”, remains mysterious. I do not understand in what context you are saying this.
We know already for ten years that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.
Concerning your other remarks, I make only one reply. We know that there are saliently some Nazis in Ukraine.
Here, on the chess forum, I technically cannot answer in detail to your several remarks that, in my mind, are all somewhat inexact or vague.
Ilmars Cirulis (2023-07-05 22:51:32)
GUI for Big Chess?
Thank you!
Garvin Gray (2023-08-16 14:17:48)
Next Ficgs World Championship Tournament
Thank you for starting RR 25. I think for future Wch RR's, that the RR section should be 9 players instead of 8 to ensure that each player gets 4 whites and 4 blacks.
Vadrya Pokshtya (2023-11-17 20:38:28)
Battle of Kings
Thanks, but you are wrong about the engine being able to crush this chess variant ;)
Knowledgeable people, programmers with whom I had the opportunity to talk about this chess variant, argued that not a single engine would be able to adequately evaluate positions in the Battle of Kings due to the colossal combinatorial complexity of the game.
Please note that the server bot plays very, very weakly. The program does not understand the concept of the game and makes a superficial assessment of the position based on material balance.
Playing against a bot is very different from playing against a human.
At the moment you can play by correspondence against other players here https://www.schemingmind.com/default.aspx
or here
https://games.dtco.ru/
Thank you again for your positive feedback!
Timothy Cookson (2023-11-26 00:09:20)
Referee Adjudication
Thank you Thibault!
Ilmars Cirulis (2023-12-27 19:30:42)
Fried Liver analysis on rybkaforum.net?
I tried to browse it using web.archive.org website, but I don't remember when (which year) and where (which place in the forum) it was posted...
There was some collective analysis of Fried Liver, after some poster postulated that black is okay in this variation.
Thank you in advance and Happy New Year of 2024! :)
Ilmars Cirulis (2024-01-12 22:23:11)
Fried Liver analysis on rybkaforum.net?
Interesting! Thank you!
Ilmars Cirulis (2024-01-13 21:00:42)
Fried Liver analysis on rybkaforum.net?
Thank you!
Bahadir Ozen (2024-10-19 16:25:41)
Conditional Moves Method
Hello, thank you for keeping the site active!
I am curious; ICCF - as in LSS; Is it possible to make conditional moves in FICGS? Could it be possible in the future?
Kind regards
Bahadir Ozen (2024-10-24 10:38:59)
Conditional Moves Method
Thank you Thibault. Its not that big deal, I like how FICGS running... Have a great day.:)
Regards
Stanislas Gounant (2024-12-29 23:49:39)
Next Ficgs World Championship Tournament
Thank you for the translation
I think Thibault has a better command of the French language than I do. (google translation for this sentence)
Ilmars Cirulis (2025-03-22 13:40:53)
Fried Liver analysis on rybkaforum.net?
Thank you for your answer, Ulises.
Thibault de Vassal (2025-10-22 02:39:31)
DNS failure last week
<3 thank you Nelson!
Bahadir Ozen (2025-10-22 10:43:40)
DNS failure last week
Hello Thibault,
Thank you for your efforts. Let's hope this problem doesn't happen again. We love FICGS and have a great time. Thank you, and I wish you success.
Thibault de Vassal (2025-10-24 12:22:24)
DNS failure last week
Ahaha :) Thank you very much Yeturu... I could have sent an email to everyone sooner, but I always hoped to solve the problem quickly... I was wrong, obviously.
About the DNS config (ns.ficgs.com, dns.ficgs.com), I just can't remember what I exactly did maybe 15 years ago, but the fact is that it suddenly stopped to work, and I don't know why. So I had to change it.
Bahadir Ozen (2025-11-05 09:51:11)
Finished games - Gmail problem
Hello Mr. George,
Thank you for the information. Best regards.
Bahadir Ozen (2025-11-12 20:21:12)
Increasing the Number of Games in Progre
Hello,
Thank you. I love FICGS and would like to play more matches at once. But overall, if this system works, there's nothing to be done. Thank you.
Regards
Bahadir
Bahadir Ozen (2025-11-19 08:46:16)
Clarification of Rating Groups
Mr. Ulises Pineda,
Of course, you're valuable. The time you spend, your actions, and your interaction enrich both me, the players, and the site. Thank you for your efforts.
It's clear that each site has its own infrastructure and process. Yes, we play on a different site, and there can be conditional moves there. But FICGS's games also go to the Corr Database, and they're respected. We can say it's a proven platform.
You're right about the ticket issue being annoying. In that case, the paying player has a slightly greater advantage.
I agree with you in the long run, but the person who keeps the site "usable" also puts in the effort. Perhaps a different update on this rule will be forthcoming.
Fabio Bonoldi (2026-01-22 11:45:42)
no engines
I wanted to know if tournaments without the use of engines are still being organised. If so, how can I participate?
Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2026-03-13 23:17:02)
Post-tickets FICGS
The long answer:
FICGS story is a quite simple & classic one, the reasons why it's declining are quite obvious, and unfortunately the solutions aren't. A bit of story:
1. Luckily, FICGS.com was created when there were a demand, just after IECG stopped... It grew very quickly, and I was in a rush to code it (FICGS was the very first dynamic website I ran from A to Z), there were ideas from everywhere. FICGS.com was the shortest domain name available, but not a so good one. Quite hard to remember, hard to tell, not clear for search engines (unlike chess.com which is a perfect one). Maybe it was a mistake to choose it, I can't tell. Either it meant "Free Internet Chess Games Server" or "Free Internet Correspondence Games Server", so I added another game, Go (Weiqi), to FICGS, which is a quite heavy decision: After that, FICGS is not only a chess server anymore.
2. A few years after, there are several thousands players (a few hundreds active). The number of new players slowly decreases month after month but a few sponsors come. Obviously, the way I coded FICGS made it more and more difficult to fully update from a PHP version to another one, or to change it in deep. Even now, I'm not sure to regret it though cause I couldn't have done it differently, so it is what it is. At this time, chess.com was less interesting than FICGS (my taste), but success is already here thanks to a perfect marketing formula: best domain name & pay for options. On the contrary, I chose to keep FICGS completely free.
3. Chess engines explode, correspondence chess continues its evolution (human's thinking decreases in moves decision), finally I add another game that is in a hype: poker texas holdem. New sponsors come, I still play correspondence chess myself but now I play another game even more: Google. FICGS also extends this way and it works in some ways. At its peak, FICGS is about the 32,000th most visited website worldwide. But the number of players continues to decrease, Android & phones started to change the landscape already. Chess.com released its app and added probably its best feature: a quick Stockfish analysis with evaluation & explanation for each move (which is excellent for blitz games but quite a non-sense for a correspondence chess website).
4. The number of players suddenly declines very quickly, I react by creating FICGS apps for Android, a dozen apps... On some apps, you can play against the machine, virtual opponents, chess 960, blindfold & so on. But the way to maintain it is not easy at all for many reasons, but the main one is that Google (Playstore) constantly change technical things & rules. After a few years, I even have to completely remake it, losing what was acquired. And some apps still fail to re-appear at Playstore, that's why I just made the APK files available to direct download. But these applications confirm something clear: blitz is more fun and attracts much more players. Changing rating ranges for correspondence chess tournaments or championships formats won't be a solution for this.
5. FICGS is now 20 years old! Internet completely changed over the years but it survived longer than Messenger, Skype & many other great services. If you look at many websites, new versions of their modern interfaces are often worst (bugs or options) than previous ones. FICGS was never perfect, maybe even clear, but at least it remained coherent. Now Google (just like all major services) is mainly governed by AI, sponsors left - that does not change anything, FICGS will continue to run. I created other websites, but none so far successfully helped in a way or another to solve the problem we encounter here: how to increase the number of correspondence chess, Go or poker players again? If FICGS becomes a pure correspondence chess site again with a brand new interface, I'm quite sure that wouldn't change anything or almost. I might be wrong of course, but according to me, this is a deep problem, connected to society evolutions, computers, phones, our attention, time, even health & so on... In my personal case, I wish to play correspondence chess again, but still cannot find the time to do it. Finally I have no idea what internet will look like within 5 years, but FICGS will be there. Maybe an AI will find a solution soon ^^ Meanwhile, I received many ideas to improve FICGS and I have to thank you very much for this. Few ideas were released for reasons I explained here (but new ones are always wecome), I hope you'll better understand it by reading this.
Have good games & take care!
Thomas Cranshoff (2026-04-16 10:29:34)
PGN
I can not make a PGN of a game here, somebody can help me? thank you
Thomas Cranshoff (2026-04-16 13:42:19)
PGN
Not one particular, new on this site and just wondering. Thank you for answering
Thomas Cranshoff (2026-05-18 23:27:12)
PGN
thank you all for the help
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