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Game result  (chess)


J. Riha, 1953
F. Vasquez, 2073

1/2-1/2

See game 24763




André Diamant wins Brazilian Chess Championship

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Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-04 03:54:36)
FICGS forum is open !

The forum is open to all discussions. Feel free to suggest and debate all kinds of improvements for the website. Please speak english only.

Have good games... :-)


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 13:45:15)
Inaugural match : Big chess

Hello to all.

The inaugural Big chess game (on the 16x16 board) restarts. As it was a bit hard to organize such a game between 2 GM, the two players finally are myself and... you :)

This is is 'priority game', just for fun. If you want to play a move just connect with the guest/guest account, if it is 'guest' turn, you can play...

http://www.ficgs.com/game_1.html

Have a good big chess game :)


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-08 13:58:53)
Elo Overlap

Thibaut, I think this "feature" is okay. I just was a little bit confused about it and could not decide which tournament to choose.


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 17:02:06)
First tournament started !

A small bug delayed (1 hour) the start of the first FICGS tournament (class A) ! Sorry to the players. It's fixed now.

Have good games :)


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


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-08 19:06:49)
Vacations

The most important issue to be implemented is imho the vacation. I think otherwise many potential players (me included) will be prevented from joining a tournament. How many days a year would you allow ?


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-08 19:12:59)
Titles

I thing titles provide an incentive for players and their wording is not really important. To avoid potential conflicts with other bureaucratic organisations you should maybe rename them to FEM, FIM, FSIM, FGM ...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-08 19:18:26)
Vacations

I think 40 days for vacations is right. What do you think about ? (it may depend on tournament category, ie. rapid tournament shouldn't allow vacations)


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-08 19:32:44)
vacations

40 days is fine for me. I've 31 days leave in a year and I ususaly use them all for travelling and visiting foreign countries. I had no experience with rapid tournaments on the cfc - server. However they also allowed 40 days in a year. Maybe otherwise many player would not participate. I for one had to go several times on business trips for a few days and in this case it would risk losing games in a rapid tournament if there is no possibility for taking leave.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-08 19:59:22)
Hannes

CFC rapid tournaments didn't allow vacation (and start clock was 10 days, not 30). Anyway, you have 2 months to play a single move (if your clock is over 2 months, of course)


Per Lea    (2006-04-08 23:03:27)
Vacations

In this modern world, not even travelling abroad will stop you from being able to play: you will probably find an internet cafe near by. Or you may have internet access in your hotel room, or if you visit business colleagues, they will probably give you access to a PC. Too bad if you're TOO dependent on Fritz, of course, but....


Per Lea    (2006-04-08 23:09:40)
Titles

A provocative question: Do we really need titles at all? Isn't rating more informative than a title that maybe has been won when the player was at the top of his playing strength, many years ago? I admit the rating system isn't perfect, but I still claim it tells me more than a title. Being a Norwegian I am possibly less obsessed with titles (within all walks of life) than people from other countries?


Per Lea    (2006-04-08 23:15:01)
Elo overlap

I think the overlap is a great idea. The ratings may come from a lot of different sources and are therefore not necessarily compatible. My ICCF rating is 2136 (why I was given 5 extra points on FICGS, I cannot explain...), but my Norwegian OTB rating is 1631 or thereabouts. That number is probably more realistic....


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-09 00:43:50)
Travel destinations

>In this modern world, not even > travelling abroad will stop you from > being able to play: you will > probably find an internet cafe near > Or you may have internet access in > your hotel room, or if you visit > business colleagues, they will > probably give you access to a PC. > Too bad if you're TOO dependent on > Fritz, of course, but.... Normally I spend my holiday far away from the so called civiliations. Destinations like Papua New Guinea, Micronesia or Ethiopia are my favorite places. So there is no chance for communications and also no interest for playing chess. In 2 weeks I am heading to Vanuatu .....


Marc Lacrosse    (2006-04-09 09:01:47)
delay before moves publishing?

Hi Thibault If I do understand all moves of all games are visible as soon as they have been played. Isn't it better to delay public publishing a little bit (by 3 moves or so). Most other servers have such a policy so as to avoid game duplication tricks. congrats for the already very good work ! Marc


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-09 10:16:50)
Duplication

Hello Marc ! I thought players (I first) precisely would appreciate something different and this totally "live" concept. I don't think many correspondence chess players will try to cheat this way... Furthermore, I already did implement processes to DETECT 'double' games.. and rules clearly forbid these methods.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-09 10:20:52)
ref : Per

Per, your rating on the last ICCF list is 2141.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-09 10:27:28)
TITLES !

I think the rating system tell a lot, titles just tell something more. What I think is to let appear "official" titles EM, IM, SIM, GM (note that I consider IECG titles as official ones)... Titles obtained on FICGS will appear differently (ie. FEM, FIM, FSM, FGM, and in another color..) I think it may fit to everyone, what do you think about ?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-09 11:12:49)
FICGS council / staff

Hello to all.

As I just said on TCCMB about the server, I clearly don't want to reproduce the Chessfriend waste... For obvious reasons, I won't administer alone the whole server forever. That's why I want to create a council-staff and to turn FICGS at least partly towards a IECG-like structure...

Feel free to tell me if you're interested to take part of the adventure !

Best wishes.


Sebastien Marez    (2006-04-09 11:16:30)
FICGS council / staff

I wish to take part in this adventure Best Regards Sebastien


Per Lea    (2006-04-09 11:50:32)
Vacations

OK, Hannes, you're right. When you leave "The modern world" my comments no longer apply... And, by the way: I fully support the idea of some sort of "vacation". After all, not everyone is obsessed with chess 24 hours/day. There are other valuable things in life as well! Often, it can be fun just to relax, and forget all about difficult middle-games, irritating colleagues at work and the disappointments of your local football team and just go away - to Vanuatu (wherever that mey be)


Per Lea    (2006-04-09 21:51:02)
Suggested improvement

When clicking on "My games", only a list with one line representing each game should appear (as on ICCF, Chessfriend and I think all other servers I have encountered - and there are quite a few!) With many games running, a short overview is sufficient. Now I have to scroll down to a particular game, even though I only have 6 games running. I definitely think you should look to ICCF and Chessfriend to get some good ideas in this respect.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-09 22:28:53)
ref : Per

I think you're right about "My games" .. I'll change that soon. Thanks.


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-09 23:27:03)
Success

This server is now 4 days old and there are already 115 members :-) Many of them well known players from chessfriend. So this is really satisfying :-)


Per Lea    (2006-04-10 01:32:41)
Games overview

Thibault: Thanks for quick and positive response. Hannes: thanks for the support (I've also had support from Håkon Anda, in a personal mail)! I hope others agree as well.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-10 08:12:12)
Fixing...

First case fixed, working on the second one. Sorry for the inconvenience...

Thibault


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-10 09:45:04)
My games

Per, it's changed. Thank you :)


Per Lea    (2006-04-10 09:52:36)
Games appearing in short list

Thanx for obeying my wish - now the "My games" list is much easier to read. But why can't I just click on one of the games in this list when I want to make a move? If you prefer, you could put a symbol (such as the white or black rook) next to the games where it is my move, to make it easier to see where it is my move. Then there is really no need to list the games (where it is my move) under "My messages" as well.


Henri Muller    (2006-04-10 10:56:31)
success

Bravo et félicitations à Thibault ! Un TRES grand et mérité succès pour ce nouveau site. Bien pensé, bien ordonné, et....facile ( quand on s'y est fait !! ) Il y a qqs jours quand je me suis inscrit, j'étais le 39ème. Il y a déjà plus de 120 membres....et cela continue ! J'espère que Thibault sera en mesure d'assumer ce ghrand succès, car le travail ne manquera pas ! COURAGE - BONNE CHANCE ert....FELICITATIONS !! hm


Patrice Verdier    (2006-04-10 11:59:55)
FICGS council / staff

I am very pleasant to takepart in this new adventure Best wishes, Patrice


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-10 12:26:52)
To low rated players...

A second CLASS M tournament (category 4) already started ! I suppose once FICGS will be sumitted correctly to search engines, more low rated players will join us. Be patient :)


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    (2006-04-10 21:51:58)
Exclamation mark

Hello Patrice, is the exclamation mark "!" okay for you ?


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 05:24:41)
Statistics

As you may have noticed, the "About" page now contains some chess opening statistics ! Quite interesting. We have a strong bird specialist & already a king's gambit player :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-11 13:23:44)
CC players vs. Computers

Hello Marc, the idea is good for sure, but I doubt developers would want to see their "beta babies" to achieve a 2000 ELO rating with pain :) If matches like CC GM - Engines are quite balanced, so would be a CC 1800 - Engines one... Anyway, if you know developers interested, we could envisage something in this way...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-11 13:28:13)
Download

Hello Karlheinz & Hannes.

I'll arrange that. But indeed that's the way I developed the "Search games" page. Copy/Paste PGN games should work. (but it may become too big later to display all games in one page)


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    (2006-04-11 18:30:35)
Henri...

Of course it is :) Thanks for your help.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-11 18:33:13)
Bug fixed...

Many improvements in the send move process... It should not be possible anymore to make a wrong move. Stalemate detection is implemented. In checkmate case, nothing else should be possible than resigning. Thanks for your feedback.


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-04-12 07:24:22)
TITLES

I think the answer is obvious. FICGS titles should be named FICGS EM, FICGS IM etc, so that it's clear from where the titles are got from. By putting the organization's name in front of the title this way, I don't see any problems. I think the majority are bound to agree, and there won't be any sorta arguments with other organizations. After all, the world is a very big place.... there's enough room for everybody! I find FICGS a very friendly place. Also, organizations like IECG, ICCF, LIAPE etc. are very hardworking, dedicated organizations too, and I enjoy playing in them too. My thanks to you all.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 09:14:24)
Tournament formulas

Hello to all.

What do you think about the idea to create a SLOW tournament category ? Clocks could be 60 days + 10 days / move or 100 days + 100 days / 10 moves (very slow) ?

Any idea or opinion ?


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-04-12 09:42:18)
Tournament formulas

I personally think such tournaments are too slow..... a real drag. 10 moves per 40 days seems exactly right for standard tournaments. Kind regards, Dinesh.


Patrice Verdier    (2006-04-12 09:47:09)
Tournaments formulas

I am agree with De Silva. I think that already tournaments are slow. 10 moves for 40 days or 30 days is a good formula. Perhaps it will be interesting to create blitz tournament for players who like this (example : 1 move by day) Also it will be interesting to create tournament with Cup System.


Patrice Verdier    (2006-04-12 09:49:26)
FICGS Council / Staff

Can you send your email adress for discuss about this organisation ?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 09:53:48)
Rapid tournaments

Formula for rapid tournaments is 30 days (because players could be in vacation while the tournament starts) + 1 day / move


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 09:55:40)
Ok.

I send an email to you now. My email : ficgs (at) ficgs.com


Marc Lacrosse    (2006-04-12 09:57:10)
Tournament formulas : not too many .

Personally I do prefer playing a small number of games simultaneously at a relatively rapid pace instead of a larger number at slower pace.

But I can understand that some prefer the opposite. So why not.

One caveat : I think you should wait a little bit before multiplying categories.
As long as we are not a larger number of active players there is a risk that there will be a small number of players waiting for long before a sufficient number of players will join for starting a tournament in a given category.

Marc


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 11:24:03)
FEM, FIM, FSM, FGM

What do you think about all titles not from FIDE / ICCF to be renamed with 'F' letter added. I tried to add 'I' for IECG, but this is really not convenient for the eye... :/ (see the new rating list)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 12:46:22)
FEM, FIM, FSM, FGM

About titles obtained on FICGS, it would be the same ones. We have choice : We could add a special letter, from the organization the title comes from (very confusing I think : IIM.. IECG / ICCF) .. or consider EM, IM, SM, GM are "official" titles, and FEM, FIM, FSM, FGM are the other ones, including FICGS ones... Probably not perfect. Any idea ?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 14:02:49)
Solution...

One solution could be to display titles from organizations in separated columns named FICGS, ICCF, FIDE, IECG etc... (as Chessfriend do) It's quite heavy for the rating list page :/ So the idea was to display the player's highest title only, and player is free to mention his titles in his own informations page.

That's not a completely satisfying solution, I agree...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 14:27:40)
Committee

Yes, I agree. We'll talk about that very soon with members joining the council / staff. I just created a mailing list in this aim.


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-12 19:15:19)
Titles

>> One solution could be to display titles from organizations in separated columns named FICGS, ICCF, FIDE, IECG etc... (as Chessfriend do) It's quite heavy for the rating list page :/ So the idea was to display the player's highest title only, and player is free to mention his titles in his own informations page.

I think that's the best idea. Maybe you can use smaller fonts, so that all information can be displayed on that page.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-12 19:33:33)
I tried that...

... but I didn't manage to obtain a good result.


Paul-Iosif Guralivu    (2006-04-13 15:19:03)
New Titles!

To make FICGS more atractive and original I propose to make new titles for every category of players: Candidate for Master(FCM) - 2000-2200 First category (FI) - 1800-2000 Secound category (FII) - 1200-1800 Third category (FIII) - 800-1200 Every of this category could be obtain if a player plays more than 12 games in tournaments with tha same ELO. What do you think about it ? P.S.:Don't be mad on me...It's just a proposition.


Paul-Iosif Guralivu    (2006-04-13 15:22:36)
A new comision for this!

I also propose to make a new comision for giving this titles.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-13 15:46:55)
New Titles

Hello Paul-Iosif.

Interesting new idea. In my opinion, there are too many titles & titled players already from official & "non-official" organizations. I think this is a mistake from FIDE / ICCF they couldn't remedy anymore. Titles from other organizations and particularly IECG are not really a problem "more", cause they are hard to achieve (rare), but I don't think this could be so attractive for players. To get a title is a reward itself. Maybe even EM title shouldn't exist.

But I think that ie. a KM title (over GM) could be an interesting idea !

Anyway, I'm ok with the commission idea, we'll vote that too.

Another interesting & controversial idea is (as IECG do) titles not to be awarded for life ! If player's rating decrease, he could lost his title... but I don't think this is very fair.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-13 16:05:35)
I agree...

... that would be unfair.

About players that will never achieve a title, I think most important is to stimulate motivation, and titles (I think) are awarded in this way. Don't you think categories FI, FII, FIII are in a way the rating itself ?


Paul-Iosif Guralivu    (2006-04-13 16:25:01)
New Titles

I agree that the rating in a way. I was proposing that because it like in my country where chess players start with a the third category and continue with II and I and cadidate master after which it's coming the Master title. So that will simulate more the country system...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-13 17:01:58)
:-)

We'll discuss about on the council mailing list, Paul-Iosif. If we decide to create such titles, we will create them.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-14 04:54:25)
Proposal from a visitor (anonymous)

" >>> Hi Thibault

Congratulations for the launch of your new CC server! I fully support your initiative and hope I will join very soon.

Meanwhile I would like to share some ideas about the Ficgs Titles, which I also fully and unconditionally support.

My proposal is to adopt/or "recognize" any title awarded by FIDE/ICCF/IECG as a FGM, FSIM, FIM, FEM titles. (e.g. not just IECG IM = FIM, but all others too).

That is, a ICCF GM should be named FGM much as a FIDE GM, or IECG GM (or SIM, IM or EM for CC). There shouldn't be special treatment to those players with a title from FIDE/ICCF

Then, to differentiate them, there could be a color scheme or a footnote explaining the procedence of the title: FGM (ICCF) ...FSIM (IECG) and simply FSIM for the truly SIM title obtained at FICGS.

In adition, those players who do not have a title, but have norms either at FIDE/ICCF/IECG (my case ;) either will have them "homologated" (as the titles are) or better, when/if the title has been awarded later, his Ficgs title will be "updated" to the newly awarded title (by FIDE/ICCF/IECG), which must be the highest of them all (as in IECG SIM > ICCF IM > FEM ..etc)

This way FICGS will be the first organization to homologate norms and titles in CC world ;) <<< "


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-14 05:16:26)
re: Proposal

What do we call "legitimacy", "official" ? This is quite subjective. In my opinion each organization can create his own titles and choose to recognize titles from other ones. IECG titles are recognized by FICGS, but it's obvious titles from FIDE / ICCF have more value in players mind (legitimacy is not the subject), and players from everywhere could appreciate this distinction. Anyway the FICGS council will discuss about that.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-14 13:19:38)
Registrations, best of :)

Among players who tried to register with a false name, some of them have a great imagination. I'll post their most funny "contributions" here. If they finally succeed to skirt the filter (me), I'll just say "ok, you won... great. now, what about a game ? :)"


Fischer, Bobby (2900)
Holycron, Kieron


Håkon Anda    (2006-04-14 16:52:42)
Some wishes

I think this server works great after so short time online. However I think there are som possible improvements that could be done: 1. Option that can disable e-mail notification of one own moves. 2. It should be possible to take leave. 3. A better list of our own games, like when last move was done, reflection time left and so on. 4. A flag for every player that shows the nationality and other information that could be found in the rating list. Best regards, Håkon Anda


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-14 17:08:26)
Answers...

Hello Håkon. Some answers :

1. Maybe try : Preferences -> Notification checkbox
2. Right, other players already asked for this. Now you have 2 months to play a single move, so few chances to be late. The council will discuss about vacation option before to be implemented.
3. Some players asked these informations not to appear in the list to reduce it in size, so you can check this just by clicking on the games. ("when last move was done" : right !)
4. For website design reasons, I can't display many informations on the same page. I don't think flags are essential, but it will probably be implemented anyway !


Per Lea    (2006-04-14 23:43:10)
Coordinates

I didn't even notice that there were no coordinates until I read your posting! If you move directly on the screen, this should be no problem. I do not see any reason to maintain the option of entering your move by writing it in English notation instead.


Per Lea    (2006-04-15 00:01:42)
Minor notational bug...

In game 8, I had Rooks on f8 and b8. I played 18...Ra8 on the screen, but when I list the game, the move is recorded as Rba8. The "b" is superfluous, the f8 Rook can't move to a8. In game 13, I had Rooks on d6 and d1 and played 18.Rxd8. This came out as R6xd8. The "6" is superfluous. These are not serious errors, but it is a bit irritating....


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-15 03:04:31)
oops...

you got me, Per. Fixing...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-15 03:16:38)
English PGN notation

Writing the move may be a bit faster than clicks. (2 steps instead of 3)

About the last move, you're right Walter. Maybe it should be only an option, I'm not sure all players would appreciate a special color for the last piece moved. (?)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-15 06:31:33)
Depends on rates...

... and rates are constantly changing. I'll have to clarify things about that. Money tournaments won't begin before 2 months from now.

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency?u


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 09:25:33)
Implemented & vacation

Hello to all.

Cookies, last move & board coordinates have been implemented. Thanks !

Still thinking about vacation, but it doesn't seem obvious to me that it is essential. There's objectively no difference between "vacation" & time for move... Rules on other servers are often a bit hard and to manage vacations is something more to do (and not so easy when you have few time). I would prefer not to hurry players and allow a 2 months time limit per move (= 1 month + 1 month leave by default) Quite more flexible. (!?)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 09:26:47)
Woody

Of course not, Woodpusher is the "well known" beginner :)


Hannes Rada    (2006-04-16 09:52:16)
time and vacation

>There's objectively no difference >between "vacation" & time for move... >Rules on other servers There is a difference. If the player does not have the time on the clock, because he is involved in many tournaments .... I think we should start a poll about this issue.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 10:12:09)
Right

You're right, Hannes. That's different. In a way, we should call this "reserve" more than "vacation". So it only depends on rules -> depends on council. Not sure it is an obvious thing but anyway, we'll vote that too very soon.


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.


Håkon Anda    (2006-04-16 12:14:19)
Re: Some wishes

Hello Thibault. You wrote: "1. Maybe try : Preferences -> Notification checkbox". The problem is that when uncheck this box, one loose also opponents moves with e-mail notification. I wish to get e-mail notification with oppononets moves, but not my own moves.


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!


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 12:21:01)
Håkon & Glen

Håkon, you're right (no need to receive his own moves). It will be changed this hour.

Glen, you can change board color in preferences. At least you have choice : Grey, Red, Blue, Green. About the size & other pieces, not impossible, I'll see that.


Glen D. Shields    (2006-04-16 12:33:44)
Comparisons

Hello Thibault - first thanks for creating this server. I'm happy to see so many members joined up so quickly. I just started on Ortwin's server (IECG) yesterday. Too early to compare, though one initial item I like better on Ortwin's server is that I can easily change board colors and chess pieces there. Would like the board a little larger (or maybe be adjustable) on both sites. Easier for old eyes! Two items I like much better here than at ICCF are the time rules (ICCF's are much too long) and the tournament sign-up procedure. I can not sign up for an ICCF tournament on-line. I have to do so by printing a form and mailing a check to my NF. A old process for a modern method of play!


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 :)


Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff    (2006-04-16 15:54:24)
No need to receive his own moves?

Dear Thibault, sorry but I would like to receive my move as mail, especially if I add a message to my move. And in the case of a server-crash it could be helpful to have the total protocol of my games on my computer. Don't you think so?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 16:02:22)
Right again

You'll have both options very soon.

In case of crash, the database is automatically & periodically saved out of the server.


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.


Håkon Anda    (2006-04-16 17:20:42)
Great

Thanks a lot to Thibault for adjusting the features on this server quickly and smooth for best performance and wishes from us players. Great work!


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 18:33:01)
Adjudication

Déjà ? :)

So, about games "obviously lost" (somewhat subjective), the council may decide special rules so that referees can grant games that drag out. What do you think is best ? That's a recurrent problem in correspondence chess, and an original policy could make the rating more accurate, as some players may finish "good games" very faster than others... Quite subjective indeed, and not obvious. Where's the limit ? Maybe correspondence chess players should first accept this idea that their "won" games may finish much later...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-16 18:42:59)
Two players matches

Question about 2 players matches will be discussed too. I first decided not to offer these formulas because it may lead to cheating problems, at least unfair results. I have implemented processes to detect cheaters, but avoiding temptations is probably best for all :)


Glen D. Shields    (2006-04-16 18:57:19)
60/10 Too Slow for Me

I'm in the group that thinks 60/10 is too slow. Like Mr. LaCrosse, I like fewer games at a faster pace. Only way 60/10 might work is to set a REASONABLE limit on days per move. ICCF's 40 days is too long and some TD's are much too lenient about extending it. I hope this doesn't hijack your thread Thibault, but The opposite question I'd like to ask is how many server players find the opening game too fast and like a blur? I make a move and there's a reply waiting 5 minutes later. It won't be long before someone writes a script and connects it to ChessBase to cut the time down to seconds :)


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-04-17 08:54:33)
About Glen's observations

Thibault, I think Glen has a point there. IF any players are using/might use such fraudulent script writing, a system can be found to detect it!?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-17 09:23:44)
Fraudulent ?

I'm not sure.. is really an "automatic player" fraudulent ? Many players are centaurs (human + computer). The decision to let an engine play would be a human one after all.. Anyway, a script player doesn't seem so easy to make. (and for what ?)


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-04-17 09:47:09)
Quite a good answer

Thibault, that was quite a good answer. We'll have to wait and see if there's any more thoughts on the subject by Glen.


Paul-Iosif Guralivu    (2006-04-17 18:31:35)
What about my name!

My name in english would be translated like this: Talkative Paul-Joseph... If I were a american, would you let me join ?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-17 18:37:00)
!??

Of course yes. Why not ?


Glen D. Shields    (2006-04-17 19:01:10)
Thanks for the Comments Guys

Dinesh - since computer use is allowed I have no problem if someone uses a "script" to automate moves. I don't think that would be fradulent. Actually I think it would be clever :) The point I was trying to ask is anyone concerned (besides me) that we created a chess medium (server chess) where it's so easy to make moves that the games move too fast? I dread the start of a new section, particularly large sections with 10+ players. It's impossible to keep one's inbox empty for even a minute. I know I should show more discipline and walk away, but it's almost like an illness "just one more move then I'll stop" and I don't! One practice I've been using lately is to make a move in a notebook and sit on the move for a day or two before sending it. That helps slow things down. I wonder if a delay send option on the server would make any sense? One could make a move and then click a delay send button for 24 or 48 hours. One would be charged time during the delay, but it would automate the slow down and make tournament startups a little less hectic. Maybe I'm the only one who sees this as an issue> If so, then label this just one crazy man's thoughts :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-17 19:25:06)
New features...

Coordinates & last move have been implemented... Now the "live games" concept of the site extends to the home page :)

Also, player informations are 5 successive pages (informations, elo history, title norms, tournaments, games), reachable just by clicking on "ELO" (to improve yet) after clicking the magnifying glass.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-17 19:29:05)
True !

That's interesting and very true, Glen. I'll think about that ! Chess, more than email-checking, is a hard drug :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-18 00:34:26)
About vacation...

Don't you think it would be more logical to allow 40 (for example) days of vacation per year and not per game ? Vacation would stop the clock for all games of the player. Seems to look like "vacation" more than a "reservoir" that doesn't really have to exist ?!


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-18 00:39:05)
Sorry, Paul-Iosif

But I don't understand.. (must be tired :)) Is there a play on words in your american name ? Kieron Holycron (Quieron holy crown) is ok but...


Paul-Iosif Guralivu    (2006-04-18 13:15:10)
Let's forget every thing.

Talkative means 'the one who speak a lot'.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-18 13:25:56)
Time limit per move

If a player has 60 days and more on his clock, the deadline for one move is 60 days ! This is a provisional (quite good, I think) solution before question of vacation be answered. Many players can't play every day and correspondence chess games usually last several months, often more than 1 year.

It seems server games go much faster than email games, but rules 40 days + 40 days / 10 moves are the same.

Time limit per move in IECG is 30 days. Here, a 60 days limit (a rating period) don't seem too much to me. Players won't feel oppressed (Glen, turn email notification off :)) and I think they won't use it often.

RAPID TOURNAMENTS are an alternative solution.

Thibault


Daniel Cincã    (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


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-18 16:16:18)
my email

Hello Daniel. My email is : info (at) ficgs.com

[just replace ' (at) ' by '@']


Glen D. Shields    (2006-04-18 21:39:57)
A Suggestion

Thibault my e-mail notification will be turned off :)

I'd encourage you to re-consider your 60 day ruling. I can foresee individuals getting late in a game and accumulating hundreds of reflection days. Not many, but a few players could go 59 days per move 2 or 3 times in a row just to irritate their opponent. Not everyone is a "good sport" unfortunately :(

IECG does it right by limiting time to 30 days max per move. You violate the limit once, game is over no questions asked. ICCF does it half right and half wrong. They set the limit at 40 days, but then make the person waiting beg the TD to do something. If the TD refuses to enforce the rule, the violating player can stall as long as he wants :(

This is your chance to pick and chose from the best things done in other organizations. Either set a limit on the number of accumulated days so it doesn't go into the hundreds or set a reasonable limit on the number of days per move. Just don't let both become large. Also don't be wishy washy on the limit. Set a limit and enforce it, no questions asked. No hard reasonable limit and too many accumulated days is an infrequent, but irritating problem in the making. There won't be many, but sadly there will be those few "bad losers" who think it's "cute" to string their opponents along. Don't let that happen at FICGS!

Just my two cents :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-18 23:04:48)
Interesting...

Glen, that's a fine suggestion !

We could probably improve the time rules, indeed.

Maybe a 100 days accumulated time limit would be appreciated ? What do think the players ?


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-18 23:26:06)
Live games

Hello to all.

I don't know (I hope) if the "live" concept is somewhat a reason for this, but I'm quite surprised to see already Alekhine defence played 6 times (and King's gambit the same). I wait for more accurate statistics, but no : everyone don't play Sicilian and that's great :) Spectacular & original games are welcome, I'm to install a "best game" poll script.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-19 19:13:56)
Vacation implemented

Dear chessfriends, a major update on FICGS : Vacation has been implemented. You now have 30 days leave per year (for all games !)

Be careful using it, as days can't be took back (or vacation stopped before the end date) by playing a move for example. But you can add days to your vacation simply taking days more. You can play while you're in vacation, the days leave you take are simply added to your clock for all your running games. A message tells your opponent you're in vacation in the viewer page.

Also please note this new rule : Time accumulated is now limited to 100 days ! (taking effect at your next move) The 60 days limit per move is kept for the player's convenience.

Have good games !


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-20 11:59:21)
Cheating / Forfeiting

Hello to all.

The website detected 2 'probable' cheaters registered (one playing), with a 1400 rating.

Of course, FICGS will face problems encountered by all correspondence chess sites but I think it will be minimal here, as I'm enforcing detection rules so that aliases couldn't register anymore.

Important : Games forfeited without a valid explanation won't be rated, and the account for the player closed. A player who may forfeit should send an email with explanation to : ficgs (at) ficgs.com

Thanks.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-19 21:09:11)
After the tournament name...

Hello Graham.

When you are on the tournament page, please try to click the magnifying glass just after the tournament name. A window (popup) will appear with the crosstable.

Best wishes.


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.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-20 01:09:44)
Updated...

You're right, Hannes.

A delay (of at most 10 days) has been implemented. Thanks !


Glen D. Shields    (2006-04-20 01:47:29)
Congratulations!

Thibault - I don't know if FICGS is the first server to do so, but it's the first server I play on that has made the intelligent decision to limit accumulated time. Hopefully you will set a trend that other servers will follow :)

60 days max for one move may be too much, but with a 100 day limit, abuse will be minimal.
Good job :)



Elmer Valderrama    (2006-04-20 14:52:47)
search by ECO code

Wonderful feature to have all on-going games available just one click away (an old request to Reimund @chessfriend). Even more interesting to be able to search games by player name. Now would it be too much to ask for a search by ECO? --similar games would be identified in a second, a good thing; and information for choosing different variations would be available..


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-20 15:12:34)
FICGS__CHESS__RAPID_B__000002

All games played against Daniel Grecu (forfeit) won't be rated in this tournament. Sorry about that.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-20 15:21:08)
ECO / statistics

Not too much :)

But I have many things to implement before. Also statistics are not very accurate yet, as the code don't detect transpositions.

This is only the beginning... Huh.


Marc Lacrosse    (2006-04-20 21:57:33)
unknown openings

There were already a few 1.Nc3 games but they were classified as 1.f4 (through transposition I suppose)...
... But now that I have begun to play you _must_ add 1.Nc3 to the list of played opening moves in the statistics page.
... nothing but normal : 1.Nc3 rules!
:-)))
Marc


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-20 23:14:19)
:-)

It's done.

Also other "strange" openings implemented.

Cheers :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-20 23:18:32)
Vote for the best game

A funny feature has been implemented : You can vote for the best game played on FICGS. I hope it will reveal great games... :)

The votes have a lifetime.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-22 05:39:05)
Not sure...

Might be useful, right... But what to do if people's schedules change once the games started ? I made this way to reduce forfeits, players shouldn't enter waiting list if they are not sure to play the games until the end... Feel free to tell me what you think about that.


Patrice Verdier    (2006-04-22 15:33:48)
At the end of the game

I think that option is very interesting but only when the game is finished. When the game are in play it is possible that players play many mistake and after the game is not so good. In my opinion the vote will be better at the end of the game with an analysis of the 2 players


Marc Lacrosse    (2006-04-22 15:39:05)
Conditional moves ?

I cannot figure how to propose conditional moves. Is this feature implemented yet?

Maybe I did not read the rules accurately...
Marc


Elmer Valderrama    (2006-04-22 15:44:16)
bug?

Dear Thibault On-going game 49 has "6.Nb5" although both knights (from c3 and d4) could move to b5 (correct is either 6.Ncb5 or 6.Ndb5)
Anyway, the interface (or the player Ghisi) moved the knight from c3 (more obvious was to move the knight from d4, according to theory at least) and, as a result, the move 7...e5 won a piece..(can't see a post from the concerned players so it could have been played as intended, but the "Nb5" needs correction for sure)


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    (2006-04-23 06:12:25)
Not yet

Conditional moves will be probably implemented, but not this week... Many things to do before.

I think it's generally an appreciated feature. Some players don't like to receive "automatic" moves just after they played, but it seems to be a "must" have for CC servers.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-23 06:15:48)
Hmm...

That's a point. But live running games are much more interesting to follow. Maybe this feature should be renamed "spectacular game".. Too long for the menu :)


Karlheinz Weber    (2006-04-23 11:13:11)
Download of games

I still think the possibility to download my own tournament, or at least my own games in pgn files would be very, very helpfull. For example many chessplayers handle their games with ChessBase. Ciao! Karlheinz


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-23 12:33:40)
Checkmate / Stalemate

Note : Checkmate and stalemate are not automatically converted as a win or draw, your opponent has to resign or accept draw before.. I thought it was a more friendy way, and you have the possibility to send a last message with your move.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-23 13:43:17)
Websites / Links

A thread where I'll post many various links.

Everyone can post URLs here, of course. Please don't forget to use the html < br > tag to jump a line. < a href=" " ..> is not recognized (yet) :/


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-23 13:48:27)
French websites

Quelques liens de sites français tout d'abord :

http://www.france-echecs.com
(le forum français bien connu)

http://echecsmag.over-blog.com
(un nouveau magazine sans lange de bois)

http://www.asso-ecam.com
(les échecs par correspondance sans assistance informatique)


Stefano Ghisi    (2006-04-23 16:36:50)
conditional moves?

I think it's a feature important. Then, if you want to use it, you use...


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-23 17:03:16)
Spanish / Deutsch (help...)

Hello to all.

As you can see, the home page is now "translated" (thanks babelfish :)) in 4 languages... It would be helpful if players speaking well spanish and deutsch can tell me about the faults... Please email me : info (at) ficgs.com

Thanks in advance :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-23 17:17:17)
Famous quotes

Another thing, if you know famous (or unknown) quotes relative to chess, correspondence chess and "go". I have found many ones in english and french, but it's harder in deutsch and spanish.

Or if you know rare & strange quotes, not from famous chess players... maybe from you ?! :)

Thanks again :)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 07:33:39)
Referee

You can call referee after a while. Anyway your opponent will loose on time before the one move time limit.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 11:00:22)
Forfeit , 2006 April 24

Paul-Iosif forfeited all his running games. Only games 87, 149 and 150 will be unrated. (too few moves played)

Sorry about that.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 11:21:14)
Bug...

About vacation, an error has occured with the backoffice. Vacation turned back to 30 days for all. Fortunately not heavy consequences, as just one or two players took days already. It won't happen again as the sub-admin backoffice will be installed today.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 13:20:05)
Looking for 3 more players...

... to complete the first Fischer Random Chess tournament ! (Special tournaments category)

Have good games...


Michael Höppenstein    (2006-04-24 15:45:19)
Referee - Checkmate

That's not quite all right, I think. In case a game is won by checkmate, the game should be over - that is: without referee and without me waiting for my opponent losing on time. Would you consider changing this? Just a suggestions.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 15:59:32)
Checkmate

I considered that there wasn't so much difference : Generally players resign before being checkmated. Whoever playing until checkmate "quickly" will probably resign quickly... A player who wants to last a game will do it before checkmate... I really think it's only more friendly (and original).

Anyway, if too much players or council think otherwise, I'll change it. Thanks for your feedback.

About checkmate, I just fixed a bug that prevented players to resign if they were checkmated. (hum :)) That's why 2 players called the referee.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 16:11:48)
Italian... (and other languages)

Of course ! (...would you help me ? :))


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 16:18:23)
Time pro move

The date of the last move played is displayed. I prefer not to store time for all moves on the server to minimize the size of the database. But they are stored on my computer. If there's a problem, I can find the time for any move.


Stefano Ghisi    (2006-04-24 16:18:59)
Quad tourn

Do you think it's possible in future to have quad tournaments? (4 players 6 match each one)


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 16:24:14)
Quad tourn

Nothing easier :) I'm just waiting for more players to offer other tournament categories. Maybe next month.


Michael Höppenstein    (2006-04-24 18:13:20)
Checkmate

I think I was one of those payers. I won the game a few days ago but my opponent has not as yet resigned the game.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-04-24 18:43:59)
It was precisely one...

... of these two games ! The player wanted to resign but he couldn't "because" he was checkmated. The bug has been fixed today.


Michael Aigner    (2006-04-24 20:20:09)
Spanish / Deutsch (help....)

Hello Thibault! I had a look for the german parts of the website and I have unfortunately to say the babelfish german is horrible. You can (if you like) send me all