access
FICGS - Search results for access
There are 89 results for access in the forum.
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....
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 .....
Lionel Vidal (2006-06-01 15:08:53)
A missing link to the rules
Hello,
Would it be possible to have a direct link to the rules on the menu list of your home page in FICGS?
I would find useful to be able to access the rules at the same level of waiting lists, tournaments, forum and so on.
Or maybe there is an easy way I did not see?
(This is nitpicking, the site is already great :-))
Best wishes.
Dinesh De Silva (2006-06-21 15:06:12)
Yahoo Mail problems today!?!
Has anyone else been experiencing Yahoo mail login problems today?! I can't access my Yahoo mail today for many hours now.
Dinesh De Silva (2006-07-23 15:47:26)
YAHOO MAIL PROBLEMS TODAY?
Hello, any Yahoo mail users
I can't access my yahoo mail for many hours today.
Is there any problems at Yahoo mail today?
A bug?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-05 12:58:56)
Major update : your feelings ?
Hello to all.
There has been several changes these last days to optimize the access to the database... as it grows quicky :)
A major update just occured to speed up the display of all games. (Google and other search engines may slow down the whole server sometimes) The effects should appear gradually.
Feel free to post here if you observe any problem or change, or on the speed of the server in general (please specify the speed of your computer & internet connection)
Thanks in advance ! :)
Thibault
Dinesh De Silva (2006-09-29 13:09:10)
Psycho(logical) games?...........
Silvio Danailov.,
Manager of the Bulgarian team says:
To all mass media
Ladies and Gentlemen,
After we got acquainted with the ruling of the Appeals Committee of the Topalov vs. Kramnik world championship match we deem it necessary to point out the following:
The ruling in its present form is not satisfactory to us since it practically does not result in any change. Mr. Kramnik will be able to visit the new bathroom an unlimited number of times without being subject to further control.
We would accept the current relaxation rooms to continue to be used provided that the presence of controllers in both rooms is ensured.
When the two players need to go to the bathroom, they should be accompanied by an assistant arbiter.
The checks carried out in the relaxation rooms were made only by experts of the Organizing Committee, whereas our experts were present as observers and only after the second game.
We find it difficult to understand why is it that the accredited journalists are denied access to the video tapes from the relaxation rooms.
The World Champion Veselin Topalov is outraged by the suspicious behavior of his opponent Mr. Vladimir Kramnik who in actual fact takes his most significant decisions in the bathroom.
Despite the above, in the name of the chess game and out of respect to FIDE, to Kalmikia and the millions of chess lovers, Veselin Topalov is willing to continue his participation in the match provided that measures to guarantee fair play are taken.
If the match were to continue, the World Champion would refrain from shaking hands with Mr. Kramnik before the games and would not take part in joint press conferences with him. Veselin Topalov will make statements for the media separately.
We look forward to receiving your response by 14.30 h hoping that it will give concrete answers to the questions that we pose.
28.09.2006
Elista Sincerely:
Silvio Danailov
Manager of the Bulgarian team
Dinesh De Silva (2006-09-29 13:14:25)
Kramnik's team says...........
Kramnik threatens to stop playing the match......
29.09.2006 Statement from the team of Vladimir Kramnik, rejecting the decision of the Appeals Committee of FIDE : "The protests of the Topalov team and the suspicions in the press release of Mr. Topalov are utterly disgraceful and are touching Mr. Kramnik’s privacy."
Elista, 29 September 2006
Open Letter to FIDE President H.E. Kirsan Iljumshinov
Copied to Executive Committee of Kalmykia Mr. Valery Bovaev, Chief Arbiter Mr. Geurt Gijssen, Russian Chess Federation
Dear Mr. President,
The Appeals Committee of the World Championship Match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik made the following decision on the protest of the Topalov Team:
“to close both the toilets in the players rest rooms and to open another toilet that will be available only to the two players”
The Kramnik team received the mentioned decision a few hours before the start of game 5 and was officially informed about the protest of Mr. Topalov only yesterday evening, 10 p.m., 28 September 2006. With such a decision the WCC Committee is clearly violating both the rules and regulations of the WCC match and the rights of Mr. Kramnik.
The relevant clause in contract of Mr. Kramnik expels: “FIDE shall provide a rest room and toilette for the players during the WCC match in the playing hall and close to the stage (if possible backstage) to be equipped with a live monitor furnished with coffee and tea as well as with light refreshments.”
The reasons that Mr. Kramnik is entering his own bathroom often is simple: The restroom is small and Mr. Kramnik likes to walk and therefore uses the space of the bathroom as well. The Appeals Committee has been informed about the issue before they decided. It should also be mentioned that Mr. Kramnik has to drink a lot of water during the games.
On the request of Mr. Topalov the agreed live monitors have been removed as well as the shower cabines in the bath rooms. The moves are provided on demonstration boards only. The substance of Mr. Topalov protests (dated 22, 24 and 28 September 2006) were basically always met by the approval of the Appeals Committee. Everything has been done here to satisfy Mr. Topalov’s requests.
On a regulary basis the restrooms and toiletts are heavily checked by specialists, obviously local police forces. This goes together with the arrival of the players. The arbiters are observing all the measures. One representative of each team has the right of being present in order to observe the activities. The playing area is banned from signals and the glas wall protects from any kind of view contact and/or body language. There is not a single reason or evidence to believe that a player would have any kind of cheating possibilities.
It is and was no problem for the organization to assure all necessary measures in order to avoid any kind of cheating. By starting the match both participants agreed all the playing conditions de facto and de jure and the conditions are therefore legally binding. Any change of the playing conditions without a good reason would in our understanding request the approval of both players which is not the case here.
Mr. Kramnik believes that the latest decision should increasingly concern the world of chess as it shows very clearly and once again the biased stand of the Appeals Committee members involved. In person: Mr. Makropolous, Mr. Azmaiparashivili (well known as a close friend to Mr. Danailov), Mr. Gelfer (now replaced by Mr. Vega). Therefore Mr. Kramnik requests to exchange the mentioned persons immediately. Enough is enough.
We would like to add that the recent decision not only insults Mr. Kramnik but is clearly critizing both the excellent work of the local organisation at Elista and the nominated arbiters. Yesterday evening the chief arbiter and the head of the excutive committee once again confirmed that the indirect accusations of cheating are nonsense.
The protests of the Topalov team into the direction of Mr. Kramnik and the suspicions in the press release of Mr. Topalov are utterly disgraceful and are touching Mr. Kramnik’s privacy. We do not think that the Topalov team has any right of getting access to the recordings. This shall be job of the nominated arbiters only.
The Topalov team includes a parapsychologist and more people which are obviously having no other tasks as to distract and to insult Mr. Kramnik especially since their team is realizing that Mr. Topalov finds himself in a difficult situation. This is what we call an utterly unfair behaviour which is not in accordance with the FIDE Code of Ethics. The decision taken by the Appeals Committee can only be seen as another attempt to disturb Mr. Kramniks concentration since it is difficult to understand what kind of improvement it shall be to have one toilet instead of two.
Our team does not trust the objectivity of the Appeals Committee anymore. Therefore it makes no sense for us to bring a protest to this table and Mr. Kramnik strongly insists once again that the members of the Appeals Committee will be changed immediately and that the heads of the Organizing Committee are taking their responsibilities.
In the meanwhile Mr. Kramnik will stop playing this match as long as FIDE is not ready to respect Mr. Kramnik’s rights, in this case to use the toilet of his own restroom whenever he wishes to do so.
Further and more detailed legal investigations are already in process.
On behalf of Vladimir Kramnik
Yours sincerely,
Carsten Hensel
(Manager to Vladimir Kramnik, Classical World Chess Champion)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-30 03:39:05)
Vladimir Kramnik - Open letter
Open Letter To
FIDE President
Kirsan Iljumshinov
Russian Chess Federation
Elista, 29. September 2006
Requests of Vladimir Kramnik
• To proceed with GAME 5
Clause 3.17.1., Schedule 2 of the contract:
“All protests must be submitted in writing to the Appeals Committee not more than 2 hours after the relevant playing session.”
The protest made by the Topalov Team were not made within this window after game 4 (27 September 2006) but only hit the FIDE Office and the Appeals Committee on the rest day (28 September 2006). Therefore the protests are not even relevant and should have been rejected by the Appeals Committee immediately.
Clause 3.18.3., Schedule 2 of the contract:
“After the World Chess Championship Committee agrees with the Organizers on the arrangements in respect of the tournament hall, facilities etc. etc. etc……., no objections from the participants shall be acceptable as long as the conditions are in accordance with the rights of the players granted in their agreements.”
This clause clearly underlines the statement made in today’s Open letter: “By starting the match both participants agreed all the playing conditions de facto and de jure and the conditions are therefore legally binding. Any change of the playing conditions without a good reason would in our understanding request the approval of both players which is not the case here.”
Therefore it is clear that the Appeals Committee took a completely wrong decision and was obviously not even aware of the Rules and Regulations. The decision of Chief Arbiter Mr. Gijssen to forfeit game 5 was clearly based on a wrong decision of the Appeals Committee and shall be nullified.
Mr. Kramnik is ready to continue the match and to play the 5th game (with a leading score of 3:1) on the conditions that were accepted prior to the start of the match.
• Toilet issue
The toilets connected to the restrooms shall be opened again. This request is in accordance with clauses 3.17.1. and 3.18.3 (see above) and in the general understanding that by starting of the match both participants agreed to all the playing conditions. Any change of the playing conditions without a good reason would require the approval of both players which is not the case here.
Mr. Kramnik is ready to accept even stricter controls by sealing the toilets before and after inspections. Inspections shall be done before and after each game.
• Exchange of members of the Appeals Committee
We repeat that the Kramnik team does not trust the objectivity of the Appeals Committee anymore. It is evident from this letter and our first Open Letter today that the existing Appeals Committee is biased and incompetent. Mr. Kramnik strongly insists once again that the members of the Appeals Committee will be exchanged immediately.
• Access to Recordings
As Mr. Kramnik in the press conference stated he did not sign a contract for acting in a reality show. The recordings shall be observed by the arbiters. Neither Team Topalov nor Team Kramnik shall have access to the recordings. Investigations shall be in the sole responsibility of the Arbiters.
• Requested Apology
Last but not least Mr. Kramnik believes that Mr. Danailov should apologize to Mr. Kramnik in writing. Remarks such as:
“If the match were to continue, the World Champion will refrain from shaking hands with Mr. Kramnik before the games and will not take part in joint press conferences with him.” and “Veselin Topalov is disturbed by the suspicious behavior of his opponent Mr. Vladimir Kramnik who takes his most significant decisions in the bathroom.” are clearly insulting.
On behalf of Vladimir Kramnik
Yours sincerely,
Carsten Hensel
(Manager to Vladimir Kramnik, Classical World Chess Champion)
Scott Prestwood (2006-10-21 03:15:11)
Full Disclosure
Perhaps tournaments should be labled as permiting engines and not permiting engines. Coorespondence chess has tradionally had only the rules of chess and the time control limiting it. And the early masters that used and believed in coorespondence chess as a method to improve ones game did not have access to computers, nice to know I could get killed in the tourney I am in just because I'm playing 6 computers. The initial allowance of databases and books to aid ones choice of moves as well as playing the game through allowed improvement of ones chess abilities. Computers will have a greater tendency to be the one playing the game because they only prescribe one line of action from a position. That line is very strong and likewise tends to be the operators choice of the next move. If the allowance of computers is posted for the games it will allow for the players to chose which type of game they prefer.
Marc Lacrosse (2006-11-15 12:08:49)
Early web chess
Hi Thibault
In 1989 I affiliated to Compuserve.
This was an international online system with chats, forums ...
... and an active community of chess players playing slow-timing chess!
You had to connect to a national server through dialup modem connection and then they relayed all-over-the world. Early interfaces were character-based under DOS ...
A few years later Compuserve began to interact with the "real" internet and so I was among the 100 earlier private persons to have internet access in Belgium...
So you see that server-chess is not that new!
Thibault de Vassal (2006-12-02 13:40:46)
Chess engines CC ratings
It is my estimation. 3 out of 4 represents about 200 elo points. I doubt Chessbase will organize a Man(+Machine) vs. Machine correspondence chess match... However there are a few examples : Arno Nickel - Hydra (2,5-0,5), Hydra which beat Adams over the board 5,5-0,5 ... And I suppose Arno Nickel did not have access to the program, but knowing better his opponent I'm sure it's possible to reach such a score against any program.
About your test, it's been discussed here already :) .. In my opinion such a player's rating would travel between 2200 and 2400 (at most) mark !
Waiting for a match against Rykba :)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-01 08:43:24)
Web directory
Hello to all.
A new extension (one more) to FICGS...
If you have a website, feel free to submit the url in the web directory to get more links :
http://www.ficgs.com/directory.html
Based on FICGS forums script, you can post your website, review other sites... You just have to create a free account that gives access to SEO (Search Engines Optimization) forums and Web directory.
Note : To create a hypertext link in the directory, just type ie. [url=www.yourdomain.com/page.html]Your site[/url] without http, see help.
Mladen Jankovic (2007-01-24 14:26:13)
playback
If you want to review the game, the pop-up window that is accessed trough the magnifying glass icon is a better option, and on top of that you don't have to reload the page.
About making moves, I never noticed as I find it a better option simply to type in the move directly in english algebraic notation.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-29 14:48:46)
Another try
Of course there's always a bad part to a rule : finding the way to go round it.. and of course only serial droppers will, so to divide it in 2 parts may be useless :/
Another try : "Any player who forfeits (by resignation or silent withdrawal) his games without giving an explanation to referee in a rated chess tournament could get a limited access to the server and couldn't enter waiting lists anymore during a period of 2 months, at the referee's discretion."
Thus, when a dropper returns (after the next rating calculation), his rating will probably prevent him to enter the same category of tournaments - which is the initial aim.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-04-01 22:33:15)
Chat
Disons, pour rester dans la logique, que le forum étant accessible à tout le monde, il est plus que préférable d'utiliser le chat (FRA) pour parler français, sinon tout le monde pourrait finir par créer son fil de discussion dans sa langue ;)
Tu vois bien l'espace de chat à droite ?
Dan Rotaru (2007-06-17 00:21:41)
Rating lists
Hi Thibault,
What is the difference between established and preliminary rating lists? Also I think that filtering players who haven't logon in the last two months is a little bit too restrictive. Maybe 6 months or a year would be reasonable? (just a suggestion). If I win the lottery (and really hope so) and I decide to spend three motnhs on an isolated island with no internet access i wouldn't want to loose my established rating.
Rodolfo d Ettorre (2007-06-25 08:34:42)
Using nicknames or fake names
A small suggestion, I do not mind the members of the other team to use nicknames, as long as we can access their past games and possible their real names. Can that be achieved?
Dan Rotaru (2007-06-28 03:30:01)
IGAME team
Apart from Member # can the ratings be revealed for each player: IGAME rating, FIDE / ICCF ratings if available? It would be fair at least to know the strength of our oponents. The rating registered on FICGS for some players is provisional and it doesn't tell anything. IGAME players have free access to this information so it has to be reciprocal.
Garvin Gray (2007-08-31 15:30:16)
Private message facility
Is there a pm facility on here? If so, how do I access it? If not, can one be created please?
Garvin Gray (2007-09-01 16:32:50)
accessing site
Thibault,
Thought you might want to know that for a few minutes I was having problems accessing the site again just then. Only just got back on.
Mladen Jankovic (2007-09-08 00:46:47)
software
Are you using MySQL?
And, did you script all of the site yourself (other than some obvious external plugins)?
What distribution of Linux are you running if I might ask?
I have to commend it to you, the site certainly seems to have a good uptime, I have never encountered a problem accessing it, and only a single bug, promptly fixed.
Mladen Jankovic (2007-09-10 01:54:09)
Confessions of a Magic 8 Ball ;)
Well, first off I started with the provisional rating of 1200, then I signed up for a bunch of tournaments and started playing 60+ games. Next, add irregular Internet access with no conditions to perform any reasonable analysis of games in progress and the pressing requirement to answer 40 moves in one go, only to go trough the same at the next soonest opportunity.
I "solved" the problem by not playing and forgetting about the server for about a month (needed that). For that reason I lost more than 250 points (254 to be exact).
Needless to say, the recovery of my rating to any decent level is slow, as, in the meantime I have gone trough periods when I played little chess here, or even none, with games in progress.
Your speculated reasons for my supposed intrusion here (it might be argued that your first post here is the real intrusion) are just plain wrong.
I also don't find ELO ratings to be a valid measure of a man. The real reason I "intrude" in the matter is that I like the general atmosphere here. I am also quiet aware that I am probably the lowest rated poster here, but, before few minutes ago, I was not aware of your rating (good job, while we're on the subject) or Garvin's, for that matter.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 02:59:54)
New rule
Mladen and Jason, there's no need to add or respond to the provocation. Feel free to discuss the (IQ / chess rating) formula anywhere else.
I'm to add a new 'rule' in the terms & conditions : "Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and will lead to get a limited access to the server during one month a first time, two months the second one and so on. In this case, please just warn the moderator in private."
Of course, provocation is strictly forbidden also, at the moderator's discretion.
In example, in this thread : Mladen, Garvin and Jason would get a limited access this time.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 03:29:34)
New rule takes effect now...
Jason, whatever the content, right or not, this kind of post now will lead to get a limited access to the server. Please just warn me if you read a provocative post and I'll do the necessary.
Thanks in advance.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 13:32:41)
Netiquette (rules update)
11. General rules
11. 1. Netiquette
Computer assistance is authorized, as any other kind of help but in the "no-engines" tournaments.
It is possible to leave public comments for your games. No player may post in forums or send to another member any voluntary message that contains abusive, insulting, provocating, advertising, vulgar, foul, racist, sexist or other discriminatory or politically sensitive content. Doing so may lead to being immediately and permanently banned. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic, comment or message at any time should they see fit. Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and will lead to get a limited access to the server during one month a first time, two months the second one and so on. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 14:43:59)
Discussing the new rule
About this rule : "Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and will lead to get a limited access to the server during one month a first time, two months the second one and so on. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private."
As a player pointed out that this rule was really hard and suggested to me to punish verbal attacks only, here's my answer (to be discussed, of course) :
I did not ban provocation, I just try to limit the "discussions" that follow... Provocation calls provocation and progressively more and more, I don't think that any argument is useful when the aim is not to convince but only to provoke... So, how to limit that with clear rules ? What's exactly a verbal attack, where is the limit ? Quite hard to say... How to avoid such discussions to burn quickly ?
If you have any idea of a better rule, feel free to suggest... What most players like in this site is the friendly atmosphere... Such discussions are boring for most of them IMO.
Andrew Stephenson (2007-09-10 18:20:05)
Insults
Thibault you have been over tolerant of abusive posting in the forum already and that has contributed to the situation. Sorry to say that but it must be obvious to anyone who has read the discussions. The key problem is personal attacks on people and not provocation. It is not acceptable to respond to a point with a string of insults denigrating person. Incidentally Thibault is it not possible simply to deny someone access to the blog so there posts cannot be seen by anyone as a punishment and they receive a message to that effect? No need to deny or retrict them access to the server as a whole. This is what ICC do in the same situation. Also if someone is punished in this way there is no need for it to be broadcast it is enough they know that their posts or responses cannot be read. So the offender carries on using the server and playing chess but cannot make posts - but of course they can read them!
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 18:39:27)
Insults
Hello Andrew.
"Limited access to the server" means (like ICC) that a player still can play his moves, but can't post anymore, ie. on the forum. About tolerance, I have been less tolerant in the past, but like in any game, some turned round the rules and the result was not so good. Trust me, it is not possible to say after 15 messages (provocation -> insults) who "started" and who must be banned.
Anyway, "I will always beat you ! - Show me, let's play a game !" won't be considered as provocation, but provocation about the person (including the IQ / rating 'formula') has not its place in this forum IMO.
Jason Repa (2007-09-10 22:39:03)
Chat Rules
Calling someone a hypocrite, who is indeed a hypocrite, as evidenced by their behavior, is neither provocative, nor is it an insult, any more than calling someone who steals for a living a thief.
The best way to prevent chat abuse is to punish the party who STARTS it. Obviously a coward will use various devices in order to try to get away with it, such as trying to pass off the insult as a joke, etc. Thibault, despite English not being your primary language, you're clearly an intelligent enough guy to figure out when someone is trying to start an argument by being offensive. My belief is that this is the party at fault, not the person who is defending themself. But if your policy is to limit access to the first person who starts the ad-hominem or disparaging remarks, then there would not be a need for responding. But I'm not sure why you seem to be placing the focus on the the responder to an offensive post, and not the real culprit who starts the flaming in the first place. Nothing happens until someone starts something.
Obviously butting into a conversation that has nothing to do with them and ordering someone to "cool down" is clearly both provocative and offensive. (...) [moderator : partly deleted]
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-10 23:12:01)
Chat Rules
That's why I think this rule is quite good... ;)
The starter (provocation only, insults leading to be permanently banned) may just see his post deleted, nothing more. Of course, provocation shouldn't lead to get a limited access immediately !
The one who responds, particularly with insults (even ie. "hypocrite", or "thief"), has a greater responsability IMO. This remains a judgement and this has nothing to do in this forum. Better is to warn a moderator.
Mladen, this is not irrelevant because provocating posts will be deleted, such discussions won't happen anymore and noone will (should) get a limited access !
Trust me, my aim is not to ban players... I and other moderators will be fair, so let's try this rule, I'll change it if it doesn't work.
Jason, insults are insults, rules are rules : No reason & no evidence will allow anyone to insult anyone in this forum anymore.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-12 15:17:28)
Reminder
Netiquette rule change :
http://www.ficgs.com/forum_read_3765-Netiquette-rules-update.html
"Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and will lead to get a limited access to the server during one month a first time, two months the second one and so on. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private."
This is a quite good example of a useless discussion... Some posts in this thread (the first ones have been written before the rule change) are at least provocative, so you may eventually ask for some things to be moderated before to respond to the moderated version of these posts.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-11-06 15:41:01)
Go categories
In response to a french player who thinks that it could be harder to reach the 600 points mark (15 kyu) in the Kyu category :
Bonjour... A propos des catégories Kyu, je pense au contraire que ce sera encore l'une des catégories les plus jouées, sinon la plus jouée. L'écart de 500 points par catégorie est encore un peu grand mais devrait permettre l'accession assez rapidement à la catégorie au dessus car : 1. Les classements pris en compte à chaque résultat sont les classements en cours (non TER). 2. Le calcul fait en sorte que le classement des vainqueurs progresse assez rapidement. 3. J'enregistrerai plus de nouveaux joueurs à 17 ou 18 kyu au lieu de 20 kyu... 4. S'il y avait des catégories jusque 30 kyu, il y aurait moins de joueurs dans chacune... En bref, je pense que dans la pratique cela ira.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-11-11 05:08:02)
Number of games limitation
Hello all.
The current number of running games limitation before the program blocks the access to new standard or rapid tournaments is 60 (which doesn't mean the number of running games is limited to 60)
After having experienced myself the "too many games" effects (more than 80 games, quite stressful and time consuming), and after a few general forfeits by players who probably reached the overdose, I decided to change some parameters to prevent such consequences. In a previous discussion, it had been concluded that it was up to each player to manage this and eventually to take the risk, but definitely too many correspondence games is not the same than playing chess all day.
The number of running games limitation before the program blocks the access to new standard or rapid tournaments (but world championships cycles) will be 30, once more it doesn't mean the number of running games will be limited to 30... Of course faster tournaments will remain unlimited. It should accelerate running games, prevent general forfeits, and help us not to become chess machines, at least "correspondence chess machines" :)
Best wishes, Thibault
Dan Rotaru (2008-01-25 21:54:21)
Logged out
It happened to me few times because my Internet connection was down for few seconds. When I tried to access other link on the website I was told to try again. Maybe the server resets the connection if the Internet is down?
Garvin Gray (2008-04-07 12:47:43)
freestyle
- I just wonder if an 'open' waiting list is ok for such a tournament : Maybe players shouldn't be able to see the players who already entered the waiting list (cause of course everyone may wait to see who registered before to register...)
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I would not recommend denying access to the waiting list. The reason is two fold:
1) Players will be regularly asking, who is playing and how many entrants so far? If these questions are not answered, then it either looks like there is something to hide or that the tournament is not going well.
2) It will just increase your work load of answering more questions.
- Following some improvements, bronze games may become free soon. More players could familiarize with short time controls.
It might be an idea to try the next freestyle tournament as a free entry tournament with the one game per day/long time control idea.
As for the bronze games being free, a trial period has already been offered and success has been limited. This gave everyone a chance to familiarise themselves with how the timed games operated. I do not think many players took this up.
As for paying for competitions, the payment options must become a lot more simple and obvious.
A simple paypal option would probably be best.
From my otb organisational experience, even offering a bank deposit option is beyond some players. And this is in competitions where the players know the organiser in person.
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-01 13:42:03)
time controls
The server is accessed on the site, you can tick the box on log in and then your password will come up automatically, once in you go to waiting lists and enter a tournament that your starting rating permits, the time controls are described under the categories (world championship is the same as the rapid time control), check the my games to see when you have games click on the game and you can play with the server keeping all the records. Hope that helps
Jason Repa (2008-05-07 13:10:18)
Declining the From
"From's Gambit ...
Hi, is there a valid way to decline the From's Gambit without falling onto the Kings Gambit?"
That's the usual way. Although I can't see why anyone would want to decline the gambit. All variations indeed seem to be quite good for White.
"Even if the Froms Gambit may not be sound, I do not like to be defending, especially against players stronger than myself."
In that case you might want to switch to 1.Nf3 or 1.b3 with the idea of transposing into the Bird's Opening later. This is what I often do in OTB play. Of course Black doesn't necessarily have to allow you to transpose, though.
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Moderator : This topic is closed. As a reminder :
11. 1. Netiquette
(...) No player may post in forums or send to another member any voluntary message that contains abusive, insulting, provocating, advertising, vulgar, foul, racist, sexist or other discriminatory or politically sensitive content. Doing so may lead to being immediately and permanently banned. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic, comment or message at any time should they see fit. Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and will lead to get a limited access to the server during one month a first time, two months the second one and so on. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private.
-------------
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-13 11:30:35)
French traps
The French defence is one of the best replies to 1 e4 - accidents however are always possible as the following correspondence game shows with black playing into a lost position after just 13 moves:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Bb5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Bb4 13.O-O O-O ?? (black had to play 13 ..a6 although he will still be under pressure) 14 Rb3 Qa5 15.Qe3 Nb6 16.Qg3 Nc4 17 f5! and the correspondence game finished Rd8 18.Rf4 Bf8 19.Rg4 Kh8 20.f6 g6 21.Rh4 h6 22.Kh1 Kg8 23.Qh3 Kh7 24.Bc5 Rd6 25.g4 Qd8 26.g5 h5 27.Rxh5+
These things happen OTB but French defence players have known of this since Rechlis (2525) - Zueger (2448) 2001 which went 19 f6 g6 20 Rh4 a6 21 Qh3 h5 22 Rxh5!! gxh5 23 Qxh5 axb5 24 Kf2 and white won. since then 13 0-0 has been avoided.
Of course at cc a player has time to research the databases and access to powerful chess engines at no cost.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-06-10 15:19:31)
Rules : 11.1 Netiquette
Hello all, I would like to apologize to all members for reading such unacceptable posts in this forum. Rules are not so easy to apply in some cases, now I've taken measures.
Thanks for understanding.
11. General rules
11. 1. Netiquette
(...) It is possible to leave public comments for your games and to send private messages to other members. No player may post in forums or send to another member any voluntary message that contains abusive, insulting, provocating, advertising, vulgar, foul, racist, sexist or other discriminatory or politically sensitive content. Doing so may lead to being immediately and permanently banned. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic, comment or message at any time should they see fit. Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and may lead to get a limited access to the server during a few weeks, at the moderator's discretion. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private.
Normajean Yates (2008-08-12 15:32:37)
last thoughts on the latvian fraser ..
Unfortunately I dont have access to 'the Latvian Gambit Newsletter' - that journal might be a sure way to decide if 8. Nc3 is a novelty. [I checked some french and spanish sources also, but in vain...]
Andrew Stephenson (2008-08-19 02:16:39)
Its a win !!!!
You must be joking!! Thibault its a definite win it will be over in a few moves!!
If anyone thinks black can survive please suggest some moves. The key to the win is that the best black can do is reach the position in a) below with Bishop and 2 pawns v R and 1 pawn. White wins becuse his king has access to e4, the Bishop is restricted by his pawns on a7 and e5 and most importantly his passed a pawn is not advanced.
It has been completely lost since move 63 ...Kxf4 Janos should have taken with the pawn 63..exf4 would have allowed him to reach a table base draw. On 66 Kd3 I had the win completely worked out and have been replying instantly since then. Adjudicating this is a draw is just plain wrong. Anyone who spends time on this position will see the win I have outlined and that there is no defence. The winning method is to force an exchange of rooks by Rc4-g4 with mating threats against the Black king - black cannot allow this and must play Rd4 allowing exchange of a pair rooks when the resulting R+P v B+P+P is won. Before playing Rc4 white checks with the other rook to cut off the f file. The only way to avoid the rook exchange is to allow the white King access to e4 - at the moment the black rook cuts off d3 and the bishop if it goes to b6 will cut off e3. If the king gets to e4 either the e5 pawn drops or the king gets to d5 and e6 either result is fatal
Here are the main lines:
a) 72..Bb6 73 Rg8+ Kf5 (73..Kh5 74 Rc1 Rd4 75 Rh1+ wins the rook) 74 Rf8+ Kg5 75 Rc4! Rd4 (see below a1 for 75..Bd4)76 Rxd4! exd4 77 Kd3 (This ending is completely won the white king penetrates through e4, the black bishop is useless - remove pawn at d4 and its a table base win) Here are the main lines 77... Bc5 78 Rc8 Bb6 79 Ke4 Kf6 80 f4 Kf7 81 f5 Kf6 82 Rc2 Kf7 83 Ke5 a5 84 Rc6 Bd8 85 Bc7+ Kxd4 Table base win Or 77 ...Kg6 78 Ke4 Kg7 79 Rc8 Kf6 80 f4 (if the pawn on d4 falls eg 80 ..Ba5 81 Kxd4 its a table base win) Ke7 81 f5 Kf6 82 Rc2 Ke7 (82 ..d3 83 Rc6+ Kg5 84 Rg6+ and Kxd3 = TB win) 83 Ke5 Kf7 84 Rb2 d3 85 f6 with a simple win
a1)..75..Bd4 (instead of Rd4) 76 Kd3 Ba1+ 77 Ke4 Ra5 78 Rg8+ Kf6 79 Rc6+ Kf7 80 Rgc8 Ra4+ 81 Rc4 Rxc4+ (black cannot avoid exchanging) 82 Rxc4+ and this ending like the one above is completely won. eg 82... Ke6 (82...a5 83 Rc5 a4 84 Ra5 x a4 = TB win) 83 Rc6+ Kd7 84 Kd5 Bd4 85 Rh6 a5 (any Bishop moves loses a pawn = TB win) 86 Rh7+ Kd8 87 f4 x e5 = TB win
b) If the Bishop does not go to b6 the white king gets via e3 to e4 and then penetrates through the white squares d5 and e6 and its over. Sample lines:
b1) 72 ..Kf4/f5 73 Rf8+ Kg6 74 Ke3 Rd1 75 Ke4 Re1+ 76 Kd5 Be7 77 Re8 Bf6 78 Ke6 e4 79 Rc5+ and the bishop is lost
b2) 72..Ba5 73 Ke3 Rb5 74 Rg8+ Kf5 75 Rf8+ Kg5 76 Ke4 Rb4+ 77 Kxe5 with a simple win
b3)72 ..Rd7 73 Rxe5+ (take a pair of rooks off = TB win) Kf4 74 Rcc5 Rg7 75 Re4+ Kg3 76 Rc1 Bb6 77 Rh1 a5 78 Rhh4 - Reg4+ exchanges rooks = TB win
Thibault de Vassal (2008-10-23 22:35:49)
Server changes (october 23, 2008)
Hello everyone,
FICGS will have a new (much faster) server tomorrow !
It won't be possible to connect to the old server during a few hours, then it will depend to your access provider to update more or less quickly the domain names server, it generally takes from a few hours to one week.
As a consequence, I'll add 7 days to all clocks tomorrow (friday, at most saturday).
See you soon on the new FICGS server ! ;)
Normajean Yates (2008-11-01 23:43:03)
Benjamin Block - I agree
It seems there is some HP product that offers 5x5 chess of various kinds including the one I describled - it is called 'Gardner minichess' now. English-wikipedia 'minichess' entry has a link to that - and in a discussion forum on that HP thing I found - "recent play suggests that Gardner minichess is a draw".
So the first decent engine for it would finish it, it seems, as thibault said earlier in this thread...
Someone modify crafty for 5x5 and check - yawn - I am toooo lazy --- plus crafty [and all later closed source engines I suppose] are too strongly low-level optimised for 8x8 chess --- writing an engine from scratch? Well I know the seven steps [they are/were on an internet in a nice article] --- but I have retired from writing code --- written enough for three lifetimes; no more programming for me.
*Proving* that Gardner-minichess is a draw would be more difficult -- 20-piece tablebases! (okay, in a much smaller space) - that's for the universities --- they have to do something to give out M.S.'s and Ph.D.s - so let them do it :)
[they did it with draughts <called checkers in the USA> - it is solved ie proven to be a draw -- let them try Gardner-minichess now :)]
3x3 - as I said there are complate tablebases now including for positions with pawns on first rank -- so it is very-strongly solved [i.e. given *any* position, the result and the best play for that result are known - in fact online accessible -- instant results of course... you'll find the link on eng-wikipedia -- I have accessed it [3x3 chess site] before but yesteday it seemed to be down - the old link was http://kd.lab.nig.ac.jp/3x3-chess/ but it is broken now...
Normajean Yates (2009-02-04 01:45:47)
re Wayne's point:
Well if the program is not written to use parallelism [or written badly so that it spends too much time synchronising outputs of various cpus] then it wouldnt do very well on octal compared to single-core and might do worse :)
Chess programs unless really horribly written should not have this problem: typically different cpus will analyse different branched, and hash is sliced but from time to time 'pooled' - ie the hash slices are updated from other hash slices...
Some very old RAMs would have problems with multiple cpus trying to access them: but that would be early 1980s at most: just before the invention of the personal computer :)
Normajean Yates (2009-02-05 04:28:40)
anyone here uses a 4K processor machine?
for playing here I mean - they might well drudge away on a 4K-processor machine in the office [or if I google something, how many processors - not necessarily all cpu - am I accessing?] - but do they pull enough weight to run rybka on it all the time?
Or worse still ( ;), actually *own* one ? No, access is better: 'if it's broke it ain't mine' - no maintenance hassles :)
Power without responsiblity..
from the 1980s BBC-TV 'yes. minister' series:
"Responsiblity without power; historically the prerogative of the eunuch" ;)
Normajean Yates (2009-05-23 07:50:33)
wikichess: extra goodies! but why ..
If you access wikichess *without* logging in; you will see the following extra goodies:
1. '... or enter a line' [below which is a form to enter an opening line for search]
2. 'Or find an opening in the chess openings directory.' [link to chess openings directory]
3.'Openings most analyzed :' [at present:] Traxler counter-attack, Latvian gambit, Kingston defense [all hypertext links]
These goodies are excellent! But Thib. has forgotten to make them available if you are logged-in. Thib, please rectify! (Or is there a reason why you have to be logged-out to access these? I can't think of any...)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-09-19 22:14:20)
Rating bands
Well, you have to win even more games to enter the upper rating category and I'm not sure it is always a fair system for the winner of a tournament to access it, based on the argument you quoted & also is it fair to play more games to finally win one tournament and lose elo points because of the number of games played at the same time, what happens if 3 or 4 players win a tournament ? (we could use the WCH tournament rules but is it appropriate in this case)
Moreover IMHO, such a rule wouldn't be necessary for ratings below 2200. On the other hand, it may be envisaged to casually offer to the winner of a 2000+ tournament to enter an upper waiting list to complete a waiting list in certain conditions, eg. if his rating is not more than 100 points below the upper rating band (it may be an idea to launch the 11th class SM tournament), what do you think ?
Daniel Parmet (2010-01-26 01:01:46)
SuperGMs watch Corr?!
Carlsen mentioned to the media after his game with Shirov that the improvement in the game of 22... Bc3 was taken from a Correspondence game he found. (Carlsen's own old novelty was 22... Be5 where he lost to Shirov). This is at least the third time i've heard Carlsen using correspondence games for his own opening research and I know also Peter Leko does this. How many supergms you think are accessing all the correspondence sites around the world looking at our opening ideas?! Cute thought!
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-01 00:02:58)
How to check tablebases integrity
A small tip that I just read on rybkaforum.net and that can serve again...
For checking tablebase integrity, one can use md5summer.exe
http://www.md5summer.org/download.html
Tablebases md5 files :
http://kirill-kryukov.com/chess/tablebases-online/
It looks like very useful when trying to install 6 pieces tablebases, particularly when your engine suddenly crashes when trying to access it, by the way how did you get it Wayne? TBgen.exe or download? Does anyone know how much time it takes in both cases?
What kind of computer (processor, ram) is necessary to generated 6 pieces tablebases?
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-10 14:20:52)
Freestyle vs. Access providers
It looks like that access providers are a real problem during freestyle tournaments... In 4 rounds, 2 players (at least) lost a game on time because of them and 1 other had to play with his mobile phone card because his access provider was not able to see ficgs.com during a few hours.
It is possible that week-ends are a quite bad choice to play as most internet providers encounter most problems from friday evening to monday (and take much more time to solve it).
I do not see a clear rule that could solve all this, maybe more rounds would attenuate the problem... If you have any idea, let's discuss it!
Thanks.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-10 17:49:40)
Freestyle vs. Access providers
Another lesson is that maybe I shouldn't organize such tournaments (the last round was launched about 40 minutes late because of a new connection problem) before that my own access provider makes the necessary to be more stable :(
That's a shame but there's nothing else to do than to wait. It was a good tournament anyway that will allow me to improve some things for the next editions.
Thanks to all players who participated!
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-10 19:37:35)
Congrats to David Evans!
David Evans wins this 2nd FICGS freestyle cup!
Here are the final standings (please note that the FICGS crosstable may be slightly different from the pairing software's one) :
1. Evans, David : 4,5 / 6 games played (berg 11,75)
2-3. Petrolo, Mauro : 4 / 6 games played (berg 12,5)
2-3. Taylor, William : 4 / 5 games played (berg 9,5)
4. van der Kemp, Michel : 3,5 / 5 games played (berg 6,75)
5. Boehme, Sebastian : 3 / 5 games played (berg 6,25)
6-7. de Vassal, Thibault : 2,5 / 5 games played (berg 6)
6-7. Nichols, Scott : 2,5 / 5 games played (berg 4,25)
8. Pichelin, Xavier : 2 / 6 games played (berg 5,75)
9-10. Moreira, Jose : 1,5 / 4 games played (berg 3,5)
9-10. Gray, Garvin : 1,5 / 3 games played (berg 3,25)
Of course and unfortunately, the number of "played games" includes losses on time without playing. There were numerous problems with access providers during this tournament...
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-10 22:18:47)
Prize : 170 Epoints or...
David also won the total prize in this tournament, 170 Epoints (100 Epoints + 70 Epoints of entry fees as 3 titled players on 10 total entered the waiting list), or 100 Epoints + 75% of 70 in real money according to the rules, at the winner's discretion.
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#prize
Congrats :) .. let's hope the next freestyle tourney will be free of all these problems with access providers!
David Evans (2010-04-11 11:38:59)
Freestyle vs. Access providers
Nothing u can do Thib even if u played in the week which has it own problems as it it easyer to play on weekends.
losses due to internet happens
George Clement (2010-04-21 19:58:54)
Match Against Rybka Forum
Thibault, how do we access a match on FICGS in this tournament? Will you set it up?
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-24 14:30:18)
Wider rating range tournaments
I also think about the possibility to imitate the advanced chess (Go as well) rating rules :
http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=forum_read&id=8375
There may be several advantages to this:
1) It would give a better image of the quality of the games compared to the past as engines are stronger and stronger but ratings do not increase in average...
2) It would allow players to access more easily the next category...
3) Old best ratings achieved a few years ago wouldn't be unbreakable anymore...
4) It may motivate retired players to come back to the fight :)
What do you think?
Garvin Gray (2010-04-25 08:02:43)
Careful wht you do with our loved F
I would rather have to pay a membership fee per year of say $20 for increased access (or something like that) than being able to pay an entry fee to get into a higher division.
Hannes Rada (2010-04-27 22:18:11)
Higher division
quote
I would rather have to pay a membership fee per year of say $20 for increased access (or something like that) than being able to pay an entry fee to get into a higher division.
unquote
Garvin, what do you expect from playing in a 'higher division' ?
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2010-05-12 19:31:36)
Rybka 4, news, tests & results
By the way it is stated here http://www.chessbase.com/espanola/newsdetail2.asp?id=8300 (article is in spanish) by Cheparinov that Topalov's team had access to Rybka 4 during preparation. Also new Rybka opening book author, Jiri Dufek, was on Topalov's team.
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2010-05-13 03:25:06)
Rybka 4, news, tests & results
This was posted in the Hiarcs forum by Harvey Williamson:" Now it is all over it is time to share a little secret. The day before the World Championship final in Sofia started I had a conversation with Vishy's team. For the duration of the match they have had access to my fast 8/16 core machine as well as all my databases and Hiarcs opening books. Also, of course, all the engines on my machine. I Hope this managed to negate slightly the fact that Topalov had access to the latest Rybka on its Cluster for a few months leading up leading up to the final."
Wayne Lowrance (2010-10-15 23:37:53)
Serious new Virus
Subj: Confirmed by SNOPES: Important - read immediately
VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ THIS - These e-mails are floating around currently in HP
Anyone-using Internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning, Direct from both Microsoft and Norton Please send it to everybody you know who has Access to the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless e-mail titled "Here you have it" If you open either file, a message will appear on your screen saying: 'It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful....'
Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC, And the person who originated it will gain access to your Name, e-mail and password. This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon.
AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the anti virus softwares are not capable of destroying it.
The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself 'life owner'.
PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!
THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SNOPES.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/hereyouhave.asp
Thibault de Vassal (2010-10-20 21:32:25)
Freestyle Fun
You said it all Scott, thanks for this very nice presentation :) Let's hope that a few of our italian freestylers will try to shake the tournament! The prize increased to 150 Epoints + Entry fees this time, not so much yet but always trying to offer more & more Epoints in all tournaments...
A small word about the connection, I noticed that when http://www.ficgs.com is not available, the internet access providers often let you reach https://ficgs.com , think about it if you encounter such a problem (whenever by the way), just like it happened to Mauro who courageously played half the tournament on a smartphone during the last event, the trick may have helped him :/
Kamesh Nookala (2010-10-27 06:35:12)
Strong Tournament at Rybka Forum
Well not really.
I am sorry if am being candid in stating that my first access to corr world is FICGS. It created the best impression which even ICCF could not. I am confident that your efforts will bring a great change to the rybkaforum. Keep the spirits high my friend, come what may :)
As far as my game vs Vytron, I am not sure where it is leading me
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2011-03-05 16:04:01)
FICGS chess World Championship #9
I like 3 & 4 and 1 & 2. I do not like denying access to new members for the championship stages, seems elitist to me.
Thibault de Vassal (2011-06-13 18:44:21)
Unable to login for several days?
Hi all,
It looks like a few players are still unable to login (actually to access the whole website) during several days from time to time.
I thought I solved the problem a few months ago and I did not encounter this problem since that time, so I'm not sure about what happens for these players.
A trick may be to enter https://ficgs.com instead of http://www.ficgs.com in your navigator, it does not work every time but it may help sometimes.
If this issue happens to you, please describe what you can do and cannot do here... Let's try to figure it out.
Thanks for your help!
Thibault de Vassal (2011-07-15 22:39:40)
Case of resignation in WCH tournament
The current rules on this point are 11.6 : "Any player who forfeits (by resignation or silent withdrawal) his games in an equal or winning position, without giving an explanation to referee in a rated chess tournament could lose his other games in the tournament, get a limited access to the server and couldn't enter waiting lists anymore during a period of 2 months, at the referee's discretion."
Any suggestion to improve it?
Michael Rogers (2012-03-21 21:57:53)
Slow tournament entries
A player's games on ICCF and SchemingMind can be accessed directly from the Chessbase interface. Has FICGS considered installing this feature? Also, would an "Open" tournament, allowing all ratings, help?
Garvin Gray (2012-05-30 09:36:40)
No access for me to Rybka Forum
Can you please contact Dadi Jonsson immediately at Rybka Forum?
I can not access the forum, nor see any of the posts and due to the server upgrade, a lot of the back ground links are broken.
I can not send him a private message, nor reset my password as those options are also link broken.
Unless Dadi, or someone from Rybka Forum can sort out this issue, I have no access to RF at all.
Garvin Gray (2012-05-30 11:05:01)
No access for me to Rybka Forum
Looks like I am able to access the site now. Did anyone else have a period of time of no access at all?
George Clement (2012-05-30 18:05:24)
No access for me to Rybka Forum
Garvin I think the 'cloud server' was having another lightning storm. A few others were complaining also.
Thibault de Vassal (2012-07-28 00:10:50)
FICGS IS BACK !!!!!!!!!
First of all, I've added 15 days to all players in running games because of the delay and the fact that many of us may have no access to internet during the summer vacation (this time is added to the 46 days, 13 hours and 20 minutes since the crash for players expected to play), this issue was discussed at Rybkaforum, of course it may be unfair to few players in certain games where their opponent had few time but I did not find a better balanced solution, sorry about that :(
Among other consequences, the current championships cycle will last 10 months instead of 8, and july correspondence chess ratings will be updated very soon.
Well, how to start... fortunately such an event is rare but possible, and following the Murphy's law, it happened (first time for me), the server's hard disk crashed and the least I can say is I've not been lucky, even if I obviously did some things wrong.
Of course I had enough data at home to rebuild all games until a few hours before the crash but I thought it was worth it to pause the server during a few days/weeks to recover more moves, and if possible ALL moves. I really hoped that it would work and at the end it did, but not completely... for unknown reasons. I had also other data to recover from the server, including some FICGS data that were not backuped correctly (my bad), because I did not think far enough 6 years ago when I coded the first FICGS scripts... That will be fixed very soon.
So, because the DDrescue process did not work -unlucky- just after the crash, my server provider (OVH in France) had to send me the hard drive and it took sooooo much time already :/
Then I tried to recover some files and the databases by myself and I learnt much on how to save a hard drive but each process was really long, it took several days again...
Finally none process completely succeeded, few sectors of the hard drive remained unreadable and unfortunately the FICGS database is divided into very numerous parts written everywhere on the disk.
At the end, I brought the disk to the very best professionals able to save it... the process was quite long again and it did not completely worked as well, for an unknown reason the current database was still not readable but they did much better than me at the end.
Finally the whole process was worth it, but I did not expect it could take so much time.... 46 days, 13 hours, 20 minutes. And that's a shame :(
Of course, I could have used a RAID 10 server, I was not favourable to this choice because it is not 100% safe as well, I don't know it enough and it's much more expensive. I'll reconsider it though.
But the other things I did wrong are clear anyway, I lacked of experience in such a situation and most important, I'll do now better backups also on another server every hour. Next time (if any), we'll lose at most 1 hour of moves but the server will be able to restart within 1 day.
One thing is sure, internet was really empty for me without FICGS during this long month and a half and I missed our tournaments too much so that happen again! Have no doubt, FICGS would not have stopped in all cases but once again I'm really sorry about that and all consequences... I can only hope that you'll enjoy your games as before.
Thanks for your understanding.
Best regards,
Thibault
Nick Burrows (2012-11-28 19:13:12)
How do I stop the pop-up message boxes?
Well I was not completely removed from society as I had access to a house which was about 200 metres away. It was wonderful to live simply amongst nature, chopping wood & carrying water! Cold in winter once the stove went out, but a wonderful experience...
Garvin Gray (2013-12-26 15:39:07)
FICGS World Chess Championship results
I am getting a message. Your current account (graygarvin@gmail.com) does not have access to view this page.
Click here to logout and change accounts.
Geez I find links on this site such a pain , almost all the time.
Timofey Denisov (2014-03-16 11:41:12)
Standard time control abusers
1) not working. Because vacation days just skipping in count, so clock will gain double speed in 21th day (if player took 1-day vacation).
2) Yes... maybe do more? Maybe decline 50-move rule on 6- or even 7- pieces in "normal chess"? (because exist tablebases for these endgames, and players just do moves from database), and next is do adjudgement in 6- pieces positions? Result can be gained from chessok.com, for sample. Or if 7-pieces position you can gain result from latest version Aquarium (licensed, pirated copy can't access to tablebases).
Thibault de Vassal (2016-05-11 21:46:55)
Bugs after the server crash
Yes, that is normal: I added 7 more days to everyone, this way if someone left or has no internet access during a while at the time FICGS reappeared, he shoud not lose any game on time.
I do this after any server crash.
Peter Brodie (2016-09-13 01:31:42)
Missing chat
I can understand players deleting their own chat comments but how do they gain access to other player's chat comments and also delete them? It doesn't seem fair if they can do this..Other people should not be able to delete your own comments..what you decide to do with them is your business, no one elses..Also, why should I have to re-post an inoffensive chat message just because some cretin takes a dislike to it? Whers's the justice? This ability to delete other's chat should be gotten rid of...
Garvin Gray (2017-01-05 01:10:02)
Future penalties for games lost on time
Returning to this issue:
Ficgs already has a policy on this issue from its rules. It is covered in 11.6:
Any player who forfeits (by resignation or silent withdrawal) his games in an equal or winning position, without giving an explanation to referee in a rated chess tournament could lose his other games in the tournament, get a limited access to the server and couldn't enter waiting lists anymore during a period of 2 months, at the referee's discretion.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-06-30 20:22:16)
Interview with 15th chess WCH finalist
For once, as Eros & I couldn't find much more to say after all his consecutive wins, I asked Ramil Germanes these few questions around his match & correspondence chess (with what may look like a quite surprising conclusion).
_______________________
- Hello Ramil, many thanks for answering those few questions! This is a first time with the WCH finalist, as the winner (Eros again) agreeded this could be an interesting experiment for a change, so we'll probably have a quite different point of view this time! You just finished your games to score 6-6 (12 draws), Eros retaining the title again. I guess this was the first time you played such a correspondence chess match, what are your impressions on this knockout format?
Yes this is the first time I've played a world championship match although I played before in earlier editions of this world championship but not reaching the challenger level. My impression? Its great playing for the world championship but I know its nearly impossible to beat the world champion.
- Let's rewind a few months backward, would you make other choices, in openings or anything?
I don't know. Tbh, I'm not very good on chess theory and not very updated as well. So I'm just playing basic moves hoping for opportunities to come up.
- So, is Eros beatable in this final match according to you? (please give us some hope) ^^
With how quickly you can search information and the strength of chess engines nowadays, its almost impossible to beat him unless you have access to alpha zero (haha). Though maybe Herbert Kruse can pull it off.
- What can you tell us about yourself and your relation to chess & correspondence chess?
I'm just an ordinary guy from the Philipines who happens to love playing chess. But my love of computers is what brought me to correspondence chess and to ficgs.
- Do you play other games, e.g. Go, Shogi, cards games?
No I don't know how to play those games.
- Could you tell us how these 12 games went from your own point of view?
For me, the games went through their normal course. Both of us didn't made any major mistakes so all games were drawn. That's just how it went. Though there were new moves on some the games it doesn't really changes result of the older games played before.
- Would you share a few tips to play good correspondence chess in 2018, or at least to beat the best chess engines? :)
Sorry but i dont know. I will be the new world champion by now if i know, hehehe.
- You told me that your computer configuration was basically a quad-core i5 3570 / 4gb on Fritz GUI (about 10,500 kn/s) / Windows 10, and we know that many of us (Eros included) still use such configs or even dual-core, would an octa-core have brought a significant advantage to you to win this match according to you?
Oh I don't know they still have those configurations. But I've already encountered opponents in Infinity Chess with 18-22 cores configs. Anyways, an octa-core or faster cpu would definitely be going to speed up my analysis and will let me analyze more lines and variations which may improves my overall play.
Honestly, I don't have that much time these days for correspondence chess. In my match against Eros, I had only about 1 hour of analysis time before work and about another 1 hour after work. Since I already have a family and 2 kids, they have to be my priority first. And I think somebody also can relate to this. So a faster cpu would be very helpful in the match and maybe will give a better chance than a slower cpu.
- As far as I know, you love to build computers, did you use or think about using several ones at the same time for analysis?
No. I only used one computer in my match against Eros. I have 2 other computers but both are slower.
- How much time you've been playing correspondence chess & how do you feel the way the game changed over the years?
I've been playing correspondence chess since 2010 and I have observed that its easier to win games in the past when chess engines were still weaker. Because you notice some players depend only on engine moves and engines still commit mistakes and you can exploit those mistakes if you "investigate" further.
Unlike now, engines are very strong that even players who rely solely on engines moves will be very hard to beat. It lessens the gap of players that know how to "use" the engines and the ones who do not.
- Finally, what makes you love correspondence chess in 2018?
I will always love chess and correspondence chess but what makes it exciting now is the rise of the new kind of engines.
Engines like Leela chess zero that has a different approach in playing chess. Maybe more of these kind of chess engines will be seen in the future. Because of its use of monte carlo analysis and neural networks, we are starting to see moves that we have never seen before. Very aggressive attacks and moves defying opening principles can now be seen. Correspondence chess is getting exciting again!
Thibault de Vassal (2018-09-07 16:57:06)
Netiquette reinforcement
Hi all,
Following a few problems of provocation and repeated draw offers, I propose to reinforce and specify the netiquette to help players finding the right things to do according to the situation...
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#general
Particularly this paragraph:
"It is possible to leave public comments for your games and to send private messages to other members. No player may post in forums or send to another member any voluntary message that contains abusive, insulting, provocating, advertising, vulgar, foul, racist, sexist or other discriminatory or politically sensitive content. Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly serveral times in a row. Doing so may lead to instantly lose the game, and/or being immediately and permanently banned.
If a player receives such a message, he may use the "report" link and accepts to use the "block" link that appears then (when playing a move) rather than replying to it. Responding to a provocative message is strictly forbidden and may lead to get a limited access to the server during a few weeks, at the moderator's discretion. In this case, please just warn the moderator or webmaster in private.
To maintain a friendly community, any cheating complaint should be addressed to the referee and should not be made publicly in games comments or in the forum, otherwise with the same consequences. Please note that no time will be added to any clock in any case, the game will continue in all cases, in example arguing to wait for the referee's decision will not be accepted. Finally, you agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic, comment or message at any time should they see fit.
Publication of a private message without the authors expressed permission is strictly forbidden."
A big difference (I hope) is in the small add "Doing so may lead to instantly lose the game (...)". Better or worst? Any opinions or ideas?
Christoph Schroeder (2020-02-21 14:28:01)
Game decided by tablebase
Nowadays, all players are supposed to have access to 7 men tablebases. Therefore I propose to extend the rules to 7 men positions - IMHO the ICCF rules (referred to by Charles) make perfect sense.
That means: When a 7 men position is reached and the opponent refuses to resign resp. to accept a draw, the arbiter can be called and adjudicate the game immediately.
Thibault de Vassal (2020-02-21 23:05:43)
Game decided by tablebase
Access is always possible, but it is not so easy for all players, particularly when playing on mobile phones. FICGS shouldn't be a place for centaur players (usually meaning playing on a computer) only IMO, correspondence chess is played for fun as well. ICCF rules are great in its specific way, but FICGS can be different.
I'm not so sure that those cases would be so rare, many (most?) players don't even know FICGS specific rules :)
Roberto Battaglia (2020-06-04 09:55:29)
chess archives in pgn
A few days ago, in the chat, I put some questions regarding the existence or not of archives of chess games and their organization. The chat doesn't allow many words so I take advantage of the forum for explaining the matter.
For example on the ICCF website I find for each player a file with all his chess games, I also find archives of all the games played year by year. This allows me to create excellent databases, using for example SCID.
I also would like to add the games played on FICS but, perhaps for my limit, I was able to find only one way to access the pgn. that is: I type the name of a player in the search box and press go. If, for example, I write Fric (Fric Lubos is a friend of mine who attends both ICCF and FICGS) I find all his PNGs but there are mixed games of poker and chess and this creates a problem because I have to separate them by looking at them one by one.
I hope I was clear. Obviously it is possible that I have not seen some functions of the site that allow to access to archives where could be stored games divided by year, by player and by type of game. I thank all those who want to answer me and wish everyone good and winning games.
Roberto
Juri Eintalu (2021-10-06 12:35:34)
How to Accept a Draw in Chess
Garvin Gray, Here, I have accepted a draw in two games. In both cases, the procedure described by you worked neither on my PC nor on my mobile phone. I do not remember, but perhaps the warning box did not appear at all. In both cases, to access that confirmation box, I did the following: I marked the draw as accepted, then I made a move and then I confirmed it.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-11-29 02:09:11)
Repeated draw offers
After a case a repeated draw offers, I thought that the rule should evolve from:
"Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly serveral times in a row. Doing so may lead to instantly lose the game, and/or being immediately and permanently banned."
... to ...
"Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly serveral times in a row. Doing so may lead to get a limited access to the server (until to get a response if necessary) then to lose the game, finally to get permanently banned if this behaviour does not stop."
Reason is that it seems not so obvious for certain players to remember all draw offers while playing quite slowly many many games. Also, they may not receive some warning messages.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-12-01 02:12:36)
Repeated draw offers
I just updated the process and rules... let's give a try to this new version (without any human intervention on the result of the game):
"Also, no player will make draw offers repeatedly, particularly several times in a row. Doing so may lead to get blocked by your opponents, finally to get a limited access to the server (until to solve the problem)."
It is now possible to report then block draw offers (at least the main message & popup) just like it is possible with private messages in games. Then it shouldn't be annoying anymore.
Scott Ligon (2025-04-23 15:21:53)
Stockfish unbeatable at modest settings?
My goal is to find the minimal setting where Stockfish can't be beaten, or close to the minimal setting anyway. The title of the thread shows my point of view on this issue. I think currently available versions of Stockfish with relatively modest computing power are already good enough to be unbeatable, regardless of how much money an opponent is being offered or how many supercomputers and grandmasters they have at their disposal when devising a strategy. From the starting position of a game of chess, it simply isn't that hard for modern engines to hold the draw with black. The draw rate on this very site is evidence.
I could make the task easier by generating a small opening book to keep Stockfish out of trouble in the opening, so in the case of Stockfish 17 @ 15 million nodes it might be good enough to simply dictate that it play e5 in response to e4 (I don't know if that specific example is true but it might be - I never found any trouble spots for that strategy with black outside of the Sicilian). But I want to do this with no opening book and also no access to endgame tablebases, just the engine's recommendation using a set number of nodes for the search. The settings I've tried so far fell short, but I think they weren't far off, so I'm taking only small steps forward. Stockfish 17.1 @ 10 million nodes seems like a good next step to me. If somebody finds a winning line against it, then I'll take the next step, either increasing the node count or if enough time has passed I'll move on to the next version of Stockfish.
George Jempty (2025-10-05 21:02:56)
Cheating / Forfeiting
The only explanation I can think of is that they are all friends/family and can only access the internet every so often, and do so at the same time. But that seems pretty far-fetched
Ulises Pineda (2026-05-15 07:17:39)
PGN
Once you have downloaded the PGN double click it, you will be asked if you want to search the web or choose a program to open it, pick the later. Search for something like Notepad and select it and click OK. Once opened, you'll see some text, you can select this text and copy it, and then paste it to chess lab or another program.
A PGN is just text that contains the chess moves of the game, so, instead of doing all this, you can copy them from the page directly, some programs like Chess Openings Wizard are pedantic and will not accept that you paste the moves, for those you have to copy also the part on the top of the moves, the one that starts with "[Event ", that is, the game pages are already showing PGNs you can copy, because they're just text files with that extension, you'd only download them to access them offline or to store them in a personal game archive.
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