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Game result (chess) B. Ozen, 2269 N. Wilson, 2121 1/2-1/2 See game 152323 |
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Karlheinz Weber (2006-04-11 06:12:34)
Download of games
Is it possible to load down my own games, and if yes, how does it work?
Hannes Rada (2006-04-11 10:25:04)
Software ?
Unfortunately there is no download possibility. Which software are you using ? In case of Chessbase the following trick should work: Mark all moves of the game - rightclick and "say" "copy". In ChessBase "say" "paste" and the game should appear at your virtual board. hannes
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)
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 (2006-06-03 07:03:45)
Download chess games
Hello Karlheinz.
Ok, I'll make something today to download directly all finished chess games in PGN format ! Sorry, not much time before and I had to think about it a little, so that it uses as less resources as possible.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-06-03 19:22:18)
Download games + RSS feed
Hello Karlheinz.
It's now possible to "directly" download games in PGN format. Please try the 'download' link on the viewer page for any game, or try ie. this one - http://www.ficgs.com/game_136.pgn
I've also added links to RSS feeds for games in the viewer page, and for the forum.
Graham Wyborn (2006-08-08 22:14:12)
(download)
I have to press the game number twice before I see the (download) button? Is this correct?
Dinesh De Silva (2006-08-09 07:47:30)
Re: download
Hey, Graham When you click the game number, it takes you to a page where there's a "download" link down at the bottom. When you click it, the game file will download in pgn format. ( Yes, altogether it would be two clicks. If you mistakenly click it for a third time, you'll launch a nuclear bomb! Haha! Just kidding ).
Graham Wyborn (2006-08-09 09:24:23)
Missed the point
When I click the game number the screen appears with the game etc. but no (download) button at the bottom of the screen. I need to click the game number button again, then on the second attempt, the (download) button appears. It seems to me that the (download)button should appear on the screen when I first see the game page. Also have problems entering a move after using the (download) button! Anyone else having the same problem, or is it me and my PC! ........................ Great site, keep up the good work!
Dinesh De Silva (2006-08-09 09:51:47)
Re:
The download button should appear on the first attempt. Your situation seems an exception (having to click twice for the "download" button to appear). Check with Thibault. He might know an answer.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-08-09 10:49:06)
(download)
Hi there.
Strange problem... I may have seen that before, not sure. Maybe try a 'right click' on (download) then 'save target as'. If it doesn't work, just leave me an email specifying the software / browser you use...
Graham Wyborn (2006-08-09 16:03:46)
(download) button
When I first press the (download) button I move to:- http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=move &...
which does not show the (download) button.
When I press the (download) button a second time it moves to :- http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=move &...
where I can now see the (download) button.
Does the above help? I was looking at game 690.
If the above does not help, could it be my IE settings. I am using IE 6 with Windows XP Home
Graham Wyborn (2006-08-09 16:07:03)
Correction previous response
Second press of (download) button goes to:- http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=viewer &...
Thibault de Vassal (2006-08-09 16:29:24)
Download of games
Ok Graham. I've got it... Your navigator works well, I did not want the 'move' & 'confirm' pages too heavy, but maybe it's more logical to have the download & rss buttons at least on the 'move' page too. I'll arrange that.
Graham Wyborn (2006-08-13 17:32:35)
(download) in Go games!
Recently started playing Go. Similar problem to (download) in chess. If I hoover over the Go (download) button, the ballon reads, "Download this game in PGN format". If I press it, it tries to download game into my chess database!
Can you help? You solved it last time, can you do it again?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-08-13 18:05:40)
(download) in Go games!
Indeed, that's a bug... It will be fixed in a minute. Thanks ;)
Note : Go games files are .SGF , you can read it with any Go interface..
(qGo, Jago ...)
Graham Wyborn (2006-08-13 18:20:13)
Fixed
Go (download) button works OK.
Many thanks again!
Graham
Benjamin Aldag (2006-08-22 04:06:33)
All finished games downloadable !
Hi friends,
I think it would be nice, to have a PGN-File with all finished FICGS-Chessgames as a download.
And here it is:
http://laperacologne.la.funpic.de/ficgs-all-finished-games.pgn
1138 games inside
I will update this PGN-File every week.
Benny
Benjamin Aldag (2006-08-22 04:29:15)
TWIC Loader
Hi friends,
you know the Chesspaper TWIC ? A really great Chesspaper with many new Chessgames every week. From now on, its really easy to get it. Just use my TWIC Loader. It's for free and easy to use.
You can download it at:
http://www.twic-loader.de.vu/
Next week i will present you the FICGS-Loader. With this loader, you can download every week all new finished FICGS-chessgames.
Benny
Benjamin Aldag (2006-08-22 04:29:57)
TWIC Loader
Hi friends,
you know the Chesspaper TWIC ? A really great Chesspaper with many new Chessgames every week. From now on, its really easy to get it. Just use my TWIC Loader. It's for free and easy to use.
You can download it at:
http://www.twic-loader.de.vu/
Next week i will present you the FICGS-Loader. With this loader, you can download every week all new finished FICGS-chessgames.
Benny
Dirk Ghysens (2006-09-06 08:14:02)
Time to display...
Here in Poland (384 Kb/sec) it took 22 seconds to download; during the first 13 seconds nothing was being downloaded, apparently.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-18 14:08:20)
Pass + SGF format
Hello Claude.
Did you really send (confirm) your move ?
About Go SGF format, there's a link (download) at the bottom of the viewer / move page for each game...
Best.
Claude Brisson (2006-09-20 10:48:16)
Re: Pass + SGF format
> "Did you really send (confirm) your move ?"
Yes. The "pass" appeared after my opponent played.
"About Go SGF format, there's a link (download) at the bottom of the viewer / move page for each game..."
Oh, great! I hadn't seen! Thanks!
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-09 11:19:53)
UCI / Winboard engine
Hello Yannick.
Maybe you could try a free chess engine like Crafty (quite strong already, also running on Chessbase / Fritz interface), GNUchess, Arasan, Ghost or any engine running on Winboard / Arena free interfaces...
See a list of chess engines here :
http://www.ficgs.com/wiki_en-chess_engines.html
A well-known french speaking website about computer chess :
http://perso.orange.fr/lefouduroi/computerchess.htm
Actually it's probably very hard not to be influenced by chess engines suggestions, but the point is to understand, then find better moves...
All depends on the level you want the engine to play. There are hundred of engines to download...
Graham Wyborn (2006-10-30 10:04:22)
Go games "display"
First allow me to say how much I enjoy playing chess & go on this site. Keep up the very good work!
Would it be possible to mark or display on the board when playin Go the piece that was last moved?
Also on other sites the option to flip the board is present. On this site the board is already fliped when playing white. Is this needed? If you download the .sgf to a viewer it will not show the game the same way round.
We have to press "send" and then "next". Is it possible to have an option included where after pressing "send" you go automatically to the next game?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-15 21:30:40)
New chessboards
Ok, some new chessboards (default big & giant) are really awful :)
I've just added two sets : "Graphics" is nice and quite big, "Phantom" is... big only !
If you know places on internet where one can download nice free pictures (gif format) for each chess pieces, please send me your links...
Thanks in advance.
Benjamin Aldag (2007-01-17 11:12:14)
Free funny chess-videolessons ;-)
Hi folks,
after a long journey in vietnam, i am back ;-))
Don't forget to download my latest funny and free video-chesslessons at
http://www.dzindzi.de.vu
cu soon
Benny
Michael Finkelstein (2007-01-22 08:39:51)
problems with playback --
Whenever I play back a game and hit the move button, the computer screen drops down a quarter of a page and I have to move the screen up to get to the move buttons. I use firefox as my browser I came here from playing a lot at queen alice. That site has an easier to use and more informative interface. For instance, allowing me to download my games in progress all at once instead of one at a time; also, have a light by the name of a player to indicate he is online; a buddy list, etc.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-22 11:26:58)
problems with playback
Hello Michael.
Sorry, so many things to implement yet :)
What do you mean 'Whenever I play back a game' ?
I use Firefox and Explorer and I didn't see that until now ?! (if I understood well)
I'll add a download button for all games, right now you can try to click the printer icon in 'My games', there's a list of your games in PGN format.
You can see who's online at the bottom of the page 'My messages' or go to http://www.ficgs.com/informations.html
My best.
Michael Finkelstein (2007-01-23 04:37:26)
problems with playback --
Dear Thibault, Thank you for your kind attention to my issue. I appreciate your efforts here very much. When I am at the start of a game which I wish to play back, I hit the forward button to play the next move -- when I do so the screen drops a quarter of a page. I then have to go to my screen up button to move the screen up again so I can see the move buttons. Or, when it is my turn to move, I click on the piece I want to move, and the screen again drops down a quarter of a page -- so I have to do a screen up button to get back to the board and click on the square I want to go to. I assume this is a unique problem to me since I saw no posts on it. What do you think, do I need to do a better job of explaining my situation? In regard to the light by the names of people online, I find it helpful when I logon and go to my games to see in one view which of my opponents is online, that way I can know if I will be making several moves before I log out since my opponent is online too. It is more tedious to search on my messages to see if any of my opponents is online. It would also to nice to have a buddy list so I could see stats in one view on my friends here. Thank you so much for allowing us to download all our games in progress at once. I did not mean to be critical. This is a nice site and you do a nice job here. Thank you again for your response to my question. Mike
Thibault de Vassal (2007-02-10 03:08:52)
Rybka, Fritz and future...
Computerchess is definitely an exciting challenge... The community is fast-growing, new versions of chess engines appear every day, many dream to be the next Vasik Rajlich and to produce an engine that would beat the well-known Chessbase engines and the famous Rybka.
These days, I had a look at Fruit 2.1, TogaII and Crafty source code that are available to download, and started to implement new search & evaluation functions. It's quite easy to understand why chess programming is so addictive, so much done and so much to do... finally I did not enter this mad race without an ending, probably for the same reasons Anthony Cozzie (the author of Zap! Chess Zanzibar) and many others retired.
However here are my feelings about future of chess engines, and the fight that just started between most probably Chessbase engines (Fritz, Shredder, Junior and Hiarcs) and a new era of chess engines that started with Rybka...
First, it's quite obvious to me that Rybka (now Rybka 2.3) is only another one of a long series of chess engines always stronger than each others ! .. I expect the next ones to reach 50, 100 then 200 points more (and maybe more) on the next chess engines elo rating lists, a scale that definitely can't be compared to human elo rating list ! .. Several reasons to this : (1) Chess engines are human killers at standard time controls, but chess engines are far to play perfect chess yet. (2) The way ratings are calculated.
Rybka taught us several things IMO :
- Algorithms and evaluation functions are no more enough. Now chess engines have to play chess, not only search a tree of chess positions... That's probably what Rybka brought to computerchess. Since Fruit 2.1 & Toga II source code is available, and computerchess community is constantly discussing improvements in algorithms, evaluations of positions and new ideas, to implement a chess engine becomes easier so I have no doubt that new very strong chess engines like Rybka will come.
- To become famous, a chess engine must 'also' beat his rivals. I first thought that Rybka was designed to be an engines killer only (at least before to be an analysis tool) with some tricks exploiting most engines weaknesses. No, Rybka is also a great UCI engine, simply stronger and with many options & features. Like Vasik Rajlich, who is engineer and international chess master, you'll have not only to think like an engineer to create such an engine. However I still don't think it is the best analysis tool for correspondence chess, it doesn't play really better chess and in all cases it is not enough. More, Rybka 3, 4, 5 shouldn't influence correspondence chess (maybe even human vs. machine) much... Computerchess influences computerchess first.
It's written sometimes that the strongest chess engines could reach a IM, even GM level at correspondence chess. I definitely disagree with that, at least for the moment (it will take a long time yet), but as chess engines results tend to approach correspondence chess ones (means more and more draws), I do think chess engines have much to learn from correspondence chess players way of thinking, meaning : A more psychological approach, bonus for traps detection. Evaluate moves, not only positions. A more complex search, not 'only' iterative (brute force is definitely useless). No more anti-human style, speculative moves (=weakness, ie. Deep Junior) for speculative results against strongest chess engines, draws are prefered. To avoid positions not understood by the engine. Longer games, closed games (if supported)... Opening books should look like correspondence chess GMs ones (of course according to the engine's style of play) and no more been made of FIDE GM games. A better time management... Future of computerGo may teach to computerchess about some evaluations.
A chess engine must play good moves AND try to win (which is not always the same). It seems Fruit & Rybka play solid and are waiting to exploit their opponent's weaknesses thanks to a better "chess" algorithm/knowledge. As far as I have seen, Shredder & Fritz still have the best 'eye', they see far but fuzzy. Quite the same about Fruit & Toga developped by a great engineer, Fabien Letouzey : Less chess knowledge but an improved algorithm. As for Rybka, a great chess knowledge and probably a smarter algorithm (not better, smarter !) were probably enough already. The future best chess engines will be made by good chess players...
An interesting point is it could be not so easy, maybe even nonsense, to create the best analysis tool that would also obtain the best results against other chess engines. My first prediction is Rybka won't be the top rated chess engine ever, hundreds of new ideas will appear in all parts of chess programming, slowly breaking Rybka secrets, then speed will be a factor again. Deep Fritz, Junior, Fruit or Hydra are most probably the core of the next generations of chess engines... but there's a lot of work yet :)
My two cents.
Mikhail Ruzin (2007-04-11 19:17:20)
Suji. The Swiss Go magazine
http://www.suji.ch/ ...Available for free download.
Graham Wyborn (2007-04-18 06:51:36)
Skip Feature - thank U
Could the (download) button be duplicated next to the new "skip" button. This would save the constant need to scroll / wheel down the page.
Also having pressed "send", why the need to press the "next" button.
Either go straight to the next game or make it part of the prefences so the choice is ours. Some sites do the later. I am the web master on two sites (not related to games or chess), so I imagine the above could be done.
Keep up the good work Thibault, many thanks for a great site!
Thibault de Vassal (2007-04-18 17:18:32)
Next & Download
Hello Graham.
About the (Next) link, the page 'move_send' guarantees to the player the move has actually been sent. It can avoid some complaints. Anyway to skip this page is not easy, you could be redirected to the next game automatically after this page but it could be a bit disagreeable.
Do you use (download) after each move ? .. Just trying to make this part of the window quite 'light'.
Thanks for suggestions.
Graham Wyborn (2007-04-19 08:19:07)
Download
I do not use "download" after each move. But I do often use "download". It is the scrolling / wheeling up & down the screen that seems unnecessary.
Or am I just plane lazy!! :-)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-04-29 23:48:55)
Google searches
Statistics are always instructive, often funny :)
Recently, a few new "magic" keywords appeared to attract Googlers on FICGS website... After 'Yahoo mail problems' and a bunch of other funny ones, it seems a new chess star is born on Google :) .. "Marc Lacrosse" or "Marc Lacrosse Anand ICC" appear many times a day... Another funny one "Rybka 2.3.1 free download" or "Rybka download free" : Dear friends, Rybka is not free for download here, I'm sorry ;)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-06-26 01:35:03)
A guide to Endgames Tablebases
Endgames tablebases fully explained, a great page :
http://horizonchess.com/FAQ/Winboard/egtb.html
* [A.1] What is a endgame tablebase? How do they work? How much stronger will it make my chess program play?
* [A.2] What are the different endgame tablebases formats out there? What are the differences?
* [A.3] Where can I learn more about the endgame table formats?
* [A.4] What are the Chess programs that support endgame tables? Which format do they support?
* [A.5] Where can I get endgame tablebase?
* [A.6] Where can I buy tablebases?
* [A.7] Where can I download tablebases?
* [A.8] How do I generate tablebases on my computer?
* [A.9] How large are the tablebase files? Can I put then all into one directory? Do I have to use a complete set of 5 men tablebases?
* [A.10] Questions about 6 men endgame tablebases. Which are the most useful?
* [A.11] How do I find out which tablebase is corrupted? How do I know the endgame tablebases are working?
* [A.12] What is datacomp.exe? Where can I get it?
* [A.13] How do I get Crafty to work with Endgame tablebases?
* [A.14] How can I get Fritz to use Endgame tablebases?
* [A.15] What is the difference between tablebases download from Dr Hyatt's ftp site and those on the Chessbase endgame turbo CD? Can they be used together?
* [A.16] What are the files ending with .tbs? What about those with nbb and nbw? Do i need both?
* [A.17] Help, the endgame tablebases are not working properly!
* [A.18] Can I use tablebase files in zipped form?
* [A.19] Where can I get a useful graphical browser to view endgame tablebases? What about an online searchable database?
* [A.20] Misc questions
Ivan Pljusnin (2007-08-12 01:41:19)
2 Andrew Stephenson
In fact there is a database of IGAME games in pgn format, about 400000 games. Formally speaking, it is not free: you have to register and buy membership and then you can download it. But somewhere it can be downloaded for free, I remember. If you wish I can give you a link, but I have to find it.
Our administrator does not send our games to MEGA Corre or any other chess databases, I am sure. From this point of view FICGS is much better.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-08-16 14:29:07)
RE[B+T]
Ok, the SGF tag RE[] ie. RE[B+T] or RE[W+R] will be displayed in a few minutes. Available in SGF files (download) and SGF java viewer.
Andrew Stephenson (2007-09-10 21:05:48)
chess engines
Following Thibault's comments about Rybka having changed correpondence chess I purchased the rybka engine. It is a very good program but I dont see how it has affected cc anymore than Fritz. I have used Fritz 8 and 9 extensively for analysis and have until now no experience of other engines. Although I have just downloaded Toga II which is an excellent engine (and free!!) if anyone wants a free engine this is a top program that downloads in seconds and is up there with the commercial programs. I noticed Rybka seems more conservative evaluating positions than Fritz. However it has blind spots. For an example taken from the current chess cafe "Yasser Annotates" (Ivanchuk Seirawan 1990)after 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe 4 Nxe Bc5 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 h5 h6 7 Nf3 Nd7 8 h5 Bh7 9 Bd3 Bxd 10 Qxd Ngf6 11 Bf4 e6 12 0-0-0 Be7 13 c4 b5 Black offers a pawn my reaction is not to take - otb I would never take. Why open the c file for black and grabbing the pawn by Qxb5 looks risky with only 2 pawns to cover the king and open b and c files. Fritz prefers 14 c5 with 14 cxd followed by 15 Kb1 as 2nd choice after 3 minutes ply 15 depth Rybka r chooses 14 cxb cxb then 15 Qxb5?! even after 1 hour at ply 19! In cc I would look at 14cxb and 15 Qxb5 to see if I could survive and win with the extra pawn but working with Fritz it takes but a few minutes to see black has compensation after 15 Qxb5 Nd5. When 16 Be5 gives an inferior endgame for white and 16 Bd2 Rb8 gives an attack for black. The top professionals work with a range of programs Fritz, Junior, Shredder, Hiracs and Rybka to generate ideas. Does anyone have any views on these other program's characteristics?
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-15 12:59:08)
IECG WC 2006 final
As the IECG WC 2006 final just started, this is a good time to end the game. Quite surprising but finally, after 2 or 3 discussions about it, noone solved it and found me (some really looked for though) ;)
Clues were : Playing this year in a world championship final, birthdate (1973-04-13), first FICGS rating (2407, IECG rating), movies (a few players at IECG and FICGS knew about it, the trailer of 'A Clockwork Orange' where the other name is mentioned...
Here is the message I sent to my opponents :
"Dear chessfriends,
That's a real pleasure and honor to play my first IECG WC final with you all. Dinesh, Carlos, Farit, Massimiliano and John, nice to play again :)
I'm 34, single, living in the center of France... I play correspondence chess since 2002, IECG is the place I started with.
I made a few strange movies and videos a few years ago (soon available on the internet) :)
http://www.ficgs.com/psi/download/psi_divx411_vost_720x360.avi
http://www.ficgs.com/psi/download/A_clockwork_orange_2005__teaser.avi
http://www.ficgs.com/psi/download/Aphex_Twin_-_Inkeys_video_clip.avi
I wanted to play correspondence chess under my director's name but I'm now more known in our small CC world as Thibault de Vassal... I'm the webmaster of FICGS - http://www.ficgs.com , another Correspondence Chess Server, where I knew some of you :) .. Sorry about the confusion. I don't know how IECG rules will apply, I hope I can play this tournament anyway.
Best of luck to all !
David Gordh."
TS: Gordon Evans
+---------------------------------+---+----+----+---+---+----+----+------+-----+
|IECG WC-2006-F-00001 1 1 1 1 1 1 | | | |WC 2006 Tournament # 00001 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 | Tot | Plc |
+---------------------------------+---+----+----+---+---+----+----+------|-----|
| 18149 Robson, Nigel ENG 2646 | # | 0,0 | |
| 16702 Sirota, Anatoli AUS 2553 | # | 0,0 | |
| 19142 Pappier, Carlos ARG 2518 | # | 0,0 | |
| 18096 Chovanec, Milan SVK 2508 | # | 0,0 | |
| 15446 Makovsky, Petr CZE 2500 | # | 0,0 | |
| 11273 Blanco, Cesar GUA 2451 | # | 0,0 | |
| 13336 Gordh, David FRA 2443 | # | 0,0 | |
| 17738 De Silva, Dines SRI 2425 | # | 0,0 | |
| 10969 Rocca, Horacio ARG 2422 | # | 0,0 | |
| 17342 Perez, Brigilia PHI 2410 | # | 0,0 | |
| 16273 Fiala, Jaroslav CZE 2406 | # | 0,0 | |
| 13552 Claridge, John WLS 2403 | # | 0,0 | |
| 21524 Balabaev, Farit KAZ 2398 | # | 0,0 | |
| 15174 Massimini Gerbi ITA 2363 | # | 0,0 | |
| 18311 Bendig, Frank GER 2341 | # | 0,0 | |
+---------------------------------+-------------------------------+------+-----+
Rating Average = 2452 Category = 9 Start date: 12.09.2007
I didn't know that I would create FICGS when I registered at IECG and I prefered to use my director's name. I hope you don't mind. Sorry to Igor Khokhlov, Harry Ingersol and Farit Balabaev (I played them under both names).
Best wishes, Thibault
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-16 12:41:31)
Ok :)
Ok, I'll make very soon an update to download a tournament's games in PGN format.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-18 15:55:07)
Major update : New interface !
Hello to all.
You may have noticed that the way to send moves has changed, at least the way by default (you still can choose to play through the old - HTML only - interface by clicking "slow moves" in My games).
Please note that there are no more confirmation pages when using the new Javascript interface, meaning your moves will be sent as soon as you press the Send button. Also Javascript should be activated in your browser, that is generally the case.
Other changes :
- My games display only games where it's your turn, you can change it by clicking 'display all games'.
- It is now possible to download all chess games (PGN format) in a particular tournament, see the bottom of the page.
- To avoid massive forfeits, the number of running games is now limited to 60.
... and hundreds of other small improvements :)
Feel free to report possible bugs or if you have any suggestions. Thanks in advance !
Viktor Savinov (2007-09-18 19:46:44)
download all games
Thanks!
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-18 20:03:22)
download all games
Thanks to you for the good idea :)
Dan Rotaru (2007-09-22 01:16:27)
Games download
Excellent update and new interface, thank you very much Thibault. I really like the new feature which allows to download all games in a particular tournament. On this note it really would be nice to be able to download all one's games in progress. If playing few tournaments in the same time it is not practical to download all of them. Also what about being able to download all the games finished on FICGS from the beginning to date?
Thibault de Vassal (2007-09-22 01:40:25)
Games download
Hello Dan, thanks :)
Did you try this ?
http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=search_games
Also you may try to click the "print" icon at the top of My games page...
Thibault de Vassal (2007-11-03 05:26:32)
Free engines to download
I see that Fruit 2.3.x and Toga II 1.3.x series (and of course Rybka 1.0) are still the best free chess engines to download, quite near Chessbase engines strength.
Shredder 11 seems to be sold with Fritz 10 interface and old 2007 chess games database, a good reason to buy forthcoming Fritz 11 ;) .. I assume that Chessbase will focus on the interface and Chessbase 11 (or.. 10, 12 ?! hard to follow)
Which is the current best free engine to help in correspondence chess games in your opinion ?
Garvin Gray (2007-12-05 11:10:40)
Downloading individual games
I used to be able to download each individual game to my desktop so I could save it and analyse using a chess engine.
In firefox, I cant do that anymore. Each time I try and download an individual game, the window just changes over to the text pgn, instead of downloading the game to the desktop.
I have looked through my tools- options section in firefox and cant solve the problem.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Possible fixes?
Garvin Gray (2007-12-25 05:47:53)
Chess 960 possible problem
Nice Xmas present for you Thibault- a possible server problem :P
Not sure if I am doing something wrong or it is the server.
When I download a Chess 960 game and attempt to start engine analysis through fritz interface, I have only just realised that the downloaded game does not recognise 'Chess 960' or even the traditional version castling.
Only when I set the position up and select the four castling options will the game start analysing castling options.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-01-21 05:18:05)
One way
Hi Wayne, one possible way already (at least for finished games) : you may download the full ficgs chess database, then filter games played by you... anyway you're right, it could be a next update ;)
Garvin Gray (2008-01-21 08:02:03)
database
I have a database of my played and ongoing games in fritz. I just download each game after a few moves and add it to the database and then keep refreshing the game each time a move is made to keep the position and my analysis current.
Hannes Rada (2008-01-28 18:58:35)
Chess, Chinese Chess, Go
Thibault, have you ever tried Chinese Chess ? I've a book about the rules with some games, but I do not have a board. Maybe there is somewhere a Chinese Chess pgrogramm for free download. What do you like more Chess or Go ? Some years ago I tried to study Go, visited a Go Club. I tried to play a few games but did not realy realize what's going on. I was even not in the position to find out if my position is better or worse :-). Shogi - Japanese Chess, and Korean Chess, many chess variants and board games ....
Thibault de Vassal (2008-02-15 14:13:29)
SGF files
Hello Amir, you can download Go games as SGF files [see (download) link at the bottom of the game page] that should be ok to be imported by any Go software (!?). I don't know PANDA-gIGo though...
Alberto Gueci (2008-04-20 21:58:24)
Thanks :-)
Here the games:http://www.spaghettichess.com/Download.html
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-02 16:56:33)
arena
Thanks! I have downloaded it - just need to figure out how to use it - but it looks good
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-13 14:33:15)
Opening books
I think the truth is that a lot of opening books are not always objective and someimes do not give the best lines or give assessments that are not always accurate. Active GM's someimes keep things back for there own use .. which is understandable I suppose. John watson seems to be an exception to this and produces very high quality opening work. The bottom line is you have to check them all IMO. Incidentally I am not sure there is much need to keep databases up to date - I suppose that refers to downloading games from TWIC. Most databases are up dated automatically.
Jason Repa (2008-05-13 15:15:32)
Repa vs Stephenson 1-0
You don't know any professional chess players Stephenson. Who are you trying to kid here? You don't even know that the word is "download" not "down load", and "database", not "data base", lol. This is the problem with a mental midget mindlessly trusting machines, as you are doing with the spelling software. It is for this reason it was so easy to beat you in chess. I only had to outplay a machine, not outsmart a human who has the ability to THINK.
If you're such a "whiz" at correspondence chess, as you keep trying to convince me, and have such wonderful databases, why did I beat you? I think saying that I beat you is even a bit of an understatement. It was more like a slaughter!
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-16 18:32:40)
ELO ELO
"I was talking about updating the database with current theory and critical lines. " So what are you doing if not examining the latest games played and what better source is there than TWIC? How do you examine these if not downloading and filtering out the openings you are interested in by high rated players? Anything else is going to be taking other peoples selections eg New In chess opening surveys or subscribing to a chess opening service. Even then the best way of keeping a database up to date is with TWIC.
Benjamin Block (2008-05-25 15:38:13)
New idea
Hi, Thibault It is very nice with the filter game search. Is it possible to filter the game in "download all games". I want this because i download the games and put it in my openingsbook but i get bad games too. :( Have a nice week end! Benjamin
Thibault de Vassal (2008-05-25 18:35:36)
Download filter
The "download all games" link is actually a real file '.pgn' (much faster) while the search function is a PHP filter, anyway you can download all games then filter with a dedicated software like Chessbase.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-07-23 14:00:26)
MoGo vs. Human
In 1997 Janice Kim (1 dan) beat Handtalk, then the strongest Go program, despite giving the program a 25-stone handicap.
On Thursday, August 7, Kim MyungWan 8p will play MoGo, probably the world's strongest computer Go program. MoGo will be running on a supercomputer boasting over 3,000 processor cores !! The game will be broadcast live on KGS - http://www.gokgs.com/download.xhtml
The human is "8p", meaning 8-dan professional; not quite 3 stones stronger than a 1d pro player, who in turn would give an amateur 1d at least 6 stones. Edward Lasker said that 3 stones handicap at Go is comparable to knight odds at chess.
Benjamin Block (2008-07-30 12:34:34)
Ficgs games.
It works in chessbase light. You can download it free on. www.chessbase.com
Don Groves (2008-08-25 06:06:34)
Downloading pgn files
Salut, Thibault -- It seems now that we have to download each game of a tournament separately. It would be nice if we could download all six pgn files with a single command. What do you (and others) think? Or does this already exist and I am the only one in the dark.
Don Groves (2008-08-26 06:18:01)
That's a step...
... in the right direction, thanks. I'd really like to download just the games from a new tournament, I already have the others. I suppose I could delete the ones I already have though...
Josef Riha (2008-09-29 19:32:36)
Hallo Wayne,
it's a little difficult, I believe.
Start Fritz and then change to the Database(the very right icon in the iconbar). Then click New Database. In the dialogue enter the name, e.g.: FICGS.cbh and open it. Remember the directory displayed at top.
Now go to your ficgs site and download your games in that directory.
After this load one game after the other and save them as New Game. That's all.
Wayne Lowrance (2008-09-30 00:14:59)
ownloading ficgs games
thank you Josef. My problem is I see no way to download ficgs games, that is my problem, the rest of the stuff i know. wayne
Josef Riha (2008-09-30 02:17:46)
Re: ownloading
No problem, at the bottom of each game you find a link to download(after the two enter fields for comments).
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2008-09-30 19:29:45)
Maybe use Chessbase 8-9-10 or light
The problem is Fritz is not designed as database you have more flexibility using Chessbase. After downloading the game ( it is saved as pgn ) You need to open that game and choose File-Save As- Here you are given the choice to save the game to a database of your choice, for example, lets create My FICGS games, open Chessbase, File-New Database-and create your database in any place you want, generally My documents-Chessbase-etc. So after you have created your database open the downloaded game , again I suggest open it with Chessbase, and choose File-Save As- and put it in the database we created My FICGS games, voila. In Fritz creating a database takes 2 more clicks. First go to File-Open database or F12 then in that window choose File-New database or Ctrl+X , and the the same procedure as above. Choose your path , name it, then open your downloaded game(s)and Save As, choose the database of your preferences. Even in chessbase light this is possible, but the number of games in each database is restricted to 50,000 I believe. Hope this helps
Benjamin Block (2008-09-30 19:32:15)
Download all ficgs.com games!
Press on "Search games" (in left)
Now you can see in the top your name under there you can see Chess and "ALL games (PGN)" /Benjamin
Wayne Lowrance (2008-09-30 22:15:05)
Download ficgs games
Thanks to all for the help, very nice and helpfull. Now let me see if I can do it Wayne
Thibault de Vassal (2008-10-01 20:28:43)
Download "My" ficgs.com games
I still have to add a button to download only "My" games... this is in the 'wish list'.
Normajean Yates (2008-11-04 03:43:33)
Rodolfo, this is not n queens prob!
1. 5 queens prob [none attacking any other] on 5x5 board has ZERO solutions, as is easy to see.
2. n queens problem - fast solution, all solutions, all solutions excluding symmetry etc. is routine exercise after teaching back tracking in a programming course. Also, writing recursive program in lisp, tail recursive program, program with function being called with itself as a parameter [in untyped languages - otherwise you get 'infinite type' error], lazy-eval-function-program [typically for Haskell] - are routine exercises for leaerning a new fundamentally different language for experienced programmers.
BUT I DO NOT SEE THE RELEVANCE OF THE N QUEENS PROBLEM HERE! WE ARE DISCUSSION 5X5 COMPETITIVE CHESS WITH START-POS rnbqk/ppppp/8/PPPPP/RNBQK w Qq !
nxn queens is 2 minutes programming exercise! Writing a good engine for above is a big project!
Continuing the topic of engines for above (nowadays called Gardner minichess) - we also need some endgame tablebases. That should not be difficult: modifying source code of nalimov tablebase generators. [download tbgen.c - or is it cc (c++)? I have the source - it is GPL anyway...
We are not talking about future ficgs things - we are discussing a point of some academic interest, that is all.
Ben Milton (2008-11-05 14:51:33)
opening book
I have downloaded the games played on playchess and was wondering how i could make an opening book based on them?
Benjamin Block (2008-11-05 15:14:48)
Build openingsbook in fritz 11.
1.You need to extract the files first.
2.Start the program fritz 11.
3.Press edit->Openingsbook->Import games.
4.Choose the extracktet files.
5.Take 1-????? if you want all. ????=the highest nummber. (you get it in the start.
6.Choose how many moves you want in every game. MAX 100.
7.Press "ok".
You can say thanks by giving me the links you download the games.
Benjamin Block (2008-11-05 16:40:58)
I think i see.
What you want is a new openingsbook with nothing!
1.Press File->New->Openingsbook... (skift+ctrl+alt+F11)
2.Choose a good name.
3.Start on 3 in the other message.
4.Please answer my question where i can download the games.
Ben Milton (2008-11-06 16:47:28)
Downloading games
Is there a way to download all the long games (non blitz, bullet, etc) above the rating of 2200? Im sure a very strong opening book can be made from that considering that most of the people use engines here...
Ben Milton (2008-11-06 19:50:27)
!
Thanks for the reply but i am already familiar with that. I was referring to this site... So what alternatives are there? chose top games and download pgn 1 by 1?
Ben Milton (2008-11-07 08:16:25)
filter...
could you explain a bit more by what you mean by filter? More importantly can someone tell me how to download the games...
Thibault de Vassal (2008-11-07 10:30:11)
Downloading games
Did you try 'Search games' on the menu ?
http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=search_games
Here you can download all games or search by player (and rating) or opening...
Ben Milton (2008-11-08 05:55:12)
:)
Oh i see, I typed "sicilian" instead of e4 c5 :) Is there a way to download all those games at the same time?
Rodolfo d Ettorre (2008-11-08 10:03:24)
Games ...
What I do is to download ALL the games and I use a freeware chess database tool called SCID to get the games with the opening I want.
Thibault de Vassal (2008-11-08 23:52:27)
Correction
I wrote previously : "Here you can download all games or search by player (and rating) or opening..." -> I meant : "Here you can download all games or search by player or opening (and rating)..."
Consequently (to Ben) you can download all (minus hashtables) sicilian games played by players rated over 2000 this way.
Normajean Yates (2008-11-09 04:26:24)
Rodolfo, I do *exactly* the same thing!
"What I do is to download ALL the games and I use a freeware chess database tool called SCID to get the games with the opening I want." - I do *exactly* that!
Specially, the newer versions of scid are *very* convenient! [I am using scid 3.6.23 - but 3.6.26 is available I checked.]
Normajean Yates (2008-11-10 00:10:05)
to Ben Milton -
You can download *all* chess games ever played at ficgs [well that pgn file is not fully up-to-date, but ...].
And then filter with scid.
That is what Rodolfo, Thibault, and I meant..
Do you want *more* spoonfeeding? ;)
Normajean Yates (2008-11-10 00:22:58)
more spoonfeeding to Ben Milton..
Go to 'Search Games'.
You see your name on top.
then, a line. ----------------. like this.
Below the line, you can see:
CHESS All games (PGN)
If you are using Microsoft Windows, right-click on 'All games (PGN)'.
[I do not think that, with the amount of spoonfeeding, you need, linux is suitable for you o:) ]
After that, if you *still* do not know what to do, pray to God. But there is no God! :(
Download-managers are not for Ben
They'll put too much stren on his bren. ;)
Thibault de Vassal (2008-11-16 19:43:10)
Jacques Brel
Hi Don. Don't you have the complete Jacques Brel collection yet ? :)
Maybe there are some rare live performances to download on the p2p...
Don Groves (2008-11-24 23:43:22)
To Michel & Thibault
I am thinking of doing something to have that information readily available -- possibly a spreadsheet. I agree it's something we need but, as Thibault says, it will very likely be up to our own brains to provide it ;-)
So, Thib, it would help to create a spreadsheet if we could download our games in a format that provides the info in raw form, similar to PGN. Is this asking too much?
Don Groves (2008-11-26 05:11:13)
Spreadsheet
I'd like to design my own "poker viewer" using Excel (or the equivalent) by reading in a file of plays and displaying the data in a useful format.
If you could just make the plays and the cards dealt at each turn available as a downloadable file, I'll do the rest.
It doesn't matter that there is no standard file format yet. Who knows, yours could eventually become the standard!
Clearly, fame and fortune are only two steps away ;-)
Don Groves (2008-11-26 23:09:47)
Spreadsheet
The download would only apply to hands that end with a showdown and would only be available after the hand was finished. So no info about hole cards would be available until then.
I can do this without a download file but that means taking the time to record every bet/call/raise and the cards themselves and this info is already available to you.
Maybe on the back burner for when you have nothing to do <ha-ha, some joke, right?>
Matteo Tognela (2008-12-25 16:56:46)
Small Linux script - pgn to clipboard
I know it's not of vital importance... but looking for some more automatic way to copy to clipboard the moves from a game window, say to be pasted into db software, I I've written this little bash script. (this requires xclip to be installed; for the rest I make reference to gnome&firefox, but it should work also in other environments)
#!/bin/bash
#content of grabpgn
xclip -i -selection clipboard $1
exit
...chmode +x grabpgn, and then associate the extension pgn to be opened with it (in gnome it's quite easy, but for sure there's some conf file where you can do it manually)
Then from a game window, click the "download" button, and in the dialog box, select "open" and check "always perform this action on similar files".
Done! now when you hit "Download" you end up with the game in your clipboard, ready to be pasted wherever you want.
(you can still download it with a right click on the link)
Francisco Gramajo (2009-03-30 02:40:35)
I played in a lot of places...
fulltiltpoker, pokerstars are just fine, but long way from pdcpoker. Remember: I will pay you $5 just for download the software, create your account and start playing real money (tables starting from $0.01/.02 blinds). If you make your first deposit you going to receive full refund up to $600. With more than 20 years of playing video poker and now like 8 years playing thru the internet, gives me the authority to tell you. http://Pokarito.friends.pdcpoker.com Is the best!
Normajean Yates (2009-04-15 21:32:20)
needed earlier is bigchess viewer..
Before that, we need a bigchess-pgn- viewer (simple, one game bigchess-pgn, no side-variations) :)
Also, an offline bigchess-pgn-viewer (available for download) would be most welcome...
M. Thibault, please add to (big)chessfriends' wish-list ;)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-04-29 21:12:36)
Player games search
You may use the right-click "open in a new window" for each game... or download the FICGS database (in Search games - by the way you may use Search games by specifying the name of your opponent) then view the games in Chessbase or.. or.. :)
Normajean Yates (2009-06-19 05:42:42)
Lynx? needs cursor keys. Old lynx!
or violawww! graphics and point-and-click browsers are for wimps; you want to others download graphics uuencode them and let people download them using gopher! ...
Vjacheslav Perevozchikov (2009-08-12 13:52:43)
All games (PGN)
Hi, Thibaul, when will be updated «All games (PGN)» available? Now we can download version from «Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:24:09 GMT». It's rather old ;)
William Taylor (2010-06-11 15:08:41)
FICGS chess database
Hi Thib,
Would it be possible to make 2 options - a database with only correspondence games, and one including bullet/blitz/lightning/freestyle cup? (Or a database just of those games.) I think it's a good idea to have a database without them, but I for one would like the option of downloading them.
Will
Thibault de Vassal (2009-11-04 16:58:01)
Advanced games (blitz) : improvements
Hi all,
You probably noticed that there was many forfeits in advanced games as :
1) Many new players try it but do not read the instructions.
2) The system is not efficient enough to warn the players when a game starts.
The facts :
a) When you enter a waiting list for an advanced (blitz, lightning, bullet) game, you HAVE to withdraw before leaving, or the game may start without you - the way to do it may not be clear enough.
b) When you challenge a player, you may leave the computer, the system will not start the game without you (or in rare cases).
The idea of FICGS is to provide a web interface without any software to download, consequently everything is not possible... Now it only opens a pop up (if possible) & sends an email when a game starts, and it updates the page if you are in My Games.
Possible improvements :
1) To add a sound or voice message when a game starts.
2) To close advanced games waiting lists :/
3) ...
Well, it looks like I need some ideas. Anybody help ? :)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-11-19 13:23:38)
Chessbase & FICGS
I don't think so, but you may download your games (or the complete FICGS chess database) and open it in Chessbase.
Rodolfo d Ettorre (2009-12-06 00:33:26)
BasmanSale defence . ..
I downloaded long time ago from that website most of the zip files and the reports in pdf. These are:
BasmanSale-extended-05.2007.zip
BasmanSale-pure-05.2007.zip
Basman-Sale-reports-052007.zip
I could send the to anyone or put them in any repository .....
Philip Roe (2009-12-10 04:14:35)
Rodolfo
So although you say that you downloaded Marcs notes some time ago, you may have the latest version in existence. Perhaps you could forward it to Thibault and he can create a space for it.
It looks as if Marc put substantial effort into collecting it, and did intend some form of publication.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-12-14 21:43:53)
XFCC
I remember this question on this forum, maybe one year ago. I can't remember why I decided to be lazy again :)
I downloaded the specification, I'll look at it within a few days/weeks.
Thanks for the reminder!
Wayne Lowrance (2009-12-29 00:56:03)
Rybka demise
Howdy all. I feel like voicing my opinion of Vas and Rybka. I honestly feel his hold on the chess community has weakened to the point of breaking. He has his problems. His source code apparently has been compromized. This has led him to not releasing a Rybka3+ as promised. The release of Rybka4 is very cloudy. Then there is this cloud Rybka internet rentel thing that is supported by no one it seems, me for sure.
Anyways this is just back drop for recent developments in free software engines that are very strong and are pushing R3 in ratings. I am thinking about the following engines, that I have downloaded and find very interesting AND strong :
Stockfish 1.6
Brite 0.4A
Spark 0.3
I have minimal experience with these engines. I just want all my friend here on FICGS to be aware of them and if interested they can download them and be on equal footing. My wish is for better chess and I have no ambition to have secret progams.
The important thing I feel is that the loss of Rybka engine does not put much of dent in play quality. It was gonna happen sooner or later, and now it seems sooner.
My honest evaluation today is that Rybka3 still provides the best insite to best mid game play.
I want to put in a word for Zappa. I fairly often use Zappa as my CC engine partner because of better end game analysis. Rybka has no peer in mid game analysis. Well I share these thought with you all for what it may be worth. Best 2010 Cheers. Wayne
William Taylor (2009-12-29 15:49:17)
Rybka demise
Thanks Wayne - an interesting post. I've downloaded Stockfish and am currently testing it against Rybka - 50% so far. While searching for the engines you mentioned I came across an engine called RobboLito (and Ippolit and Igorrit which are similar I believe). Opinion seems to be divided as to whether or not it is a Rybka clone, and how strong it is. Is this what you were referring to when you said Rybka's code may have been compromised? Any opinion on RobboLito?
Wayne Lowrance (2009-12-29 18:40:55)
Rybka demise
William, wow, These are new engines for me, I will look for them.
On cloning, Stockfish is not the engine cloned as for as I know. There are two other engines for which I have downloaded because the moderators of the Rybka forum have deleted all reference to them, including engine name and download site. Vas has admitted that one in particuliar is a clone and the cloning programmer had discussions with Vas letting him know what he was doing, very interesting. Since both these engines are free downloadable making the source code available for all other programmers. It is common on the forum discussions about R3 source code being compromised. Thank you for sharing your Stockfish- Rybka testing results. What time control are your test run. Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2009-12-29 19:58:13)
RobbaLito
Wow, I cannot keep up with all the improved downloadable engines. LobboLite I do not have and was not aware of it, before it was mentioned in response to my earlier post. gracious :) CC chess is the better for it. It gives latitude for Centaur personality/engine team work. So maybe CC chess will not be so determinate in the near future.
Wayne
William Taylor (2010-01-04 18:35:41)
Rodolfo
I haven't managed to get hold of anything other than the Basman-Sale index page, so I second Philip's request for you to make the files you downloaded generally available somehow. Perhaps Thib could host them - or if not then maybe you could upload them to some site like rapidshare?
Zholy Zhou (2010-01-29 03:22:40)
make cool 3D flash banners for website
Recently I've been asked by a friend who wants to make a 3D flash banner for his website of wedding business. Many people included me thought that making a 3D flash banner is a very difficult thing for those who don't know flash skills, but I should say it's not like what you think if you have got a 3D flash banner making software Aneesoft 3D Flash Gallery.
This article will show you how to create a cool 3D flash banner without Adobe Flash. A viewer can click on the banner to be transported to your website. You can use it on your own website to present your products or services. Also flash banners can be used to market your website as a banner ad on another website. A flash banner is much more attractive than still images. I bet you'll be agree with me if you see the 3D flash banner.
What you'll need:
1. Digital photos and background music for 3D flash banner
2. Aneesoft 3D Flash Gallery(http://www.aneesoft.com/win-3d-flash-gallery.html)
Step 1: Download & install Aneesoft 3D Flash Gallery
We'll be using a very nice 3D flash banner making software 'Aneesoft 3D Flash Gallery' to making a cool flash banner for wedding websites, head over here and download the free trial version(http://www.aneesoft.com/download/win/aneesoft-3d-flash-gallery.exe). Next step is to install the program.
Step 2: Import wedding photos, add captions, edit photos
You can add up to 500 photos that you want to use in your flash banner, type in caption and arrange the photos here. 3D Flash Gallery supports a wide range of file formats for images, such as .jpg, .bmp, .gif. You're able to add hyperlink for each photo of your flash banner to be transported to your website.
Step 3: Choose from a variety of flash banner templates
3D Flash Gallery offer you an easy way to make a cool flash banner by choosing from variety of flash banner templates. A flash banner template automatically put preset decoration to your flash banners. When you select a preset banner template, you're able to enhance it by customizing some additional settings, such as background, thumbnail effects, playback options and scrolling actions. For the adventurous users, explore the powerful advanced features and tools that gives you total control over how you compose your flash banners.
Step 4: Add some background music files to flash banner
In this step, you can add background music files to play along with your flash banner. To do so, click Add Music button to browse and add your music files. You can add, remove and edit the music files. And you may check the option to control the background music looping or not.
Step 5: Preview and publish your cool 3D flash banners
It is advisable that you preview the 3D flash banner at least once, before your publish it. Click and drag mouse for scrolling and tilting the 3D flash banner. Click on the thumbnail to zoom in and out the photos. You have several options to share and publish your 3D photo gallery. It depends on your needs.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-02-10 23:33:26)
Download RobboLito
Here is the link to download RobboLito at FICGS, I'll add Igorrit & Ippolit when I'll find some time...
http://www.ficgs.com/Download-RobboLito-0085g3-f5841.html
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 (2010-04-01 00:16:00)
Download 6 pieces tablebases
It would probably be a good idea to gather links where to download 3,4,5 & 6 pieces tablebases. Just found this one :
http://tablebase.sesse.net
Do you know any others?
Daniel Parmet (2010-04-05 02:14:15)
Download 6 pieces tablebases
how does one actually download this? And how do you get it to work with your chessbase?
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-05 03:06:17)
Download 6 pieces tablebases
Bob Hyatt page, goggle for url
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-05 03:22:11)
How to check tablebases integrity
Thibault, do not waste your time trying to generate them, you won't live long enough. download them at sesse.com
You need 1 terribyte to down load them all. and takes over a year I am informed.
I just started downloading lil over a month ago and have about 25 poitions total downloaded and working.
Please, a word of caution at Sesse download site. He will not allow hardware accelerators (whatever they are). DO NOT download more than a file at a time. You will get blocked.
Thibault I have not used 6 man bases yet.
Caution: Do not have your engine loaded/running when downloading, otherwise expect engine crashing.
I pass on to those interested a decent list of 50 bases to downoad.
Been at this one month +/- so as I learn I will pass on.
Wayne
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-05 03:43:53)
How to check tablebases integrity
Thibault, Oh yea. I recommended after downloading all of the files pertaining to a egtb position check it out on your engine B4 proceeding to the next position download.
Wayne
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-05 13:03:41)
How to check tablebases integrity
Thanks for all these informations Wayne! Actually I'm not sure if I will start to download it before a few months/years more, but it may be useful for others meanwhile.
Wayne Lowrance (2010-04-05 18:08:19)
How to check tablebases integrity
Okey Dokey Thibault, no problem. I only ask that those interested and use Sesse download site that they respect it with his wishes. That I have aready cautioned. He maintains this site at his own expense.
He had probem with abuse in the past i understand and has said he would pull the plug, if any further abuse, So I myself am very grateful and and I am very carefull about hogging the server bandwidth,
Wayne
Xavier Pichelin (2010-04-13 12:59:03)
RYBKA 4 UCI available in May
Forum Rybka :De Vasik Rajlich Date 2010-04-11 07:47 Some information about Rybka 4:
- Rybka 4 will be a normal UCI engine, without copy protection, and will be available in the first part of May.
- There will be separate single-processor and multi-processor versions.
- Full chess analysis packages which include Rybka 4 will be made by ChessBase (www.chessbase.com) and Convekta/ChessOK (www.chessok.com).
- Plain Rybka 4 UCI without GUI for download only will be available from RybkaChess (www.rybkachess.com).
- All of these versions of Rybka 4 will be identical and can be used in any UCI-compliant GUI.
- The Rybka 4 book by Jiří Dufek will be available as a separate item from both ChessBase and Convekta. The two versions of the book will be 'essentially identical', although in different formats.
- Rybka 4 book compatibility will work as follows:
* ChessBase software users will require the ChessBase version of the book.
* Aquarium users can use either version of the book.
* Other software users are encouraged to upgrade their chess software.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-14 18:23:11)
Firebird, Ivanhoe vs. Rybka
Most are available there:
http://www.chesslogik.com
RobboLito & Firebird there:
http://www.ficgs.com/Download-Firebird-1.2-f7379.html
http://www.ficgs.com/Download-RobboLito-0085g3-f5841.html
Daniel Parmet (2010-04-15 07:56:42)
Download 6 pieces tablebases
http://www.newinchess.com/Gold_Nalimov_Tablebases_set-p-2231.html
Francesco Romeo (2010-04-18 07:26:55)
RobboLito vs. Rybka 3
download RobboLito vs. Rybka 3 games in pgn
Wayne Lowrance (2010-05-16 21:42:34)
Quick review Chess Engines
Howdy, Rybka 4 Beta 5 is out for beta testing. It is much too early to draw conclusions regarding elo strength. So far it is not looking great.
Many of the bugs from R3 are at present in R5 beta. For example the tablebase bug, bishop under promotion still not fixed, 5.04/5.12 bug tree search is reportedly still there.
In addition It is said to have severe time problem.
This is a summary of what I have been reading. But, these reports are beta remember. So R4 may still be top program after release.
In the mean time Stockfish and fire are 2 programs that are right there with rybka3 and maybe a little stronger. On my computer testing R3 is still tops.
Now, there is a new program, Houdini is available. I downloaded it this morning and have been running eng-eng matches with R3, 2 threads. So far Houdini is holding it's own. You can download the program here.
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm
I think CC players now have many equally strong engines available to help with their Centaur abilities and should be interesting to see the progressions Wayne
Ruben Comes (2010-07-30 18:40:57)
Invitation visit my Blog
Hi all!
In it blog we have links for download games, tutorials, articles and more.
http://www.computerschess.blogspot.com/
George Clement (2010-08-08 00:19:40)
PGN files
Is it possible to put your games into a pgn file and download it to your computer, if so how do you do it?
Thibault de Vassal (2010-08-15 00:27:46)
ICCF games database
Hi all,
Does anyone know if it is possible (& where) to download a database of all or quite recent games played at ICCF?
Thanks in advance!
Daniel Parmet (2010-09-24 09:51:02)
whole database transfers madfe simple
Step one.
Click on 'search games'
Step two.
At the top you will see 'all games (pgn)' click on this to download.
Step three.
Use whatever program you have to open this file (chessbase, chess assistant, scid, etc).
Step four.
Filter this file by your name.
Step five.
Copy all the games you have here into a new pgn.
Step 6.
Run Rybka.
Wayne Lowrance (2010-09-26 20:46:49)
whole database transfers made simple
Is this what your talking about ?
How to import my Chess games in a chess database ?
There are several ways to import your chess games played at FICGS in a chess database like Chessbase or SCID. 1) You may download the complete FICGS correspondence chess database: Click "Search games" in the menu, right click & save "All games (PGN)". Import the file in your database, then you may filter the games by using your name. 2) You may create a PGN file by going to "My games" (please use the chess filter, click the rook icon if you also play Go or Poker, you may also select pending, running or all games) then clicking the printer icon. You just have to copy/paste the content of the new page into a new text file, then importing it in your chess database. 3) You may download the PGN file of a particular game or tournament, right click and save the "download" link at the bottom of
Do you mean "left mouse click" if I right click I get Link copy options, none of which seem to do what I want. I do not see a way to save "all games pgn" in any case which is what has stopped me for days. Left mouse click copies all database to where i want to open, Ie scid (which I cannot figure out either), notebad, but i see no filtering capability in notepad. So I do not know how/able to do "Import the file in my database" as your instructions say, sorry Thib, I am a pain in the butt. can you clear these things up for me ? especially your step 1.
Garvin Gray (2010-11-07 11:23:10)
rybka 4 opening book
Hello all,
I downloaded the Rybka 4 opening book and have had no end of problems trying to make it work.
I have read the rybka forums on adaptors and how to install, but they make about as much sense to me as a foreign language does.
I have contacted chessok and now am in back and forth emails about this topic and my dis-satisfaction with the products.
Is someone able to explain how to get the rybka 4 opening book to work in aquarium and Fritz 12 in really simple language. No coding please.
Scott Nichols (2011-01-26 18:41:45)
Houdini 1.5 leads TCEC comp. chess tourn
Is there a place to download the games?
Kamesh Nookala (2011-02-05 13:21:55)
Segregation of Games on this Server
Dear all,
In my opinion, it would be really useful to get the games segregated month-wise or two months-wise (as the ratings and database gets updated once in two months). As of today, whenever we try to download games and update the database, we happen to download all the previously downloaded games, as it has a collective bunch, and then delete the already downloaded games by doubles check.
Regards,
Kam
Kamesh Nookala (2011-02-06 04:14:32)
Segregation of Games on this Server
Thib,
I will tell why i face the difficulty with my database. I have one single database, which is a collection of games from everywhere, be it Correspondence or be it games from playchess. Then, whenever i download games, i happen to merge them into my main single database. Everytime, i have to run a doubles check.
There is also a funny thing which i noticed. The game file for these games from FICGS is always chess.pgn. I have to create a new DB with crap name (remember: not identical to any name of the DB from which i earlier merged games to my single DB, reason is though the games are different, based on the import database name, the games will be marked doubles) and then merge them to the single DB. Again filtering applies. So, we can help you a bit with ideas to create a collection of games, as I hope everyone deletes the LINE games, which are still underway :)
Thibault de Vassal (2011-03-15 14:08:19)
ChessVibes openings (get 10 issues free)
For correspondence chess fans who like to follow the openings theory, I just received an interesting offer from ChessVibes that I copy/paste here:
__________
Dear correspondence chess lovers,
First, we'd like to thank the administrator of this forum for giving us the opportunity to showcase our product which is especially interesting for this audience, we think. So, here we go:
Subscribe to ChessVibes Openings and get ten issues for free!
Which openings are hot in top level chess? Which are not? Receive the latest opening novelties right in your mailbox with ChessVibes Openings, a weekly PDF magazine (+ PGN!) covering the latest openings news, co-authored by International Masters Merijn van Delft and Robert Ris and published by ChessVibes since January 2009. If you subscribe and mention 'ficgs' in an email to us, you'll receive the last ten issues for free!
What is it?
Every issue consists of a PDF Magazine and the accompanying PGN file. The PDF consists of four pages (A4 size) with the following contents:
- What’s hot? A round-up of this week’s important opening developments, with statistics about the frequence and score of the week’s most important opening novelty (page 1)
- What’s not? Which openings are not recommended at the moment, according to the top players? And why not? (page 1)
Game of the week Each week you’ll find the theoretically most important game analysed by our two IMs, with a detailed survey of the opening phase (page 2).
- This week’s harvest Four more new important opening ideas from this week (page 3) revealed and described with explanation of the opening and early middlegame (page 3).
- It’s Your Move An interactive element: every week two exercises, of which the solutions/explanations will follow one week later. This will improve your understanding of certain opening, middlegame or even endgame themes even further.
Which opening variations have been discussed so far?
You can download an index in PDF here.
http://www.chessvibes.com/plaatjes/cvo/CVO_index_114.pdf
More info & subscribe: You can find more information about ChessVibes Openings, and subscribe, at:
http://www.chessvibes.com/openings/
By subscribing you would join several GMs and IMs, who have responded very positively to our relatively new chess magazine!
Best regards,
Peter Doggers
Editor-in-chief,
ChessVibes
P.S.
If you subscribe and mention 'ficgs' in an email to us at info {at} chessvibes.com, you'll receive the last ten issues for free!
Thibault de Vassal (2011-03-31 19:50:04)
Segregation of Games on this Server
Finally, I just made a small update to solve this problem, now you may download chess finished games by 2 months periods, see:
http://www.ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=search_games#chess_database
Please report bugs if any... Thanks!
Don Groves (2011-10-17 00:47:50)
One more request
Salut, Thib:
At the bottom of a tournament page is a "download all games" button. Could you add a "download my games" button which would download only one person's games from the tournament?
Jimmy Huggins (2011-11-28 10:38:22)
WBCCC 2 sign up and WBCCC 1 review
After an exciting WBCCC 1, Own Champion ppipper (José Sanz) wins with a finally score of 7.5 out 10. FICGS top players were in a tied for 2nd with Timothy Cookson, Sebastian Boehme, and Ruben Comes. Credit also has to go to David Evans who had ppipper as White in the last game. And went all out to beat him. In the end Jose pulled out the win with black. For those interested I highly recommend you read this article. About the champion talked about his tournament games.
http://www.chesscafe.com/chessok/chessok.htm
Now I wanted to go a head and open up the sign up for the 2nd edition of WBCCC and tell everyone about the improvements and add ons.
The first major improvement on WBCCC is that it will have a simple to use conditional move system. With our easy downloadable client we use. There is also going to be a 2nd tournament for those who prefer a little more time than own standard tournament of 30days per side. In the 2nd tournament that is going to be called Rybka Forum Grand Prix. Is going to be 30day for the first 40 moves and 30 days Sudden Death after that. So basically you get 30 more days for 40 moves on your clock. Now here is a few more things to know about the tournament. After each move, if you request it. You can have your move noticed to you by email. This is good for the busy person who doesn't check the game forums all the time. The other thing added to the tournament is that there will be a file on hand for everyone to check to see what sites everyone plays on it a head of time. This is good for guys who like to prepare for there opponent. As for other fun things offered. I finalize with chesspublishing.com that they will help for own best game per round and the winners will get there games analyzed by the top players there and will publish them on the forum. Which I can expand to here and the other forums I promote at. For some were scared of the time control, but in truth we only had 2 games time out, but this was because they left there games. Which was a disappointment, but 2 games over a whole tournament was very good! If you maybe interested, but are unsure about the time. I recommend talking to me and when can have a test game to see if you can handle it. Most know with in a week or 2 if they can do it or not. Thanks for the support of Thib and everyone that played this year and anyone that will try this next year!
Jimmy
Juri Eintalu (2022-07-13 09:45:36)
RUSSIA AND BELARUS NOT SUSPENDED?
The ICCF Statutes webpage provides a new Statute, valid from 9th May 2022.
www.iccf.com/message?message=449
Article 17 contains a new sentence now:
"The Executive Board is empowered by Congress to propose suspension or dismissal of member federations for non-financial reasons."
Thus, the ICCF has also made a decision to suspend Russia and Belarus.
Thus, it seems that the ICCF Congress has calculated as follows:
34/(34 + 13) = 34/47 = 0.72 = 72%
It means that the "abstained" 13 voters have not been taken into account.
But who voted how, who remained neutral, who was missing, etc.?
Article 12 says the following:
"Amendments to the statutes require a vote of the general assembly, called the Congress, and a majority of two thirds of the members present or represented."
However, that Extraordinary Congress was online.
Finally, the downloadable table has other pages providing more detailed information. Thus, there is information that Estonian representative Jüri Kuusik did not "attend" the online congress.
The meanings of the terms "present", "represented", "attended", and "abstained" have remained unclear, which makes the manipulations possible.
Clarity is missing around that issue and on the ICCF homepage.
Thibault de Vassal (2012-12-21 00:56:41)
Chess Server Team Tournament
Dear chessfriends,
I just received this proposition to play a "Chess Server Team Tournament" that would be played on ICCF web server:
Any opinion? Who would be interested to play such a tournament?
____________________________
Dear Thibault!
In recent years many friendly matches between different chess servers have been played. It has become a good tradition to organize such matches. A very good idea is to organize a round-robin tournament to find out the strongest team of a chess server.
We invite a team of your server to take part in the first unofficial correspondence chess championship for chess servers.
The championship is unofficial, because ICCF Officials do not head it.
The Organizer and Tournament Director is Pavlikov Andrey Nikolaevich who is experienced in organizing and directing both domestic (Russian) and international correspondence chess tournaments.
Invitations have been sent to administrators of the following chess servers:
Bestlogic – http://www.bestlogic.ru/
Chesshere – http://www.chesshere.com/
FICGS – http://www.ficgs.com/
GameKnot – http://gameknot.com/
LSS – http://www.chess-server.net/
SchemingMind – http://www.schemingmind.com/
Chess Planet – http://chessplanet.ru/pages/game-zone (to play chess on this server one must have a client program which is free to download at main page of the site)
If you have a proposal to add any chess server, it will be taken in consideration.
Regulations of the event
http://www.mocorrchess.narod.ru/wccstc/en/regen.html
Information on the event may be seen at http://www.mocorrchess.narod.ru/wccstc/wccstc.html
Best wishes, Andrey Pavlikov,
Russian Correspondence Chess Association Vice-President,
The Organizer of the event
Garvin Gray (2013-05-20 14:23:01)
Eros Riccio on his win in 8th chess WCH
I looked up chessflash, but could not see a pc type download. Only for mobiles by the looks of it.
So I am so confused. What do you mean by flash in this context?
John Dyson (2013-07-07 14:37:07)
Download
Can anyone tell me how to download chess games from this site in words a 3yo can understand please? I have Chessbase if that's a help.
Garvin Gray (2013-07-07 14:46:16)
Download
Click on search games on the left hand side.
The scroll down till you see chess games, then right click and choose your save location.
John Dyson (2013-07-07 15:12:58)
Download
Thanks a lot Garvin. That was brilliant!
Thibault de Vassal (2013-07-15 14:01:50)
Download
There may be a few errors in some games... I have to fix some things there yet :/
Garvin Gray (2013-12-05 01:44:30)
WBCCC 2014 Entries Open
Entries for WBCCC 2014 are now open at www.rybkaforum.net.
For those not aware of our event, quite a few of the players here can speak about their experiences in the event, but as organiser I can say that many of the regular players have gotten a lot out of their participation, have improved their play and a lot has been learnt about freestyle correspondence chess in the three years that this event has been running.
Prize money is offered, but how much is determined by players and others willingness to sponsor.
Feel free to contact me by replying to this message, sending me a pm at rybka forum or private message here. A private message here is the least reliable.
Full tournament rules:
1) Tournament will be single round robin, meaning every person will play each other once.
2) A players seed position will be determined by their order of entry. The earlier you enter, the higher your number. The first person to enter will receive number 1. The seed position determines which number a player is in the round robin.
3) Entries open December 1 2013
4) Entries close January 6 2014
5) Play begins January 13 2014
6) Each round will be paired at the start of the event, with the pairings for the entire year published at the start.
7) Each round will have a maximum of four games, most likely two games (just like 2011, 2012 and 2013). The number of games will always be kept to a bare minimum
8) There will be a maximum of six paired rounds.
9) The minimum time control will be 30 days plus 1 hour per move. If the number of games per round needs to increase from 2 to 3 or 4, the time control will be lengthened. For instance, if we have 21 players, so needing 4 games per round to keep the number of games even and use five rounds, instead of the six rounds in 2013.
9) Pairings for future rounds are subject to change due to withdrawal of players and unforeseen circumstances.
10) If a player withdraws, or their games time out without an explanation that is accepted by the arbiter, all their games will be removed from the event. In effect they are no longer a participant in the event and no effect on the final placings.
11) There will be an official entry form that all players will be required to fill out before their entry will be accepted. This is so in case of emergency the organisers have a method of contact outside of Rybka Forum. It will include also include a person other than yourself to contact. Whilst I understand this might seem unnecessary to some, I do hope that events from 2013 (death of Salvador Signes and our inability to get in contact with the family) do show the need for better communication methods.
12) Xfccplay- Xfccplay is the official software provided for WBCCC 2014. Xfccplay is provided for the free use for participants whilst in the event. A user name and password will be provided once registered. Also download instructions will be provided by private message and these must be followed to install the program. The program is provided by chessok and is not to be passed on to anyone and is provided for the sole use of playing in WBCCC. All moves, draw offers etc in WBCCC 2014 must be played on this software.
13) New entrants will be required to play a couple of test games on xfccplay before entries close so that the arbiter is certain that all players are familiar with the software and its features. The organisers do not want to see players withdrawing after the event has begun because they find that they are unfamiliar with the software and get upset because their clock is running. Entries are open from December 1 to January 6. That is over a month to become familiar with the software. The organisers will not accept entries from players who have not tested the software.
Scott Nichols (2015-11-18 21:11:16)
Feature request
Another feature I would like is to be able to download a .pgn file of the chess games finished in the last two months, not been published here yet.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-02-15 23:48:00)
Stockfish 9 released
It seems that Stockfish 9 is now available... Did anyone test it already?
http://stockfishchess.org/download/
Any improvement "noticed"? (seems hard to notice anything anymore :))
We'll see what rating it reaches on CEGT lists...
Garvin Gray (2019-11-10 12:08:50)
Fat Fritz vs. Stockfish
Interesting this post has been made. I was about to ask what people think of Komodo 13 and how many cpu's do they think it requires to get the full value of Komodo 13.
When AlphaZero 'won' against Stockfish, I think I was one of the first posters that I saw who criticised the conditions and that Stockfish was almost handicapped out of the match.
This match between Fat Fritz and Stockfish seems to have had more even conditions, but I do wonder if the Stockfish 10 engine, was just the one straight off the download, or whether the Stockfish designers were consulted and allowed to tune their engine for the match, just like Fat Fritz would have been.
Those items I think are most important in making any conclusions about how much better Fat Fritz is in front of Stockfish.
And I am always left to wonder about two items when I hear about the results of these matches:
1) Stockfish feels like a very good engine to analyse your correspondence chess games with, but when it is put against some of the other top engines in head to head competitions, it competes well, but loses by a small amount.
So it feels to me like Stockfish has been designed for a purpose, to assist people with their correspondence chess analysis, rather than just being a brute force engine killer.
I would like to see Komodo and Houdini against Fat Fritz or any other contender, with equal conditions and both of those engines having being tuned for the match before hand.
Garvin Gray (2020-10-02 14:56:35)
Stockfish 12, neural network
Tried downloading this engine. After trying the first three options, could not get any of them to work.
What options do I need to select to get this engine to work?
Garvin Gray (2020-10-03 04:51:35)
Stockfish 12, neural network
Hello Stanislas,
Thank you for your reply and assistance.
I believe I have been able to solve the issue and it was more simple than I thought.
I was thinking that my attempts to download SF12 and use the engine were being thwarted due to issue with the Neural Network.
But I re-downloaded the engine, loaded it and then changed the parameters and it now loads just fine.
I use Fritz 12 GUI, but I also have Fritz 17 GUI.
And my computer is a decent one and less than a year old, so no issues there.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-07-04 01:01:42)
Stockfish 14 is out
Recently speaking of Stockfish 13, the next gen is already there: Stockfish 14 for Windows, MacOS, Linux & so on... it is said more accurate & quite stronger than its predecessor. Any comparison will be welcome!
https://stockfishchess.org/download/
Garvin Gray (2021-09-20 02:31:27)
Chess Cup final #4
One issue I am running into.
I am trying to download the pgn file.
Normally I download the 'my game' file to my desktop, then change the name, so it shows .pgn at the end, and then I can copy the games across to my database.
But for this tournament, I do not seem to be able to do this at this stage.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-09-20 02:36:19)
Chess Cup final #4
Yes, of course larger groups will be better that way, I agree.
About the download, it seems to work on the tournament page & game page, could you tell me where you download it from?
Garvin Gray (2021-09-20 03:09:17)
Chess Cup final #4
Solved the download games issue. I normally download the games from 'download my games' and right click save link as - to my desktop and then change the file name, so it ends with .pgn.
That changes the file to a pgn file. Then I copy the games across to the database.
This time, in the same location, I tried saving, all games, and it saved all games, then I filtered just my games, then I copied my games across to my database.
Thibault de Vassal (2022-04-20 23:32:42)
Stockfish 15 available to download
About 36 elo points stronger than its predecessor, Stockfish 15 is out & available to download...
You can read all details here:
http://stockfishchess.org/blog/2022/stockfish-15/
Juri Eintalu (2022-07-10 19:05:13)
RUSSIA AND BELARUS NOT SUSPENDED?
It seems that Russia and Belarus have not been suspended from the international chess federation ICCF.
The ICCF Extraordinary Congress tried to suspend Russian and Belarus federations.
Online voting was carried on 27 April - 09 May 2022.
https://www.iccf.com/congresses
ICCF homepage does not provide a clear result. I do not see it. The link to THAT Congress disappeared today.
The downloadable table of the voting results does not show in detail, what country made what decision.
An excerpt from the results:
***
EC 2022-003 Suspend the Russian Federation - Void if EC 2022-001 is Defeated
For 33, Against 10, Abstain 14
(I calculate that FOR: 58%)
Amendment of ICCF Statute Article 17, EC 2022-01 required 2/3 votes. The result was:
For 34, Against 10, Abstain 13.
I calculate that FOR: 60% which is less than the required 2/3 or 67%.
***
It seems that the ICCF did not succeed to change its Statute so as to allow the suspension of Russia and Belarus based on majority voting.
Unfortunately, in my homeland, there is no information available on how our representative voted (if he voted) and based on what considerations. The national federation also has not responded to my question sent officially through the ICCF server. I also do not see any relevant news on the national federation's website.
Ilmars Cirulis (2024-01-17 13:47:31)
Fried Liver analysis on rybkaforum.net?
Lichess study is for reference, yes. Also it's nice to have everything in one place, where it can be browsed through (and can be downloaded as PGN file, if necessary).
Yes, I agree that Fried Liver is bad choice for black. Not going to learn it for OTB, definitely.
Thibault de Vassal (2026-03-13 23:17:02)
Post-tickets FICGS
The long answer:
FICGS story is a quite simple & classic one, the reasons why it's declining are quite obvious, and unfortunately the solutions aren't. A bit of story:
1. Luckily, FICGS.com was created when there were a demand, just after IECG stopped... It grew very quickly, and I was in a rush to code it (FICGS was the very first dynamic website I ran from A to Z), there were ideas from everywhere. FICGS.com was the shortest domain name available, but not a so good one. Quite hard to remember, hard to tell, not clear for search engines (unlike chess.com which is a perfect one). Maybe it was a mistake to choose it, I can't tell. Either it meant "Free Internet Chess Games Server" or "Free Internet Correspondence Games Server", so I added another game, Go (Weiqi), to FICGS, which is a quite heavy decision: After that, FICGS is not only a chess server anymore.
2. A few years after, there are several thousands players (a few hundreds active). The number of new players slowly decreases month after month but a few sponsors come. Obviously, the way I coded FICGS made it more and more difficult to fully update from a PHP version to another one, or to change it in deep. Even now, I'm not sure to regret it though cause I couldn't have done it differently, so it is what it is. At this time, chess.com was less interesting than FICGS (my taste), but success is already here thanks to a perfect marketing formula: best domain name & pay for options. On the contrary, I chose to keep FICGS completely free.
3. Chess engines explode, correspondence chess continues its evolution (human's thinking decreases in moves decision), finally I add another game that is in a hype: poker texas holdem. New sponsors come, I still play correspondence chess myself but now I play another game even more: Google. FICGS also extends this way and it works in some ways. At its peak, FICGS is about the 32,000th most visited website worldwide. But the number of players continues to decrease, Android & phones started to change the landscape already. Chess.com released its app and added probably its best feature: a quick Stockfish analysis with evaluation & explanation for each move (which is excellent for blitz games but quite a non-sense for a correspondence chess website).
4. The number of players suddenly declines very quickly, I react by creating FICGS apps for Android, a dozen apps... On some apps, you can play against the machine, virtual opponents, chess 960, blindfold & so on. But the way to maintain it is not easy at all for many reasons, but the main one is that Google (Playstore) constantly change technical things & rules. After a few years, I even have to completely remake it, losing what was acquired. And some apps still fail to re-appear at Playstore, that's why I just made the APK files available to direct download. But these applications confirm something clear: blitz is more fun and attracts much more players. Changing rating ranges for correspondence chess tournaments or championships formats won't be a solution for this.
5. FICGS is now 20 years old! Internet completely changed over the years but it survived longer than Messenger, Skype & many other great services. If you look at many websites, new versions of their modern interfaces are often worst (bugs or options) than previous ones. FICGS was never perfect, maybe even clear, but at least it remained coherent. Now Google (just like all major services) is mainly governed by AI, sponsors left - that does not change anything, FICGS will continue to run. I created other websites, but none so far successfully helped in a way or another to solve the problem we encounter here: how to increase the number of correspondence chess, Go or poker players again? If FICGS becomes a pure correspondence chess site again with a brand new interface, I'm quite sure that wouldn't change anything or almost. I might be wrong of course, but according to me, this is a deep problem, connected to society evolutions, computers, phones, our attention, time, even health & so on... In my personal case, I wish to play correspondence chess again, but still cannot find the time to do it. Finally I have no idea what internet will look like within 5 years, but FICGS will be there. Maybe an AI will find a solution soon ^^ Meanwhile, I received many ideas to improve FICGS and I have to thank you very much for this. Few ideas were released for reasons I explained here (but new ones are always wecome), I hope you'll better understand it by reading this.
Have good games & take care!
Thibault de Vassal (2026-04-16 13:51:22)
PGN
In example this one:
https://ficgs.com/user_page.php?page=viewer&game=149787
Do you see the (download) link at the bottom of the page?
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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