 |
| Home |
| Informations |
| Login |
| Register |
| Waiting lists |
| Membership |
| Hall of fame |
| Tournaments |
| Best game |
| Wikichess |
| Rating list |
| Problems |
| Forum |
| Links |
| Help |
| About |
|
Game result (chess) Y. Shulga, 2335 M. Lennartz, 2137 1/2-1/2 See game 22871 |
|
Deep Fritz 11 is available (Chessbase.com) Dominguez-Perez wins World Blitz Championship Hikaru Nakamura wins Cap d'Agde tournament Viswanathan Anand is FIDE world champion 2008 Nigel Short wins Commonwealth Championship Rybka wins World Computer Chess Championship 2008 Topalov tops the October 2008 FIDE rating list Pentala Harikrishna wins Spice Cup in Lubbock GM Jan Werle wins EU Individual Championships Alexandra Kosteniuk is Women's World Champion 2008 more chess news... |
|
Andy Liu 7d wins Masters Open at NY Go Center Gu Li 9p wins the 10th Chinese Agon Cup Hugh Zhang 6d wins Ing's Cup Youth Go Tournament Zou Jin 6d wins Pandanet Go European Cup I-Han Lui 7d wins UMBC tournament more Go news... |
|
In the forum... Money games... Moneybookers, Paypal, credit card and bank transfer are available to play money games... Affiliate links... Win E-Points by linking to us as an affiliate, for each new member referred by your link, 1 E-Point will be added to your account... E-Points prizes... Ficgs now offers free games & tournaments with E-Points prizes... Rybka 3, Fritz 12... Rybka 3, Fritz 12, Hiarcs 13, your predictions on forthcoming chess engines... Translators... Translators are needed for chinese, japanese, indian, romanian, polish home pages... Vacation help... Hello all, I've entered a vacation time in error. Is it possible to cancel the vacation ? |
|
Last referers : SCHACHCOMPUTER XMP CHESSGAMESLINKS LIVE ORKUT WIKIPEDIA YAHOO D CHESS-MAIL |
|
Feel free to link to this page to get referer backlinks to your website ! |
Want your banner here ? |
There are 0 results for Rang Joachim in the games.
There are 175 results for Rang in the forum.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-11 13:28:13)
Download
Hello Karlheinz & Hannes.
I'll arrange that. But indeed that's the way I developed the "Search games" page. Copy/Paste PGN games should work. (but it may become too big later to display all games in one page)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-20 23:14:19)
:-)
It's done.
Also other "strange" openings implemented.
Cheers :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-04-23 17:17:17)
Famous quotes
Another thing, if you know famous (or unknown) quotes relative to chess, correspondence chess and "go". I have found many ones in english and french, but it's harder in deutsch and spanish.
Or if you know rare & strange quotes, not from famous chess players... maybe from you ?! :)
Thanks again :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-01 19:01:58)
Class tournaments
Salut David !
About standard & rapid "class" tournaments, they are open to players with ELO rating included into a range, specified just below the tournament name. (ie. CLASS M : 2200 to 2600 , CLASS A : 2000 to 2400 , CLASS B : 1800 to 2200 etc...)
J'espère que tu nous feras profiter de ton gambit favori ;) Bonnes parties !
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-03 04:41:09)
Start positions
It seems to me that changing the start position from classical chess is "sufficient"... The purpose was, according to Fischer, to avoid databases and to favour creativity.. The same positions in the whole tournament allows to compare & analyze a bit deeper, maybe understand better the position. The start position will be different for the next tournament (working on). There are "only" 960 positions, there will be repetitions anyway... And what do you think about the Fischer rules ? Seems strange to me. I wonder if everyone knows how to castle in other start positions (king or rooks at different places)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-03 14:15:54)
Chess 4000 ?
About Fischer Random Chess / Chess 960, the king' start position must be between the rooks to allow this strange castling. Why ?! Wasn't it ok to forbid this unusual (non-sense) move in these other cases... The number of positions should increase a lot. Does anyone knows the number of positions resulting ?
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-17 13:41:07)
I just realized...
... that the "call referee" option was not reachable when it's not your turn in a game :/ I'll fix that soon ! It should arrange the situation.
Sorry about that.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-05-18 03:18:57)
Let's see...
Hello Glen.
This is quite unusual and it may look strange at the first sight, but I still think that this rule is positive and is not a nonsense !
That's true I prefer the server working this way, and it saves time process, but I keep in mind : First, this is friendly... 2nd, if a player want to last a game, he will do it before being checkmated. 3rd, I didn't adjudicate Wayne's game, and his opponent just resigned only 2 days after his move. Let's give a chance to this rule, I'm convinced time will show that it is not a nonsense ;)
Wayne Lowrance (2006-05-19 08:05:25)
suggestion
I see your points. I play at another corresponce sight, Pacific-mall.com/chess. They have solved the problem there and incidentally it will satisfy those who have mentioned the desirability to chat with your opponent during the game. At pac-mall you can chat about the game or any subject, others can view the game and drop by to say hello, or what ever. Outsiders do not suggest moves but are allowed to talk about a particuliar line after the fact, but in ten years there I have not seen this done only in rare circumstances. In the talk window you can politely tell your oppent "it is mate come up. giving the forced line" or you can just say "Dan the game is lost for you, give your reason. All accept this decorum there. and it is the friendliest cite on the web. The players there range from novices to close to 2300 which I am. By the way, my name there is globalpac, look me up on the ladders (2). Do me a favor and check it out. Tell me what you think. Thank you With respect.... Wayne
Michael Aigner (2006-06-01 20:48:46)
FICGS reminder
I have a lot of time left in all off my games and got the following reminser mail.
Did anyone get the same strange mail?
This is a reminder.
You did not connect to FICGS for 13275 days. You may have running games that will be lost on time. If you don't want to receive any reminder, you can turn off the notification options in preferences. There will be no more than 3 consecutive reminders. This email was generated automatically by http://www.ficgs.com/
Marc Lacrosse (2006-06-09 09:21:54)
I cannot understand ...
To Trent Parker :
you say :
"I think the teams should be geographical at least"
This is really something that I cannot even understand.
In which way is my way of playing correspondence chess related to the place where I live or where I am born???
Is my kind of play "belgian" ?
Or is it "brown-haired", or "butter-cooked", or ...
Why shouldn't I be allowed to find a few friends from all over the world that play the same kind of unusual openings than myself to build a team ?
IMHO this kind of team could well have a better signification than a one made of chess players of the same country or of the same geographical region.
Anyway the idea itself of "correspondence chess teams" is completely strange for me. Does it mean that collaboration between members for the choice of the moves is allowed ?
This is at the exact opposite of what I feel to be the minimum requirement for a meaningful correspondence chess competition to survive : anything allowed (books, computers, databases) except human advice, and at least one single human name alone identified as the single "author" of the moves ...
So, why teams at all...
Marc
Amir Bagheri (2006-06-19 15:10:14)
thibault
je viens de recevoir un email de Nigel consentant a un match. je lui ai offert un match comportant 3 parties. je pense qu il sera d accord avec ce format. peux tu arranger ca? j'ai aussi repondu a ton email
Thibault de Vassal (2006-07-01 17:20:35)
1st FICGS chess championship started !
Hello to all.
As you may have noticed, 23 new tournaments just started :
http://www.ficgs.com/category__ficgs__chess__wch.html
4 matchs (quarter final) started in the knockout tournament
QF 1 : John Anderson (SM) - Farit Balabaev (GM)
QF 2 : Daniel Cinca - Peter Schuster (SM)
QF 3 : Gilles Hervet (SM) - Gino Figlio (IM)
QF 4 : Petr Makovsky (SM) - John Knudsen (SM)
19 tournaments (groups) started in the round-robin cycle, 17 tournaments with an elo average between 1672 and 1732 (16 tournaments of 17 are in a 32 points range), and 2 "group M" with an elo average about 2390.
All round-robin tournaments are groups of 7 players as it was the best way to make it fair.
I wish you all good games and have fun :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-07-01 17:44:41)
Format For Championship
Hello John.
After all, if it wasn't unusual, the interest would be lower for sure... :)
So you noticed, the 8 players with the highest established correspondence chess ratings play a pure knockout tournament.
I thought about this format a long time ago (and a long time). Combining a knockout tournament (more "spectacular") and a round-robin cycle (everyone can play, no more than 5 cycles) gather together the advantages of both. It is one of the reasons I made FICGS... I think pure knockout or pure round-robin wch cycle is not efficient enough for chess championships.
The other thing you'll notice in the rules : "The special rule is that in case of equality (4-4), the winner is the player with the strongest tournament entry rating if all games are draw, the player with the lowest tournament entry rating if not all games are draw. The winner is qualified for the next stage."
This rule (in case of equality in the round-robin tournaments, the player with the strongest TER is qualified too) is another way to avoid short draws... It may sound strange at a first sight, but I really think it's fair enough and a good way to find most probably the really strongest players in the last stages. Anyway, it's amazing for sure :)
The FICGS chess wch rules :
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#tournament
John Knudsen (2006-07-04 05:31:49)
Symmetrical games
This format (8 games against the same player at once) is really strange and not normal at all, IMHO. Don't get me wrong - I am enjoying my games. I would not recommend this format for future versions of the quarter-final. Most strong players that I know would not even consider playing in this kind of format for one minute. Better to have a RR, with X number of players advancing from that. If you wish to make the championship attractive to stronger players, you won't want to repeat this format in the future. John
Thibault de Vassal (2006-07-12 23:12:46)
Delay before tournament start
Hello Rodrigo.
I think your idea looks like very much the system used in email chess. I just wanted to make it easier to understand. Quite strange to make moves and have no days added to the clock. "Official" and "non-official" start for a tournament is a thing we can avoid. That's the main reason of this time control 30 days + 1 day/move.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-07-23 19:54:58)
Chess thematic tournaments
Hello to all.
The 7th chess thematic tournament (waiting list is open) may be a very interesting challenge...
The opening : 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 Ng8 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Ng8
Is it a lost position or not, you can try to respond ! (it is at least very hypermodern style, but is there a name for such a manoeuvre ? :))
There are many other ideas of openings, but you can make suggestions for future thematic tournaments.
Previous ones :
FICGS__CHESS__THEMATIC_TOURNAMENT__000001
King's gambit (winner : Josef riha)
FICGS__CHESS__THEMATIC_TOURNAMENT__000002
Wing's gambit
FICGS__CHESS__THEMATIC_TOURNAMENT__000003
Benko gambit
FICGS__CHESS__THEMATIC_TOURNAMENT__000004
Orang-utan
FICGS__CHESS__THEMATIC_TOURNAMENT__000005
Danish gambit
FICGS__CHESS__THEMATIC_TOURNAMENT__000006
Scotch gambit
Roger Weber (2006-08-04 01:27:50)
thanks
Thanks, I hope I'll be fine for the future. By the way, is there a possibility yet to arrange games with a chosen player? Regards, Roger.
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...
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.
Charlie Neil (2006-09-05 09:50:08)
why play corr-chess
Marc, excuse me I didn't make the difference between chess engines/databases and someone playing straight moves straight off their own computer. Yes, use books and databases that's what they are there for. But I feel sorry for the individual who relies solely on their computer to play their games for them. It is a bit like taking a fork lift to a weight lifting competition. The use of computers and servers is still relatively new to me. There are sites that ban the use of computers. but who is to know who is using their computer in an illegal way? There can be no profit for them or enjoyment in the game. It is good that FICGS has this forum for free discussion. I enjoyed reading "The future for Corr-chess" thread. There has always been points in time when it has been discussed that chess has "burnt-out" and the game will die off. I don't think that will ever happen in light of the passion for this terrible game expressed in all these forums. So, forgive an ignorant "free-range" "organic" chessfriend for not being clear about the differences about databases and computer-slaves who rely on their machines. The game is the thing. ( and maybe just maybe I wasn't drinking just coffee the time I posted the cheats slur...:-/)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-06 15:43:12)
FIDE WCH : Kramnik vs. Topalov
Do you believe it ? .. now it's most probably almost sure :-)
We'll have a new FIDE-Classical world champion in a few weeks !
A reminder : This will be a 12-games match, taking place from September 21 to October 13 in the capital of Kalmykia (whose president is FIDE president : Kirsan Ilyumzhinov himself), Elista. In case of equality, four rapid games will be played, if equality again two blitz games will be played and finally a sudden death blitz game. The prize fund of one million US dollars will be equally divided between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, whatever the result. The looser won't play the next world championship tournament (quite strange).
Anyway, that's a great thing for chess, even if I'm not very optimistic for the next FIDE world championship cycles, particularly if the world champion has to play a knockout tournament, instead of a classical 12 or 24 games match...
My favourite in this match is still Kramnik because of his style, but Topalov is really getting stronger IMO... It will be a hard match !
Any predictions about the result & games ? .. Will Vladimir Kramnik play his Berlin defense in the Ruy Lopez again...
Mladen Jankovic (2006-09-07 17:26:38)
Seen Shogi, sounds interesting
I've seen Shogi before, but i didn't play more than few moves. Shogi is actualy a family of variants, board sizes range from 4*5, to 36*36. I had a program once that handled a number of variants (I probably still have it somewhere). I read something about the Chinese Chess, it sounds interesting, the computers have not realy mastered it yet, and it seems somewhat slower than the regular Chess. I'm not realy sure how one can play corespondence Backgammon (I prefer Tavli).
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-09 13:21:38)
Backgammon, Arimaa
I'll have to think about that.. That's a pity there's a chance factor in this interesting game. I know chess grandmasters who are very good Backgammon players.
About Arimaa, that's a really strange game... But not very attractive IMO :/ .. That's amazing to see that the developper of "Bomb" is the one who created "Many faces of Go"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa
Ulrich Imbeck (2006-09-11 14:15:48)
Gambits
Dear Thibault, your examples were strange. Let's have a look to employments of normal freaks like Bücker. Let's have a look to Gambit variations in the Blackmar-Diemer like 5.Dxf3 or in the Kings Gambit.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-11 17:44:05)
Big chess name
There are probably other chess variants called 'Big Chess'. I remember another one on a big board with many pieces and start positions decided by both players, putting pieces on their half board... Anyway, this variant looks strange to me.
Thomas Gilbreath (2006-09-14 05:19:28)
Greetings from GameKnot :)
Hello friends, my name is Thomas, and I am the representative from GameKnot. We look forward to playing a match against you! GameKnot has played two matches vs. other sites in the past, and we have enjoyed the competition very much. It is my sincere hope that we can pull this thing off! As FICGS is a newer site with a smaller community than ours, we hope that you guys can field a team of approximately 12-20 players of ALL ratings ranges. We intend to put up at least 2 players in each of 7 ratings classes (U2400, U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, and U1200). The rules of the match are currently being negotiated between Thibault and myself, and we would like to commence as soon as possible. I highly encourage the members of FICGS to participate, as these matches are a lot of fun! You guys will get a chance to visit our site, and we yours. Please contact Thibault and sign on! We look forward to seeing you OTB :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-15 00:24:12)
Chess databases
Hi Miguel.
Really ? Looks strange to me... So what about 6-pieces tablebases ?
Claude Brisson (2006-09-18 06:40:34)
Problem with Go scorer
Hello.
Nice effort to have a go scorer, but it still needs some improvements.
Look at this game:
http://www.ficgs.com/game_2093.html
After move 138, there isn't any ambiguity on the goban.
After removing dead groups,
q1 t3 k3 s5 t9 s10 q11 h11 t12 p12 h15 t16 f16
all the intersections are either black or white.
The scoring methods says:
* Scoring method : Horizontally
Black points : 103
White points : 244
Unknown points : 14
* Scoring method : Vertically
Black points : 103
White points : 268
Unknown points : -10
Rather strange. Scores should be the same. Where do those unknown points come from?
Thanks,
Claude
Dirk Ghysens (2006-09-18 10:33:56)
Not all, Henri
I know of two exceptions: 1. Yelena Dembo, FIDE rating 2466, WGM, IM, and a GM norm; rating at Gameknot 1775; 2. Marius Ceteras, FIDE rating 2427, FM (he missed IM title due to a strange decision by FIDE officials), very well-known correspondence chess personality, chess publisher, organiser etc.; rating at Gameknot 1740 (not in top 2000 there and loses regularly against 1800 rated patzers). Unfortunately Yelena Dembo is no longer playing at Gameknot; they threw her out. Also Marius Ceteras has no ongoing games there during the past month. So you may be right after all: most players above 1600 are using a chess engine (except the WIMs, WGMs, FMs, and IMs rated below 1800), and certainly all players above 1800 (with one possible exception, a WIM from Holland/Russia, who managed a rating slightly above 1800, but she got thrown out also, for being a nuisance). BTW, it boggles my mind why the use of tablebases is allowed there; unlike engines, tablebases tell you the perfect move to play and what the outcome will be with 100% certainty.
Thomas Gilbreath (2006-09-18 12:55:35)
My friends at FICGS:
I am a little concerned, yet understanding, of your feelings about the possibility of cheating in our proposed match. Please understand that there are two sides to the suspicion coin. For those of you who are not familiar with the GameKnot website, let me assure you that I will only be putting up players who I am familiar with, and who have proven themselves to play honorably. I am a three year veteran of GameKnot, and play on the site daily. I will be selecting my team from players whom I feel confident will conduct themselves within the rules we agree on. The intent of arranging this match is NOT to simply put up all of our master level players and attempt to whitewash you guys 100-0. The intent is to provide as MANY matches of ALL ratings ranges for a fun, competetive match. If we lose every match we will have no hard feelings towards you. As the game results in our proposed match will have no bearing on ratings changes, we view the match as a simple, friendly exercise. So, having said all of that, we hope that FICGS will offer up as many people as possible, and Thibault and myself will pair them with my guys in such a way that is FAIR and equitable to both sides. Should anyone here at FICGS have any questions, please feel free to post them here or in the GameKnot forum (in the GameKnot Related threads). Thanks:) - Thomas
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-18 14:16:52)
Problem with Go scorer
Hello Claude.
That's strange !? .. I just tried with the same groups :
q1 t3 k3 s5 t9 s10 q11 h11 t12 p12 h15 t16 f16
Here is the result :
* Scoring method : Horizontally
Black points : 103 White points : 254 Unknown points : 4
* Scoring method : Vertically
Black points : 103 White points : 258 Unknown points : 0
Could you try again (copy-pasting the groups) ? I can't find the problem...
Thanks in advance.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-09-29 02:21:57)
Request to play a SMTournament
Hello Daniel.
Ok, I arrange that.
CLASS SM tournament waiting list is quite long to fill yet, but this should be exceptionnal.
Best wishes.
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)
Elmer Valderrama (2006-10-04 21:44:39)
Danailov accuses Kramnik of using Fritz9
In my view, the best proof of computer use is the number of missed oportunities rather than the number of coincidences, which can be manipulated as pointed by Thibault. Thus, an average player misses 80 to 90% (99% in the worst cases ) a Master - 30-40%, a GM 10 to 20%. With the extreme -no missed oportunities we have those reported cases of cheating in Tournaments by average players So the suspictions would be worth something if they are accompanied by the report of (not)missed oportunities, otherwise the moves are in the usual coincidence range.
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...
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-10 16:16:37)
To be continued...
Open Letter
To
FIDE President
H.E. Kirsan Illyumzhinov
To
Head of the 2006 Executive Committee
Mr. Valery Bovaev
Dear Mr President, Gentlemen,
Having received innumerable published and unpublished inquiries I would like to clarify, in the name of Vladimir Kramnik and his team, our position in the decision taken by FIDE regarding the fifth game of the current World Championship match.
As you know Vladimir Kramnik is playing the current match under protest. Nothing has changed in our attitude, which is documented by Kramnik’s actions around the fifth game and our statements, protests and letters:
29.09.2006:
http://www.kramnik.com/eng/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=104
02.10.2006:
http://www.kramnik.com/eng/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=106
04.10.2006:
http://www.kramnik.com/eng/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=107
Consistent with this standpoint Vladimir Kramnik will be playing this match, including a possible tiebreak, up to the last move under protest.
Should the decision of FIDE regarding the fifth game have any influence on the awarding of the World Championship title, with Mr Topalov receiving the title after being granted a free point for the unplayed game, Mr Kramnik declares unequivocally: “I will not recognize Mr Topalov as World Champion under these conditions, and I will take legal action against FIDE at the end of the World Championship.”
The damage done to Mr Kramnik in public opinion (e.g. the slander campaign) after the illegal release of private video images by the then FIDE Appeals Committee or the WCC 2006 Executive Committee to the Topalov team, and the subsequent release of these video images and private information of Mr Kramnik in his restroom to the mass media, as well as the interruption of the match, which broke Mr Kramnik’s concentration and playing rhythm, will all be part of the legal action which will be initiated.
As a sign of good will Mr Kramnik once again requests FIDE to arrange for game five to be played out on the board immediately after game 12. This in our opinion is the only way to alleviate the personal, sporting, judicial and ethical injuries that have been incurred by Mr Kramnik.
Elista, October 10, 2006
On behalf of Vladimir Kramnik
Yours sincerely
Carsten Hensel
(Manager to Vladimir Kramnik, Classical World Chess Champion)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-13 18:13:05)
Re: Game of time ?!?!
http://www.ficgs.com/tournament_FICGS__CHESS__CLASS_SM__000002.html
I must say this is a quite strange strategy, if it is... Several 2300+ players continuously are in zeitnot (and finally loose some games on time). I don't think it can influence 'much' the play at correspondence chess time controls so that's probably their only way to manage time. Some can't play faster, obviously... Some also play at IECG, ICCF and so on. Anyway nothing can prevent that...
Wolfgang Utesch (2006-10-13 19:26:48)
Game of time ?!?!
The point is that only one player seems to be in zeitnot, but NO - it is just his tactic (in all games) - strange attitude - he loves it to do his last move before new time count (after move 10, 20 etc) always in the last minute.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-13 19:33:35)
Re: Game of time ?!?!
Strange... that's the word. But I'm quite sure he's a strange guy too :)
Wolfgang Utesch (2006-10-14 04:30:07)
Game of time ?!?!
Legal doing is not the same as right and good doing! When a player stops always at move 9, to do the 10th in last minute (mostly after a long time period of inactivity) is this strange. I think, i have enough experiences in correspondance chess to differ this from normal handling with zeitnot. By the way, at the same time he has also enough time to discuss in this forum copiously.
Wolfgang Utesch (2006-10-21 11:31:16)
Some strange tactics with server chess
Server chess is allowing to see all parallel games in the same tournament. So some players hope to get an advantage by playing their first moves very slow. Perhaps they can learn (so they hope) by the other more progressed games of their opponents. It's legal but not so funny - neither for their opponents nor for themselves! Playing your own style will give you the most satisfaction! Wolfgang
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-21 12:38:30)
Junior 10
I don't have this one, but I experienced the strange behaviour of Junior chess engine, which may 'guess' the best moves for some 'bad' (at least not enough) reasons... I don't trust it much, but it may inspire with some ideas.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-25 13:37:13)
Rating / 8-game match
Anyway this result is quite unusual in correspondence chess... :)
Conditions were best to realize such an increase of rating, and a part of the forfeit reasons are probably out of the match (a flag gate)... 6 games out of 8 were rated as a win in this match between Farit & John, with no other result for Farit when the rating calculation occured. It happened, it can happen, I think it won't happen often (I would be surprised if such a case occurs in semi-finals) but in all ways : That's great ! .. IMO :)
There's a part of "injustice" in all most watched sports and games, it's an essential element ! .. The biggest one 'strangely' is in soccer. At another level, chess stars choose their tournaments and manage their FIDE rating, remember ie. this match Etienne Bacrot (2470) vs. Vassily Smyslov (2510, wch) in Albert, with this result 5-1
An obvious, topical and nearer example : FIDE classical (old) world championship system is deeply unfair (for the challenger) but it MUST be kept !
As I said above, the concept (added to fast time control) may create some - rare - rating peaks, but effects are limited and I'm convinced it's interesting enough to try it.
To be continued... in a few years ? ;)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-26 15:07:40)
Re: I cant move
You're not in vacation, so that's really strange. I just sent to you an email to fix this problem.
Best wishes.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-10-27 19:37:08)
Chess quizz :-)
A chess quizz ? ... Feel free to post any funny question about chess.. :)
1/ Who said that : "At night Kramnik is in my dreams. I dream that he has accepted my offer for a return match in Sofia. Or that I make a long stroll with him in Moscow, after which we visit an expensive nightclub. The strange thing is that the two of us are the only visitors there."
Ok, quite easy... The pressure should have been really high... :/
Solution - http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com
Another one... May be interesting :)
2/ Who lost........ ? (question unfinished, just say your first thought :))
Henri-Louis Muller (2006-11-04 08:55:34)
temps de réflexion
Hello Thibaut, de toute manière, merçi pour ta réponse !.....même si elle n'arrange rien !! ( ceci dit en toute amitié) Il y aura tjs deux camps qui s'opposeront. Dans la famille (sic !) nous sommes assez rapides, d'où une certaine incompréhension du système. Blague à part, je connais (au moins TROIS) des joueurs qui ne jouent plus à cause de ce temps de réflexion "incompréhensible" pour eux ! Moi non plus, je ne comprends pas qu'un certaine joueur dispose encore de 2 jours de réflexion, puis soudain, il en a à nouveau une bonne vingtaine. Je ne cherche pas à comprendre, mais c'est un fait. Il y a des cas où il faudra attendre 60 jours ou plus, pour gagner la partie, car l'adversaire ne répond plus !!! Logique ?? Normal ?? Sportif ?? Le débat est loin d'être clos et acquis ! Amicalement - hlm
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-05 12:45:06)
Fischer : "Now chess is completely dead"
A new interview from the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer...
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3468
No surprise : Fischer’s problems with the Union Bank of Switzerland, United states founded and being run by extremists, Capablanca brillancy, but also : "I don’t like chess any more" (what about chess 960 ?), "Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorisation and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative"...
I just wonder.. How can we find so much pleasure in correspondence chess ? .. Was his pleasure only to destroy weak players or in real challenges against strong[er] players (ie. Karpov).. I can understand why a grandmaster stop to play competitive chess because it's too hard & it takes too much time, but I can't explain myself such a champion finding "limits" to chess & getting no more pleasure...
"Play Go !" :)
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-07 16:07:24)
Now it works in Camino!
Hi Don... I did not change anything in this part of the program. Very strange !?
Don Groves (2006-11-08 05:48:47)
Now it works in Camino!
For whatever strange reason, it now is working for me. Thanks!
Wayne Lowrance (2006-11-16 01:26:09)
Players needed
Hello all. We need 4 more players to fill out the Class A 000009 tournament rating range is 2000-2400. It should be a nice tourney. Wayne Lowrance
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-19 14:41:48)
Rating change (Go)
Thanks & sorry, you were right !
You were in a small rating difference range that provoked this strange result. Elo rating system has to be used carefully :/
I just updated the program & rules. Your rating has been corrected according to this change.
Thanks for feedback.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-19 15:35:57)
Where else do/did you play corr. chess ?
:)))
Hello Marc.
That's funny you ask me... Hard to find correspondence chess info about me & indeed I did not play at AJEC & ICCF yet. That's not a secret, many of you already know that I made several movies, some (last one was a kind of parody of Stanley Kubrick's "A clockwork orange") under my name, others - english speaking ones - under my "real" director's name that I used on most chess servers & in another correspondence chess organization, where I achieved about the same rating. (damn, I may be disqualified for the WC final :))
Of course I tried a lot of correspondence chess places before, but none was interesting or challenging enough to me, that's why FICGS and its tournament & WCH rules.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-21 11:32:39)
Go: Komi
Stones handicap or Komi handicap is handicap anyway... I'm not sure it makes sense to change the Komi (Lionel would agree, I think).
As I just said in another thread, if we add a handicap system which gives chances enough to weak players against strong players, I'm afraid results & ratings / ranks don't mean anything anymore then, at least more aleatory. This is another game... (and such 'strange' rules might frighten beginners).
I think it could be ok (as another challenge) in an unrated tournaments category.
Glen D. Shields (2006-11-22 14:04:56)
Strange Setup
Dear Mr. Bell - being the curious type I followed the link to your site. I don't understand what you're offering and I'm surely not registering to your site until I know. Might I suggest some basic FAQ's accesible prior to registation?
Thank you.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-22 14:13:29)
Strange Setup
I must say I agree with Glen about the setup...
I discovered the site thanks to a referer from Anyone4chess forum (which contains lots of info) - that is not linked from the home page and not known by Google. That's a pity, I also suggest you make something in this way.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-11-24 01:16:50)
dreams are not reality...
Elmer, let me dream a few days more, please :)
If the match is not 'arranged', everything can happen. I'm sure Kramnik can win 1 game or 2, and draw the other ones...
Chess engines have nothing more to prove, a win for Kramnik would give new interest for the match Kramnik vs. Fritz 12, a draw would be a non-event and a loss for Kramnik would be interpreted as "Chess is completely dead"... Not so good for Chessbase... Choose.
But finally, if Bobby was right ? :) .. (sure not)
Marc Lacrosse (2006-11-24 09:27:56)
completely unfair and thus impredictible
The fact that the match conditions have been arranged on such unfair rules has two immediate consequences :
- we already know for sure that Kramnik himself is sure that he could not succeed on a more fair ground
- final result is unpredictible and probably already arranged beforehand
Marc
By the way the rules are really incredible.
Just an example : not only does Kramnik have the final opening book of Fritz at home for preparation, but moreover he will have the right to see Fritz's opening book _during_ the games with the various moves that could be played by the engne according to the player's intended move, together with the associated statistics. so in the unfortunate case where Kramnik could not remember is home killer preparation he will have the various choices presented to his eyes during play. Pretty incredible !
and there are quite a dozen rules like that ... (including the right for Kramnik only to call for an adjournement with subsequent overnight computer- or fellow-GM-assisted analysis ...)
For those who would like to have a look the complete rules are on Susan Polger's blog : http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
Steve Sabean (2006-12-23 16:58:08)
Traxler/Wilkes-Barre
I have heard from many players of a wide range of strength that the Traxler is busted for Black. The trouble is, none of them appear to have proof. A few years ago, I played in a Traxler thematic in IECG. I had a great time, learned a lot, and managed second place overall. My own assessment is: unclear, but Black is probably OK. So, why not have a Traxler thematic tournament here on FICGS, to settle the matter once and for all. :D Maybe it could be a double round robin, to be fair to those who feel that one side or the other has the advantage. I would sign on for such a tournament. Nice Latvian, btw.
Thibault de Vassal (2006-12-30 03:10:17)
English translation...
I know some basics... but looks strange to me.. what is context ?
One of your opponents at FICGS ??
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-17 23:59:52)
Chess engines ratings
Some useful links about ratings and statistics for all well known chess engines : Rybka (2.2, 2.1 ..), Deep Fritz 10, Deep Shredder 10, Deep Junior 10, Hiarcs 11, Zap!Chess paderborn, Loop 10.32, Toga II, Fruit 2.2, Glaurung 1.2, Spike 1.2, Smarthink, Naum 2.0, Ktulu 8.0, CM9000, CM10th, Fritz 9, Chess Tiger 15, Chess Tiger 2007, Ruffian 2.1, List 11 and many others...
http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/rating_list_all.html
http://www.husvankempen.de/nunn/40_120_ratinglist/ratinglist/rangliste.html
http://web.telia.com/~u85924109/ssdf/list.htm
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-19 11:41:07)
FICGS login & registration problems
Hello to all.
It seems there are some login, password recovery & registration problems for a few players. I'm looking for an explanation...
Some can't register without getting message "please enter the correct number" while they did enter it, so it may be a format problem for numbers. (in this case please write to the email at the bottom of the page)
If you failed to obtain a new password that works with password recovery, just try once more and it will 'most probably' work.
Really strange... I'm inquiring.
An example : "Although I got a new password I was not able to use my account from my PC!-So I decided to log in from my colleague´s one and it worked - I don´t know why."
So some computers could send a format for numbers that the program does not recognize yet. (?!)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-19 21:10:19)
intval()
... no explanation yet, but I may have found a solution with PHP function intval()
Quite strange. To be continued.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-21 13:48:44)
Go and chess, IGN Goama newsletter
From IGN Goama newsletter by Alexander Dinerchtein - http://www.gogame.info
Go and Chess Two Games, Shared Experiences
Chess and go show are similar in many ways, yet it's always strange to see how the masters of each game try to "invent the wheel", instead of benefiting from the knowledge of their colleagues.
Let's consider sharing experiences!
These ideas can be useful even for strong Asian Go professionals:
1. Currently, only a few pros use Go databases and programs for studying. It is easy to find commentaries, written by 9-dan masters, which state that a move is new and has never been played before. Yet if one checks such moves in Go databases, one can sometimes find up to 100 examples from professional games. How can they cheat the readers who study these commentaries?
Once in Korea, I showed the Bigo Assistant program (similar to GoGod, MoyoGo and SmartGo) to Lee Sedol's brother Lee Sanghun, 5-dan, who is the director of a large children's Go school. He was surprised and said that the program looked very useful, and he added that he had never met this kind of program before. He even suggested deleting all amateur games and games played on Go servers, because of their low quality. I promised to order the programs and to install them on the school's computers if he liked this idea, but he did not follow up. Lee Sanghun, 5-dan was not able to break the traditions of his forefathers …
2. Even such top chess players as Kasparov, Kramnik and Topalov enlist the support of trainers during important tournaments and matches. During the Communist era, almost every Russian grandmaster worked on behalf of world championship candidates. Our government forced them to help, to show them new moves and ideas. Those who refused to help were punished severely: for example, sometimes a player would be prohibited from playing in tournaments abroad and would be refused foreign visas.
We do not see this in Go. Everyone thinks only about his or her own self. Do you know who is currently assisting Lee Changho? I don't know, either!
3. I would like to say a few words about playing technique. Chess players often used to write the move on paper first and then make it on the board. This helps to avoid impulsive moves and to prevent blunders. Go masters record the game afterwards, and so one can often find terrible mistakes, such as overlooking ataris and recapturing ko without playing a ko threat first. As an example you may see Black's move number 271 from this game: http://www.go4go.net/v2/modules/collection/sgfview.php?id=10828 I am sure that if a player looked at their move at least twice before they write it on paper and after they would not make such mistakes.
4. Even top Go tournaments are usually run by the knock-out system so we often see sensational results. Mightn’t it be reasonable to think about increasing the number of games in each round? If rounds were best-of-three (in case of time constraints, it would be possible to use blitz time controls for the third game), it would help to minimize sensations.
How about organising a definitive World Go Championship? Chess players have contested one for more than 100 years, and competitions for this World Championship have revealed the very best players of each generation. In Go it's harder to tell which player is true champion. In 2006, for instance, one international tournament was won by Lee Changho and another one by Lee Sedol, while Cho U won the largest amount of prize money. Whom can we call the World Champion? Who can say which tournament is the most important : LG, Samsung, Fujitsu, Chunlan or another? We don't even have a unified rating system …
If we determined a single World Go Champion, he might earn the same degree of popularity as Garry Kasparov achieved in chess, and this could have a very positive influence on Go popularity around the world!
Thibault de Vassal (2007-01-28 19:34:00)
Rybka 2.2 vs. Fritz 10
Harry Schnapp organized a 6 games match between Rybka 2.2 and Fritz 10 on DUAL XEON 5160 (4x3000Mhz), the same computer Fritz 10 played and won against Vladimir Kramnik.
Rybka : 5,5 - Fritz : 0,5
http://perso.orange.fr/lefouduroi/tournois/tournois66.htm
All details and article in German / French.
Now look at the games...
What do you think ?
Thibault de Vassal (2007-02-11 16:42:09)
Topalov suspected
Investigations to come. FIDE & ACP, Pavel Tregubov accusations...
Is Silvio Danailov the 'teddy bear' of Topalov ? :)
The whole story :
http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=741182
Really strange to see Veselin Topalov under attack the same way Vladimir Kramnik was.. by him. To be continued.
Marc Lacrosse (2007-02-18 15:19:22)
:-)
If I am the Marc you are referring too, why not ...
Don't be fooled : I like human chess too (I was in the 2050-2100 range for years OTB a long long time ago).
Although I doubt I would like it much I suppose I could still play decent correspondence games without comp assistance ...
And be sure : if I went to enter a non-computer event I would follow the rules !
Marc
Thibault de Vassal (2007-02-20 17:44:50)
Rybka 2.2 stronger than Rybka 2.3
Rybka 2.3 weaker than Rybka 2.2 ??
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=340#fp
CEGT computer chess rating lists :
http://www.husvankempen.de/nunn/40_4_Ratinglist/40_4_AllVersion/rangliste.html
Waiting for HIARCS 12 :)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-05 10:19:11)
Playchess Freestyle Tournament
Thanks for info, Samy...
What a crosstable, no less than 17 players finishing with 5,5 / 8
Petr, I understand your frustration, anyway that's why I play correspondence chess only over the internet. Losing a game thanks to a connection lost or strange rules is not interesting much :/
Several remarks while looking at the final crosstable :
The winner uses Rybka 2.3 mp, the others too :) .. Rybka's author (Rajlich) scores 5 out of 8 (pos. 18)
With Rybka getting stronger and stronger at fast time controls, Advanced Chess will probably become Computer Chess and finally Rybka Chess very soon. 1 hour + 15 sec is no more interesting.
I recognize some famous 'names' used on the defunct KasparovChess.com, King Crusher (5 / 8), Deep Thunder (3,5 / 8)... Correspondence Chess GM Mikhail Umansky scores 2,5 / 8... and last but not least, french forums superstar Olivier Evan scores 2,5 / 7 :)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-09 16:53:11)
GM Ehlvest vs. Rybka
A strange match happened between FIDE GM Jaan Ehlvest (2610) and Rybka, with White playing with 7 pawns in all games...
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=519
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=564
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-12 12:37:20)
A new computer Go era ?
It seems a new computer Go era just started...
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL2053348420070221?pageNumber=1
Quote : "The 19 by 19 board which top players use is still hard for a machine, but the new method is promising because it makes better use of the growing power of computers than earlier Go software."
Quite strange to read about the growing power of computers regarding Go... I suppose programs have much to learn first.. We will see :)
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-27 16:42:53)
Xiangqi
http://www.chesscafe.com/mueller/mueller.htm
I can't motivate myself to learn this game.. :/ .. rules are so strange, even less natural than chess !? Is it really played elsewhere than in China ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi
"As of 2005, the world's best human xiangqi players remain better than the world's best computer players. The game-tree complexity of xiangqi is approximately 10^150, so it is projected that a human top player will be defeated before 2010."
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-28 15:46:28)
Droppers
I feel that for at least 3 players in this tournament the problem is they had too many games at the same time ! (FICGS + IECG + ICCF ;))
What is strange is they all came back a few months later and registered for new tournaments. This is a real problem... The best answer to this in my opinion is rating that can decrease quite quickly, some will have to fight hard to enter a class M tournament again. In some cases of course there are personal reasons, it is hard to know and that's a pity to ban such players... :/
So it wasn't a good tournament, sorry about that. Still thinking about a new rule.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-03-30 17:17:32)
Correspondence Chess time controls
Correspondence Chess means quite long time controls, traditionnally... You must always have time to analyze well your moves. By the way, rated games with too different time controls would lead to quite strange ratings. 30 days + 1 day per move (60 days limit per move) is fast enough IMO.
I understand your feeling about the simulatneous games :) .. But faster time controls (longer than real-time chess, ie. money tournaments time controls) would lead to many forfeits, quite sure about it.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-04-01 15:21:45)
Anand number one, or not...
Vishwanathan Anand was announced to be ranked #1 on the next FIDE rating list. Finally, Veselin Topalov is still ranked first on the list that was published yesterday. Protestations by the indian federation... The results of Morelia-Linares should be included in the next list to be published very soon. Quite strange mistake !? :)
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3768
Thibault de Vassal (2007-04-09 03:25:04)
Your favourite Chess / Go movie ?
All in topic :) .. may be instructive, what's your favourite Chess & Go movies, at least movies where the game appears.
Mine is probably "La diagonale du fou" (Dangerous Moves) by Richard Dembo, with Michel Piccoli, Alexandre Arbatt, Liv Ullmann, Jean-Hugues Anglade & Michel Aumont... A great movie about a chess world championship that strangely looks like Karpov vs. Korchnoi.. or Fischer vs. Spassky, something between. Michel Piccoli is simply marvellous in this character :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Moves
About Go I remember "Pi" and "Hero"... I did not see the famous "Hikaru No Go". Any others ?
Jason Repa (2007-04-10 01:03:22)
Rounders
I did enjoy this movie. I like alot of Edward Norton and John Malkovich's work. Speaking of Malkovich, did you see the comedy "Art School Confidential"? I thought it was hillarious. It's amazing to see the range of that actor. He's played everything from cold-blooded serial killers to effeminate Fine Arts professor's.
Thibault de Vassal (2007-04-30 14:05:46)