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Game result (chess) B. Ozen, 2269 N. Wilson, 2121 1/2-1/2 See game 152323 |
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Here are 39 results for Wal Saksham in the games.
Game_54820 Game_54192 Game_54191 Game_54189 Game_54186 Game_54182 Game_54177 Game_54171 Game_54164 Game_6518 Game_6516 Game_6514 Game_6511 Game_6507 Game_6502 Game_4901 Game_4900 Game_4898 Game_4895 Game_4891 Game_4886 Game_4445 Game_4444 Game_4443 Game_4442 Game_4441 Game_4440 Game_4387 Game_4386 Game_4385 Game_4384 Game_4383 Game_4377 Game_4271 Game_4270 Game_4268 Game_4265 Game_4261 Game_4256
There are at least 100 results for Wal in the forum.
Wilhelm Schuett (2026-05-03 03:40:36)
Berlin Defense
Did we had Berlin Defence or the Berlin Wall as a thematic tournament?
Garvin Gray (2026-02-22 07:45:14)
Is rating just a number on this site?
There are two types of tickets.
The first kind is when you win a lower class/rapid event and that qualifies you to enter the next higher rated event, but you have to wait until five players above the rating cut off have already entered.
This system was introduced to get tournaments started as each tournament would sit for months waiting for seven players who had ratings above the rating cut off to enter.
And then Thibault has extended the system to pay to enter, where you need to be 50 points lower than the rating cut off.
As has been said previously, one of the biggest issues is not either of these concepts, it is the difference in the rating bands for entering a tournament.
When a tournament is 2200 to 2600, no one who is rated 2500 is going to enter that event when 4 players who are rated between 2200 and 2300 have already entered.
I have already proposed a solution to this, but once again Thibault will not embrace change and we are stuck with what we have.
And I am going to say this directly. Those who are playing on here are growing increasing frustrated and how it is being run.
From TER, to rating bands, to tickets and many other issues, nothing changes.
And I think quite a few of us are reaching the point of walking away. I certainly am.
There is no point continuing on when the site owner will not change anything anymore. The only option left is to leave.
Juri Eintalu (2023-11-18 03:24:26)
A Public Appeal to Chess Organisations
to Thibault de Vassal:
It is beside the point whether the Russell Tribunal on Palestine was biased or not.
What is essential is that you have said nothing about the facts and statistic presented by that tribunal.
You are talking about the apartheid. But you ignore the context in which I mentioned the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. I was talking about that tribunal because it presented facts, that already in 2014, Israel's actions concerning the Gaza Strip were very close to genocide.
Thus, your remarks concerning the Russell Tribunal on Palestine are beside the point and avoiding the theme.
Moreover, independently of any Russel tribunals, it is evident and clear that there is an apartheid regime in Israel and occupied Palestine territories.
First of all, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are surrounded by a high wall with barbered wire.
Thibault de Vassal (2023-07-05 03:08:35)
allport_misha: Withdrawal from 2023 CWC
If you cannot play, there will be a replacement.
My very best wishes, Thibault
Misha Allport (2023-07-04 14:47:58)
allport_misha: Withdrawal from 2023 CWC
......for health reasons. I informed FICGS 3 hours ago by e-mail that I wouldn't be able to participate in the FICGS 2023 Chess World Championship.
User Name: allport_misha(Brasil)
A. T. S. Broekhuizen (2022-11-25 10:20:51)
I did not win a game since 3 years
I think you don't have to go as far as to play dubious variations, as long as the chosen variations (for a thematic tournament) still have some 'music' left in them. I also have two suggestions: the Rio gambit against the Berlin wall and the following transposition into the Rubinstein variation of the French defence: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4. Besides, lately I still have won a game against the King's gambit with black. But this is much harder than holding a draw with white, so I would not define success for white as a draw and for black as a win in this case.
Thibault de Vassal (2022-09-29 21:36:29)
Next thematic tournament
Change has been done:
Anti-Stonewall [Dutch: Alapin] 1.d4 f5 2.Qd3 d5 3.g4
Thibault de Vassal (2022-03-02 00:55:20)
Russian flag replaced
Dear chessfriends, I think that FICGS should walk the way followed by several federations (tennis, soccer...). The russian flag does not represent russian players anymore. Of course, russian people has nothing to do with the sad events in Ukraine.
Thibault de Vassal (2021-06-30 01:11:05)
Withdrawal from Standard Tournament
Hello Misha, your name has been removed (a few days ago already). My best wishes
Misha Allport (2021-06-27 18:47:48)
Withdrawal from Standard Tournament
I respectfully request withdrawal from the Standard Tournament -Class E- #000239 for personal reasons. Thank You, Allport, Misha
Garvin Gray (2021-06-13 11:22:28)
Wch 22 Stage 2 ended
Now that my ficgs cup group has finished, I feel I can reply without feeling like I am pushing my own barrow.
When I highlighting the issue of when there is a group of 5, I was not intending it to be related to either championship.
This is because, in my view, the issue is the same, regardless of whether the group of view occurs in the WCH, the ficgs cup or a general group game.
I am aware that some people probably have read my replies as being rather strong on this topic, and in some cases, unhelpful, but if you look at it from the viewpoint of having engaged in genuine dialogue, exchanged viewpoints, debated back and forth, and gone over many topics again and again and finally after all that time, have gotten in writing and published rules that changes will be made, and then as soon as the situations come up again, the old rules are enforced again and nothing changes, then it becomes quite a bit more understandable why a negative tone and suspicion is underlaid in the discussions.
And as for why not walk away?
Had I been told that the entire format for the FICGS cup was going to be disbanded, that groups of 5 were going to be used and only single round robin was going to be used and three or four stages were going to be used, then YES, I probably would not have entered, and I would have made my feelings known as to why I was not entering.
And, I would have been looking to not enter any further World Championships as well. I have a Round Robin group coming up, as well as a Stage 2. These I will complete and do my best to advance, but if the old rules are maintained, then I will not be entering any future cycles.
Garvin Gray (2021-04-18 17:28:11)
Wch 22 Stage 2 ended
I do not disagree with your general sentiment, but as someone who has been on this site a long time, I have experienced a lot of negotiations and discussions like this, where the discussions end up going nowhere, or some kind of 'change' is promised , and then after a while, those format changes are walked back.
Therefore, I have become rather jaded by this entire process and I am now of the opinion that Thibault just offers these discussions in an attempt to make it look like he is entertaining differing opinions, when really he TRULY can not bring himself to make the changes that some of these discussions are asking for as he already believes that the site is perfect as it is.
So, you are then treating the forum posters like mugs if you are saying, lets discuss the topic and come up with new ideas, if you have no genuine intention of embracing any of the ideas proposed.
I have now said my last post on this matter for quite a while.
I have made it clear what I think of these forum discussions and their purpose, so there is now no further requirement for me to reply.
Wilhelm Schuett (2021-03-26 18:23:14)
Berlin Defense
the Berlin Wall as a thematic tournament
Wilhelm Schuett (2021-03-23 19:41:03)
Berlin Defense
i would try to win against the Berlin Wall
Ewald Gossmann (2021-01-04 14:27:01)
K+B vs. K
I think all chessplayers know that this position is a draw. But in the game 125428 my oponent continues making move after move. I have already offered a draw, but no reaction.
Ewald Gossmann (2020-12-23 12:59:51)
FAIR PLAY
Please, have a look on game 123915. Is something like that FAIR PLAY?
Garvin Gray (2020-12-12 05:04:25)
Repeated draw offers
I do not see any ethical questions here.
The issue is rather simple. Are repeated draw offers a nuisance? The clear answer would be yes to this.
And so, what is a solution?
Currently, if a player is being annoyed/distracted by the repeated draw offers, they have to click 'call referee' and then formally complain about the draw offers.
Most people are not aware of this option, or do not complain. This does not mean that they are off put by it, but instead either just put up with it, which then advantages the draw offerer, or they walk away from the site and play elsewhere.
The solution I have offered allows the draw offer, but stops repeated draw offers.
I would say in all the games that have been played on this site, that out of all those games, the percentage of games that have ended in a draw after a player has offered two or more draws in a row to be so small as to not be measurable.
As a side note - As this is an ICCF rule, this means that the majority of ICCF National Federations voted to implement this rule.
Clearly, those NF's thought the issue was serious enough to implement this rule years ago, with refinements along the way to the current rule quoted here.
Since the rule has been in place and not overturned, I think the fact that many National Federations and players want this rule should be a clear clue that the issue is serious and counter measures should be put in place, as suggested with my rule offer.
Karel Walzer (2019-06-26 19:57:59)
Android App not working
Fatal error
this is only on my mobile
Thibault de Vassal (2018-09-24 00:15:43)
Some questions to H. Kruse, WCH finalist
After that the last FICGS chess WCH final match finished, the choice was made again to ask a few questions to Eros Riccio's challenger: Herbert Kruse, for the 2nd time. He kindly accepted to answer it so let's learn a bit more on our top-ranked correspondence chess player.
______________________________
Hello Herbert, you're not really a player to introduce as you're very active here and at several chess websites for years, with outstanding ratings in each one (as far as I know), you're the 1st FICGS CUP winner & several times FICGS WCH challenger, each time facing "the wall" Eros Riccio, what could you tell us about yourself particularly as a chess & correspondence chess player?
- i began late with 16 to play my first tournament game, but with 18 i already was kicked out of a night club in company with tony miles ;) (dresscode) had vlastimil hort as trainer for a short time and played in teams with gutman, michalchisin, klovans, gipslis and some other GMs. corr chess i began, because i love to find the truth and because of freestyle, where i began to build very strong computers
What kind of computers do you build? Is it all dedicated to chess?
- i have several dual xeon e5 computers with 64gb ddr3 and 16 to 20 real cores and they all play chess ;)
Once again, GM Eros Riccio managed to draw the 12 games of the match. What are your feelings on these games? How did you estimate your chances to destabilize your opponent in the openings and to create complications enough with White (or Black)?
- this time my feelings were neutral. 1% chances to win, but i hoped he would lose his concentration if i began more games with him (we played 6 other games at the same time)
Doesn't "1% chances to win (the match)" mean about 0.17% to win only one game with White, even when losing one with Black? Isn't it a bit pessimistic after all, or is it the new so called Riccio-effect? :)
- if the strongest players face each other there is no win possible, except some has a mouse slep or forgot something during human interfacing
When did you start playing correspondence chess and what changed since that time? What attracted you most in the game?
- 2004 and evaluation of the position is the key point of improvement since then. attractive was to be better than actual world class players :)
Could you tell us anything on the way you work chess and play your correspondence games? Any tip or secret? (nothing to lose to ask :))
- with black i play for fastest way to 0.00 and with white i try every promising way to make a game for a longer time complicated
Do you use several ones at the same time when analyzing a game? (still grabbing some tips)
- i only use the newest stockfish versions of brainfish and corchess because the other engines are not so good. because i have many games i decide which one gets the most cores and time and let them run in infinity mode until i am happy that can be after 1 week or more sometimes.
You're not far to rank 2nd as a poker player at FICGS, you obviously started to take on Big Chess as well. What other games do you play? Did you consider to play Go already?
- i played go against the german champion and lost so i quit :)) played backgammon money game and internet (in fibs with kit woolsey i played over 100 matches) in bridge i was best bidder in germany 1994 to 1995, but dont play much nowadays
Do you have specific goals to achieve as a player?
- 2 goals, since a long time: be ficgs world champion and win one german bridge championship
How do you imagine correspondence chess evolution within a decade? What kind of engines/computers do you expect to use and what will look like centaur chess according to you? (in other words, what part will remain to the human player in the decision?)
- i think the engines today are already unbeatable, so in 20 years the would still not lose and chess is dead since about 4 years
What did you think about Google Deepmind's Alpha Zero performance vs. Stockfish?
- it was a joke because they let a bad version of stockfish play. i would not have lost one game against az0 and maybe won 2 til 5 out of 100
Conditions of this AlphaZero vs. Stockfish match were very specific (opening books, unbalanced hardware...) What weaknesses did you detect in AlphaZero play?
- it was the lack of precision, what would let it lose against stockfish in its tuned newest version but i look from a view of a player who is used to play with deep 60 :)
It seems that computers did not completely take on Bridge yet, what do you expect within a decade?
- i have not seen bridge programms, but the game is so easy that it must be already mastered by computers
Garvin Gray (2017-01-22 10:00:16)
FICGS chess cup : proposal
Absolutely bloody not. There has already been a long discussion and a lot of work put into getting a somewhat agreed format.
Thibault, this is exactly what I expected you to do with this ficgs world cup, try and renege on the agreement at the last minute and attempt to change the format.
And with this concept of some kind of thematic championship, no one is going to agree on which opening to play.
We have an agreed format for the ficgs world cup and all you have to do is open the entry list for it, which starts February 1st for play beginning March 1st.
You renege from this and I will almost certainly walk from this site.
Garvin Gray (2017-01-05 01:10:02)
Future penalties for games lost on time
Returning to this issue:
Ficgs already has a policy on this issue from its rules. It is covered in 11.6:
Any player who forfeits (by resignation or silent withdrawal) his games in an equal or winning position, without giving an explanation to referee in a rated chess tournament could lose his other games in the tournament, get a limited access to the server and couldn't enter waiting lists anymore during a period of 2 months, at the referee's discretion.
Garvin Gray (2016-11-30 11:16:28)
Future penalties for games lost on time
Since I have referred to the ICCF policies on the matters of players losing on time, I should directly quote their policy:
It is under section 5 of Code of Conduct:
Types of disciplinary action available are as follows:
(i) Formal Written Warning – for breaches in behaviour incompatible with ICCF statutes, principles, or rules. Continuing or repeated misbehaviour will result in (ii) being implemented
(ii) Disciplinary Action with Penalty/Sanctions – for serious or recurring breaches in behaviour
incompatible with ICCF statutes, principles, and/or rules. Immediate penalties/sanctions should be imposed, the degree of which should be related to the severity of the misdemeanour.
The following scale of penalties/sanctions should be used:
(a) A serious behavioural issue, e.g. silent/unacceptable withdrawal from a tournament, unacceptable, or abusive behaviour to players/officials/ICCF as a first offence – ban from all international CC tournaments and activities for a period of 2 years, from the date of decision.
(b) A repeated serious behavioural issue, e.g., repeated silent/ unacceptable withdrawal from a tournament, repeated abusive behaviour to players/officials/ICCF – ban from all international CC tournaments and activities for a period of 5 years, from the date of the latest decision.
(c) Outrageous behaviour or further repeated behavioural issue, e.g., theft, belligerent action towards ICCF or any of its officials, assault, etc. – ban from all international CC tournaments and activities for life duration. Appeal for remission of sentence is available after 10 years.
(d) Extremely slow play in a clearly lost position is not proper behaviour in CC play, and is subject to a warning from the TD, and will result in disciplinary action if it continues or is repeated in other games.
When dealing with disciplinary matters and considering penalties/sanctions, care should be taken to ensure consistency and those penalties are commensurate with the “crime” committed.
In all cases of disciplinary action, an individual has a basic right to express his/her case, with reasoning, before a decision is taken by an official/tournament director or tournament office, etc.
Scott Nichols (2016-11-11 14:01:20)
Do the cards matter?
Dear Yeturu Aahlad, I have thought long about your inquiry. This is the best scenario I can come up with.
You are at a 9 player real money game. You know all the players. You all have decided to see who is the best.
You have been playing for many, many hours. All that is left is you and Him. Lets call him Eros. Last hand.
You are dealt pocket Black Aces. Eros acts first and checks. You feel you can just take the ante's now and move on, but you decide to slow play them and just call. The flop is 3clubs, 6hearts and Qhearts. Again Eros checks and you decide to bet a little again and he calls.
Now through all the hours of playing, you have gotten to know each other well. He is the type who talks and laughs, makes fun of people, belittles them and acts in a generally arrogant manner. (We all know the type). The KEY is to study all of this and, this is maybe the most important, study his microexpressions. Some people call them tells. But most all pros know how not to give away tells. But I have learned that microexpressions are involuntary. Let's get back to the hand.
The "turn" is a Jspades. He decides to bet, a good bet and of course you call. (slow playing). Now comes the moment of truth, "the river". It is an Ace of hearts. You are thrilled, and your face gives the microexpression for a tenth of a second. You now have 3 Aces, but there is 3 hearts on the board.
All of the sudden, Eros goes all in and walks away from the table. In my experience, the odds of him having 2 hearts in the hole is 23/1. HERE is the point if the cards matter. You can beat anything except a Heart flush. And the odds of him having that are 23/1. This is a real money, no limit game. If you call and lose, you lose 90% of all you hold near and dear.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Garvin Gray (2016-01-28 23:12:19)
FICGS chess cup : proposal
Hello Roger and thanks for your reply,
I would not like to see groups of fewer than 8 players to remove luck as a factor and to make ties less likely.
Garvin- Yes, this is something, at least from my point of view, is what I am trying to avoid. It also reduces the impact of any withdrawals in a group.
I would not like to see groups of more than 12 players so they are not overloaded.
Garvin- Unfortunately, Small number of groups, two stages, and if a large number of entries means something needs to give. So it could be the size of the groups. But hopefully they can be kept to a maximum of 11.
Also the tournament should always end in 2 stages so people know it won't be too long, and in case of a tie the winner should be the player with the most wins in the whole tournament.
Garvin- In my suggested version- I covered the two stage part. I take it your second comment refers to what happens if two or more players end up on the same score in the second stage?
Roger- And one more thing, please implement rules to reduce the number of non players and careless time losses. Like a minimum Elo, a minimum of finished games, and require 2 to 5 E-Points to enter.
Garvin- Quite a few of the withdrawals have come from top players in the past. The most important aspect to reduce the non players is to go from announcement, to closing date of entries, to start a quick and orderly process with no delays.
So after the rules have finally been worked out, have quite a period of time of publicity, then two weeks enter and then Thibault has to close entries straight away, get the draw done and games going.
The longer the lag period between announcement, entries opening, entries closing and games starting, the more chance of players 'going walkabout'.
Roger- Some of this would be valid for the WCH too. For example, stage 2 with only 5 players is ridiculous, because luck can play too big of a role.
Garvin- In the current WCH rules, it is already covered that Double round robin can be used if there are 5 players. I have complained previously to Thibault when he has not implemented this rule when put in a five player group.
In my reworded version for this competition, I asked, at what point should the second stage final for minimum qualifiers move from a double round robin to single round robin?
6 players, 7 players? It does seem like 6 players is the correct number. If only six players qualify from the first stage, then the second stage is DRR. If seven or more qualify, then it will be single round robin. Practically, this would most likely mean there were 6 groups, and each player won their group outright. Or 5 groups. And 4 groups were one outright, with the other group having 2 players finishing tied for first and both advancing to the second stage.
Thibault de Vassal (2016-01-27 00:38:13)
FICGS chess cup : proposal
Ok, I agree with that.
Here is a first try for FICGS cup rules:
"FICGS world cup championship is a multi stages tournament. All players who entered the waiting list are involved in single round-robin tournaments (2 stages or more will probably be necessary). All games during the whole cycle are played in 30 days + 1 day / move. As a reminder, the use of chess engines (Stockfish, Houdini, Rybka...) is allowed and encouraged in cup tournaments. Norms are possible according to FICGS general rules.
Round-robin tournaments are groups of 5 to 33 players (most probably 7 to 13). The winner of each group is qualified for the next stage. In case of equality, the player with most wins (and if necessary the player with the lowest tournament entry rating, then the lowest current rating) among the best scores, is declared winner and qualified for the next stage if any. Groups are built grading all players by rating and distributing them to obtain similar elo averages. There will be no replacements in these tournaments.
In the case of a withdrawal, the games won't be rated if a player warns the referee before the tournament starts and at most 15 days after a new stage started but the first one."
Anything to add?
Garvin Gray (2014-10-31 16:00:59)
July 1 2014 Fide laws of chess
There have been quite a few changes. But considering our continual disagreements over many issues and the fact that apart from this event, I have walked away from this site, it is not my job to now go ahead and do your work for you.
I am not your research assistant. I offered you my advice many times over the years and in almost all occasions you flatly rejected them, or took so long to come around to them, that I have taken the decision to walk away from this site.
The new fide laws of chess have been on display since July 1 and have been confirmed in stages since then. I am not going to be your research assistant and now sit down and prepare a full document on what has changed and how it should be incorporated into this event- ESPECIALLY- when I know from your past form- that you will flat reject most, if not all, of my recommendations.
So I am not going to waste my time being your research assistant.
I have my own event to prepare for in 2015 and prepare the rules for in that event, which I am working through.
I can give you a word of warning though. If you think that the default time is the only major change, you are very wrong.
David Fierry Fraillon (2014-04-23 13:20:16)
Standard time control abusers
okidoki ...
Reasons for ban can be fuzzy i do agree, and i think not in a ''fair play spirit''.
I should have spoken about withdrawal or something else ... whatever i am intersting in playing chess and i always intend to play my Pech's game normally.
It can even be fun to play like that : the challenge is to win by time !!! :-)
In fact i wanted to pointed out that there is maybe different ways than changing rules to avoid time abusers. It's been a long time that i did not seriously play chess, and i am not an expert in cc ... but i am thinking that the actual time rules (combined to the moves interface) are simply really good ...
As a server manager you can find out material evidence of time abusing ( even if it is not as simple as i say ) and a cheater will always find a way to cheat on new rules.
Thibault de Vassal (2014-02-26 15:19:34)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Just a matter of taste... As for me, I really enjoy it. Rapid tournaments are probably a good compromise, no need to make standard tournaments look like it too much.
Garvin Gray (2014-02-11 11:42:25)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
I would go as far as to say that it is time to abandon the standard time control divisions completely.
George Clement (2014-02-10 20:37:01)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
I agree with Garvin that this would be a great standard time control.
"
20 moves in 40 days, followed by 10 moves in 40 days, followed by 10 moves in 40 days and then 15 days plus 1 day per move from move 41. "
Why don't we try it? Thib what say you?
Tano-Urayoan Russi Roman (2014-01-24 15:33:08)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Garvin the time control here is even faster than in ICCF (50 days for 10 moves) so the problem is not the t/c but the players abusing it, as you have stated. Why you want to penalize those who find satisfactory the system for the culprit of some rotten fruits?
Garvin Gray (2014-01-24 06:26:31)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Don: From my experience I am not sure the issue discussed in this thread really comes from game overload, as in having committed to too many games.
In fact on this site it would be difficult to commit to too many games :o.
Of course if a person has committed themselves to too many games across a number of sites, nothing can be done about that on here with a number cap.
So for this site alone, a game cap I don't think is required. The issue is the time control.
A curiosity- in one of the games to which I am complaining about, where I believe my opponent is 'gaming' the time control, the opponent has just past the time control, but now in a curiosity of the time control, it shows that I have 57 days for 10 moves and my opponent 43 days for 10 moves.
So in spite of having taken about a less 80 less days during the whole game, for this time I receive no credit for this due to the 59 day limit.
Seems like there really is no benefit to getting on with your games on here and the site administrator wants to endorse this behaviour. Certainty does not want to put anything in place to stop it.
Don Groves (2014-01-24 03:51:05)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
IMHO, the answer to this problem is to not allow any player to enter a new tournament if that player still has more than X ongoing tournaments. The determination of X remains to be resolved. It needs to be low enough to eliminate players from entering a new tournament and then not making any moves until their clock runs low. This is completely unfair to the other players!
Costantino Proietti (2014-01-04 13:35:44)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
I agree with your time control proposal.
It seems a proper suggestion to prevent wasting time.
Garvin Gray (2014-01-04 10:34:26)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
What do you quote again? Or do you quoth the raven?
Costantino Proietti (2014-01-04 10:20:47)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
I quote again.
Garvin Gray (2013-12-31 15:46:09)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Coasantino: As I commented earlier, the rapids are not too bad. At least a player will eventually end up with 1 day per move only and so may time out. But then we get into the situation of them 'gaming' their vacation and the discussions once again around that.
It is solely to do with the standard time control.
I think the standard time control should be:
20 moves in 40 days, followed by 10 moves in 40 days, followed by 10 moves in 40 days and then 15 days plus 1 day per move from move 41.
Costantino Proietti (2013-12-30 21:35:15)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Garvin, I totally agree with you. The answer is: Change the time control. In rapid tournaments too.
Garvin Gray (2013-12-24 11:01:28)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Josef: I would prefer not to talk much about unrated events. In terms of priorities for players, unrated events will always be last. So they will be shuffled to the end.
So time priorities for unrated games can always be excused as they are given the least amount of time after, in rough order of importance:
WCH games
Divisions where you have a chance of a norm
Divisions where you have a chance of winning, so win a prize
Division where you can gain points.
Games where you are doing well, which is a vague criteria.
And then everything after that.
As a key supporter and one of the original creator of the standard open events, I would like to see those change to rapid time control from now on. Most of the players in those divisions rarely would need all the time that is offered.
It would also mean more cycles could move quicker.
Josef Riha (2013-12-24 09:38:06)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Hello Garvin, in unrated tournaments the same problem exists.
But another one is this: After a few moves they wait until timeout or resign also in a winning position. I found this very unrespectful and boring.
I can name this persons too.
Garvin Gray (2013-12-24 07:24:52)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
The issue is not with the amount of time taken when players use a few days per each move, say 3 days on one move, 4 days on the next, 2 days on another and so forth, throughout the 10 moves for 40 days and so arrive at the end of the 10 moves with about 5 days to spare (playing it safe). That is how the time control is 'meant' to work.
No, my issue is with players who completely waste my time with behaviour that shows that they are able to move faster and can do so, but believe that is ok not to do so.
Most of us know exactly who they are and would have no problem naming them. If I had the option not to play them again, I would be comfortable doing so.
This is how they 'game' the time control. At the start of the game, they will make their first few moves in the first few days, leaving 35 or so days for 5 moves, then you will not see them for another 30 days, then they come back and make another 5 moves in 5 days (making the time control).
Then you do not see them again for another 30 days, except for maybe one or two moves, then they make 10 moves in less than 10 days (making the time control again).
And they keep repeating this behaviour for the whole game. Time period after time period.
In my period, this wastes 30 days per cycle of my life and I do hold Thibault partly responsible for it. He designs a time control that allows it to happen.
At least with the rapid time control, players who do this eventually end up having to make one move per day for the rest of the game, so they run the risk of running out of time. They show poor time management and get punished for it.
There is a simple way to stop this behaviour, change the time control.
Alvin Alcala (2013-12-24 01:11:27)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Agree Thib, less pressure you have with the standard events while in the rapid I most of the time feel the pressure of the fast time control. Its a matter of taste actually.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-12-23 20:59:07)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
Well, as for me I still like very much this time control... It enables me not to accumulate too much stress (mainly because of periods -added to vacation- when I cannot play chess enough) while accumulating a few tournaments.
But I understand for sure your feeling! People do not play at the same rhythm, that's all and that's why we have rapid tournaments (that seem to be about as popular as standard tourneys).
Garvin Gray (2013-12-22 09:17:43)
Withdrawal from all standard time events
I thought I would bring this topic up to let everyone know.
After a few years here, I have decided that it is almost certain that I will no longer be entering standard time control events on this site until the time control changes.
I find that most players in that time control just waste the time provided and are able to play faster, but choose to run their time down, and then make 8 moves in 10 days, then wait another 30 days before making another 8 moves in 10 days, or similar behaviour.
Sorry Thibault, but I have better things to do in my life than have my life wasted like this.
If you want me to return to standard time control events, change the time control.
This means I will only be playing in rapid time control events, which is a much better time control.
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.
Thibault de Vassal (2013-07-15 14:16:39)
Interview with new FICGS Go champion
Yen-Wei Huang, winner of the 8th FICGS Go championship, kindly accepted to answer a few questions for this very interesting interview!
_______________________
- Hello Yen-Wei and congratulations for winning the FICGS Go championship! Xiao Tong was obviously a tough opponent, yet you won 5-0, what happened during this match?
Hi Thib. Thanks again for your kind invitation. Xiao is definitely one of the strongest Go players on FICGS, and I was really, really lucky to have won all five games. In fact, I was behind in three of them until Xiao made some mistakes late in the games: in game 69092, I forced a tough ko fight which jeopardized my lower group. Xiao made a mistake at P2 as he missed my T3 could force another ko. Game 69093 was very close towards the end but I think the move at C13 caused him the game. Game 69096 was even closer that I won by half a point thanks to the big 7.5 komi. The other two games were not easy either and I am glad I could have hung on to the lead. Overall I really enjoyed our match and I would love to have a rematch with Xiao in the future.
- You're from Taiwan, could you tell us a bit more about you? At what age did you learn Go? Do you have any other ranks (e.g. at other sites)?
I learned Go when I was 5 and I have always enjoyed playing all my life. I used to play on servers like KGS and Tygem and I was around 6-7 dan on these sites. Recently I don't have that much time to play so that's why turned to turn-based server like FICGS.
- What do you think about the world of Go these days? Who is the very best player in the world according to you?
I think the past two years were the "warring period" in the world of Go. I would say Lee Sedol was the best player two years ago, but he seems to have lost his dominant position recently. There are many rising stars that are winning the world champions. I am especially keeping an eye on Yuta Iyama, who I think is No. 1 in Japan and has started to threaten the dominance of Chinese and Korean players.
- What about computer Go and its future? How many years do you give to the human before losing to the machine?
As a software engineer I foresee the computer Go beats the world's No. 1 player in two decades. Crazy Stone already beat Yoshio Ishida with four handicap stones earlier this year, and I believe it wouldn't take long for computers to beat pros in two handicap stones. The real challenge will come when computers need to go from handicap games to even games since they need to advance from defensive mode to attack mode. I am really excited to see how Artificial Intelligence can surprise us with its "creative" moves when the time comes.
- Do you use engines or databases? What advice would you give to beginners (and to your future challengers :))?
I know there are many useful Go engines and databases that are being developed these days, unfortunately I don't really know much about them. I do use http://ps.waltheri.net/ if I need to look something up, and I go to http://tom.com for commented games (they're in Chinese, nonetheless). Advice to beginners: just go to any search engine and you can easily find all the free resources you want. Advice to my future challengers: just try the new variations since I know none of them :)
- What new features would you like to see at FICGS?
Firstly I'd like to thank Thib for maintaining such a wonderful site. I enjoy playing Go and Poker here and maybe I'll start playing Chess sometime (I really suck so I'm not ready to embarrass myself yet). The ability to play different games is what makes FICGS unique. As Thib mentioned earlier, we need much more players, and I think FICGS simply needs to host much more tournaments, probably some with shorter time settings. With more games and more player engagement, more people will stick around. Another feature I'd really like to see is FICGS client for cellphones/tablets. The main advantage of turn-based servers is that it allows people to play wherever for whatever period of time: a 1-min ride in the elevator, a 10-min wait at the bus stop, or a couple of hours at home. If playing on FICGS is made easier, I know I will be more addicted to it :)
- Thank you very much and good luck in the next final match...
Thanks! And please go easy on our Poker match...
Dmitri Mamrukov (2012-08-19 23:04:16)
This is Russia :(
Vadim, you're right - "Pussy Riot" is a purely political case. But what are its roots?
The real reason why the Western media outlets have been so keen on covering the "Pussy Riot" trial has nothing to do with "free speech."
"Pussy Riot" and Kasparov are not victims. They are US State Department-backed instruments of corporate-financier hegemony, used as leverage against a Russian government standing in the way of Wall Street and London's order of international corporatocracy.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32395
Dmitri Mamrukov (2012-08-19 03:29:18)
This is Russia :(
Both Kasparov and Ruzin are provocateurs. No sensible Russian citizen would write this title. It's like an American posting "This is America :(" just based on
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/14-specific-allegations-of-nypd-brutality-during-occupy-wall-street/260295/
http://www.chrgj.org/projects/suppressingprotest.pdf
Thibault de Vassal (2012-02-24 20:36:16)
Folding in Poker
Ok, note: it could have been discussed in the forum when I announced it... Anyway the current rules may be better at the end, ratings are not dedicated to change faster than necessary. It also avoids that anyone can reach the top just by lasting a few games.
Also look at the results of Nelson:
vs. Aleksey Payzansky (2086) : 67% (56 games, 38 wins, 18 losses)
vs. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2006) : 90% (52 games, 47 wins, 5 losses)
vs. Jason Repa (2095) : 58% (39 games, 23 wins, 16 losses)
vs. Yulian Kehayov (2022) : 54% (35 games, 19 wins, 16 losses)
vs. Anderson Barradas (2021) : 72% (29 games, 21 wins, 8 losses)
vs. Scott Nichols (2119) : 64% (28 games, 18 wins, 10 losses)
vs. Lubos Fric (1924) : 68% (25 games, 17 wins, 8 losses)
vs. Stephane Legrand (2187) : 54% (22 games, 12 wins, 10 losses)
vs. Rolf Staggat (2116) : 61% (21 games, 13 wins, 8 losses)
vs. Janeen Walden (2000) : 75% (20 games, 15 wins, 5 losses)
IMO he just fully deserves his rating. The reason why noone else can reach it may be just that he's the best player for a while, what do you think?
Thibault de Vassal (2011-11-13 19:52:28)
List ordered by rating
Here is, but as usual the new ratings (january 2012) will be taken in account...
Erwin Thiering 2515
Michael Bergmann 2475
Xavier Pichelin 2454
Thibault de Vassal 2449
Herbert Kruse 2436
Pavel Hse 2332
Ljubomir Tsenkov 2314
Rubn Cmes 2300
Wayne Lowrance 2266
Dariusz Fraczek 2261
Ramil Germanes 2255
Miroslav Gazi 2255
Alexander Blinchevsky 2253
Michael Sharland 2251
Sergey Kokoryukin 2251
Andrey Razumikhin 2250
Valery Nemchenko 2245
Lubos Fric 2241
Kevin D. Plant 2237
Christoph Schroeder 2236
Viktor Shishkin 2234
Slobodan Ilic 2218
Dmitri Mamrukov 2211
Vitaly Rudenko 2203
Alvin Alcala 2203
Carlos Snchez 2203
Garvin Gray 2200
Scott Nichols 2189
Peter Unger 2181
Martin Zeman 2181
Christian Koch 2167
Stephen Hamby 2163
John Schutte 2136
David Evans 2132
Nelson Bernal Varela 2130
Darren DiAlfonso 2123
Ardiantez Polkwitzauer 2123
Thomas Dineen 2118
Peter W. Anderson 2112
Steve Lim 2110
Yu Ming Hoe 2100
Arkadiusz Wosch 2093
Djordje Kasabasic 2093
Luis Flores 2084
Daniel Parmet 2083
Lalit Kapoor 2080
Erik L. van Dijk 2074
Bernd Wolf 2072
Jose Lopez 2071
Sergey Uzdin 2064
Rodolfo d Ettorre 2064
Janos Helmer 2063
Om Prakash 2053
Mykola Simashkevitch 2043
Alexis Duenas 2037
Ireneusz Kasznia 2036
Mihail Larsky 2028
Joop Simmelink 2026
Pan Hardfeldt 2020
Henri Muller 2000
Jaroslav senior Pech 2000
Jaroslaw Gibas 2000
Bogoljub Teverovski 1997
Willy De Waele 1996
Fernando Vasquez 1992
Jose Moreira 1979
Andrew Endean 1975
Henri-Louis Muller 1972
Jose Maria Velasco 1972
Jordi Domingo 1969
Janeen Walden 1958
Andy Richard 1956
Roberto Migliorini 1949
Erika van Dijk 1943
Daniel Reboredo 1938
Coco Maceda 1938
Michael Rogers 1933
Aleksandr Aksenov 1927
Mariusz Maciej Broniek 1923
Robert Wilhelm 1901
Kieran Moore 1900
John Dyson 1889
Catalin Nita 1888
Daniel Jabot 1878
Johanes Suhardjo 1875
Mikhail Ruzin 1871
Benjamin Block 1863
Ilmar Ambos 1859
Vyacheslav Shchelykalin 1859
Jan Peter Lommler 1844
Stanislas Gounant 1840
Mircea Hrubaru 1838
Sasha Lipsits 1833
Nilson Pereira 1833
Aleksey Payzansky 1804
Jai Prakash Singh 1800
Fredi Brumec 1800
Gleen Duran 1800
Josef Strohmeier 1800
Ryszard Sternik 1776
Stepan Pech 1767
Dieter Faust 1764
Dmitriy Malish 1760
Dimitrios Ropokis 1743
Hasan Kirali 1715
Eddit Moreul 1700
Behzad Shahmiri 1700
Jaimie Wilson 1684
Dinesh Bhandarkar 1682
Philip Roe 1667
Olli Ylnen 1660
Graham Cridland 1655
Juan Alvar 1653
Jeremy Banta 1644
Lus Gonzaga Grego 1643
Pablo Siciliano 1623
Mariusz Jandula 1600
Sergey Biryukov 1598
Alejandro Canovas 1589
Jimmy Huggins 1577
Matthew O Brien 1575
Pablo Ruano 1565
Khaled Toutaoui 1528
Stanimir Denchev 1505
Leo Malagar 1500
Richard Hendricks 1479
Eric Price 1469
Antonio Pereira 1456
Angelo Piantadosi 1420
Simon Huxtable 1388
Peter Krakovsky 1326
Marc-Antoine Leurette 1243
Jorge Orden 1204
Hana Pechova 1204
Jorma Hkkinen 1192
Des Jefferis 1186
Deon Whittaker 1111
Matej Pech 1074
Jiri Mach 1022
Cdric Cavaill 1003
Jay Melquiades 0909
Jaroslav Pech 0697
Paul Valle (2011-08-08 03:23:41)
My favorite chess sets:
Bauhaus:
http://www.retrotogo.com/2010/07/naef-bauhaus-chess-set-by-josef-hartwig.html
Edible:
http://www.biggles.uk.com/wow/edble_chess.html
Empire:
http://www.houseofstaunton.com/product_p/menwemp44.htm
Mechanics:
http://www.houseofstaunton.com/product_p/menwmch425.htm
Platonic:
http://www.yankodesign.com/2005/07/20/platonic-chess-by-patricia-tower/
Tesla:
http://design.fr/product-design/chess-set-for-tesla-vacuum-tube-chess-set-to-attract-young-followers/
Wobble:
http://walyou.com/luxurious-wooden-chess-set-wobbly-pieces/
Gino Figlio (2011-07-18 13:53:39)
Case of resignation in WCH tournament
http://www.iccf.com/rules/ICCFTournamentRules01-01-2011.pdf
Scroll down to find "6.Withdrawal and Substitutions"
It doesn't specifically address the issue though...
Gino Figlio (2011-07-17 18:03:24)
Case of resignation in WCH tournament
There is a big difference between OTB and cc where unplayed games are rarely seen when a withdrawal occurs since all games are played simultaneously in cc. Thst's why adjudications are needed.
Thibault de Vassal (2011-07-16 11:23:35)
Case of resignation in WCH tournament
You're right Don, there was already things to fix :) But what about the point discussed here, a possible re-adjudication as a loss of the game(s) finished before these withdrawals?
Don Groves (2011-07-16 07:51:33)
Case of resignation in WCH tournament
How about this:
"The game result of a resignation or silent withdrawal in an even or winning position will be adjudicated by the referee. In addition, the player who resigns or withdraws in such positions may face punishment by ... etc."
Thibault de Vassal (2011-07-15 22:39:40)
Case of resignation in WCH tournament
The current rules on this point are 11.6 : "Any player who forfeits (by resignation or silent withdrawal) his games in an equal or winning position, without giving an explanation to referee in a rated chess tournament could lose his other games in the tournament, get a limited access to the server and couldn't enter waiting lists anymore during a period of 2 months, at the referee's discretion."
Any suggestion to improve it?
Wayne Lowrance (2011-05-26 17:32:15)
I am exhausted
Thank you Jimmy so much. Your prayers will be much appreciated. I decided I would share the full extent of my problem.
My body is ravaged with arthritis. Have had it for man years Its in lower back, right hip and knee...no cartilage, bone on bone. It has progressed in last year. I have to take Pain killer drugs (Vicodin). A Operation is not an option. Doctors told me year or more ago this day would come. The Vicodin helps relieve pain but only for 2-4 hours.My mind is affected from the drug, all in all I am exhausted with chess pressure, trying to play at a level I am accustomed too. Drugs or no drugs, I am still in pain, I am invalid now, cannot walk, sitting hurts my hip, bah...on and on.
I was not gonna share the details but I wanted it known complete reason for my leaving CC world of chess that I love so much.
Wayne
Jimmy Huggins (2011-03-14 17:39:50)
WBCCC Round 2 to be a short delay
I'm sorry about this, but the tournament will be delayed by a day or 2, because of a withdrawal at the top of the pairings. If it was a lower point group, we could have probably winged it. For more details players please read this.
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=21227
Me and Garvin will work hard to get this fixed as soon as possible, follow this thread or here and I will get it corrected. When we have things fixed pairings wise I will post ASAP.
Sebastian Boehme (2011-03-05 23:33:35)
Strange game
For my part I can say, I will always resign if I feel the game is just useless, because it saves me a lot of energy.
And really why waste time on a lost position? There are better ways to spend it.
Have a walk, listen to some good music, watch a good movie. Enjoy the time! ;)
Don Groves (2011-03-04 08:58:52)
Wallpaper
You can set what you want in your Preferences.
Lucas McCain (2011-03-04 08:19:14)
Wallpaper
Is there anyway to have one wallpaper you want to stay? Some of the backgrounds are cool. I just wondering.
Daniel Parmet (2010-09-27 21:38:34)
Quote festival, part 6
"The beginning is the most important part of the work" - Plato
"Nothing is more unpleasant than virtuous person with a mean mind" Walter Bagehot
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie
"Necessity never made a good bargain" Benjamin Franklin
"Good People are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know" William Saroyan
"In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it." - Robert Heinlein
"A satirist is a man who discovers unpleasant things about himself and then says them about other people." Peter McArthur
Daniel Parmet (2010-09-24 20:19:04)
whole database transfers made simple
sure Wayne, I answered your first pm. Feel free to send anymore. I'll keep walking you through it til we get done what you want. Conversely, if its simpler, I can do the first 5 steps on my end for you then all you have to do is step 6. Though, its probably better for the future if you learn how to do this.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-06-28 20:44:06)
Encyclopedia of gambits
I guess that many of you read the interesting Chessbase article by Kavalek :
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6460
The link to the encyclopedia of gambits by Marco Saba was a surprise to me... really interesting, and a huge work!
http://studimonetari.org/edg/
I picked up a few ideas for the next chess thematic tournaments, so there may be the next ones in the future :
Aasum [Van Geet: Hector Gambit] 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 de4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.f3
Abonyi-Tennison [Reti: Tennison Gambit Accepted] 1.Nf3 d5 2.e4 de4 3.Ng5
[KGA: Allgaier Gambit] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nf7
"Anti-Stonewall" [Dutch: Alapin] 1.d4 f5 2.Qd3 d5 3.g4
[Budapest: Alekhine, Balogh Gambit] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.de5 Ng4 4.e4 d6
Banzai-Leong [French] 1.e4 e6 2.b4
Batavo [Bird: Batavo Gambit] 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.e4
Beyer c.g. [Blackmar-Diemer: Beyer Countergambit] 1.e4 e5 2.d4 d5
Birmingham [Polish: Birmingham Gambit] 1.b4 c5
Blackburne - I [Scandinavian: 2.exd5] 1.e4 d5 2.ed5 c6
Bhnke [Scandinavian: Bhnke Gambit] 1.e4 d5 2.ed5 e5
Breyer [KGA: Breyer Gambit] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef4 3.Qf3
De Smet [Nimzowitsch Defence: 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5] 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.de5 d6
[Diemer-Duhm Gambit (DDG) vs. Slav/Caro-Kann] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e4
Gaga [King's Gambit Accepted (KGA)] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef4 3.g3
Halasz - II [Sicilian: Halasz Gambit] 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd4 3.f4
Hickmann [English: Anglo-Dutch] 1.c4 f5 2.e4 fe4 3.d3
Hjoerring c.g. [Benko Gambit] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.e4
Jerome [Giuoco Piano: Jerome Gambit] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bf7
Krejcik [Dutch: Krejcik Gambit] 1.d4 f5 2.g4
Lasa [Open Game: Lopez/Mcleod, Lasa Gambit] 1.e4 e5 2.c3 f5
Lasker - III [Bird: From Gambit Accepted] 1.f4 e5 2.fe5 f6
Omega [Indian: Omega Gambit] 1.d4 Nf6 2.e4
Vector [English: Vector] 1.c4 d5 2.cd5 c6
Wheeler [Nimzowitsch Defence: Wheeler Gambit] 1.e4 Nc6 2.b4
Zilbermints - III [Queen's Gambit] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 b5
"Zurigo" [Queen's Pawn Game] 1.d4 d5 2.g4
If you notice more interesting openings, do not hesitate to suggest it here...
Don Groves (2010-06-17 01:25:53)
10 moves rule for Poker
I agree with Francisco on this. The length of a poker match should be decided by the cards that are dealt and the players' betting decisions with those cards. To make an artificial limit opposes this basic idea.
Poker is not like Chess and Go where games normally never end in less than ten moves. In those games, the ten move rule makes sense for the cases of silent withdrawals and players who never even begin a game.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-06-14 22:26:02)
10 moves rule for Poker
An interesting case... a Poker holdem game finished after only 6 moves (6 played by each player)! The winner was surprised to see that he didn't win any rating point, indeed there's a rule at FICGS (11.6) that says : "Games are not rated for the winner if less than 10 moves have been played by his opponent (most probably forfeit, silent withdrawal or obvious cheating)"
Another reason for this rule is that any player who lose to another one in less than 10 moves is most probably overrated so he should lose some points but his opponent may not win points, so I think that this rule may be ok for poker as well (and I'm not sure if playing all-in each time deserves to win some points :)), but I'd prefer to read some other opinions anyway.
What do you think?
Wayne Lowrance (2009-11-13 18:42:00)
Centaur Chess
Howdy John, I will try and give maybe a little more detail to the best my ability.
1) Rybka is probably best up to "end game" and in end game I like Naum and Zappa.
2) Stonewall: , do not know best engine, but probably not Rybka
3.) Not enough information and again it depends on Engine Tactics. But in general, probably is worth looking into deep P.V.
4) Have no idea
5) No idea.
6) Out of book move "repeat/improvement recognition" as far as I know is not a feature. You as the Centaur of course should recognize this.
7) Well, you will get big arguments here. Many will tell you Aquarium (if you can master it).
8) NO In CC chess, the book is probably the most important thing to study and improve.As mentioned, experience is number one. Dont know if this post is of any value Wayne
John Smith (2009-11-13 02:56:53)
Introduction to Centaur Chess
Hi all,
While I have played allot of chess, so far I only used my computer for an occasional analysis and mostly for the database features.
I am assuming it takes to know engines quite well to become good at advanced/centaur chess, so any advice would be really helpful.
1) Which engines are better at what type of positions? Is Deep Junior best at unclear sacrifices?, Rybka best for positional play?, Schredder best for endgames?
2) Which engines understand different pawn structures better, e.g. which is the best engine to study a stonewall-structure game and which is best for a King's Indian Mar de Plata game?
3) How to interpret the engine value for the position? e.g. if I, say as White, sac a pawn and the evaluation is -0.1, that is less that 1 pawn, does this mean I have enough positional compensation for the pawn?
4) Which engines take long-term weaknesses into their evaluations, even if they can't see anything concrete within their horizon?
5) Which free engines are worth consulting? toga? stockfish? Glaurung? thinker? Which of these are good for complex positions, which for quiet ones?
6) Are there any engines which improve their play during time, that is they learn? e.g. if in a position guiding the engine by hand proves that another move than its preferred one is best, will it be able to spot the move again, if the same position is re-entered?
7) Which is the best interface for analysis?
8) Is there a page with statistics of how each engine performs in every opening?
Thanks!
Thibault de Vassal (2009-10-29 23:01:27)
Most active players, amazing statistics!
These statistics (updated every 2 days) are available at :
http://www.ficgs.com/about.html
And the overall winner is........ :)
Players most active : General (moves played)
1. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff : 124234
2. Rolf Staggat : 81806
3. Anderson Barradas : 55829
4. Stephane Legrand : 47936
5. Scott Nichols : 46711
6. Mark Noble : 37387
7. Findlay Murray : 35874
8. Volker Koslowski : 33241
9. Don Groves : 29539
10. Thibault de Vassal : 26104
11. Francisco Gramajo : 25281
12. Sergey Uzdin : 25256
13. Michael Sharland : 24890
14. Josef Riha : 24193
15. Jason Repa : 22765
16. Laurine Sgur : 22577
17. Alexis Bromo : 20198
18. Benjamin Collette : 20112
19. Fernando Vasquez : 19928
20. Laszlo Kis-Kos : 19174
21. Christian Koch : 18450
22. Evgeny Yarkov : 17168
23. Xavier Pichelin : 16559
24. Garvin Gray : 16388
25. Ranganathan Raman : 15750
26. Sebastian Boehme : 15190
27. Zdravko Stoyanov : 15186
28. Nick Ioffe : 15151
29. Phil Cook : 15007
30. Sean McNabb : 14572
31. Daniel Parmet : 13814
32. Ilmars Cirulis : 13118
33. Joaquim Malpalma : 13057
34. Dmitriy Panov : 12733
35. Nelson Bernal Varela : 12119
36. Marco Roncagliolo : 11741
37. Dmytro Romaniuk : 11648
38. Miroslav Rakovic : 11435
39. Nick Burrows : 11242
40. Janeen Walden : 10967
41. Claude Brisson : 10812
42. Sandor Porkolab : 10714
43. Christophe Czekaj : 10678
44. Janusz Kepinski : 10675
45. Peter Willoughby : 10634
46. Benjamin Block : 10633
47. Kate Lubeck : 10155
48. Charlie Neil : 10076
49. Darko Pipac : 10072
50. William Taylor : 10036
Players most active : Go
1. Don Groves : 17026
2. Claude Brisson : 10812
3. Nick Ioffe : 10795
4. Alejandro Suarez-Moreno : 10018
5. Mickal Simon : 8986
6. Thibault de Vassal : 8870
7. Sean McNabb : 8666
8. Sergey Tarassov : 8236
9. Phil Cook : 8186
10. Tetsuya Kobayashi : 7816
Players most active : Chess
1. Josef Riha : 24119
2. Fernando Vasquez : 19820
3. Zdravko Stoyanov : 14523
4. Anderson Barradas : 12587
5. Ilmars Cirulis : 12200
6. Laszlo Kis-Kos : 12068
7. Janusz Kepinski : 10675
8. Garvin Gray : 10638
9. Scott Nichols : 10211
10. Charlie Neil : 10076
Players most active : Chess 960
1. Christophe Czekaj : 1224
2. Joaquim Malpalma : 916
3. Frederick Estieu : 672
4. Ilmars Cirulis : 605
5. Pavel Hse : 600
6. Sefa Sarihan : 524
7. Sandor Porkolab : 512
8. Jay Melquiades : 495
9. Christian Koch : 470
10. Rick Spangler : 447
Players most active : Big Chess
1. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff : 5583
2. Peter Willoughby : 4368
3. Jos Carrizo : 3319
4. Thibault de Vassal : 3199
5. Mark Noble : 2949
6. Sandor Porkolab : 2467
7. Volker Koslowski : 1887
8. Paul Knig : 1790
9. William Taylor : 1706
10. Ranganathan Raman : 1620
Players most active : Poker Holdem
1. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff : 111119
2. Rolf Staggat : 75570
3. Stephane Legrand : 41639
4. Anderson Barradas : 38671
5. Scott Nichols : 36500
6. Findlay Murray : 33008
7. Mark Noble : 31172
8. Volker Koslowski : 25829
9. Michael Sharland : 20721
10. Francisco Gramajo : 20431
Congrats Heinz-Georg, definitely you're the most addicted player ;)
Janeen Walden (2009-10-25 23:16:06)
Crazyhouse
How many would play crazyhouse if it was running here?
Daniel Parmet (2009-08-11 20:08:24)
Quotes!
The following 11 quotes are all by me:
1- "Experiences are the keys to life."
2- "Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet."
3- "If you expect nothing then the following will happen: either 1) you will receive nothing and thus can be happy your expectations were met or 2) You will receive something and thus be happy you have received something. And.... Happiness ensues..."
4- "Step up and face your fear or you will never be what you should be."
5- "A mistake is only a mistake if you let it happen twice. Otherwise it is a learning experience. your experience."
6- "Life is painting a picture over many years with different paints and tools."
7- ""Horney concluded that love was at least a temporary escape from all her anxiety and insecurity" - Karen Horney
Does anyone else think that someoe named 'Horney' shouldn't be talking about love?"
8- "Take each event in a singularity and say if time passes will any of this matter?"
9- "Plans are ideas that never come to fruition."
10- "You should only get upset about the little things cause you have no control over the big things."
11- "Causing another problem without fixing the initial problem just makes the initial problem worse as time continues"
The following are classic quotes:
11- "If you lose the game you should win the analysis!"
12- "Every passing minute is a chance to turn it all around." - Vanilla Sky
13- "Life is pain my dear and anyone who says otherwise is selling something." - Princess Bride
14- "The 7ps: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance" - U.S. Military
15- "Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink!" - Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner
16- "You can get in way more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea cause you forget the good idea has limits" - Warren Buffet
17- "Teach a child to be polite and courteous and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway."
18- "Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone."
19- "There is no tomorrow without the pains and pleasures of today" - Gabriel
20- "If life weren't this complicated, it would be nowhere near as fun. Why? WHY NOT!" - Catch-22
21- "When you've done things right people won't know you've done anything at all." - Futurama
22- "The right perception of any matter and a misunderstanding of the same matter do not wholly exclude each other." - Kafka's the trial
23- "the Trausi follow the normal practices of Thracians in general, except in one particular- their behaviour, namely, on the occasion of a birth or a death. When a baby is born the family sits round and mourns at the thought of the sufferings the infant must endure now that it has entered the world, and goes through the whole catalogue of human sorrows; but when somebody dies, they bury him with merriment and rejoicing, and point out how happy he now is and how many miseries he has at last escaped." -Herodotus Viv
24- "When a Persian herald demanded the surrender of arms, the king shouted back 'come here to get them'; and when he had seen that he was surrounded, he commanded his men to have a good breakfast since their dinner would be served in hell." - Herodotus
25- "I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it"
26- "Why, we don't even know what living means now, what it is, and what it is called? Leave us alone without books and we shall be lost and in confusion at once. We shall not know what to join on to, what to cling to, what to love and what to hate, what to respect and what to despise." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky Notes from the Underground
27- "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams
28- "Nobody is always a winner and anyone who says otherwise either is a liar or doesn't play poker."
29- The darkness immutable tranquility holds sway. - Junichiro Tanizaki
30- People who are constantly asking 'why' are like tourists who stand in front of a building reading Baedeker and are so busy reading the history of its construction, etc., that they are prevented from seeing the building. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
31- Either move or be moved. - Ezra Pound
32- "The real meditation is the meditation of one's identity..... You try finding out why you're you and not somebody else. And who in the blazes are you anyhow??" - Ezra Pound.
33- The image is more than an idea. It is a vortex or cluster of fused ideas and is endowed with energy. - Ezra Pound
34- The thought working its way towards the light. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
35- There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. - Ansel Adams
36- When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. - Ansel Adams
37- "Wanting to think is one thing; having a talent for thinking is another." - Ludwig Wittgenstein
38- Philosophers use a language that is already deformed as though by shoes that are too tight - Ludwig Wittgenstein
39- Nothing is more important for teaching us to understand the concepts we have than constructing fictitious ones - Ludwig Wittgenstein
40- dont for heavens sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense - Ludwig Wittgenstein
41- In a conversation: One person throws a ball; the other does not know: whether he is supposed to throw it back, or throw it to a third person, or leave it on the ground, or pick it up and put it in his pocket, etc - Ludwig Wittgenstein
42- I really do think with my pen, because my head often knows nothing about what my hand is writing - Ludwig Wittgenstein
43- What I am writing here may be feeble stuff; well, then I am just not capable of bringing the big, important thing to light. But hidden in these feeble remarks are great prospects. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
44- I ask countless irrelevant questions. If only I can succeed in hacking my way through this forest! - Ludwig Wittgenstein
45- Even to have expressed a false thought boldly and clearly is already to have gained a great deal - Ludwig Wittgenstein
46- Dont concern yourself with what, presumably no one but you grasps! - Ludwig Wittgenstein
47- when you are philosophizing you have to descend into primeval chaos and feel at home there - Ludwig Wittgenstein
48- "You cannot step into the same river twice." - Heraclitus
49- "Eternity is a child playing, playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child." - Heraclitus
50- "Nothing endures but change." - Heraclitus
51- "For a guest remembers all his days the hospitable man who showed him kindness." - Odyssey Book 15 Line 75
52- "Watching [GM Nigel] Short peruse the photos of young women, I had a fanciful notion that the development of specialized skills and character traits in early childhood is like a country fair in which you are alotted a fixed number of tickets to spend on the various concessions. This particular fixed number of tickets to spend on the various concessions. This particular fair is of short duration and happens only once in a lifetime. Nigel took the chess roller-coaster a dozen times, and rode the honesty ride twice, and so he had insufficient tickets left to take the Train Beyond Adolescence more than a stop or two. I myself missed the athletic concession, and I should have ridden -damn it- the chess coaster three or four times." - King's Gambit: A Son, A Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman page335
53- I dont know, but I do know with great precision why nobody else knows either. - John H. Cochrane
54- "One must have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star." - Friedrich Nietsche
55- "I created chaos on the chess board and my strength lay in finding hidden harmonies. I always cultivated being at peace in chaos. manifest your unique character on the chess board." - Josh Waitzkin
56- "Leave numbers behind and ride the wave of the game." - Josh Waitzkin
57- "The weakness of an artist is dogma." - Josh Waitzkin
58- "Everything i've learned, i've eventually unlearned. I spend more time unlearning than learning. You must challenge your own micro thought constructs." - Josh Waitzkin
59- "It is like a tunnel, the deeper you get into the more you see there is to learn." - Josh Waitzkin
60- "Your emotions are there for a reason. Observe their ripple." - Josh Waitzkin
61- "The same mold, teachers have learned a certain way. great teachers should listen first." - Josh Waitzkin
62- "Change from psychology and technical errors, transition from opening prep to first middlegame decision or tactical to strategical." - Josh Waitzkin
63- "There is some part about any discipline that should appeal to any person." - Josh Waitzkin
64- "Identify thematic connections by breaking down the walls between different disciplines." - Josh Waitzkin
65- "You know your country is dying when you have to make a distinction between what is moral and ethical, and what is legal." - John de Armond
66- "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
67- "When you stop learning you start dying." - Scott Adams
68- "If you could buy some people for what they are worth, and sell them for what they "think" they are worth, there would always be a profit margin."
69- "Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about."
70- "Life is too short to waste time hating anyone."
71- "When in doubt, just take the next small step."
72- "When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer."
73- "Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?" - Ellis
74- "If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back."
75- "Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need."
76- "There are three sides to every story: your side, their side and the truth." - Bablyon 5
77- "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." - Japanese Proverb
My apologies if some of the classics are in the ficgs quote file already as I just keep my own (and pull quotes from everywhere). I tried to cull out the duplicates.
Marc Lacrosse (2009-05-02 11:36:33)
To Wayne
Winning because of opponent withdrawal does not deserve any congratulation ...
It is a real pity.
Moreover in my case the most probable outcome would have been a (close) victory for my opponent.
Marc
Thibault de Vassal (2009-04-30 12:16:34)
Xavier Pichelin wins the 2nd FICGS WCH
First of all, congratulations Xavier !
That's a real performance to beat Wolfgang in a match (whatever the score..).
These games will have to be analyzed, Xavier has good positions but the FICGS withdrawals rule 11.6 may apply in a few games (otherwise basically Xavier's future rating is 2682 !!).
Any opinion on each game is welcome.
Don Groves (2009-04-15 02:01:35)
Time controls
In all FICGS games, I think there should be an intermediate time control to prevent silent withdrawal, or what you call the "dead man defense."
If a player cannot make at least one move per week when not on vacation, the game should end.
If fewer than ten moves have been played, the game would not count in the ratings.
Thibault de Vassal (2009-03-17 22:53:06)
Rules updated
I just made this change in the general rules & chess wch rules :
"11.6 There is no withdrawal, from any tournament, however in the case of multi-stages e.g. world championship tournaments, the games won't be rated if a player warns the referee before the tournament starts and at most 15 days after a new stage started but the first one, then a replacement will occur if possible. (this special rule is particularly dedicated to players surprisingly invited to an advanced wch stage, as it would take too much time to wait for confirmations from all qualified players)"
Don't hesitate to make suggestions if you think it can be better formulated. Thanks in advance.
Arnab Sengupta (2009-03-06 18:00:44)
Walking Tall
Hey guys remember me??? well i was busy lately but am back now....sorry that my rating has gone sooooo down.....which makes me laugh by the way....but i'm back....hope to see some good games..
Tom Smith (2009-01-14 18:52:18)
Lack of paragraphs
Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, I actually do write in paragraphs and it looks fine in preview, but for some reason, it turns my posts into a wall of text :)
Don Groves (2008-12-13 10:02:15)
One by Emerson
The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Scott Nichols (2008-12-11 03:47:57)
Poker and the chess GM
Any experiences playing poker with GM's? I played with Walter Browne in Vegas, he was an average poker player.
Normajean Yates (2008-10-19 10:16:47)
official language of britain
The answers to these might interest those who do not know: What is/are the: 1. National Anthem of UK, 2. Official lanuage(s) of UK, 3-10. questions 1-2 for England, scotland, Wales, N. Ireland resp.
The answers to all these questions is - NONE. [and of course, no Constitution also :)] So people from other countries might consider if these things - official language, national anthem, ... - are really necessary!
Thibault de Vassal (2008-10-04 19:35:26)
re : In response to Don
You wouldn't be penalized in that case. All this is about 8 games match, as Andrew said "The idea is that it is too distorting to have a rating that shows a 6-0 win over a similer high level opponent". The whole problem is just to know where to put the limit.
Well, as it is possible to win elo points this way (loss on time in equal or winning position) in round-robin tournaments, it should be possible in 8 games matches too, but 8 wins this way shouldn't be taken in consideration.
Consequently, I propose a new rule, quite reasonable, that could satisfy everyone (finally even my rating :)), here is :
"11.6 "Games are not rated for the winner if less than 10 moves have been played by his opponent (most probably forfeit, silent withdrawal or obvious cheating) or in global forfeit cases, including losses on time whatever the context in a 2 players tournament, ie. chess championship's 8-games matches, except games where an advantage is obvious, in this case at most 2 of these games will be rated."
Don Groves (2008-10-04 04:27:29)
Silent withdrawals
Silent withdrawals could be taken care of by having a 10-day-per-move rule. If a player does not make a move in a game within 10 days and is not on vacation, the game should be forfeited to the opponent and the forfeit rules should apply as to whether the game is rated or not. Maybe a 7 day limit would be even better.
We all dislike silent withdrawals. This rule would end those games sooner and also may eventually stop players from starting more games than they can handle.
Andrew Stephenson (2008-10-03 09:06:04)
Rules
I think you are right Thibault ie amend the rule as you suggest. However maybe change the wording put EXCEPT instead of BUT ("except games where an advantage is obvious")otherwise the english is difficult to understand (but so much better than my french!!)In this case though perhaps Marius is not going to play anymore moves at all in which case it could be classified as silent withdrawal?? At the level he is at it he surely does not need the time to get the positions the fact is that Marius (probably because he has got lot of games/commitments elsewhere) is not playing much at all in FICGS - looks like he will forfeit in the Round Robin final for example.... The existing rules make a distinction between matches and other tournaments. if you follow the other posters then it seems that they are saying that you should not have the rule for silent withdrawals or even losses under 10 moves?? So I vote for the extension proposed by Thibault it seems logical to me for matches - they are not primarily about rating. The idea is that it is too distorting to have a rating that shows a 6-0 win over a similer high level opponent when they just stopped playing and it has nothing much to do with relative playing strength. On the other hand Thibault it will give you a cool rating!! :) Both view points are valid - its true time is a part of the game - but rules involve compromise and the proposed amendment just extends the principle already there........
Thibault de Vassal (2008-10-02 20:15:08)
Game 22676, towards a new rule ?
Once again, an unusual case that may lead to an enforcement of FICGS rules. In our match, Marius lost 3 games on time and continues to play the other ones : FICGS__CHESS__WCH_QUARTER_FINAL_2__000005
Games 22676, 22678 and 22679 have been lost in an equal position.
Currently, the rules specify : 11.6 "Games are not rated for the winner if less than 10 moves have been played by his opponent (most probably forfeit, silent withdrawal or obvious cheating) or in global forfeit cases against the same opponent, ie. 8-games matches, but games where an advantage is obvious."
Of course, it is up to the referee to estimate an 'advantage' which is quite hard to define accurately, but the real problem is there's no real silent withdrawal in this case, as Marius had about 1 day only to play his last move. It is fair to cancel my wins in these games IMO but the question is how to make the rules fair enough in all cases.
My suggestion : "...or in global forfeit cases, including losses on time whatever the context, in at least 2 games in a 2 players tournament, ie. chess championship's 8-games matches, but games where an advantage is obvious."
What do you think ? Also does anyone see another unusual case that this rule wouldn't envisage ?
Thanks in advance.
Andrew Stephenson (2008-08-13 19:51:51)
Very cool
I joined the random design club - its awesome as they say in Hollywood. I like the chess player images in the wall paper.
Don Groves (2008-07-26 04:54:40)
Quote
Normajean -- I first saw it on a sign on the wall behind our secretary's desk at work. We were always very polite in our requests to her ;-)
Normajean Yates (2008-07-26 00:55:34)
the english wikipedia ...
has a link to ficgs in the 'Correspondence chess server' article; but no article.
I had a fight with jimbo wales and co so I will never post there; [i was one of the first posters and always anonymous...] - but someone should maybe go ahead and do so.
Andrew Stephenson (2008-07-18 04:55:03)
Mirror mirror on the wall
To put Thibaults explanation another way: the person doing the mirroring aleays plays his moves after the other other person. So after a while you can see who is the real player and who is the reflection. Thibault has a system of rules that are very open and liberal but there are limits. For example at FICGS it is allowed to discuss a game that is not yet finished!
Andrew Stephenson (2008-07-13 11:51:17)
Withdrawal WCH-2--3-00004
My apologies to the other participants in this stage 2 which has just started but I have to withdraw. Due to business and personal commitments I cannot sustain the rapid time limit so I have decided to resign all the games to try to minimise inconvenience. I had actually forgotten about this otherwise I would have informed Thibault before hand
Hannes Rada (2008-05-15 23:06:25)
Openings
Hi Andrew, " It certainly seems a lot easier to get a draw against e4 at cc." I've the same feeling. But the top player vanOsteroom prefers definitely 1.e4 ! Does anybody know if 1.e4 or 1.d4 is played more often here at FICGS ? "He played it 3 times including the critical line 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 f4 etc and got 3 draws against opposition of 2150, 2300 and 2400." Can this be considered as a success ? 50 % against lower rated opponents ? Normally Benoni is played when you want or have to win with black ... However Hector Walsh seems to have some fighting spirit. Andrew do you know the IECG server ? From time to time I get invitations from the IECG guys for their tournamengs, but never played there.
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-15 04:10:11)
Openings
Hi Hannes I think the Modern Benoni is playable but needs a lot of work. Hector Walsh 16th on the IECG list (2497) used it in the IECG Cup 2002 final (just ended!) with games that started in 2006. He played it 3 times including the critical line 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 f4 etc and got 3 draws against opposition of 2150, 2300 and 2400.
Andrew Stephenson (2008-05-01 19:50:21)
Marc
Thanks for the informative reply! I do the interactive walk thing you mentioned its very useful though you need reasonable power to have several engines running at once - this you have! I am afraid I dont know how to organise test matches but sounds good. same with Rybka randomiser I have the engine but no idea how to use the randomiser and get it to play itself. 2 wins from the c3 is good as I think it gives white nothing ..but in the line I chose I noticed that after Gelfand (as black) got a draw against Adams with this line Adams repeated it aginst Kasparov who varied. So I guess Adams had an improvement perhap it was what you played? - as black has to find some very accurate moves . Incidentally I very nearly played 5..g5!!? which is really interesting but as my other games were promising decided to settle for taking a draw I like the Basman-Sale and although I have given up e4 in cc will play e4 if we play again as I have some ideas against it. Thanks for the reply
Marc Lacrosse (2008-05-01 18:03:17)
to Andrew
"I don't se much benefit to letting the computer think for hours frankly wants it gets to 20 + ply. There all sorts of horizons in positions that letting the computer run for a year wont sort out."
There are other ways to use engines than letting simply one of them run for hours.
You may interactively walk along the various branches of the tree going from current position with one or several engines running.
You may also have engines playing some kind of test matches against each other from the current position or from any critical position that you identify along the possible continuations.
You can use Rybka randomizer against itself or against other engines for more exhaustive evaluation through test games
And so on ...
"Marc why are you playing this c3 stuff against the sicilian with such great kit? You play the same openings all the time and I thought it was because you had not much time!!!"
1. I never played this disreputed c3 stuff against the 2..d6 sicilian (with or without the 4.Be2 pawn offer) before january 2008 in my 140+ former serious correspondence games
Indeed I did choose it because I erroneously enrolled in three new tournaments simultaneously and I feared to miss time for serious analysis due to heavy workload at that time.
Results are a bit disappointing with it : five draws so far and two unfinished games that I should win (one win is sure and the other one is probable).
This should lead to a 64% result and a 2333 elo performance. Not shining but not that bad insn't it ?
2. I like playing unorthodox openings in correspondence play.
I do not see any interest in beginning my games with 30 moves of overanalysed theory.
Most often I decide for a side variation and I do play it in as many games as possible simultaneously : I do the analysis job once for all while being fully "in the mood" of a similar set of positions.
Then I change for something else
I won't probably ever play any more game with the line I played against you.
3. An exception is the Basman-Sale Sicilian (2..e6 4..Bc5).
I like it a lot and even have a web site devoted to it (http://chessbazaar.mlweb.info/basmansale/index.html)
I am in a running series of more than twenty corr. games without a single loss with it and decided not to stop using it until defeat happens
I probably analysed it more than anybody : I have several thousands of analysed lines in my files.
I am just busy to consider switching to something more agressive for cases where I need to play for a win as Black.
Regards
Marc
Thibault de Vassal (2008-01-25 16:20:55)
10 moves rule
Hi Wolfgang, of course the 10 moves rule applies to the winner (the withdrawing player will lose points in all cases) !
"Games are not rated for the winner if less than 10 moves have been played by his opponent (most probably forfeit, silent withdrawal or obvious cheating) or in global forfeit cases against the same opponent, ie. 8-games matches, but games where an advantage is obvious."
http://www.ficgs.com/membership.html#withdrawals
Philip Roe (2007-11-11 19:16:42)
cui bono?
Thibault,
I'm not at all clear what your proposal is intended to achieve.
Are you trying to save us from ourselves? Ruined careers, failed marriages, social withdrawal, vitamin deficiency...? If so I can't imagine a one-size-fits-all solution.
Or are you protecting other players from the phenomenon of a player who takes on a large number of games and then, for whatever reason, forfeits many of them? This seems to happen regrettably often and for that purpose it seems perfectly reasonable to ask people to qualify before managing a large number of games. Can you pull any statistics that might be revealing?
Garvin Gray (2007-09-22 06:25:41)
walk in the park
Tough match for Rybka
Are you sure about that? Zappa programmers have only worked on upgrading the engine for eight days and before that they were in 'retirement' with no major updates coming out since Zanzibar. Zappa has admitted that 'Zappa Mexico' wont be much of an upgrade from Zanzibar.
Rybka has been upgraded and tuned many times since Zappa won the WCC. I think Rybka should win this match 6-4 or 7-3 with no losses.
Glen D. Shields (2007-09-16 18:43:13)
Explains Much
Dear Thibault -
Your "confession" explains a great deal. Twice you mentioned in posts your awareness of my IECG games. Since I am no chess celebrity, that left me quietly puzzled both times. Now I know why! You and I played twice. You won both games. Both encounters reamin as a couple of my favorites. Your 90 move victory required outstanding end-game play and you played it perfectly! Well done my man :-)
Now to my confession. I am actually Brad Pitt, no, not the real Brad Pitt, but a close good looking second. I have beautiful women walk up to me all the time asking for an autograph. Amazing that I was able to find time for chess all these years ;-)
My best,
Glen (aka "Brad")
Rodolfo d Ettorre (2007-09-12 03:54:50)
draggy and droppy
Hi Thibault, I found this link:
http://www.walterzorn.com/dragdrop/dragdrop_e.htm
It is abount drag and drop without java, but I think it will restrict us to IE
Mladen Jankovic (2007-09-09 06:09:10)
Scan
You're using Courier Mail Server, other than that I found no information worth reporting, other than that you probably have a firewall, and a relatively decent one.
Philip Roe (2007-09-01 20:04:25)
engine-free chess
When I started playing here about three months ago I did not realise that engine use was allowed (or even encouraged, according to some) What did attract me were some features like being able to see ongoing games of other players, which makes the experience more like a "real" OTB event. I have played on other sites (IECG,ICC) where engines are forbidden, and ICC at least claims to have software that detects cheating. I play without an engine (but using books)simply because I enjoy it more. I dont care all that much what you do as long as you play interesting moves. It seems very clear from the games that lower-rated players certainly dont use engines and higher-rated players probably have to. At my kind of level (1900ish) it seems optional, but the suspicion that my opponent analyses with an engine steers me away from certain types of position (speculative sacs, or clear strategy but complex tactics) which is a shame because that may be where the position wants to go. The previous thread got very heated, and Im not sure why. One suggestion was to let non-computer users go away and play funny little unrated games by themselves. That is not attractive. Im not interested in playing walkover games against weak opponents. Rating is essential. Other than that, Im very interested to find out what other people think. That will determine whether or not I come to feel at home here.
There are 100 results for Wal in wikichess.
Kim Walton (2214)
b4 e5 Bb2 Bxb4 Bxe5 Nf6 c3 Be7 e3 c5 d4
Transpose to wikichess #240164#
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