OK everyone, the quote is back from the printer! We can make the "Best of Gothic" deck for not alot of money.

So all the champions can email me their photos, and I will get you into the deck.

Congratulations to the top 52!

Ed,

Thanks for cleaning up the posts. By the way, how many moves did it take you to beat Cassius? Isn't that the game where you mopped him up in a Chancellor and Pawn ending?

Yes Rob, I won that in 70 something moves, but as Cassias said, he knew he was lost about move 30 or so. The Chancellor and Pawn endings make Rook and Pawn endings look easy!

I am not sure why the other poster thinks Cassias won the game. I won the game clearly, as I have never lost on this game site.

why would anyone,but the people ed selects to be on cards,want to buy a deck of cards? Especially from someone who collected money from folks before...and had to be forced to deliver?

With the completion of the 84 page issue of the "Best of Gothic Chess Review", I realize this is really a small book on Gothic Chess! A few players have been asking me to write a book for a while, and now, by default, it looks like I am more than 50% done.

I would like anyone who is inerested in having their best games published in this book to send me a message. I will only publish games actually played here on BrainKing.

If you want to "nominate" some other player's game for inclusion in this book, feel free to do so. If you have any games on here that are personal favorites that you have seen, send me the game IDs and I will take a look at them.

Hi Ed,

There are some interesting miniature wins on here you might want to put in a separate chapter. When you beat Danoschek in 3 moves with your Chancellor, that should be called "The biggest blunder ever seen"! I also like how you had 5 pieces developed and Danoschek only had a mere Knight in play in your last game with him (remember the one he kept saying he was winning? He must think everyone is stupid). Make sure you include this in the "what not to do" section.

Actually, that person you mentioned, whose name I no longer bother to type, lost in 8 moves. Click here to see the loss in 8

And now here is the 5 to 1 lead in development where he said he was winning.

I don't think these games will go into the book. There is no need to showcase the very poor play made by him, I want the readers to see good games played by much better players.

Just had a look at the game where D resigned after 8 moves ... if he moved Kf7 what your next move had been?

After 8...Kf7 there is Cxh8+, taking the Bishop and forcing the black king to move again. 9...Kg7 attacks the Chancellor and white looks to be in danger with two pieces hanging (the bishop on g5 is also still being attacked by the black pawn on f6) but the whole point of this aggressive line was 10. Ch4! and now the black bishop is attacked. If 10...fxg5 then 11. Cxg4 leaves white with an easy win.

thanks ... I saw the CxB move but it didn't register ... must be too late ot be thinking about GC now :)

Yeah it is unusual to have the Chancellor so active early in the game. It is something I only have a chance to do against the weakest of players, and he surely goes to the top of my list in that regard.

Is there any translation of new pieces names (Chancellor and Archibishop) in other languages? In particular, I am interested in German and Russian translations.

Ich denke auf Deutsch doch einfach "Kanzler" und "Kardinal".

not good, think of the abbreviations for notation. how about Erzbischof?

Okay,the abbreviations is an argument (many K`s),but then better for the Chancellor: "Marschall" = M,the other usual synonym for this piece and "Bischof" = B,or we use the more usual "Kardinal" and the abbreviation "C"

From the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church, there are Bishops, Archbishops, and 'special Archbishops' that are candidates for becoming the next Pope called Cardinals. You can be an Archbishop and still not be a Cardinal, but all Cardinals are at least Archbishops.

I am not sure if that adds clarity or confusion.

A Chancellor should be easier to translate into German, since that is an official Title of State. A Chancellor in American lingo can also be someone of Academic importance at a University.

How safe is Queenside Castling,as opposed to Kingside Castling in Gothic Chess? I have done this safely about 35% of the times I have done it. Of course,I have yet to try it on this Site. However, whenever I do it;somewhere between 30 and 40 times in over 250 Gothic Chess games I have played,I usually have to neutralize the 2 gothic pieces first and then play the King to the b file after castling or face a devastating attack. Is this normal or what? I would really appreciate an ittelligent reply.

Hello Ted,

First, take a look at this link: click here

It demonstrates some castling blunders, particularly on the queenside.

The most dangerous piece you need to worry about when executing a Queenside castle is the Archbishop. Even umoved from its start in the g-file, it can perform a solo checkmate under the right circumstances (namely, your own Knight not on c3 for white or c6 for black).

The Chancellor is less of a threat to a queenside castled position because it takes longer to infiltrate with an abundance of pawns still on the board (usually true when one has castled.) So, you only really have to be weary of one Gothic piece, and not need to neutralize both, as you have mentioned.

A typical motiff in chess is to play Kb1/Kb8 after 0-0-0 as well, so in this case it is not unique to Gothic Chess.

Where have you played your 250 games? Do you have your own Gothic Chess set?

Yes I have 2 Gothic Chess sets that were given to me for a Christmas present. I am 36 years old and live near Monroe,VA in Amherst Co. Some friends of mine and I play at each others house regularly. I also played a few games on the Internet VIA E-mail against 2 players from New Jersey and 1 from New York. I do not know their real names;only their Internet names if I can find them and did not lose them. I got a July 2000 Gothic Chess Review with my sets;this is how I learned to play Gothic Chess. Of course I have no way of knowing whether or not the games I have played are against good players. I have,however developed my own style. Perhaps I'll learn how good I am on this site.

I have played regular chess for about 21 years and am a Class B player.

Well ted, welcome aboard! I produced the Gothic Chess Review magazine, so I know it well. I am winding up the last details on the December 2003 Special Edition, which is 84 pages. Lots of cool stuff in this one.

You will enjoy this site very much. There is a wide range of Gothic Chess talent out there. If you are a Class B chess player you will rise to the over 2000 mark here very soon.

How can a copy be obtained. Thank you for the kind remarks.

Is there a way to get rid of someone who is annoying me by trying to slander GothicInventor to me?

You can put the person on your Enemies list which I believe will hide the mail messages you see. You may also just want to reply to the person who is annoying you and say "Thanks for you suggestions about GothicInventor - I will take them into consideration while I find out more about him myself" .... which might satisfy the persons need...

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

In these 2 games;each of which are 7 days per move, I made my last move in each of them on 18 December 2003. Rennchess is yet to reply; is there some reason I have not been awarded a time-out win. My main page shows he has run out of time to reply. I believe I should be awarded these games as a timeout; since it appears that he has abandoned them and timed-out. tedbarber

I tried letting him know that I was not interested in his feud with Gothic Inventor;and that my reason for being on this site was to have fun and play Gothic Chess. However,he continued harassing me. I have put him on my Enemies list. By the way,one of his suggestions of someone offering help in games against Gothic Inventor IS CHEATING;since it would be recieving help from another person to defeat an opponant in a game in progress. This is not allowed in any tournament or correspondense game I have ever heard of.

Quote: "By the way,one of his suggestions of someone offering help in games against Gothic Inventor IS CHEATING;since it would be recieving help from another person to defeat an opponant in a game in progress. This is not allowed in any tournament or correspondense game I have ever heard of."

well there is a long story here, and it is something I'm sure we don't want to go into here... But Gothic Inventor actually started the "cheating" by posting in a message board that he would offer his gaming ability to help anyone else beat another player on this site. (His point is that no one ever took him up on the offer so it was not cheating, while others think that since the offer was made - that was cheating). So it depends on if you think just having the offer of cheating is bad enough. I believe it is, others do not. I'll just give you the facts and let you decide.

I'm sure this post will be removed soon, so I'll send you a personal copy also tedbarber in case you don't get a chance to read this. I'm sure Gothic will post the last word, and then try to stop anyone else from replying - so I'll be happy to share anything else with you in private in you want, otherwise I will try not post any more about the subject in this messageboard.

before I call it something else than an error, you should publish the message you claim to be existing.

I'm gladly willing to define for you the difference
between facts and slander, though, if you insist.

Well for 2 reasons.

1) The other person may have taken some vacation days

2) Currently because of the "new year bug" that caused some funny things with the time clock, the time clock is turned off at this site. Fencer has said it will be turned back on in the next week or 2.

to call reported news correcting
his naive impressions 'harassing'.
- probably his personal definition
that nobody else can fight.

There was a problem with the server accidentally causing games to time out prematurely ted, so Fencer "put the timer on pause" temporarily to resolve the problem.

When the site gets back to normal, you will collect your wins.

And, by the way, Hokuriku is also the same person who has been harassing you Ted. He is also taurec, who was banned, and danoschek, who was banned.

I suggest you ignore Hokuriku.

And as for Big Bad Wolf, he is just a "griever".

He complains about stuff that nobody cares about, so just ignore him too.

Ted,

I created a bulletin board to deal with this person who was named danoschek. People were airing out their problems with him in great numbers.

I also knew he had "friends" who participated in that private bulletin board, so I set a trap.

I posted a message where I offered to help EVERYONE in EVERY ONE of his 200+ active games to beat him.

This got back to danoschek, and he went even crazier than before. This helped in getting him banned, which was my goal.

As you see from his rantings to you in private messages, he really is mentally unstable.

Now BBW is one of the people who actually believes I was sending 200+ moves to all of his opponents. Either that or he thinks the mere offer of helping others win is cheating.

It is a good thing BBW lacks the intelligence to understand my plan, even though I have explained it about a dozen times already. You see, he keeps saying the same thing over and over again, and people just ignore him and tune him out. Notice he has not posted on here in a great long while, but now as he has the opportunity to dredge up the past again, he does so.

I wonder why.

Now, this was not part of my original plan because I did not realize that people were that moronic. But, it works out well. He continues to stand on his little soapbox, which nobody cares about, beating his drum, calling attention to something so silly, which is a strong indication that his "real life" must be rather bleak, unfullfulling, and dull.

So, just ignore him, as I do, and many others do as well.

Like I said;I came on this site so I could play Gothic Chess. Then I found Janus Chess which I also like. I have no intention of getting involved in any flame wars;I just want to have fun and play my games. I do appreciate helpful suggestions on completed games;but will not accept any advice on any of my games in progress since I consider this cheating. I believe that I must Win,Lose, or Draw on my own merits and my own moves.

Now thats really not nice. BBW is a fine man and one of the few people who will give a fair unbiased view of BOTH sides. Thats what he seems to have done here. His character shouldn't be slammed in this way.

BBW has no interest in Gothic Chess at all.

He came here to post something negative as the opportunity presented itself.

The fact that others, such as yourself are here at this exact moment indicates he is directing you here to read and post on a matter that has nothing to do with Gothic Chess.

I have had to delete about a dozen posts from grievers who have nothing better to do than to sling mud.

If BBW, or anyone else, wants to bring up the past, they can send me a message.

This board is not for what you are doing right now.

Sorry, Ed, but I had to say it. I have little interest in gothic chess, but I always read the board, as I do every board here.
The way I read this, BBW offered neutral information to a new player here who didn't know what some of the posts meant. I didn't find BBW's posts insulting, just truthful facts. However I did find your posts about him insulting. Thats all I'll say. Of course you won't agree with me, and this is your board, but I didn't like to see a good man put down.

Neutral information?

But Gothic Inventor actually started the "cheating"

That is NOT neutral!

I took no action and engaged in no cheating, yet he insists on using such nomenclature.

So it depends on if you think just having the offer of cheating is bad enough. I believe it is

There is the truth of the matter. HE BELIEVES, in his own words, that cheating took place, so he is offering his BIASED view of it.

Neutral? Like hell!

I'm sure Gothic will post the last word, and then try to stop anyone else from replying

I suppose you think that is neutral as well?

It is neutral when you take a NEW MEMBER who has joined after all this took place and then present a biased viewpoint on something that happened long ago?

Why did he have to post anything at all?

Why doesn't BBW post about the BrainRook membership I paid for and gave to somebody else?

Why doesn't BBW post about my Gothic Chess After School program which had me nominated for one of the Mayor's Awards for 2003?

Why doesn't BBW mention that I actually am running the only tournament on BrainKing where the winner will receive money that I personally donated to the prize fund?

Oh, that's right, that might upset the "neutral" posting.

I dont tend to use messages much, I have heard too much about them being twisted etc. I suppose I should have a look at trying this game out

Round 1 starts in 10 days.

CLICK HERE to sign up for this tournament.

OK I have signed, I dont have enough slots to practice first, so will be bound to lose haha

Since my name has come back up, I will respond.

1. I was repling to a post about someone offering to help the "new player" with games against GothicInventor. The "new player" thought this was cheating. My reply was to simple state (FACT which you backed up) that you also offered to help others in games against another player.

I then go on to say that IN MY OPINION (meaning others may think differently) that making the offer is cheating. AGAIN, OTHER (including GothicInventor) believe this is not cheating.

GI: "Why did he have to post anything at all?"

My Reply: I post the message in reply to the "new persons" message about someone offering to cheat against you. I also sent you a personal message telling you that I would remove (or edit out) my message if you also removed the part about the other offer to cheat against you. I did not want to start this "flame war". [without my post, it made it look like you were a "good" person, and the person offering to "help/cheat" look bad - where actually you both are the same - both offered to help with games and both where the offers were refused]

GI: "Why doesn't BBW post about the BrainRook membership I paid for and gave to somebody else?"

My reply: Well first I did not know about that, and second - if anyone gets on and says how you have never paid for another membership, I'll be happy to post for you.

GI: "Why doesn't BBW post about my Gothic Chess After School program which had me nominated for one of the Mayor's Awards for 2003?"

My Reply: (same answer as above)

GI: "Why doesn't BBW mention that I actually am running the only tournament on BrainKing where the winner will receive money that I personally donated to the prize fund?"

My Reply: I believe this is a good thing for brainKing, and I will be happy to see one of the tournaments to be complete. Good Job GothicInventor!

-----
Last note: I try to post facts. When I don't post facts, I almost always try to say "in my opinion" or something like that. I have tried also to never make things personal, nor to call others names.

OK - hopefully that will be my last post on this board about this subject.

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

Thanks, to a player called Hokuriku, I am getting a chance to practice this game now, but they wont give me pointers :o(
By the way, 2 people who posted on here were not banned from the board like the others, how come? Is it because they are both BrainKing customer services.

Sorry, I was wrong, Big Bad Wolf is not, I just presumed he was because of all his helpful and informative posts on the boards :o)

Round 1 starts in just 9 days.

CLICK HERE to sign up for this tournament.

Good luck to Steve R playing in his first Gothic Chess event. I wonder why hokuriku has not joined yet. Are the players too strong for him?

I don't see that anything BBW posted was untruthful.. he was correct in all his facts..

Have a great new year!

And, btw.. BBW is well liked on this site.. just as Harley is..

Round 1 starts in just 9 days.

CLICK HERE to sign up for this tournament.

Good luck to Steve R playing in his first Gothic Chess event. I wonder why hokuriku has not joined yet. Are the players too strong for him?

Humbug ;o) I think you are close, but not the right R

Conor, just take a look at the text in "your" postings and Steve R's posting. You are both the same person.

Does a "t" come out different or something? I have seen that in police films ;o)
You missed a n from my name by the way Gothic inventor.
Maybe he and myself are related or both English and type the same rather than American English which is all wrong :o)

You are forgetting the Archmoderator functions, of course, Glenda , I mean Connor, I mean Steve R. While you log on from both your work location and your home, you sometimes access the multiple accounts from both locations.

Odd that the accounts will each be accessed from two different computers and locations by all of you.

I know, "friends" at work shares your machine, and they follow you home and play on BrainKing as well.