Grim Reaper: On IYT you must accept a challenge from whoever gets to you first if you have open spots. If someone with real skill is 60 places below you and wins you can crash 60 slots. In games like these the high ranked guy has nothing at all to gain..he must win or crash. I think you are right that ladders are difficult and inaccurate. On the other hand a BKR rating is pretty easy to protect by not playing any games. I won't even mention Gold Token where the number one player (when you add in friendly games) is Chief KM. LOL.

http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=10365&u=367&trnst=0

A lot of us have wanted to see ladders here for games like checkers and while they can be fun they are seldom an accurate indicator of true skill level. On IYT 48 hour ladder I am now #8 and ahead of some players I couldn't beat in a hundred years. It is very much a matter of luck and timing. That being said I would still like to see a ladder here just for the heck of it even though I know they are difficult to set up.

The tournament below is available to all skill levels from near Master to rank beginner. It should be a lot of fun and if you need an invite please let me know.

http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=9662&tri=48772&trnst=0

Jake Lopez: Good information. Thanks.

Jake Lopez: Can you talk any of the three into coming to BK?

Jake Lopez: Ryan and Corey have been playing for years. I have played them both.

Gooner II: YES! Thank you. I was spelling Wyllie with one "L" no wonder I couldnt find it. LOL

Grim Reaper: I can no longer find the Wylie site with the animated games. Is it still available anywhere?

Grim Reaper: Well you could mention that you found Alex "above average." LOL

Grim Reaper: Please do not forget to include in your remarks the comment "Purple is the most awesome checker dude I ever played." LOL

John Baker: No correction needed. The accusation of cheating is easily made but impossible to prove and also nearly impossible to disprove so it is best not made. One form of cheating, the use of boosting through multiple nics, can be determined by the site owner but computer programs, books etc. can not be. You could print out reams of games from published play and study them endlessly and produce results that might look like they approximate a computer program. Who knows for sure? The very few times I have been accused of using a program I am highly flattered that someone thinks I am playing at that level. LOL

bristoljohn: I agree with that! And any player can have an off game.

THE HIT MAN: http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=9124&tri=44962&trnst=0

THE HIT MAN: Post a link here if it will help the sign-up.

The checker tournament kicks off and with the addition of Ed Trice the bar is raised even higher (if that is possible.) Good luck to everybody in this tournament where players who are only "good" can expect to lose most of the games. But everybody can learn. Thanks to all who entered.

EdTrice: I always enjoyed playing Chinook. It was very fast and with your moves it would send you little game notes like "oh oh..you screwed up now." LOL. I started getting mad at a machine. It counted draws as wins for Chinook so it had a big home court advantage.

There have been some sensational results in the sign up so far. We have the number one rated CW, the legendary George Miller, the seldom (if ever) beaten Ustica and many more stars. I am still hoping Bristol (who is very busy) will join as well as some other outstanding players who can only join one tournament and are locked into other ones for now. Also some slightly lower rated people have not joined because they say they have no chance..but I have asked them to see the movie "Rocky" LOL. There is still time and anything can happen. If we can not pull an upset at least we can learn something. So request an invite and no one will be refused.

bullet: Of course, good luck.

Jake Lopez: It is real easy to fall into the trap of thinking that anyone who beats you must be using a program. As comforting as that thought may be it is not always accurate. I have learned that myself.

JamesHird: A knight can only join one tournament. I would upgrade him myself but he is scaling down his activity. We already have three of the most awesome players on BK signed..all 2300+ ratings..so while everyone is welcome I again caution that these are highly skilled players.

EdTrice: I hope there will be room for both. "Slugfest" sounds pretty fancy to me for a title. LOL. Good luck to everybody.

Jake Lopez: It's the best we have to work with and for this tournament everyone will be taken at his/her word.

JamesHird: Have until June to figure it out. LOL

JamesHird: Patch (who is a fine player) is committed to another tournament and can't enter as he is not a Rook. There may be others in that situation but anyone who wants an invite can have one.

The top 20 have been invited. If you think you can beat these players then request an invite. http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=8881&tri=42460&trnst=0

It would be great if someone could set up a program for people to play against similar to the one Chinook has. You can still play Chinook but since no one is maintaining the Wall of Honor there is no recognition for beating it. It may be an expensive proposition..I have no idea..but it is something I bet a lot of people would like to see.

EdTrice: Then a program's weakness is lack of aggression? I had understood the identified weaknesses were failure to recognize that it is worth playing from man down to get a King and a tendency not to handle a smother.

EdTrice: Two possible alternate explanations. One it could have been an inadvertant clerical mistake and he moved before he could take it back..or two he's not a very good player. I admit they are both stretches. I still don't understand what program would King sacrifice unless it was set to play for a draw like some Chinook lines are. I hate to comment on a game still in progress but at the conclusion it would be a great game for analysis.

EdTrice: Do you know if this is webtv compatible?

Jumper: There are a few but some don't want their nics revealed. Obviously George Miller #20 is using his real name and he should be very proud. If they ever updated he Chinook Wall of Honor several more of us would be there on it.

http://usacheckers.com/acfratings.php?start=0&sortedby=rank&aord=a&last_sort...

Purple: Ustica also offers checkers variations in this dynamic FS. Get in on the ground floor and contact him if interested and if you have an accomplished record.

If you are GOOD and want to join the best Ustica is taking applications http://brainking.com/game/ShowFellowship?fid=380

http://www.acfcheckers.com/10best.html

Nomad gave fair warning. The next non-checkers post will earn the poster the weekend off.

1. 11-15 22-18 2. 15-22 25-18 3. 8-11 29-25 4. 4-8
24-20 5. 10-15 25-22 6. 12-16 23-19 7. 16-23 26-19-10
8. 7-14-23 27-18 9. 9-14 18-9 10. 5-14 28-24 11. 11-15
20-16 12. 15-18 22-15 13. 8-11 15-8 14. 3-12-19-28
31-27 15. 6-10 27-24 16. 10-15 24-20 17. 1-6 20-16
18. 14-17 21-14 * Classic white single corner defense crashed. Can you spot the point?

Game #722777 between two of the premier checker players around..Nomad and George Miller. A great game to watch.

John Baker: You are welcome to contribute.

http://www.checkerworld.com/

Nomad is very knowledgeable about checkers and has agreed to help moderate here. Thanks again.

http://www.h4ns.net/checkers/

EdTrice: That was pretty interesting.

EdTrice: If I get tired of editing I will have to ban. Nothing about checkers will be touched as long as personal insults are not included.

I edited out what I thought was a mild insult. If this continues I won't have much choice..you people are not talkig about checkers but about each other. Maybe the Boiler Room would be more fitting for this.

bristoljohn: That should be a real challenge. I hope you get lot's of players.

Thanks Tuesday

Things that are interest only to the two people talking and not to everyone else are better on a chat board. Not on a checker DB.

Tuesday: Got me there. Trice probably knows.