rabbitoid: Yeah, what ROd said - umm, btw, why don't you try that in our game? I could use the help.

rabbitoid: One thing you can do, if you want to know for sure how many points you will lose, is to click on resign, and it will tell you right there how many points you will lose, if you don't like it, you can change your mind and not resign..(Brainking makes you confirm that you really want to resign)

Bluefin: You are not alone. It has been world class slow all day.

rabbitoid: If you are playing with the cube, so that gammons count, you should not resign until you have borne off at least one checker. The system awards points based on the board position at the time of resignation. So, if you have no checkers out, you will lose a gammon or backgammon.

Also, I have been assuming that I should not resign until the move after I bear off my first checker.

alanback: further question: if I resign, I lose how many points? say the cube is still on 1, but I don't have any stones out yet. If I resign do I lose a gammon? I hope so, otherwise it's too easy to avoid a gammon.

Thanks everyone, I don't get thrown out,it's just getting here, then making moves. I'm in central US. I'll just keep trying.

Bluefin: been having loads of that here in the UK over the last month ... im on 2.2meg adsl. I get thrown from the site regulally every day a few times

Bluefin: No problem here, T1 connection though. Eastern US.

Anyone having problems besides me? Super slow going anywhere on this site. Can't get in to most of my games. the ones I do get to, I can't make a move ?? webtv user. I cleared catch and cookies.

pauloaguia: Oh, I didn't realize that!

alanback: Czech Republic is not in the Euro system (yet)

Since your rates are stated in euro, what do exchange rates have to do with anything?

nabla: Ah, that adds up...thanks.

Summertop: This is because it was a double round robin. *For each game you won* (as there was no draw), add the number of points of your opponent (that means, count twice the points of the opponents that you beated twice) and you will get 29.
Probably the explanations were thought with a simple round robin tournament in mind.

What counts is the total number of points earned by the opponents you beat. You and Uil had the same record except that you won both games from grafzahl while Uil went 1-1 against him; and Uil won both games from Seravajan, while you split with him. Grafzahl finished with 5 points, and Seravajan finished with 7. You earned 17 S-B points for your games against these two, while Uil earned 19 S-B points. That is why he has 2 more S-B points than you do.

pauloaguia: Well, that's what I thought...Look at my Tournament.

ALL of the points add up to 30. Yet, Uil got a S-B score of 31 and I got 29. So again, I don't see what "points" are added up?

Of course, it's not your points that matter, but the ones of the opponents you beat in the tournament. So, if you won those 3 games to opponents that ended up with 2, 3 and 4 points respectively and the draw was to a player who has 1 points, your final SB will be 2 + 3 + 4 + 1/2 = 9,5. Hope it's better explained now

Summertop: The "points" are the points you end the tournament with. If you win 3 games and draw another, you'll have 3 and a half points. These are the points that are used to calculate SB score.

Summertop: Just the game in progress.

Another question...In Multi-Game matches such as Backgammon, when you resign, are you resigning the specific game or the entire match?

harley: Yes and no...I understand the concept. But what "points" are added to get the actual S-B score? In my tournament, I didn't readily see anything that added up.

In the FAQ's it says;

What does "S-B" column at tournament tables mean?

S-B is an abbreviation for Sonneborn-Berger system. It is used to specify an order of players with the same number of points and is based on a theory that points earned with a stronger opponent are more valuable than with a weaker one. The S-B value is a total sum of points of opponents who lost the tournament game with the player and half points of opponents who drawn the tournament game with the player. Only if two or more players have the same number of "normal" and S-B points, they share the same final order.

http://brainking.com/en/FAQ?ht=19

Hope that helps?

Summertop: Oh, wait...it has nothing to do with losses. He beat a higher ranked player. Whereas, I beat a lower ranked player. But then again, playing each other...didn't offset the other games. I would still like to know what "points" are added up, though.

Can someone explain the Sonneborn-Berger system as implemented in Tournaments? It basically says it is the sum of points of the players that I beat (1/2 points if drawn). And, points earned with stronger players are more valuable than those from weaker players. What "points" are actually used to calculate it?

In the link provided for a tournament I am in, I and Uil tied in points. We played each other twice and split the games. Since he is ranked higher (better player), shouldn't I have I higher S-B score? Also, we each lost one more game. The opponent I lost too had a higher rating (better player) than the one Uil lost to. So again, shouldn't I have a higher S-B score? After that we each beat the same opponents... Uil, is a great player and I don't really care about the outcome. I would just like to know how it is calculated.

Maybe simplify...if we both beat every other player, but split the two games (we each won one). Who would have the higher S-B score? and why?

Bry: Only new memberships count. It means, your own renewal does not.

Fencer: Can we receive Brains for our own membership renewals? - like a loyalty bonus?

I see that if a member who you referred initially renews, that doesn't count, but what about our own renewal?

Fencer: That, I always knew!

Bry: No. What you buy, you get. It's up to you how you use it. You can spend Brains to extend your membership or purchase a membership for another user. You can save them for a later use. Or you can pay a tournament entry fee with them and hope you will be one of the winners and win a thousand or two. But, as I always say, it's just an option and everyone can use all advantages and features of BrainKing without any Brains.

Fencer: So, in theory, if I buy 150 Brains at 5 Euro, I am only actually buying 105 Brains for 5 Euro, because 30% of them will "disappear" if I use them?

playBunny: Yes.

Fencer: That' a bit unclear but it sounds as if you're saying the 30% becomes yours.

Bry: The 30% goes nowhere. In other words, it remains on the BrainKing account.

In a tournament where you use Brains to enter..... why is the maximum prize fund of Brains only 70% of the amount used to enter?

Why are 100% of Brains used to enter used in the prize fund?

Where does the other 30% go?, bearing in mind people may have paid money to purchase them to be used in a tournament.

Czuch Chuckers: Heh heh. Very funny.

Czuch Chuckers:

Fencer: So can we pass these on to our children as well, in our will?

i didn't read it properly and thought the bonus was 3 days and not 3 hours lol

Thank you playBunny, Vikings, Pedro Martinez, Pythagoras, and fubster! I have had trouble understanding this but with all your versions of explaning it, I think I finally get it! :) I appreciate your help! I have to do some reevaluating of those tournaments I sign up for when I'm needing to do silly things like SLEEP! lol

Mary Jo: In that kind of game the 1 day is the total amount of time in which you can play moves. Let's ignore the bonuses for now and just imagine a couple of those sand-filled timers. There's one for each player. If the sand runs out then that player lose the match. Unlike the ordinary sand timers, though, these ones don't get turned over. Rather they get switched on and off. Yours is losing sand all the time that it's your turn. When you move yours stops and your opponent's starts losing sand. So, there's not a heap of sand per move but for the whole game.

Now let's consider the bonuses. This has the efect of topping up your sand each time you move, by 3 hours-worth in this case.

Looking at your game it says that you played 9 moves. Your timer will have lost the sand between each move - the period from when your opponent moved to when you did. If you add all that time up then that's more sand than there was available.

So how much sand did you have? 24 hours (the initial 1 day) plus 9 bonuses of 3 hours, giving 51 hours in total. At the point that your opponent made his last move you must have had only 4.5 hours of sand left .. and hence the timeout.

Mary Jo: it is using a fisher clock which means that you have 1 day total to play the whole game with a 3 hour bonus, to make it simple for example if you wait 8 hours to make your move you would have 16 hours left plus 3 hours for your bonus for a total of 19 hours to make your next move, if you wait 5 hours when it is your next turn to move you ould have 14 hours left plus 3 for a total of 17 hours to make your next turn,. these games can catch up with you when you have to work or sleep so its a good idea to play these games first when you are on-line to add up the bonus time

Mary Jo: If you moved 1.5 hours before the "deadline" on your last move, you had only 4.5 hours left after your opponent moved. If you moved in the last second before you'd time out, you'd have only 3 hours for your next move. I think it's quite simple.

Mary Jo:
When a game has:
Time for game : Time: 1 day, Bonus: 3 hours, Limit: 10 days, no days off

Then it means that:
You have 1 day = 24hours to play the whole game and not the move.
That means: if your opponent plays a move and then 2 hours later you play your response, you will then have 24-2 = 22 hours to play the game.
If your opponent makes another move later and you play after 8 hours(from his response), then you will have 22-8 = 14 hours left to play the whole game.

But that with bonus = 0. With bonus = 3 hours like here, after your move you will have 3 hours added to your time left for the whole game....

Limit = 10 days, just declares that if you play many moves quickly and the bonus is not 0, so your time for the whole game increases, this value can't go above 10 days....

The same exists for your opponent of course.

Mary Jo: I'm finding it difficult to keep up in this set of tournements too. You have one day to start with and 3 hours gets added on if you move within a certain time. but its not necessarily one day a move as i found out lol.

Hi, I can't seem to understand the whole time out thing on games.... in this game....

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=1363114

it's a game that has a 1 day time limit. I last played on 2/3 @ 1748 and my opponent played 2/4 @ 0237....then I got a message that I lost my game and timed out on 2/4 @ 0709. That was only about 13.5 hours since my last move and only 4.5 hours since my opponents last move. What am I not understanding here? lol Help!

... have been added to the Paid Membership page.

Stevie: ROFL!!!!

I was thinking that as I posted it.

Eriisa: Sorry Globlady, I cant say,, harley will tell me off for being off topic hehe

Eriisa: I understood "bottoms"

Stevie: You wish