Walter Montego: Two of my favorite endgames on the 10x8 board are Archbishop vs. Bishop + Knight, which is a mate in 202 for the Archbishop, shown here:

http://www.gothicchess.com/endings/kakbn/game.htm

And Chancellor and Pawn vs. Chancellor, a mate in 140, shown here:

http://www.gothicchess.com/endings/kcpkc/game.htm

Incredibly complex endings that really let you appreciate whatever your favorite 10x8 game is that gets you to these points. Even more interestingly, programs cannot play these endings properly without these precomputed tablebases. Strong human players have a better chance of winning the endings more rapidly than programs that do not have the tablebases, another one of the ironies of the world of computer programs.

This post is just for informational purposes only, and doesn't apply to any one person, program, or game. I think most of us are aware that the 6-piece tablebases for 8x8 chess are completed. This was a massive undertaking, and a DISTRIBUTED project that covered many years, and many computers being used in parallel to complete the task. As for 10x8 chess variants, only the 5-piece tablebases are completed. Just so everyone knows, the branching factor for 10x8 board with the 2 new pieces is just gigantic when compared to 8x8 chess. For example, the 4-piece tablebase set for 10x8 with the Chancellor and Archbishop takes only 26 minutes to compute. The 5-piece set required 34 days! The ratio of time involved was more than a factor of 1800! Also remember the longest 5-piece 10x8 win is 268 moves (not plies) which is longer than the longest 6-piece tablebase win (262 moves) for 8x8 chess.

The 6-piece tablebase set has not even been started, nor does it make sense to begin. The time scaling for its completion will be roughly 75 (number of squares on which to place piece #6) x 2 (each "distance to win" must reserve 2 bytes whereas the 5-piece set only needed 1) x 343 (this times as many more tablebase slices to solve) = over 50,000 times as long as the 5-piece set. These numbers are mind boggling. The 60 gigabyte 10x8 tablebases are all that exist. There is no "1 terbayte" set anywhere. The average tablebase file for the 6-piece set will be 75 x 2 = 150 times the size of the 5-piece files. So, they will be about 300 GB each. This mysterious "1 terabyte" that was mentioned before would only be the size of 3 files, if they were completed (and they are not.) Everyone is probably aware that you have to solve the non-pawn files first, such as King + 2 Queens vs. King + 2 Queens, King + 2 Queens vs. King + 1 Queen + 1 Chancellor, King + 2 Queens vs. King + 1 Queen + 1 Archbishop, etc. Even if these tablebase files were completed, totalling about 1 TB, they would be statistically of no help whatsoever during the coarse of a game between 2 programs.

SMIRF Engine: Hi Reinhard,

Just so you know, Gothic Vortex is still 32-bit, not 64-bit. At one time, Ed Trice tried a parallel-processing 64-bit version, but after making too many changes (new piece values, new searching, parallel code, 64-bit code) it was impossible to debug. Ed reverted back to a 32-bit single CPU version and just improved the evaluation function. Ed no longer has a 64-bit compiler, and he will be making future versions of Vortex under Mac OS X.

There is no "professional team" that works on Gothic Vortex. It is just Ed. Several people did contribute PUBLIC DOMAIN code to the project, and they are given credit in the program "about box". But clearly Ed does not employ Eugene Namilov, Marc Bourzachutsky, and Andrew Katach! Gil Dodgen ported the Crafty search engine to the 80-bit world, and Ed threw out the Crafty evaluation function and made a Gothic Chess evaluation function. Sounds simple, but it was a lot of work, 98% of it done by two people, in their spare time.

And, the "size" of Gothic Vortex is mostly due to graphics. All of those pictures in the about box, especially of the 6'5" blonde model with her legs so long, coupled with the marble board pattern at 24-bit color take up a lot of space. The size of the Gothic Vortex search engine is not more than 24K larger than the Crafty DOS search engine, making it under 100K.

You and Ed discussed the speed differences in your hardware when you played on GothicChessLive. He had a 2.4 GHz system, you have a 2.0 GHz system, which is only a 20% difference. Such a difference is insignificant.

Ed rewrote Gothic Vortex to search for attacks, and this is purely a software innovation. Still, this does not mean Vortex is perfect. M_TAL on GothicChessLive.com beat the new Vortex 2 times (after losing a few games). You will remember he was ChessMaster1000 on here, as well as WhiteTower, ChicagoBulls, and maybe 1 or 2 others. While these were game/15 minute controls (rather fast) you have to give George credit for slugging it out and coming on top.

It is my hope that we will not longer see on German discussion boards your posts saying "..and here SMIRF beats that former #1 program, Gothic Vortex..." when you are really running your program against the FREE version of Vortex that only does 7-ply searches and moves in a fraction of a second. I think it's obvious now that the Gothic Vortex program is much stronger than the free version.

For those interested in watching computer programs fight it out, here are the last 6 games played between SMIRF and Gothic Vortex (where Vortex won 6-0). I don't think people are aware how strong Vortex really is, it was strong to being with and it has been vastly improved in the last few months. In one of these games Vortex announced mate in 143! Since Reinhard was operating his own SMIRF program, he can tell you all about it.

http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1610
http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1609
http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1607
http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1604
http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1602
http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1600

iceninejkw: I think most people believe all computer programs play at a very high performance level. This is true of the strongest of the strong chess engines, but it is not the case for programs designed by hobbyists. My guess is that SMIRF plays maybe at the "1700 level" if it were to compete with tournament players who are very good at tactics. On GothicChessLive, SMIRF is rated 1697 after 19 games, and it lost most of them.

http://www.gothicchesslive.com/one-players-games.php?id=525

From July 11-September 3 2006, SMIRF had a total of 4 wins and 15 losses. SMIRF had 0 wins and 6 losses against the Gothic Vortex program. SMIRF only beat Twirling_Fern (1425), duethought (1301), and elamin(1342, lost 2 games). The following human players have defeated SMIRF: M_Tal(1937) who is "Chicago Bulls" here on BrainKing, Kerberos (1780), BloodOfBulls(1845) and Cartaphilus(1934). The point is that humans can still beat chess engines that play variants and chess variant programs are not capable of "perfect super computer play" as was mentioned here. Chess variant programs still do not grasp strategy, and humans can "win easily" without having to do much calculation once such errors are played. For example, how many of us smile when we see someone play pawn to a4 then Rook to a3 against us in chess? We pretty much know we will win, but did we calculate everything out to the end of the game? No, there is no need. Similarly, we smile when we watch programs make bad trades, or fail to protect their king, or castle right into our upcoming attack, or open up the game when it should try and keep things bottled up, and so on.

SMIRF Engine: Reinhard, you were just asked to replay the game. Ed was more than fair. You left a game when you were far behind in time, and you did not come back. Ed did not forfeit your game, which he should have. He GAVE you a draw, which upset his opponent. If anything, Ed took the pressure for this decision so SMIRF could stay in the running.

I don't see how you can claim Ed pressured you. You also resigned a game against Zillions that was a disconnect, and the operator was BrainKing's Chessmaster1000 who I think is also Pythagoras (I hope I am right on this.) He did not pressure you and he wanted to replay the game, instead, you quit. In another game, again you resigned. After this third time, no matter what the reasons were, you were asked to apologize for your behavior, and that was all. In baseball, you get 3 strikes, then you are out. Here all you had to do was say you were sorry (for ruining the whole tournament) and then replay the games, and all would have been forgiven.

Was this too much to ask? You quit 3 times, after all, and the International Computer Games Association Journal was asking Ed for daily updates. They, and also Chessville.com, are now unable to do a report on the 2005 Gothic Chess Computer World Championship, and they have waited for this for months!

Look at the great article that was done last year:

http://www.chessville.com/GothicChess/ComputerWorldChampionships.htm

And you talk about "pressure?" It does not make sense.
You quit. You quit again. You quit a third time. Ed asked you to say you are sorry.
You didn't, you blamed everyone else for your problems.

I see nothing resembling pressure, unless you are talking about how you put in on yourself.

Fencer: Filip,

Reinahrd left because of another person and it had nothing to do with Ed. My point is he LEFT rather than try and resolve the issues. And this has been my past experience (and not only mine.)

Here is something I think everyone will like. Remember all of the talk about the rating system on here? Well, Ed Trice captured all of the games and re-rated them all in the same date order that they were played. He used the Glicko system which is even more accurate than the Elo rating system most people know about. Glicko uses 2 numbers per player, one for your rating, and another that measures the rating accuracy, which is also known as Rating Deviation. The more you play, the more accurate your rating becomes. So if you beat an 1800 player with a more accurate rating, you get more points that if you beat a player with the same rating that is not as accurate.

The re-rating took place in November 2005 and here are the results if you want to see what your "real" rating would be:

http://gothicchess.com/bk_archive.html

Eventually the games will be linked up as well.

WhisperzQ: My reply was to Fencer...in response to his post of Reinhard's.

Fencer: Filip,

As you know when you started your own site, at one point there were some problems with BrainKing being up all of the time. On GothicChessLive.com there are similar "growing pains." In the case of the SMIRF operator, I believe he is the one who was experiencing problems disconnecting. The site does not have a feature to automatically restore games so it is up to the players to do so.

Reinhard was asking his opponent so start the clocks with less time than he had when they left, because a Fischer "+25 seconds" was added with each move. His opponent did not have a move list displayed, so he needed Reinhard to relay the moves. His opponent wanted to start the clocks where they were, and just let any added time to run down before the next move was made. Reinahrd did not want to do this. His opponent finally gave in to his requests and they replayed the game. Reinhard typed a wrong move once, so they had to start over. Reinahrd made a wrong move when he was entering his own move, so there was a need to start over again. All during this, it was Reinahrd's turn to move in a difficult position, so SMIRF could have been searching. So, his opponent said "since so much time elapsed since my move, what is the SMIRF move?" At this point it was 7 minutes since his opponent had moved. It should be noted this opponent also had a 12 minute time advantage with less than half an hour left in the game. SMIRF refused to say what move he had made. Finally, the game was restored, and because of the relaying of moves by typing and the request to start with less time, SMIRF had 11 minutes more on his clock that at the time of the disconnect, and his opponent has 4 minutes less than was on his clock. His opponent was typing up a suggestion when SMIRF offered a draw. Since the position was finally restored correctly, his opponent did not accept the draw. Again, I remind all that SMIRF has more time on his clock, the opponent less, and it was still SMIRF's turn to move. And what did SMIRF do? He resigned.

SMIRF also resigned a game in a tough position against Zillions when a disconnect occurred, but this disconnect was the server losing its connection so it was not his fault. It is strange that all of these resignations occurred after SMIRF lost a 109 move game to the ChessV program which you can see here: http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=444

This basically eliminated SMIRF's chances of winning the event, despite scoring 1-1 against last year's winner, Gothic Vortex. SMIRF also left a previous game in progress against ChessV, which Ed Trice declared a draw though it is clear SMIRF had a real chance to lose this game too as it was behind in time and its evaluation was overly optimistic. This same over-optimism cost SMIRF an easy draw in that 109 move game, ChessV mentioned several times that the game was a draw, and all such implicit offers were refused by Reinhard. He played on, then lost, then this behavior of "quitting to save face" emerged.

SMIRF has also done the same thing to me here on BrainKing. When I was playing in the World Open last year, I took some vacation days. I made a few moves against other opponents, but did not make move #1 against him at the start of a finals section, and he resigned his game against me and the other player in the finals section who WAS NOT even on vacation!

I mention this so you have a fuller version of the story and know more about Reinhard. When he does not get his way, he quits.

WhiteTower: It is interesting that occured...I would have thought that Vortex having beat Smirf as Black would have won as White also!

Here are some of the games from the first 6 rounds of the Gothic Chess Computer World Championship. New versions of Vortex and SMIRF are dominating, and they are 1-1 against each other so far!

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=413"]
[Date "2005.12.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Zillions-of-Games"]
[Black "Gothic Vortex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.Af3 Nh6 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.d3 d6 4.Nh3 Bg4 5.Ag5 g6 6.f3 Bf6 7.Axh6+ ixh6 8.fxg4 Qd7 9.e4 g5 10.Nd5 Cg7 11.c3 O-O-O 12.d4 e5 13.Qf3 Ce8 14.Nxf6 Axf6 15.d5 Axg4 16.Qxg4 Qxg4 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.g3 Qi4 19.j3 Cf6+ 20.Kg1 Qh5 21.Be3 Kb7 22.Cc2 c5 23.Rf1 Rji8 24.Cd2 Cd7 25.Rf5 Qg6 26.g4 Cb6 27.i4 Ca4 28.a3 d5 29.Rxe5 d4 30.cxd4 cxd4 31.Rb5+ Kc8 32.Bf2 d3 33.Cb3 Qd6 34.Bf3 Qa6 35.i5 c6 36.Rb8+ Kc7 37.Rxd8 Rxd8 38.ixh6 Kc8 39.Nxg5 Qc4 40.Ca1 Cxb2 41.Nxh7 Qc3 42.Cd1 Cxd1+ 43.Bxd1 c5 44.g5 c4 45.Kg2 Qe5 46.Bg4+ Kb7 47.h4 Qb2 48.Bxj7 c3 49.g6 fxg6 50.Ni5 c2 51.Nxg6 d2 52.Ri1 c1=Q 53.Ri7+ Kb8 54.Bxa7+ Ka8 55.Bf2 Qba1 56.Ra7+ Kb8 57.Bd1 Qxd1 58.Rf7 Qh1+ 59.Kg3 Qc3+ 60.Kf4 Qcf3+ 61.Ke5 Qa1+ 62.Ke6 Qxe4+ 63.Ne5 Qaxe5# 0-1

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=417"]
[Date "2005.12.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "SMIRF"]
[Black "ChessV"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.c3 Nh6 2.g3 Nc6 3.d3 g6 4.Nh3 Bf6 5.Ng5 d5 6.h3 e5 7.h4 Be7 8.Aj4 Cg7 9.Bf3 f6 10.Nh3 Be6 11.O-O d4 12.Bxh6 Axh6 13.Axh6 ixh6 14.Qc1 dxc3 15.Nxc3 Cg8 16.Ne4 Rb8 17.Nc5 Bc8 18.Na6 bxa6 19.Bxc6 Be6 20.Cc2 1-0

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=422"]
[Date "2005.12.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Gothic Vortex"]
[Black "Zillions-of-Games"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.d4 Af6 2.Nh3 d5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bf4 Nxd4 6.Nxd5 Axd5 7.Bxd5 Qxd5 8.c3 e5 9.Bd2 Bg4 10.cxd4 exd4 11.f3 Bf5 12.g4 Bd7 13.Qc1 h6 14.Bb4+ Kg8 15.Af2 a5 16.Bd2 Bf6 17.O-O Ng7 18.Ae4 Qb5 19.a4 Qa6 20.g5 hxg5 21.Bxg5 Bxg5 22.Nxg5 Rc8 23.Qf4 Bf5 24.Ac5 Qc4 25.Axb7 Rb8 26.b3 Nh5 27.Axa5 Qc5 28.Qd2 f6 29.Rc1 Qxa5 30.Qxa5 fxg5 31.Cg2 Ce6 32.Rxc7 Nf4 33.Ci3 Nh5 34.Ci5 j6 35.Ci6 Ri8 36.Qa7 Cxc7 37.Qxc7 Rc8 38.Qe7 j5 39.Cxg5 Ng7 40.Cf7 Nh5 41.Ch7 Be6 42.Rg1 Bxb3 43.Rxg6+ Ng7 44.Rxg7# 1-0

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=421"]
[Date "2005.12.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "ChessV"]
[Black "SMIRF"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.g3 Nh6 2.Nh3 g6 3.Nc3 c5 4.f4 d6 5.Bf3 Nc6 6.e3 Bd7 7.Af2 f5 8.O-O j5 9.Cg2 Bf6 10.d3 Ng4 11.Ag1 j4 12.Ng5 j3 13.ixj3 Bxg5 14.fxg5 Ni5 15.j4 Rxj4 16.h3 Nj3+ 17.Kj1 Rj6 18.e4 Qc8 19.exf5 gxf5 20.Ai3 Ne5 21.Bh5 Ng6 22.Bxj3 Rxj3 23.Ah5 Bc6 24.Ci2 Bxh1 25.Qxh1 Rj5 26.Ai4 Rj6 27.Axj6 ixj6 28.Ci8 Cg7 29.Cxj6 Ai7 30.Cj4 Ch5 31.Qh2 Aj6 32.Ne2 Cxj4 33.Qxj4+ Ai5 34.Qj5 Qe6 35.Bd2 Qxe2 36.Bf4 Qh2 37.Ri1 Qxh3+ 38.Qxh3 Axh3+ 39.Ri2 O-O-O 40.g4 Ri8 41.d4 Axi2+ 42.Ki1 Axg4+ 43.Kh1 Af3# 0-1

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=424"]
[Date "2005.12.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "SMIRF"]
[Black "Gothic Vortex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.c3 Nh6 2.Nh3 Nc6 3.d3 g6 4.g3 d5 5.Nf4 e6 6.h4 Bg7 7.b3 Ne7 8.d4 Af6 9.Nd3 O-O 10.Na3 Ng4 11.Bf4 Ah5 12.Cc2 Bj4 13.i3 e5 14.dxe5 Nxi3 15.jxi3 Bxi3 16.Rj5 Ai4+ 17.Bg2 Axj5 18.Bxj5 Bxg1 19.Kxg1 Qd7 20.Qf1 Qj1+ 21.Kh2 Qj2+ 22.Kh1 Cg7 23.Qi4 Ch5 24.Qxh5 Bi2+ 25.Kg2 Bg4+ 26.Kg1 Qj1+ 27.Kh2 Qi2+ 28.Kg1 Bxh5 29.g4 Qxg4+ 30.Bg2 Qxh4 31.Bh2 Qj2 32.f3 c6 33.Nf4 Nf5 34.Bh3 Qg5+ 35.Ng2 i5 36.Bf4 Qe7 37.Rf1 g5 38.Bh2 Bg6 39.e4 dxe4 40.fxe4 Ng7 41.Re1 h5 42.Nc4 g4 43.Bi2 Qj2 44.Kh1 Qg5 45.Bf4 Qe7 46.Ce3 i4 47.Nd6 Ne6 48.Nf5 Qf8 49.Bg3 j5 50.Bj6 Rh7 51.Bg3 j4 52.Ngh4 Rd8 53.Nd6 b6 54.Nxg6 fxg6 55.Bj1 j3 56.Re2 h4 57.Bi1 h3 58.Bh2 Ri7 59.Bi3 g5 60.Rc2 Qf4 61.Cf5 Rh8 62.Cf6 Qf3+ 63.Cxf3 gxf3 64.Rd2 Rd7 65.Rf2 g4 66.Rf1 c5 67.Nf5 Rh5 68.b4 Rd3 69.bxc5 bxc5 70.Ki1 Rxc3 0-1

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=435"]
[Date "2005.12.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "ChessV"]
[Black "Zillions"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.g3 Nh6 2.Nh3 Af6 3.Nc3 e5 4.d3 Nc6 5.Bg5 Axg5 6.Nxg5 Qxg5 7.Bd5 Qg6 8.Cg2 Nb4 9.Bb3 i5 10.f4 d6 11.Qd2 Bd7 12.fxe5 Cxe5 13.e4 Qg5 14.Qxg5 Cxg5 15.O-O-O Bi7 16.Kb1 i4 17.j3 Ci5 18.jxi4 Cxi4 19.Rf1 j5 20.e5 dxe5 21.Ac5+ Ke8 22.h3 Bc6 23.Ce3 Ci5 24.Axb4 a5 25.Ac5 Rd8 26.d4 f6 27.Ae6 Rd7 28.d5 Re7 29.dxc6 Rxe6 30.Bxe6 bxc6 31.Cc4 Cxi2 32.Rd1 Nf7 33.Cxc6 Cd2+ 34.Rxd2 Kf8 35.Cxc7 Bxd2 36.Cxf7+ Ke8 37.Nd5 1-0

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=434"]
[Date "2005.12.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Gothic Vortex"]
[Black "SMIRF"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.c4 Nh6 2.Nc3 g6 3.Nh3 c5 4.g3 Nc6 5.d3 Bd4 6.Bf3 d6 7.Bd2 Bf5 8.e4 Bd7 9.Ni5 Ne5 10.Bxj7 Nxj7 11.Bxi7 Ri8 12.Nxj7 Axi7 13.h3 Ah5 14.Qxh5 gxh5 15.Aj4+ Cg7 16.O-O Bxf2 17.Axg7+ Kxg7 18.Cg2 Nxd3 19.Rad1 Nxb2 20.Rdf1 Nd3 21.Rd1 Qc8 22.Kj1 Ne5 23.Cxf2 Ri7 24.Cf4 Rxj7 25.Cxh5+ Kh8 26.Nd5 Qf8 27.Rc1 f6 28.Ki1 Be8 29.Cf4 Bg6 30.Rh2 h5 31.i3 Qh6 32.Rc3 Rf8 33.Rf2 Ki8 34.Ch4 Rh8 35.a4 Qi5 36.Cf4 b6 37.Ra2 Kj8 38.Rb2 Qi8 39.Re2 f5 40.exf5 Bxf5 41.Ne3 Bd7 42.Ng2 Qb1+ 43.Re1 Qa2 44.Rec1 Bxa4 45.Re3 Bd7 46.Rec3 Bf5 47.Rg1 e6 48.j4 Ng6 49.Cf3 Ri7 50.Kh2 Rhi8 51.Cg5 Qd2 52.Re3 Rh8 53.Cf3 Qb2 54.j5 Ni5 55.Rb3 Qf6 56.Ch4 Nxh3 57.Rf1 Ni5 58.Ki1 Ng4 59.Kj2 Ri4 60.Rxf5 exf5 61.Ch1 Qd4 62.Rb1 Qxc4 63.Rg1 Qc2 64.Kj3 b5 65.Kj2 b4 66.Kj3 b3 67.Ci1 Rhi8 68.Rh1 b2 69.Ci2 R8i5 70.Rxh5 b1=C 71.Rh8+ Kj7 72.Rh7+ Kj6 73.Ch2 Nxh2+ 74.Rxh2 Cj1+ 75.Ki2 Cxi3+ 76.Nxi3 Rxi3+ 77.Kj1 Rxj5+ 78.Rj2 Qi2# 0-1

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=436"]
[Date "2005.12.19"]
[Round "5]
[White "ChessV"]
[Black "Gothic Vortex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.g3 d5 2.d4 Nh6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nh3 c6 5.Bf4 Nd7 6.f3 Qb6 7.Cd3 Nf5 8.Na4 Qa5 9.c3 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Ce1 Nc4 12.e4 Nxb2 13.Nxb2 Bxc3 14.Ce2 Nd4 15.Axd4 Bxh3+ 16.ixh3 Bxd4 17.Qxd4 Ce6 18.Qf2 g5 19.Be3 Ah6 20.Nd3 O-O 21.Nc5 Ce7 22.Bd4 Aj4 23.Kg2 Rhe8 24.Rb1 b6 25.Bf6 Cg8 26.Nd7 dxe4 27.fxe4 g4 28.hxg4 Qj5+ 29.Kf3 Cxg4 30.Kxg4 Ah5+ 31.Kh4 Qi4+ 32.Kg5 Qg4# 1-0

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=437"]
[Date "2005.12.19"]
[Round "5]
[White "Zillions"]
[Black "SMIRF"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.Af3 Nh6 2.d4 d6 3.Nh3 Nc6 4.d5 Ne5 5.Ag5 Nhg4 6.Af4 i6 7.f3 Bj6 8.fxg4 Bxe1 9.Axj8 Bj6 10.g3 h6 11.Be4 Bi7 12.Axi7 Cf6+ 13.Kg2 Axi7 14.Bi8 Aj5 15.Bxj7 Nxg4 16.Kg1 Ch5 17.Kg2 Nxh2 18.Kf2 Bxh3 19.Rg1 Cf6+ 20.Ke1 Bxi2 21.Bf4 g5 22.Qd4 gxf4 23.Nd2 fxg3 24.Rxg3 Qd7 25.a4 Bg4 26.Raa3 Qf5 27.Qxf6 Qxf6 0-1

[Event "2005 Gothic Chess World Championship"]
[Site "http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.p
hp?gameid=441"]
[Date "2005.12.20"]
[Round "6]
[White "ChessV"]
[Black "Gothic Vortex"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB
QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.d4 g6 2.Nh3 Nh6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Nc3 Af6 5.Bg5 Axd4 6.Ni5 Kg8 7.Nxj7 Nxj7 8.e3 Axc3 9.bxc3 Bxc3 10.Cd3 Bxa1 11.Bxi7 Ri8 12.Qxj7 Rxi7 13.Qxi7 Bh8 14.Qj8 b6 15.Af3 Kg7 16.Qj4+ Kg8 17.Ag5 Cg7 18.Ah6+ Kf8 19.Axg7+ Bxg7 20.Qj8+ Bh8 21.Qxh8# 1-0

nabla: Hi nabla,

Ed is having problems replying to the messages sent to him here on BrainKing. Here are two ways you can contact him:

email: GothicChessInfo@aol.com

the Gothic Chess discussion board:

http://s13.invisionfree.com/Gothic_Chess_Forum/index.php


You might also want to publish some of our endgame database positions, like the mate in 268 that was solved:

http://www.gothicchess.com/javascript_endings.html


Here is Ed's reply to your post:

JANUS CHESS GAMES

I am including 3 Janus chess games here for your review.
Two are against a very strong FIDE Master from Germany,
a hard fought win, and a draw when down by about 4-5 pawns!
The other game is one where I announced a mate in 27 after
having sacrificed an Archbishop (Janus) + pawn for only a knight.

Starting with 33. i5+!! http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=347378&i=
65

the game becomes spectacular. After I begin weaving the mating net, my
opponent uncorks 37...Jba3+! http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=347378&i=
74
to sacrifice one of his Janus pieces to create counterplay. He continues to sac,
this time with The Exchange 41...Rac8+ 42. Bxc8 Rxc8+
http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=34

7378&i=82 which leads to an even
more stunning combination where I give up a Queen for Rook:

44...Re8+ 45. Qe5!! Rxe5+

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=347378&

i=89

The resulting ending is 2 Rooks + 3 unconnected pawns vs.
Janus + 6 pawns, two pairs of which are connected on the extreme flanks.
The 2 Rooks win this technical ending, very worthy of print.

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=347378


[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2004.05.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Grim Reaper"]
[Black "Caissus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rjnbkqbnjr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RJN



BKQBNJR w sKQkq - 0 1"]

1. e3 f5 2. Jc3 Jh6 3. Ng3 Nd6 4. h3 e6 5. Bi3 g5 6. Nd3 Bf6 7. Jj3+ Ng6
8. Ne5 Bf7 9. Nxf7 Qxf7 10. d4 i6 11. Bf3 a6 12. Ja5 b6 13. Jb3 c6 14. Ni4 Ji7
15. g4 j5 16. Ng3 f4 17. Nf5 exf5 18. Jxf7+ Kxf7 19. O-O Jc7 20. Be2 Ne4
21. Rd1 fxg4 22. Bxg4 d5 23. Bh2 Jb5 24. Qe1 fxe3 25. Qxe3 Jc4 26. Qe1 Jj6
27. Bg3 Nxg3 28. Qe6+ Kg7 29. fxg3 Jxg3 30. Qxc6 Jgd6 31. Qd7+ Kh6 32. i4 Jdb5
33. i5+ Nxi5 34. Jxi5+ Kxi5 35. Qxh7 Kj4 36. Qh6+ i5 37. Qxf6 Jba3+
38. bxa3 Jxa3+ 39. Ka1 Jxc2+ 40. Kb2 Ja4+ 41. Kc1 Rac8+ 42. Bxc8 Rxc8+
43. Kd2 Jc3+ 44. Ke3 Re8+ 45. Qe5 Rxe5+ 46. dxe5 Jxe5 47. Rd4+ Kj3 48. Rg1 Kxj2
49. Rxg5 Jf7 50. Rdxd5 Jh6 51. Kf2 j4 52. Rxi5 Jf4 53. Rdf5 Jd3+ 54. Kg1 b5
55. Kh2 Je4 56. Rf4 Jd6 57. Ri2+ Kj3 58. Ri4 1-0


=============


"Mely" is a German Fide Master, also a very strong
Janus Chess player. Here is a win against him. If you are
interested, I can annotate portions of this game.


http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=874385


[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2005.06.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Mely"]
[Black "Grim Reaper"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rjnbkqbnjr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RJN



BKQBNJR w sKQkq - 0 1"]

1. e4 Jc6 2. Ng3 e6 3. Jh3 Nd6 4. c3 Ng6 5. f3 h6 6. Be3 Be7 7. d4 Bi6
8. Bb3 O-O 9. Jd3 Rd8 10. Qf2 Nc8 11. j4 d5 12. exd5 exd5 13. i3 Re8 14. j5 Bh7
15. Je2 Bg5 16. Bxg5 hxg5 17. Jxg5 f6 18. Jd2 Rxe2+ 19. Ncxe2 Jj6 20. Bc2 Nd6
21. O-O Nc4 22. Jb3 Qe8 23. Jc5 Ne3 24. Ka1 Nxc2+ 25. Rxc2 Ji5 26. Nc1 Nf4
27. Rd2 g5 28. Nb3 Qc8 29. Qf1 Re8 30. Ja3 Jd7 31. Rg1 Bxj5 32. Nc5 Jc6
33. i4 Bh7 34. Ne2 Jg6 35. Nxf4 Jxf4 36. Qd1 Jxh2 37. Rh1 Jg3 38. Rxh7 Re1
39. Rxi7 Rxd1+ 40. Rxd1 b6 41. Nd3 Ja4 0-1

=============

The game below features an amazing draw against Mely,
where I am down an Archishop (Janus) versus Queen + 2 pawns
(and 3 pawns earlier.)

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=874384


[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2005.06.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grim Reaper"]
[Black "Mely"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rjnbkqbnjr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RJN



BKQBNJR w sKQkq - 0 1"]

1. Nd3 Nd6 2. Jh3 f6 3. e3 Ni6 4. Jc3 g6 5. Ng3 Jh6 6. Bxi6 jxi6 7. O-O c6
8. Nc5 Bb6 9. d4 Rj5 10. i4 Rd5 11. Ji2 Bxc5 12. dxc5 Rxc5 13. Jd4 b6 14. f4 a5
15. b3 Ja6 16. Qxa6 Rxa6 17. a4 Ra7 18. Bf2 Bd5 19. Rjg1 Qg8 20. Ja1 Ne4
21. Nxe4 Bxe4 22. Jg3 Jf5 23. Jxf5 gxf5 24. Bh4 Qg7 25. h3 h5 26. ixh5 ixh5
27. Ri1 Qxg2 28. Bxf6 Rxc2 29. Rxc2 Bxc2+ 30. Jxc2 exf6 31. Rxi7 Qxh3
32. Jd4 Qj1+ 33. Kb2 Qxj2+ 34. Ka3 Qj6 35. Ri8+ Kf7 36. Jxf5 d5 37. Jd6+ Kg6
38. e4 dxe4 39. Jxe4+ Kf7 40. Jd6+ Kg6 41. Je4+ Kf7 42. Jd6+ 1/2-1/2

=============

GOTHIC CHESS GAMES

Gothic Chess is the game I invented, and I pour a great deal of energy
into each and every game. I play out almost every move to the ending
before making any single move on BrainKing.
I do this many times over, so I get an excellent insight into that which will come.
Here are some amazing games:

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=821982


Perhaps the most complex combination ever issued begins here with:

16. Ri3!? (or arguably the move just prior, 15. Rh3!? which allows
the black knight to fork white's queen and rook.)

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=821982&i=31


Black spends 3 days thinking about taking my queen, then declines with 16...h6
to reinforce his king. I continue to let the queen hang, then place a knight in front of
a pawn with 17. Nj5!! after which he takes the queen. After 17...Nxd1 18. Nxg6,
I have only a pawn for the queen, against a player rated 2065.

The subsequent win is so complex, it would take a few pages to annotate properly,
but if there was ever a single Gothic Chess game that should be published, it
should be this one.

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=821982&i=33



[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2005.05.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Grim Reaper"]
[Black "andreas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB



QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Axc4 3. Nh3 Nh6 4. g3 Ag8 5. Af3 g6 6. Bg2 Bf6 7. Nd5 Af7
8. Nxf6 exf6 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 d5 11. Ni5 j6 12. Nj3 Be6 13. h4 Ng4 14. Ad2 Ag8
15. Rh3 Nxf2 16. Ri3 h6 17. Ni5 Nxd1 18. Nxg6 Cg7 19. Nxi7 Cxi7 20. Rxi7+ Axi7
21. Cxd1 Nc6 22. Ch1 Bg8 23. Ci3 Kj8 24. Af3 Qe7 25. Bh3 Bh7 26. Cxi7 Kxi7
27. Ah5+ Ki8 28. Bxh6 Rae8 29. Bi4 j5 30. Aj6+ Kj7 31. Ai5+ Ki8 32. Bh5 Bi6
33. Bxi6 Rxh6 34. Axh6+ Kh8 35. Axf5 1-0

Other interesting Gothic Chess wins involving complex sacrifices and long
combinations:


=============

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=571566


[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2004.12.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Grim Reaper"]
[Black "andreas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB



QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nh3 Nh6 3. Nc3 c6 4. g3 g6 5. f4 f6 6. Bf3 Bg7 7. e3 j6 8. Af2 Af7
9. Cg2 O-O 10. O-O e5 11. dxe5 fxe5 12. Ng5 Ad6 13. Ci3 Af8 14. g4 Kj8
15. Ni6+ hxi6 16. Cxi6+ Kj7 17. g5 Ng4 18. Bxg4 Bxg4 19. Qxg4 Rh5 20. Qi4 Bi5
21. Qxh5 1-0

=============

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=325125


[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2004.04.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grim Reaper"]
[Black "White Shark"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB



QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. d4 Nh6 2. Nh3 i6 3. g4 Bi7 4. g5 Nj5 5. Cf3 Bj6 6. g6 h6 7. gxf7 Axf7
8. Cxf7+ Kxf7 9. Ng5+ hxg5 10. Bxg5 Cd6 11. Ah3 Nh6 12. Af4 Qf8 13. Nc3 c6
14. Be4 Ce6 15. Axe6+ dxe6 16. Qd3 Kg8 17. O-O-O Nd7 18. Rjg1 Rh8 19. Qj3 Bi7
20. e3 Rj8 21. Qg6 Rh8 22. Qxe6+ Qf7 23. Qxe7 Qxe7 24. Bxe7 Nb6 25. h3 Bf5
26. Bh1 Be6 27. Bf6 Nf5 28. d5 cxd5 29. Nxd5 Bh6 30. Nc7 Rf8 31. Nxe6 Rxf6
32. Ng5 Nd6 33. f4 Bi7 34. Rd3 Rh5 35. i3 Kf8 36. h4 Rh8 37. Ne4 Nxe4 38. Bxe4 1-0

=============

This opening is known as "Trice's Gambit" (1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Axc4) and always
produces exciting games. In fact, there has been more than one thematic tournament
on BrainKing using this opening.


http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=515879


[Event "Casual Game"]
[Site "BrainKing.com (Prague, Czech Republic)"]
[Date "2004.11.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Grim Reaper"]
[Black "andreas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB



QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Axc4 3. g3 g6 4. Bd5 Ab6 5. Nh3 Nh6 6. Af3 c6 7. Ni5 Bxc3
8. Nxh7+ Kg7 9. Nxj8 Cxj8 10. dxc3 cxd5 11. Be3 Ac7 12. Qd4+ Kh7 13. Ag5+ Kg8
14. Cg2 Qe8 15. Ci3 1-0

nabla: nabla here are also links to 2 games of mine that I like the best! 1 of them is a rare win vs. Ed Trice in a match that is still on going!

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=392051
http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=655187

nabla: Hi nabla,

You should definitely try and contact Ed Trice on here. http://brainking.com/en/Profile?u=3629

You can see he has 325 wins, 25 draws, 1 loss (in 8x8 chess) never lost in a chess variant game. He has beaten all of the top players, repeatedly, and often with spectacular sacrifices.
Some of his stuff is published on Chessville.com, like:

http://www.chessville.com/GothicChess/miniatures.htm

http://www.chessville.com/GothicChess/TacticalArtwork.htm

http://www.chessville.com/GothicChess/ComputerWorldChampionships.htm

He is a superb annotator with good writing skills, as you can see.

I am also a National Tournament Director for the Gothic Chess Federation, and
have access to about 5000 games or more. Just let me know how I can help.

Rob C.

Vortex Copper can be downloaded directlty from this link:

http://www.GothicChess.com/vortex.zip

Caissus: I agree but this would be the single most wanted and watched chess event in history. Look how well Korchnoi has played and he is in his 60's!

Caissus: That I can't explain...but early bugs and crashes might have deterred some people from coming back until all is well.

Pythagoras: Ed is there every
tuesday night at about 6pm EST. Like Andreas said, its best to post a time when you'll be on at the Forum for all to see!

What a difference playing blitz is versus turn based! There are some very strong blitz players emerging on http://www.GothicChessLive.com playing some amazing games. Check out this one:

http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=259

One of the players Ed calls the "Bobby Fischer of Gothic Chess", his name is Cartaphilus. Cartaphilus has beaten some strong players from BrainKing, like:

Caissus: http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=147
Mattolin: http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=199

You can now see everyone's games (all 259 so far) from here:

http://www.gothicchesslive.com/players-games.php

I want to see Pythagoras play Cartaphilus, that would be a great game!

I see Pythagoras and his matches with Vortex and other programs being posted here and I thought you should all know there is a completely new version of the program that is super strong now. Ed has reworked the engine almost from the ground up.

A summary of what has been changed/added/enhanced:

-Intelligent 7-piece and 6-piece search extensions
-Partial 6-piece tablebase slices
-High Frequency Filtering
-Retuned Quick/Detailed Evaluation Function
-New Piece Weights
-Nonlinear King Tropism Matrices

For a very long and interesting description of what this means, here is the link:

http://s13.invisionfree.com/Gothic_Chess_Forum/index.php?showtopic=91&st=0#entry1466391

Caissus: I think this has to be one of the longest games!

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=417877

Thanks for the Kudos Ed...other blitz it's been a long time since I beat you!

A tough position yes...but I blew it earlier with a nice ArchBishop sac earlier so.... I won't be too hasty from here on out!

Sumerian: I'm sorry you feel this way...but I took vaction days for a reason! Anyone that I have played can tell you I move pretty fast in my games!
As for making moves in my other games during this time...well...I had moves planned to make so I made them! I shoud NOT even have to explain myself to you, but I'm a good sport.

Ed he is someone that I play chess with on USCFLive. He has been wanting to play real time Gothic Chess for a long time!

Nightstorm: Thanks for the link Nightstorm!

This is the new version of a fanastic program with a very important feature...PGN import! The other new exciting feature is the 4 piece endgame tablebases, so you can practice countless endgame positions with perfect play. There are other new features, as well, so check out GothicChess.org for all your Gothic chess equipment.
By the way Filip has added the hyperlink for Gothic Chess just above for all to go to!!!

Caissus: Ed Trice would be able to tell you but he can't post here for some reason.

Yes, anyone can enter! Entrace fee: $75 if received by January 8, $90 if received by January 15, $130 if received by January 29, $175 if received by February 5. No checks will be deposited after February 5. Late entrants of $225, cash only, will be accepted at the playing site. Plus $25 for a Gothic Chess set which you need to play in the tournament.

The Philadelphia Open will be played February 18-20, 2005 at the Wyndham Philadelphia Hotel! This tournament is a 7 round Swiss with a G75 + 5 sec delay. You can register here at http://www.gothicchess.org/register_philly_open.html

The top prize of $5000 U.S. for a $75 Entry Fee is a rarity...so mark this day in your calendar and come to Philly to play in a great tournament!

Congrats to Matarilevich for winning the Joust!!
Well done! Thanks for everyone else for playing in the Tournament!
Joust at the Realm #3

I wasn't refering to you Redsales and I'm sorry if it offended you. I'm sure many people don't like what I posted but thats what I believe!
I know that you've been trying to talk real Gothic Chess here in your lasts few posts but until this DB gets its act together I'm not posting anything much more. If you want me to help you with your game I will do it by PM or at Gothic Chess SteamRollers. Also, I don't agree with you that people who don't play Gothic should post anything they want here because...most of those people are the ones that go from DB to DB stirring up the pot with their nonsense! You play, you have a voice...like...if you pay taxes you have a right to complain.

Ed made Gothic Chess Steamrollers so people like myself who love to play Gothic Chess can do so without all of the "BS" that happens at this DB!
We need a space like this where we can talk about what matters without a moderator who antogonizes then disappears and also the people who never play and think that what they say means something!
It's a shame that this DB will suffer because of inactivity or lack of topic but at least we have our Fellowships.
Walter wanted to know why I hardly post here and I told him that I never had a problem posting in Fellowship DB's. If anyone wants to join the Gothic Chess SteamRollers and are someone who is serious about there play, ask Ed for an invite.
I will see you there!!

From what I understand bwild for the last 6 months Fencer has not exactly replied to Ed and this was his whole point!

Ed sent me an email this morning around 10 O'Clock. He tried his password to
BrainKing 3 times and it is not working anymore. I just wanted to let you all know!

CardinalFlight I think keeping Ed banned because he's not coming back is wrong! What if wants to come back? He has a website to post relavent Gothic Chess things...the last time I checked this was the Gothic Chess DB not the website!
The only reason he is banned is because Walter is the Moderator and has a personal grudge against Ed! Who is kidding who here?

Walter...everything your doing is wrong as a moderator!!! When the board is lit up like a Christmas tree with all kinds of stupid posts thats when WE need a Moderator...not someone just sitting back until the fuse blows anf Fencer has to step in!!
Or when the Moderator WILLFULLY adds fuel to the fire with his posts which are aimed at provoking others!
You are either an ABSENT Moderator or one that when he posts just makes matters worse, and worse, and worse!!
Scarlet is right...you should step down from your Throne! I say we give Thad a chance!!

CHECK OUT Gothic Chess on Chessville's front page! For anyone who loves tactics this is an excellent article!

Who here is a section or tournament winner of the BrainKing Gothic Chess Championship?

Maybe this site can help ya lass!
Kepler's 3rd Law

Well, many people have asked for Gothic Chess to be played REAL-TIME!!!

Well, you can play now at Cowplay.com!!

There is a free 14 day trial to play real-time games and all the info you need is at the site!

I'm ChessCarpenter there as well, so if your looking for a game and you see me there don't hesitate to ask for a game!

This is a turn based site also with other chess variants!

Goto Cowplay

Scarlet...I'll let ya move to e5 and you can also make the next move!

I would rather defend a Castled position than defend a 3 fronted war by staying in the center. If someone is attacking you...you cannot leave that position unguarded, so why not castle early and say, "Here I am come and get me if you can"!

Almost all of chess opening theory has Castling early...then attacking! I know of no opening that has a King in the center...does anyone know of one?

Over a year ago we had a discussion about Castling! Should we Castle early in the game...or should we castle later on?

Many people seemed to think that if one Castled early the new pieces that make up Gothic Chess...because they are so powerful that committing to an early Castle would spell Doomsday!

On the other hand, Castling early is an advantage becuase of piece devlopment toward an attacking goal with King safety!

I am in favor of early Castling which I would deem to be somewhere in the area of 8-12 moves.

What does everyone else think now that they have played many more games!

How much longer of a ban are we talking about? You must remember it was the reluctance of a Moderator to do anything that let this thing get out of hand in the 1st place! I feel that there is something personal here and to let this continue is wrong!

Well I hope you can still play Gothic Chess on here. You see, the Gothic
Chess Federation has been actively promoting BrainKing for a long time. All
of our printed materials contain screen shots of BK, most of our interviews
in newspapers and on TV mentioned BrainKing. But Filip banned Ed Trice from
here because of an argument he had with another member (who is very much
disliked by many people, myself included). They were both banned, a while
ago, but enough is enough.

The GCF will not stand by this ridiculous ban. Ed has asked Fencer to remove
the ban. Fencer said Walter has to. Ed asked Walter. Walter said he will not
override Fencer.

The entire executive committee of the GCF sent a letter to Fencer. He has
not acted on it.

So, members of this board, do you want Gothic Chess on here, or not?

If Ed Trice is not permitted to post on this board, it is deemed a request
to not want to do business with the GCF on here any more. Look at some of
these recent posts and questions. Ed can answer all of them perfectly, but
he is not permitted to comment at all.

Ridiculous.

If Ed is not permitted to post onto this board, the Gothic Chess license
will not be renewed for BrainKing. Is Walter the reason why Ed is not able
to post? Walter, remove the ban, or step down as moderator. Is Fencer the
one who is stopping everything? He has been contacted several times and he
knows the end result if this continues.

So, people, what do you want to happen?

Don't post here, send a message to Fencer and Walter.

Robert Colanzi
GCF National Tournament Director

There is going to be a monthly article of Gothic Chess at Chessville!
This months article is on Gothic minatures!!
There are some great games...so check it out at

Chessville

Your absolutely right BBW! It's a win/win situation for both parties! I personally, would like to see that continue.

For Gothic to stay on this site it depends on Filip and Ed! BOTH have to AGREE on it...not just one of them...just so everyone knows!

Ok, Walter...I'm sorry I took your skepticism for pessimism!

1. I asked Ed not to mention that I was an investor! I just wanted to play Gothic Chess on this site which is why I came in the 1st place! I really don't like to post because everyone twists things around whether they mean to or not.
Ed posted an inquiry on this board on April 1st 2003 on page 45 and that is how I became an investor.
2. Media coverage....of the Gothic Computer Challenge in November which is stated in my orginal post. This includes live coverage of this event. What else can I say?
3. The Gothic piece setup on the 8x10 board is patented and so, if Hasbro and House of Staunton want to make the pieces and say that this is Gothic Chess they need permission from the Gothic Chess Federation.
4.Some offers have come regarding online playing sites...."Is this supposed to WOW us? You're just talking about a game here, and you have all these conspiratorial tones about you." How about many people have asked about a live site that they can play like USCFLive, FICS, ICC, The WorldChessNetwork. If there is something wrong with this, please let me know?
5.Subtle piles of Propaganda...A VOTE!
I just wanted to know how many people were intested in still having Gothic Chess on this site! I just wanted to make it easier just "YES" votes all others would be considered "NO" votes! I didn't want a debate because everything on this board comes to "Venting". That was the reason for my post. Everything is shouted out unlike the fellowship boards like Nasmichael and myself have. I don't think there ever was a post that was Negative to the point that Nasmichael or myself had to tell people to "tone it down"! Thats the kind of boards where I post and still not everyday because I just don't have the time!
6. User Agreement....The last time I looked in the mirror I was Robert Colanzi...other people know me on this site even if you don't!
7."Just what are you insinuating here, Mr. Positive?" After I posted "How about a Vote" I received messages from people that were RUDE to put it nicely. You would not have seen them because they were in "MY" message box.
8.Everyone can have any opinion they want about the patent..thats fine!

Walter I hope I have answered all your questions, if I haven't let me know!

By the way Walter, in my posts, I have always called you by your name..."Walter". Maybe we don't see eye to eye on everything, but lets at least not resort to name calling!

I hope this makes people see things more clear.
I just want people to enjoy this game and have fun Playing it & Discussing it....not fighting over it in any way shape or form.


Thanks,

Robert Colanzi