It is not okay to offer a prize tournement and than to delete the tournement and to withdraw the prize!We have had it in the past several times and the players always are the fools then!

And in addition it is my impression you don`t know what you speak about:
Don`t you know that in correspondence chess (and turn-based chess with his asynchron playing is nothing else than correspondence chess,beside cards,fax and e-mail) using chesssoftware is not cheating?. Read the rules of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF).Do you find there any prohibitions? Read the rules of Brainking! Are there any prohibitions? No there aren`t.
The reason is :You cannot control ist really! And prohibitions make sense only if you have a real control!But as far as there are no prohibitions, it is allowed and it is not cheating!
The truth is: 70-80% of the world`s correspondence chess players everywhere are playing with all helps they can have : books,databases,common analysis a n d chesssoftware. And in Brainking it is the same.The truth is also that they/we all play zentaurchess (human-machine) but this is not a reason to complain,because the chances are equal for all players.
If those,who say "cheating!",want avoid this,they can play "live" at one of the great live -chesservers (ICC,USCL or playchess.com) like a "man" and show their abilities.There - at "Livechess" with his synchron playing,only one game in 5,10 or 15 minutes for the whole game - computers are forbidden and at playchess.com for instance your account will deleted automatically if you are using software(They can control it really).

I am very disappointed now,you should have considered these facts before:The prize was advertised by :"Sponsored by the chessclub"!
But we here in BK will continue to play correspondence chess tournements,every player with his own technique,but within the rules and without "cheating"!

Perhaps you should have the tournament as a Dark Chess tournament instead of regular Chess? I doubt very much that there's any programs for it or that they play very good, plus it's not easy for players to get help from kibitzers either. If not, what was the prize that you were offering? Maybe I'll match it sometime in the future and do it myself.

Walter,the offered prizes are mostly memberships.
The prize tournements donated by members are one of the great features of BK.But we need rules for it.Okay,if the promised prize will not handed over,you can say it is a matter of the donor.
But the donor uses the Bk server for his promises,that`s why it is a matter also of BK!
I suggest the following: If a prize tournement is offered by the tournement creator,he has to give the prize within 10 days to Fencer,otherwise the tournement will be deleted as not seriously.With this measure can be ensured that the winner gets indeed the promised prize,if the tournement is finished perhaps 6 or 12 months later.