bwildman, how can we possibly resume it without the complete restoration? Look at chesscarpenter, he already aced his way in and won his section. Does he have to win again?

I called for a vote, and everyone who voted said to kill the 2003 event

If you have a complaint, lodge it with the voters in private and ask them why they wanted it removed.

The 2003 event is gone.

if you don't want to play in 2004, then just don't enter it. There will be no event in 2003, it is mid November already.

danoschek, my previous post was directed to bwildman.

So you are speculating? How nice.

Pattern? The site crashed and there was no backup.

I am asking people if they want to play for even more money or if they want to play for no money.

So what is your problem with that?

If you read the posts, bwildmanm you will see that I intend to run one in 2004. The question was $10,000 prize with an entrance fee, or no fee and just the title.

Read before you post.

Go to Google.com and type in "gothic chess" using the quotes. Here is just some of what you will find:

http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/chess/chessvari.html

This next one is a German website that displayed how to hack into the old Gothic Chess website! We were so popular people in your country hacked us!

http://www.serialzhackzserialz.de/rippen_03.htm

http://xor.ma.cx/ichess/index.php?go=variants

And even at GameKnot.com players from other countries acknowledge the game and playing me (Cal is calling me "World Champion" although I personally have never used this title)

http://gameknot.com/fmsg/chess/2588.shtml

And here is a link from 1998 when I was still playing Capablanca Chess, which was confused by the webmaster as being Gothic Chess...

http://www.nostgames.com/notes_379.htm

And in Japan even...

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~mu6k-ski/chess/variants.html

Well, there are still 20 more pages on the Google search, and I am not going to wade through them all.

You get the point.

First of all, the money had to be earned. I was not just handing it out. There would be 4 finalists, and I was going to be one of those finalists. Before anyone got $3000, they would have to get past me.

I offered the money, of course, but I am not using the crash of the site to not dispense of it. Let's just say you were winning 3 games and one of your opponents, once he saw your attack, now avoided his weak move and gets a draw with you? Furthermore, suppose he resigns a game he had a draw in previously, an the person he resigned to now advances to the finals and you do not?

You would be the first to complain.

The only fair thing to do was put the decision to a vote, which I did do, any everybody voted to cancel the tournament as you can see if you read the posts.

Cassius, more people play Gothic Chess in "heartland" USA than where I started it all in Philadelphia. We sold over 400 sets in only 3 days when we were in Kansas City.

The reason why you see Gothic Chess in only one place is because of the patent. This is what we want!

I have postcards from players from all over the world who play Gothic Chess. One of the scientists in Anarctica has a Gothic Chess set with him. A solidier in Iraq wrote to me and said his supply chief showed him a Gothic Chess board and he wants one when his tour of duty is up.

Gothic Chess was going to be a recurring monthly article in Chess Life before they cut the page count back to under 40 per month when it was discovered that some widespread misuse of funds had left them nearly bankrupt.

Gothic chess is played all over the world, whether you elect to notice it or not.

It is not a small organization, it is one constantly being revamped to accommodate its growth.

Look how many people on this site have Janus chess ratings, and look how many have Gothic ratings. Start a new game of Janus and one of Gothic, then look at the stats showing the counts of how many of each have been played.

This is just a small subset of the entire Gothic Chess community.

One teacher in Canada wrote to me and said he assigned an extra credit project to the computer science students to write a Gothic Chess program. Anything like that happening in Germany??

Cassius, the GCA was founded in 1998, long before this site. We played tournaments face to face before playing online.

I played IM Larry Kaufmann in Washington DC in Spring 2001 at the Law Offices of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. I was there on business, he lives not far from the area, he met me for a 90 minute lunch session. He brought his Gothic Chess set, and we played two games.

His son is a 2100+ player who also plays Gothic Chess. They subscribed to the magazine, Gothic Chess Review, which I used to publish myself personally.

Other players with Gothic Chess sets: You must know the name of Bruce Pandolfini. He was the teacher of Joshua Waitzkins from "Searching for Bobby Fischer" fame. Bruce is our representative to QVC, and was supposed to appear in our commercial this past October before we both had to make changes.

Greg Shahade and I are both from Drexel University. Last time I checked he was 2502.

Gothic Chess has already been apart of some big tournaments. At the Supernationals II in April of 2001, kids competing for the crown of national high school chess champion were surrounding our booth non-stop. Some parents even had to drag them away as their clocks had already been started.

This happened round after round, and it was at this event with 5000+ people that I met Bruce. We had known of each other for different reasons (my 'Sniper' chess program was popular in the late 1980's and early 90's) but had never formally been introduced prior to that.

Other players have specifically asked not to be a part of any endorsement or promotion, and I will respect their wishes.

There are now 7 Gothic Chess players who are in the top 50 of the US Chess Federation's October 2003 rating list.

Most of the members of the older organization (GCA) were under the age of 16. Our goal was not to skim Grandmasters from the USCF and get them to convert. What good what that do us, since there are only 36 Grandmasters in the USA??

The goal is to appeal to the young, who will one day be older and be able to support the organization as they are more financially independent.

There is one 17 year old player from Pennsylvania who will beat any FIDE 2100 player in Gothic Chess game after game. He is an incredible talent and I know his interest and enthusiasm will probably surpass me on the way to the 2500 mark. He is that good.

Players such as this are a tribute to our success, not Grandmasters who are already established. GMs have too much invested in the 8x8 game to play Gothic more than just casually.

My aim is to create a member-based organization equivalent to the USCF. Imagine with 50,000 members the kind of tournament we could have every year for the national title!

This is where I would like to take Gothic Chess.

I simply don't understand the negative posts of Spirou and that other person. Here I offer thousands of dollars with no entrance fee, and I get this negative feedback. A horrible crash occurred, so to be fair, we had to cancel the tournament.

Playing for money has always elevated the quality of play. Look what large corporate sponsorship has done for golf. Even mediocre pros can make about $250,000 a year and never finish in the top prizes!

Why cannot the same happen for chess and Gothic Chess?

If you have something negative you want to express about the tournaments and prizes, do us all a favor, keep it to yourself.

I am asking those who want to participate in the event what would be a reasonable amount to pay in order to enter?

It would be nice to be able to offer prizes for a great many players, but the point of tournament play is to encourage you to strive hard to make it to the top tier. The top 20 finishers of an event like the World Open do get prize money, but they also have 500+ players per section paying $250 to enter.

By annoucing a larger prize fund at different internet sites, we could attract more players here, which is the objective.

I tried a $20 tournament here once with the winnings being a function of the players who register, and there was little interest.

So, I think I will offer prizes as follows:

$10,000
$5,000
$2,500
$1,000
$500
$200
$200
$200
$200
$200

For places 1 through 10.

The question is, what should the entrance fee be?

Would players prefer a $10,000 first prize with an entrance fee, or would you prefer no entrace fee and just win the "title" of World Champion?

The reason I ask is because I have been talking to some seasoned chess players who would be interested in playing Gothic, and they were wondering what all of you think about it.

Everyone who voiced an opinion voted to cancel the tournament. Since games could not possibly be restored to their prior state, it would not be fair to anyone to allow it to continue.

If you read the posts on here, you will see I have posted several "words" to everyone. I was not going to personally send message to everyone in the event, that is what these forums are for.

My message box was full of mail about people who were winning whose games were lost, etc. So, should we just scrap the whole event and just run one in 2004?

Vote:

A - delete the 2003 Tournament
B - keep it, but start it when we get back to 32 rooks and 48 pawns.

My vote = A

There were 32 participants in the Paying section, and 46 in the BrainPawn section.

Once we reach these counts again, I will start the tournament, unless there is a general lack of interest.

This site is going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks I would imagine. Fencer is working hard to restore games that have been lost. The ratings are skewed now, and this has the chance to permanently effect all subsequent games being rated.

Given this is the case, I think we should have a moritorium on the creation of new tournaments for a while. New tournaments means new games which means activity which means the website would be taxed.

How about we let Fencer just work on getting things as close to normal as possible without putting the extra load on the server?

Let 's take a 2 week break from creating new tournaments to let things stabilize a bit.

There are some people who created new accounts that were wiped out and they have not all come back yet.

I think I will scrap the 2003 championship and make a new one in January 2004.

As I reread the board here to review the individuals who voiced opinions that ultimately lead to the change in format for the tournament, I see that some of these same people have not yet joined the new event.

Now I would have thought those who were potentially excluded under the old setup would have been the first to join the new one!

OK, I will

Well Kevin, an earliest post was linking slow play of some players as a function of their game volume, and the site stability was listed as a possible limit to the upper bound of the number of games that could be played concurrently.

I just suggested that the new hardware would not only cure the perfomance problems in general and those that are game laden specificially, but it would also support real-time play seemlessly.

450 Eriisa, so you are hanging in there, making King Michael feel good. Maybe you should play the "giveway" variants, but just play normal. You would be champion! :)

hmmm. I see. If it is not chess or checkers, I really don't know how to play it. I am a savant, some will even say an idiot (without the savant part.)

oooooookay....I have no clue what you guys are talking about :)

sure, of course!

I am not really sure. Maybe it would be specified as a fixed amount of time per move, like 1 minute or 20 seconds, or a total amount for the game, like 1 hour. As soon as your game is being viewed, your timer starts.

...when the new hardware comes online, the site will be fast enough to support real-time play. When you move, no waiting for the refresh to hit. Of course there is a great deal of coding to be done for this, and Fencer and I have not even discussed this as of yet.

I am just wondering if people would be interested in this real-time play option.

personal info no longer needed.

There are no limits on the brain pawn ids, so let them go fight it out like the old west :) Any number of family members can play in either section.

One big difference: The top two paying members per section advance to the semifinals. Only the top section winner in the brain pawns will advance to the semifinals.

You keep playing on once you win your section, since if you win your tournament, BrainPawn or BrainPayers, you get seeded into the finals, and do not need to play in the semifinals.

The semifinals will be the mix of BrainPawn section winners and BrainPayer 1st and 2nd place section finishers. Whoever wins that goes to the finals.

There are 4 people in the finals, for those counting :)

Make it to the finals, collect your cash. $500 per person. Second place finisher gets $1500. Winner gets $3000.

I consider myself as being a candidate to get seeded directly to the finals. I hope nobody has a problem with that. So, the BrainPawn winner, the BrainPayer winner, myself, and the seminfals winner will duke it out for the World Championship.

No further concessions, take it or leave it.

There will be two tournaments.

One for all the BrainPawns the site can withstand. You want to make 10 IDs and play under fake names, be my guest.

There will be another for all of the paying members.

Each tournament will produce a winner. These winners are automatically entered into the final round of the World Championship.

Each tournament will also produce winners for each section. With the exception of the sections winners who went on win the whole tournament, the remaining section winners, brainpawns and other brains alike, will duke it out for the prize money.

I will create a private tournament for the semifinalists, who were the section winners from each tournament. This tournament will also feature prize money for section winners and the overall winner.

The overall winner of the semifinals will join the two winners of the other tournaments, as well as myself, and the 4 of us will duke it out for the World Championship title, with, of course, even more money.

Is this satisfactory to all?

I just have to disagree with this on principal, since money is at stake. If you are going to sit there and tell me a 5 year old girl is not going to get input from 'daddy' when there is a chance to win $3000, then you have to ask yourself what planet you are from.

If you want to play in a tournament with your kids, there are plenty out there for them to experience.

Read the rules for just about any contest here and you see ONE PER HOUSEHOLD.

It is not possible to AUDIT online participants. I suspect several of the pawn IDs that were made on the same day the tournament was announced are really duplicates of the same person.

The rules are made just to frame the context of the event, and prohibit those from abusing them. Suppose all 8 of my family members were in the tournament, wouldn't people be a little suspicious? Could not one of my children say 'Daddy what would you do in this position?'. Would I have to audit every one of the games in the tournament to make sure I was not accidentally helping one of my own kids win?

Just think about it for a minute, and I am sure the SPIRIT of the rule makes sense.

If you agree with the spirit of the rule, I can extend acceptions. Like Fencer said, it is my tournament.

I just want to close the doors on cheaters.

I can't believe a BrainRook that has been around since April would create a tournament name like that. What was he thinking?

All I know when I am on travel ouside the US, my salary, which is being taxed like hell, is not subject to tax, so the more often I am away, the more I get back on my tax return.

If you are outside the USA, you are earning your money beyond the boundaries of our tax jurisdiction, and you are not liable for any tax.

I would be LIABLE for paying the taxes of the winners if they do not pay it. I have given out my ssn# to casinoes, chess tournaments, poker tournaments, and I have never had a problem.

If you don't like the US Tax Law, join the club. But nobody is getting a check without their SSN being reported on a standard 1099 form.

I was talking about prior to the start. The concern is that people have multiple IDs to try and increase their chances of winning.

Maybe all pawns who suddenly became incarnate the day after the tournament started can be removed. This way, pre-existing pawn at least have the benefit of the doubt

So should we just ban pawns?

You are missing the point. While bwildman's info is in the contact database, you could have 3 other IDs in there also, so you have 4 chances to win the money. Remember, even those who win the section get money. You could have your other IDs lose to you on purpose if they are in the same section.

I am sorry, but if the information is not furnished, you are not playing in the event.

Well it's my money. I won't pay it to someone who had more than one chance to scale to the top.

Sorry, my rules. If there was an entrance fee, you could pay as many times as you want, but as there is none, this is the way I will insure compliance.

Just to reiterate, if the information is not supplied, I will assume it is because there are multiple IDs being used by the same person, and any and all such IDs without information attached will be removed from the event.

Those uncomfortable with this should remove themselves prior to the event.

I am sorry to impose this, but as I mentioned, someone could have multiple IDs created just to try and get and one or more section prizes.

I am sure everyone who does not have multiple IDs in the tournament will agree this is necessary. Those who object may be the ones who have created new IDs to cheat in the fashion mentioned.

You will notice several of the pawns in this event were created AFTER the tournament was announced.

I would like everyone who is playing to submit the information, just to make sure there are not two of the same information. I think the multiple player per household is really just one way the strongest player in that household would try and circumvent the issue, so the family should elect one player only.

How would everyone feel, for example, if my family of 8 would participate with me?

:)

Someone called to my attention the fact that it would be easy to create multiple pawn IDs and increase one's chances of winning a section prize. So, in order to participate in the event, please send an email to GothicChessInfo@aol.com with the following information:

1. Your full name (checks to winners will only be paid out to what you send)
2. Your complete mailing address
3. Your ID that you will be using.

Before you win any money, you will also be required to submit your social security number for tax purposes. THIS WILL ONLY BE ASKED OF THOSE WHO ACTUALLY HAVE WON PRIZE MONEY. You will receive the appropriate tax schedule from us to sign and return prior to getting your check. Do yourself a favor and claim your winnings as income if you are a United States citizen!

The address provided is the only one we will send checks to.

If there are any screen names that have not registered the information prior to the start of the tournament, they will be removed from the event.

This is the only way I know of to insure that only one person is using one screen name.

Please pass this word to all you know who are in the tournament.

I think he just has the "trapped pawn" problem. Pawns check into tournaments, but they don't check out :)

The results are dynamic and posted instantly, as they occur. Just click on the tournament link.

The strongest Gothic Chess tournament of all time is currently underway. All of the top 25 players on this site were invited, of which 16 accepted, and 1 was ineligible to play as a BrainPawn without enough vacancies.

Previously there were posts in this section from a certain player who indicated his own superior play as the reason for being barred from another event.

This player was given multiple invitations to the King of the Hill, none of which were accepted. The tournament is starting without him.

There is no need to reply to this post. It is provided here for informational purposes only.

aizkorri 2082
Dredger 1938
Fencer 1838
GothicChessPro 2192
HerculesBeast 1984
nstre 1914
rabbitoid 1827
tonyh 1833
Whisperz 1806

How could I have left out Fencer from this list! He had me in not one, but TWO losses in our contests!

So, Fencer is now on the list of invitees, as my Nemesis :)

Actually nstre always gives me a battle, and JuanGrande has given me a tough time too. So the invite is extended to these guys who seems to have me figured out.

You are right Stardust. While I did not think it was an attack, if you read his previous post, you would agree with me.

So, I'll edit my previous message.

If anyone saw the latest post of his, which I removed, I think you will understand.

I will reiterate, this board is not for personal attacks. This board is used to discuss tournaments.

Since Danoschek thought he was being removed from the World Championship for reasons relating to his playing strength, I set up a special tournament involving all of the top players and those who are known adversaries.

Danoschek was invited to this event. If he wishes to play in it,he may.