i deleted the last one, but the previous one had a legitamite request (click instead of mouseover).

autopass

grenv: Yes, I plan to add a new tab to the Settings page for Javascript options.

Because the games will not be finished simultaneously during a tournament the "Points" file often is misleading. It would be better to have a PPFG file: points per finished game, where 0/0 is set to PPFG = 0 by definition.

doh, I thought this was that board, my bad

Sumerian: I agree, and how about ordering the groups by points or points/game finished as well?

Here is an extreme case, to make a point. Here is a tournament with 103 participants:

http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=640&tri=2803&trnst=2

As you can see, all of the next round semifinalists have been determined.

There is only ONE GAME REMAINING, and neither player can advance, as shown here:

http://brainking.com/game/ShowGame?g=300189

I think a great feature would be the starting of the next round when it is mathematically impossible for any of the active games to alter the outcome of the event.

It is easier said than done, but why hold up 18 semifinalists becaue of 1 game that does not matter?

Is it possible to put an approval process on the friends list? I think I should be able to know who is keeping tabs LOL or maybe just the ability to see who has me on their friends list.

Partica: ...but that would include the entire male population of BrainKing. ROTFL

EdTrice: Or at least a statement from Fencer that he will manually start ones like these when someone brings it to his attention. ;-)

It's probably a difficult thing to program and happens infrequently enough that it's not worth programming (at least not at the expense of other requested features), but it still is a problem that deserves to be addressed somehow.

Thad: I totally agree. when a whole tournament is waiting for a single game to get finished while the game is not playing any special part in the tourny, it i sbothe anoying and time consuming. Especially if the game remaining is like one Mr. Trice showed us!

EdTrice: I vote for this too!!

EdTrice: I agree as well. Perhaps it could be handled like at Goldtoken.

I agree, AND i don't think it's all that difficult to program, maybe time consuming though. I think it's more important than Ladders or Unicode support.

How can we influence the priorities?

to EdTrice:

I think it could be handled like following:

a) find from those players with all games completed one with the most points
b) the table is complete for decision if for all participants with missing games would hold for each that when his missing games would be wins he could not reach that points from a)

grenv: We can't. ;-(

Thad: Not even just a tiny bit

Sumerian: I had to read your answer thrice before concluding that your solution is slightly flawed and wouldn't be 100% effective.

With computers it is better to just consider all possible outcomes and see if the group winner is the same for all permutations.

Often it isn't even necessary for the group winner to complete all his/her games.

Sumerian:

I think what you are saying is essentially correct.

There is a way to extend this though without requiring the 'leader' to have finished all of his/her games.

IF, at any point in the tournament, a person in the section has a lead such that:

If he loses all of his remaining games (which can be 0 in the case that he is finished) and if any other player wins all of his remaining games, and the player hypothetically losing all games left to play still has a higher point total than everyone else, then it is possible to include that player in the next round.

The easy way to do this programmatically:

1. For each player, 1 at a time, give them a "0" for all remaining games in a section. Call this "worst score possible" (wsp)
2. Add up this point total for each player.
3. For every player other than the one being considered for the wsp, given them a "1" for each remaining game. call this the "best score possible" (bsp) for the remaining players.
4. since you are computing many bsp scores for each single wsp score, if you find one bsp > wsp you can stop the bsp computation loop, and compute a wsp for another player.
5. Once you are done, if there exists one wsp that beats EVERY bsp, then that player can advance to the next round.
6. Once every section has a wsp candidate "seeded", then the next round can begin.

I guess the question becomes, do you want the next round to start as soon as possible, or have some "take a breather" time delay (like maybe a few days)?

Part of a post from January 6th in this board. It sure is hard to find posts even when you know the date. Would it be possible to number them along with the date? This would be great for when posts are deleted too, since there would be a break in the sequence like when a check is still out on your account. Anyways, the subject was starting the next tournament rounds before all games are played in the current round.

Then there's this case: 2004 Third Quarter Open Dark Chess=====
http://brainking.com/game/Tournaments?trg=4871&tri=14869
Section four has two players tied for the top spot. I've noticed that when two players have won every game against their common opponents and split their game or games between themselves they will finish with identical S-B scores regardless of what anyone else in the section does. Ol' scubabisto was the only one left with games to play four weeks ago. He's down to just two now, but it certainly would've been nice to conitinue the tournament while he's playing his games that won't change the outcome of the section at all. If I'm wrong about the S-B thingy with two players even like this and it is possible for one to outscore the other, may I ask your indulgence and say, "Nevermind" :)

After I posted this, grenv pointed out that a program could try every possible way the games remaining could be won or lost. In the case where the outcome is the same in all cases, he reasoned why not start the next round? I agree, and it seems like this brute force method would be easy to program and implement. You could have it start checking for different outcomes after about 3/4 of a section is finished. It should also be easy enough to put in certain special cases, like the one I site above, or when one player has finished all of his games and won them all.

it isnt a real big deal but it is a bloody hassle..if you will excuse.... if i just click on someones name to invite them for a game the list starts with chess and then goes in higgledy piggledy order...alphabetic order would be just great :)

BerniceC: or alphabetically grouped by the main game of a group, and then the variants underneath it alphabetically as well ?

Hrqls: YES so you would have Backgammon...and underneath all the variants...of course that is what you have just said....hehehehe....good idea HRQLS roflmbo

I believe they are currently in the order that they were added to BrainKing (for anyone who was wondering). ;-)

the ratings table is already a bit sorted by group .. but not completely .. the 2 froglet types arent together and i would assume amazones to be with the chess variants ?

hyper gammon is put inside the gammon group though :)

to grenv:

Indeed I flawed my proposal compared to an optimal one. This I have done because of its easier programmability. It seems to be more important to me to describe a workable solution instead of an idea which needs more loopings and repetitions.

Sumerian: I believe the programming to be about the same more or less. Better to get the answer correct.

EdTrice: Your solution won't calculate winners in all situations either. Sometimes a winner can be determined even though other players could tie them, because of S-B scores.

Fencer...any idea when you'll fix so we dont need to see a red (1 new) when someone we have on hide has posted?

No idea. I am ill.

ok..hope youll get better soon

so now i am ill as well

hmm what medicine are you using ?
?

Martell V.S.O.P.

its good to see that you can play games anyway

??? martell ?? isnt that a toys constructor ?

v.s.o.p ? very sick ouching person ?

Hrqls: It's cognac. Very Special Old Pale.

Dr. Purple at your service. :)

ah! :)

as long as it makes you sweat .. so keep drinking ..

Actually, it's a black tea with honey and lemon.
By the way, the game groups will be fixed on all pages.

Fencer:

http://www.gothicchess.de/saxony.gif (flag)

Saxony is not only a federal state in Germany.
Like Bavaria it is one of the only three free federal states (in German Freistaat Sachsen, Freistaat Bayern, not just Bundesland Sachsen
;-) ).

We would love you forever if you could add Saxony as country. ;-)

Of course I will link brainking soon and also upgrade to brain rook if you could do this.

ps: "Saxony" by population is half as big as Austria, and in its capital Dresden, sometimes called the German chess capital, the chess olympiad 2008 will take place, so I think it´s worth adding "Saxony" with it´s flag. :-)

My American fellows - this is what it´s all about (-:

http://www.gothicchess.de/europe.gif

As you can see, brainking from Prague is directly brought to the world from the very heart of the United Europe.

Autopass.

Brian : repeating what you want wont help you when some time ago fencer said . Autopass - only over me dead body :]

How about a feature where we could play several moves at once if our opponent has no move available, until one does become available? We could call it Automove, or SensibleCheckingOfPlayersAbilityToMove!

I am a flexible. No autopass for Hyper backgammon.

Bumble & Fencer will

Why not, of course I don´t want to occupy fencer with nonsense but it could be an interesting chat subject, Bavaria and the Basque in Spain is added, that´s why I dare to ask. Some people even would like that as reason to prefer a server over another. ;-)

Dresden: In all seriousness, I think it's a good idea. It's probably just an added graphic.

Walks in and points to General Chat Board - which is a good place to continue this conversation. :-)

BIG BAD WOLF: Though this little geography lesson does lead to another request in having a some sort of Risk game on the site. You could have several using different parts of the world. So you could play one that fits where you live or play a worldwide domination version.