but no need to point out.. since I've been using that hide feature.. hehe..

Patents only last 20 years before the become public domain. Otherwise, can you imagine what the Ford Motor Company would be worth today if they could get a percentage of every vehicle sold?

I agree,Cerebro....and as moderator,I wount let personal opinion color my judgement.

What personal opinion is that?

As one of the new mods here, I thought I might make this post to outline how I hope to see this board function.

Ed & Dano have been unbanned. bwildman did it. He did not consult me first, but that is fine. Someone asked how the three of us will work as moderators. I guess this board is going to be run by three heads. If something needs to be done by a moderator, whichever of us does it first does it. I suppose if we disagree on banning someone, we'll have to work it out between us, but hopefully it won't come to that. Is this the best situation? Doubtful. Can it work? Likely. If you disagree with this setup, please do not post. Send a PM to one or all of us, or, better yet, to Fencer. It was his decision. Although I'm sure he has better things to do. I, personally, like to stay out of his hair as much as possible. ;-)

I believe removing Ed from the mod's position was the right thing to do. His 'job' here is to provide all his great posts here that encourage us to play and learn about GC. He cannot do that and moderate at the same time.

I also think that the banning of both Ed & Dano was appropriate. They were way over the line with the insults and off topic posts. I thought it should have been done much sooner than it was. I do not think Walter was doing his job as moderator at the time. Fencer must have agreed. Perhaps he was having computer trouble or something. I do not know, but now there are three of us and if anything needs to be done, at least one of us should be around to take care of it.

They have both been unbanned and now there is no one on the banned list. Hopefully it will stay that way.

As far as banning anyone in the future, you know what it takes. Please post accordingly. Please refrain from name calling, badgering, ranting, etc. There are other boards for that stuff. Let's enjoy Gothic Chess.

Mahalo (Hawaiian thanks),
Thad

Please don´t get me wrong just because of my plain language. Of course I have greatest respect in the invetion and the work which had come with this. I am not a patent attorney but my father is. So I know some little things just from hearing, but I have never really read something about such things. I only know that in Europe, Germany specially, it is little harder to get and even much more keep a patent than in the US. But there are "small patents", called petty patent, registered design, utility patent etc. with closer protection. And not to forget it always depends on the question who is on the other side and how much is he ready to invest into a quarreling. With my recent remark I only wanted to express that such different understandings of the expression patent could be the reason for some recent misunderstandings between posters. Again, I am not at all an expert on that field and probably I am totally wrong.

I can understand(and agree) with the first part of your post,but the second part refers to Ed,and seems inconclusive.Would you mind elaborating so that it is understandable,as to the intent of that statement?

I believe it should be understandable and I also don´t wanna go on for so long about that little remark, it´s not so important for me and most readers. It´s just about that in other languages only very big patents include the expression "patent". Normal patents have other words in those languages which do not include the word.

danoschek....consider this your first warning.

As moderator....I have asked danoschek to clarify,what could be construed as an insult.He was warned,and now on hide.
Lets not let personal opinions members,distract us from discussions concerning Gothic chess.

I have changed quite a bit about Vortex, and would like to know if anyone wants a 'live game' against it. I will set up some details on the web site if there are any interested players.

Trouble already, eh? Perhaps the two new moderators would care to send me some messages about their recent decisions and actions? True enough I said a few hand, but overriding the banning of people should be something discussed amoungst ourselves.
As for Thad's little missive, I disagree with quite a few of those things in it and will ban him again if he tries any of that stuff. I'm not sure about bwildman being a moderator or not, but I think Thad is a poor choice. Way too disruptive, opinionated and dictorial. Or have I missed something in all this telling it how it's going to be without even asking? I'm easier with the off topic stuff and I will not let Thad or anyone else censor people for it. As for insults and things of that nature, I will advice against those kind of actions. Just gets people mad, and there's too many chiefs running things and we're be headlong into chaos before long.
Bye danoschek, catch you next time. After I get home I shall have more time to read this board and perhaps just drop the whole thing. I will certainly begin to research Bird's, Capablanca's, and Gothic Chess and patents and related things.

I would like to request a ddelineation of what "Thad's little missive" happens to be, and what is so disgreeable, on a term by term basis. I see nothing wrong with his post. Certainly nothing that should get the attention of someone with limited time.

Bwildman obviously taken over. This DB will go the way of the ill fated "Music" DB.

http://www.gothicchess.org/papers.html

The top item is all about Gothic, Capablanca, and Bird.

Apparently there is some history between Dano & Bwildman, possibly at another site. That may explain their earlier posts. However, I have PM'ed both of them. Dano has promissed me to only post about Gothic Chess here. Bwildman does not seem to have a grudge against him. Dano seems to want a fresh start, so I have unhidden him. The offending posts have been deleted (by Dano & Bwildman, not by me). Perhaps we can have some peace here for a little while. ;-)

Walter, I will try to get together with you later. Seems we have some differences of opinion. I have to go to work now.

Aloha,
Thad

Hello and welcome back.

I have some questions regarding G.C computer world championship. Do you know why TSCPGothic program of Tom Kerrigan/Michel Langeveld, is not participating? According to his last words the TSCPGothic was improving faster and faster and even managed to win one game against Gothic Vortex 1.0.1. It would be interesting to have it at the GCCWC.

Also will the games be live anywhere? It would be interesting.

And what about Zillions-Of-Games participation?
I've played 5-6 matches against it in a cousin that had the full version of zillions(not Gothic Evolution Chess,so yes i modified the zillions file to be able to play Gothic Chess(is this legal?Sorry if not:-))), and find the play of zillions very weak. In fact it was a complete beginner. But does it matter? Chess programs was the same at the old days. Some were very weak.

Look this: Helgason,H - Chess Challenger 10 [C50]
Reykjavik, 1979

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.d3 d6 6.h3 0-0 7.Bg5 Ne7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Nd5 f5?? 11.Qh6 fxe4? 12.Nf6+ Kh8? 13.Qxh7# 1-0
Funny to miss a mate in one.

And do you know if any of these programs will be commercially or free available?

noted.

Hi George,

Yes, Michel's program was only one week old when it had its first win against Gothic Vortex. I was shocked to say the least, but I am glad it happened, as it lead to the discovery of a bug. The code for deciding whether a Queen + Pawn was better than Archibishop + Knight had a very bad bug. The game began:

1. Nc3 d5 2. Af3 Af6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Nxd5 Qxd5 5. Axd5 Axd5 and Black (Vortex) has given up too much material and loses quickly. Remember, this was played on an 800 MHz Pentium III at 10 seconds per move, these were not "tournament time control" games!

I am not sure what happened to Michel, the TSCP Gothic programmer. We used to play games each night over Yahoo Messenger. Then one night he did not show up. No response to emails. Reinhard Scharnagl also reports no further contact with him. Either he is working in "the bat cave" or he has just disappeared.

I think maybe the other program is really TSCP Gothic in disguise. Notice the programmer is Dutch as well. I am not sure.

Somebody registered their copy of Zillions to play in the tournament. They paid, and must think the $10 is worth the chance at $10,000. So Rob (ChessCarpenter) will be its operator for the tournament.

I am in the process of looking for a way to do a web simulcast, so you can log in and see webcams of the tournament as it happens. More on this as it developes.

I have an older copy of the ChessV software program which plays Gothic Chess. If anyone wants it, I can give it to them for free. Email me (address is on the Gothic Chess web page.)

Why are wins,losses,and draws calculated for rating as they occur;instead of at the end of a match?

I meant to say not calculated.

A match counts for ratings as only one game. Winning a ten-wins match 10-0, for example, would result in no greater change in rating than winning 10-9.

Or is the same as a 1-0 defeat. I think each game should be rated in turn. Why should months of effort be disregarded? When 24 game matches were played for the Chess World Championship in days of old, each game was rated.

I would prefer all the games rated also, and then the final one could be doubled if the winner of match etc

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!

Castling has always been a double-edged sword. Do it too early, and you telegraph where to send the troops. Do it too late, and you are trapped in the center and have a dog fight to stay alive.

Timing is everything, even amplified moreso than in regular chess.

I'm learning exactly that Ed...when I castle right away..seasoned players pick me off pretty quick...but if I set up for the castle...holding off for a shift...I stand a good chance of experiencing a great game.but of course..when I miss the shift....work is definetly cut out for me!

I am not immune from improper castling decision either. Take one look at Black's position here:

http://brainking.com/game/ShowGame?g=354433 or click this

This is one of the "Damn I should have castled" positions.

:)

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?

Yes, the Advance Variation of the Caro-Kan. Also, in one Morphy game, Steinitz gave his Kd2!! a double exclam. Rare instances, but examples nonetheless.

That was what I meant;I presently lead some matches by 2-0 or else am assured of wins that will make the score 2-0 and yet if you look at my profile you would think my record of wins verses losses was quite a bit worse than it actually is because these wins are not yet counted or rated. In actuality I have 7 wins and 4 losses more than my profile shows because of matches. That is why I will avoid matches in the future;unless this discreptency is corrected. I have some games where my win is assured because the mate is easy to foresee and I have worked out all contengencies on my boarb at home;but my opponants seem to be making me mate them. Personally I can not see why they do this;when instead of playing out a hopeless game;we could start the next game in the match and they would would have a new oppoturnity to get a win. But that is their choice;I will win those games anyway.

ChessCarpenter will have some interesting news to report here shortly. Stay tuned.

*taps fingers on desk*.. *fidgets in chair*.. *Bites lower lip*.. *sigh*..

I don't know how much longer I can last! lol

*reaches into purse and pulls out lip gloss*

I can only assume he will announce he wiil be joining Purple World. :o)

*smacks lips together in puckering kissing motion*

Looks at Gothic Chess board in front on table.. moves pawn E4 to E5.

umm...the pawn starts on e2 dear Scarlet.

Maybe the pawn had already been moved at that point? :-)

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

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

The real-time play requires a hefty Java component download, but other than that, the site is enjoyable. I have two Gothic games going on there right now, and their pieces are really quite nice.

14-day free trial is only for real-time games, I assume? Because the site boasts:

"Free - Its free to sign up and begin playing right away"
...
"Well, the first thing you need to do is go ahead and sign up for your free cowplay.com game account."

And no mention of 14 days anywhere there on in their nice Windows-like Help popup...

Well, it is free forever if you just want to play turn-based games. I think the "live" portion is for paying accounts.

I was given a free account there for licensing Gothic Chess to them, so I am not sure what all the differences are.

It might possible to play an entire game, exchange off all of the Rooks, and still have one side with all 10 pawns, but is it probable? Is it plausible for an entire game to be played this way?

I don't understand exactly what you are saying.

Do you mean if it is possible to play a game that all the Rooks will be exchanged and at least one side to have both 10 Pawns?

this looks like a fairy chess problem.
you could even have "better" conditions: both sides have the 10 pawns, and no pawn will have moved. the exchanging is done by the knights, or in gothic also by the A and C.

http://brainking.com/game/ArchivedGame?g=457556


or

click here

White has all 10 pawns. Yet, the Rooks have all been traded.

Why the previous message of Ed Trice had been modified by bwildman?
And what was the original message?

I think bwildman just added the clickable link.

I just love the "hide" feature, wow, it is like you can make a person disappear :)