Certainly the online format makes the competition open to more people, which is better for the game...but I also feel that the turn-based nature of this site allows games to drag out a bit, and playing a full group's worth of games simultaneously is not my ideal way of playing a tournament...if it could be set up so that the games are played live, at a time mutually agreed by the opponents, with time limits, and so that there's only one game at a time to concentrate on, I would so go for online.

Perhaps there could be a deadline for each game...the first game must be completed by a certain date at a certain time, and if not, neither player receives points. That could keep the pace of the competetition moving along.

By the way, what are the dates for the tournament, and where in Philadelphia is it usually held?

I agree with Mattewhall on this...an online tournament would just drag itself out! I miss OTB games, but I realize many of you are not from the Philadelphia area. I think the Championship would be played at the Adam's Mark Hotel on City Line Ave. but I think that would have to be determined by availability. Maybe in the future there can be regional tournaments with all the winners going to one location to play for the chanpionship....or some format like that.

The problems we had in the past were pairings. Many people were not playing in local events, just waiting for the national, so about 60% of the field had a rating of 1500. This included international masters from the USCF who were playing Gothic for the first time.

We solved this one year by playing an email double round robin at time controls of 1 move per 24 hours, but it took 7 months to conclude that portion of the tournament. At the end, we had a fair idea of people's ratings, and we held a closed tournament with a plus score in the round robin as the qualifying criteria to enter.

I was thinking of something similar for 2003. Maybe do a double round robin online at accelerated controls, facing one opponent each day. After playing everyone, we will have an idea about how to do Swiss pairings.

Otherwise, you might have the undesireable result where strong players are being paired against other strong players early in the event, knocking one of them out due to the nature of the Swiss system.

More feedback on this is welcome.

I agree with Matthewhall.It would be fine to play a tournement online but in realtime with a shorter timecontrol.On the great chessservers (ICC,Fics,Chessnet,USCL,Chessbase) some chessvariants are played but nowhere variants on bigger boards,nowhere Gothic or Januschess.If Gothic Chess in the USA is so big as Ed told me and so many people are playing this variant it is sure not difficult to initiate Gothic Chess at least on one server.But surely you can organize a championship as email tournement.This is an other category of chess and I think brainking is an ideal platform therefor.Perhaps we can suggest fencer to implement some shorter timecontrols like 1 hour and 30 minutes/move?
To the theme of Live-chess look to my note in the section of chess.

I think it would be better to make the time controls cumulative for the entire game. Maybe 24 hours for the entire game, with the idea that most moves are made in real time as you face your opponent. I am not sure if Brainking is capable of implementing such a time control.

Since this is a prize money event with the prestige associated with being the National Champion, I will be directing the event, but not participating in it. The tournament is open to all players of Gothic, with the entrance fee a function of whether or not you are a member of the GCF. Existing members get in for the flat fee, non-members pay to joing the GCF at the same time they enter the tournament.

I think the entrance fee of $50 will be firmly established, and the prize money will be distributed as follows:

1st Prize: 50% of all monies received
2nd Prize: 25% of all monies received

Brilliancy Prize: The game judged to be the best of the tournament will receive 10% of the prize money.

The other 15% will go to the Federation.

What will this mean in terms of $$$

10 entrants
1st = $250
2nd = $125
Brillancy = $50

20 entrants
1st = $500
2nd = $250
Brillancy = $100

40 entrants
1st = $1000
2nd = $500
Brillancy = $200

100 entrants
1st = $2500
2nd = $1250
Brillancy = $500

Remember I will sit out of this event and just direct the tournament. I think there is no reason to believe we would have fewer than 100 participants if this event is announced widely across the various websites. I am hoping for about 200 actually. That would make things very interesting!

I like the idea of a Gothic tournament on line, but I don't know if I can make any commitment for a live setting. I do not have two daytime hours during the week or on the weekend. For me it would have to be something like this 5-day BBW tourney in progress. Most moves get made once each day anyway. Even in this format, I lost one game to time out because I got too busy. (BTW: beware of Dredger's Archbishop!) Real life has to take precedence to chess, for me. If I had to figure on getting up in the middle of the night once each week to be sure of not timing out, it would make me less effective in the play on that game by its drain on my enthusiasm. I only get excited about games when I don't play them too much, and if I'm not excited, I make bad moves. Oh, yeah: I still can't find a source for a heavy-weighted Gothic Chess set, and trying to study moves is very frustrating with little salt shakers for Archbishops and pepper shakers for Chancellors. Who sells a good Gothic Chess set? I want a vinyl board, too. I prefer one that lies flat on a table, not one that has little humps and divots. /Fx/

Felix--The Gothic Chess Association sells tournament-sized pieces with a board most often described as being made of mousepad material. Solid plastic pieces, standard weight for plastic tournament sets, very durable floppy board...very high quality, price around $30. www.geocities.com/bow_of_odysseus has pictures of the set and order info--mh

By the way everyone, Matthew recently reminded me that he and I had actually met once in Philadelphia at JFK Plaza. At lunchtime, I would often take my Gothic Chess set out in the park or the plaza, and play some games with other local members of the Association. Although Matthew is now living in Spain and flies the Spanish flag on his profile, he just happened to be at the right place at the right time 2 summers ago.

:)

By way of illustrating the surprising power of a lone Janus piece to administer mate with a little help from his enemies, I humbly present 3 recent wins. I choose to show them not for any great or deep play on my part, but as a lesson to new players of something that we all need to be careful about.

Game #89328 might be called a semi-smothered mate.

In Game #92008, White should have played 16. Ke2. But chose the normal action of capturing the checking knight, & overlooked my next move.

Here, in Game #83178, the final position is similar to the preceding example.

Lest you think I only wish to show off my good games & hide my bad ones (of which there are many!), I offer this one: Game #82944. Argh! Now that hurts...

Inventor's Corner is the link.

Enjoy!

This month we feature The65thSquare as our guest writer, with the link below:

Guest Writer

Fencer worked out a way to publish the Gothic Chess ratings on a nightly basis for my website.

Check out:

BrainKing.com Ratings


...where your rating window will now display your win-loss-draw count, and not just the "counted games" column.

Let me know if your rating is correct.

This looks great, Fencer & Ed. Would it be possible to show one's W-L-D status on all of Brainking's own lists, instead of mere "counted games"? It would help a lot when evaluating an opponent's standing & strength.

jetstone: Will be done :-)

Thanks so much. And thanks for adding the time stamps in the chat sections. Nice touch.

In standard chess theory, it is very strongly recommended to castle, and to castle early (usually within the first ten moves, unless an especially sharp attack is possible), as a matter of king protection as well as developing and uniting the rooks. I am curious to hear if anyone has any strong opinions about castling in gothic, especially in terms of king protection and when in the game it is best to castle.

At this point I am under the impression that, with the number of heavy pieces surrounding the king at the start of the game, the king is perfectly safe for some time right where he is...castling early moves the king away from a pretty solid defense in the starting position. It has felt most natural to me and I have had more success when castling after move 15, usually somewhere between 17 and 22. In games where I castle before move 10, I struggle. (note to self: don't castle before move 10).

Anyone else with any ideas on this?

I personally try to castle early usually within around move 8 and the lastest that I have castled was move 15. It would be safe to say that castling depends on the situation or the board position at that time. There are not many absolutes in chess and this is certainly not one. So, I think its good practice to castle early, but if you don't and position is safe there really is no need to castle. Gothic Chess is still in its infancy and most answers will have to await years of game play but I think this is a safe assumption.

An interesting topic. I just castled on move 16 in my game with GKChesterton, even with my i-pawn removed and the Black Queen capturing onto h3 on the next move! Clearly dangerous for white, but with a lead in material, I could bait this attack then defend easily in later moves. So this is a rare instance of castling deliberately into a 1-move danger situation with a long terms benefit.

Of course at http://www.geocities.com/bow_of_odysseus/deadly_arch.html there are some examples of some castling blunders if you need to see a concrete example of some.

Personally, I have not made up my mind about this as of yet. Castling too early can be deadly. Not castling at all can be deadly, and castling too late can be deadly!

The best solution is to checkmate your opponent before you castle so you don't have to worry about castling!

:)

Being a persistent loser you should probably choose to disregard this comment, but (for those of you who know me will understand) I couldn't resist myself ...

I find that when the opponent castles it is a benefit to me as I know which side of the board to concentrate my attack on, this is particularly so when castling happens early in the game and piece development is still underway (so many pieces and so many places to put them!). I realise this is a somewhat simplistic assessment, but maybe that reflects my shallow play :(

This is, in part I believe, due to the number of diagonal pieces (four) available which can hone in on the corners (there is even one more in Janus Chess but in that variation there seems to be less castling, but let's not go there right now) and the width of the board makes it easier to position in threatening, yet distant, locations.

So, as a defensive move I try to castle after the opponent and to the opposite corner depending upon where their pieces are ...

and this, of course, relies upon me lasting that long :)

Well, you only lost 4 of your 30 games of Gothic Chess, you must be doing something right!

Ah but look how the good guys whip my tail :(

I would say hide your tail before playing, then they can't whip it :)

<>Personally, I have not made up my mind about this as of yet. Castling too early can be deadly. Not castling at all can be deadly, and castling too late can be deadly!

The best solution is to checkmate your opponent before you castle so you don't have to worry about castling!

Hear, hear!!!

I think that I don't castle in most of my games [especially those with Matthewhall :)]. I don't know, but it seems to me that I have two extra pieces to develop [AB and C] that I'd rather save the castling move unless I absolutely need it.

It doesn't help that both the new pieces are extremely suited to corner mating. The only castled position I've seen so far that is proving quite difficult to break down is Robert's [chesscarpenter] Indian-type dragon-bishop setup.

Maybe we should name this opening after him! Any votes for this? :)

I think that Colanzi's Indian is the best example of the safest setup I have seen with the black pieces. Any comments?

The Colanzi Dragon would be nice! Then, you might be able to maneuver a Double-Dragon with the other Bishop going to f4-h2 in the case of White.

It does have that Dragon serpentine look to the pawn structure. Hmmm.

Thanks for the support...of course I'll 3rd the motion!! As for castling, I know what Whisperz is saying but the same can be said of chess. Gothic does have the advantage of having the extra pieces over chess, but the other player still has those same pieces to defend with. Look at Bobby Fischer's games and you will see that he castled almost as early as you possibly can...I know this is Gothic Chess but the fact remains that there are only a couple of openings discovered. I think all of our future games will decide the issue, but everyone wants an answer now and not later....so castle when you feel it is the right time!

Had a quick look but haven't reviewed the game in detail yet but my preferrence would actually be for white's castled postion.

Personally, if I were white, I would have avoided castling as it seems as though it would have been apparent that black was heading this way. Instead, I would have looked to be ready to swing my pieces over to this side and launch an attack down the flank along the rook file as I think the J pawn can prove difficult to defend ... this has sometimes worked for me :)

Thanks for the information I will take a look at them later on...nice hearing from you. Again thanks for the referrence! How is El Salvador doing these days?

In case nobody saw yet, I am giving away $250 as the First Prize in the new Gothic Chess tournament. There is no entrance fee. Second prize is a free Gothic Chess set. A "brilliancy prize" will be awarded to the best game, judged by me. That person will receive a free Gothic Chess mug.

Check it out under the TOURNAMENTS section, so hurry up and sign up!

And if you are already playing in one tournament and are a BrainPawn, upgrade your membership and play in this tournament too! Why not, you have a chance to win $250!!

My first Gothic game was here on BK a few months ago, and I already am losing my sense for an urgency to castle. It has come on gradually, for my initial instinct was that a castled position is safer. With the 10 file board, however, when it comes to the endgame, the central position of the King seems to be stronger, if for no other reason that when he's on one side or the other, the opponent knows how long it will take him to get to the opposite corner, and can use that against him. With a central King, the opponent can make threats on both flanks, but the central King can counter-threaten to go one way or the other, and so long as the opponent does not know which way he's going, there is some power in the fact of the option remaining open. In my recent win against Matthewhall, I was forced to abandon castling early, but that did not seem to hamper my game later, much to my relief. In other games, I have moved the Bishop Pawns up one square early in the game, which tends to block the Knights moving out, but it prevents the enemy Bishops from attacking my Rooks, and it provides a somewhat unexpected strength in the center flanks early on. In my current game with Kevin, my King Bishop Pawn, having been advanced to h6, gave support to my Chancellor Pawn, which was able to move 7.g5, with exposed attack on Kevin's Archbishop, follwed by my pawn fork, 9.g4, winning the Knight on h3. It now appears that Kevin may lose his Rook as well, for my Archbishop is forking his King and Rook. My only concern with leaving the two center pawns back at f7 and e7 (f2 and e2 for White) is that it seems to confine my King, especially in the event of leaving him uncastled, or if he gets castled, the advanced Bishop Pawns tend to leave him exposed. I'm still not sure of how important that is. However, keeping the center Pawns unmoved allows for freedom of movement of my pieces in the center, especially the Chancellor, which has a miserable time around lots of pawns, and is quite awesome with an open file and a rank or two to terrorize. /Fx/

To all Januschessplayer: If you have played a beautiful game,please send it to me,perhaps with a small comment of your ideas during the game.I will collect these games and publish the best of them in a German chessnewspaper.My E-Mail is
caissus2000@yahoo.de.Thank you

It seems in my own games when I elect to remain uncastled, not moving both the e- and f-pawns is a large positional plus. It secures the king and virtually eliminates the chances of being placed in check.

In games where I enjoy the luxury of castling, I do constantly look for endgame themes that can be dangerous. In my endgame with nstre, which went all the way down to Rook and Pawns, I managed to win by just one tempo! In this game we both castled, and I was also forced onto j1 at one point, a tempo I needed to recover desparately.

Here is the game which is worth reviewing. I fast forwarded the game to the point where we were both castled.


Endgame win by one tempo

Attention to All Brain Pawns: Make sure you have 8 slots open in your game list so that you will be able to play for the $$$$$!!

That is, if you have 12 or more games going, you will not be able to enter the tournament, unless you UPGRADE to become a BrainRook or otherwise decrease your game count (offer draw, resign, or checkmate your opponent).

There is only 1 day left to sign up, so please check your current game load!

Good luck, I hope everybody wins :)

I will put it to server news. With a reference to this board :-)

Oh Ed....

Does the Gothic carry official world ranking points?

the current brainking tourney, I mean...oops

The thought had occurred to me to hold the first official World Championship online here at BrainKing. Previously we have only had National Tournaments, held in Philadelphia. But with the convenience of being able to play online, we might as well test the format and see if players would like to do this.

The play would be for the title of Gothic Chess World Champion, a trophy, and money; all things a World Champion should have!

despite travelling around drunk, I shall do my utmost to come away with some points. You guys did some good advertising. There are a lot of unrated players in the tournament. I wonder if I got seeded during the draw.

Anyway, I thought Spiderman from UK was someone I has heard of. Might be a different person. The one I know doesn't usually drop three games in a row.

For each round how many players will pass to second stage ?

There are 13 sections, and each one will send one winner into the next round. So, 13 players make it to round 2. The section with the highest rated player will have 6 people in it. The section with the 2nd highest rated person will have 7 people. One winner from each of these 2 sections will advance to the finals. These 2 people will play a "3 wins match" which means the first to record a 3rd victory will win.

Oh, now that PUTS pressure on me!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of entering the inner-sanctum of Gothic Chess. Since I live in the Philadelphia area I was invited to Ed Trice's home to play some(of course) Gothic Chess. After upon arriving there, with some well written directions, I was greeted by Ed who was a great host!

After Ed had his late breakfast which was toast and tea he showed me to his Chess Room. We talked about the future of Gothic Chess, as far as, "What will it take for Gothic to over power chess as the mainstream game?" Then we played a game with time controls of G/60. To my dismay I only lasted 12 moves before blundering away the game, but Ed still came up with a Queen sac to end the game as he left me there after the move to prepare lunch. After some review the game could have been good, and maybe worth even posting on this board :) Ed doesn't know, but I just didn't have the heart to go to his own home and beat him in a regulation game :)

After the game, I had the pleasure of meeting his wife and daughter who were both sociable and entertaining. A barbecue lunch was next! Not hamburgers and hotdogs, but steak, sausage and shrimp! I never thought I could feel that at home after going to someone's home for the first time and only the second time meeting him personally.

Lunch was over and Ed asked if would play some Gothic Blitz Chess. I said, "Of course", and he asked if time controls of 6 minutes for me and 3 minutes for him were okay? I said, "How about 5 minutes apiece?". He agreed, and I redeemed myself by winning 2 of 3 games! I surprised myself...not by winning, but that I really didn't know what to expect because of never playing Gothic Blitz before. I know Ed will have something ready at our next meeting though, so I guess I'll have to prepare as well :)

Ed then showed me to his office with all the Gothic games in a database, and of course how he does everything to the website. I was amazed by how much work he accomplishes! He showed me what went into writing the Gothic Chess Review which I can not wait for the return of. Also, the lines and lines of programming just to make that K+N+B vs. K ending which of course he is still in the process of finishing!

I think I was there around 9 hrs. which for me seemed about 3 hrs. I enjoyed the whole day and I'm glad Ed was able to put up with me for that long! I look forward to our next meeting and hope to return the hospitality that I was shown!

If I didn't say it before Ed..."Thanks for a Great Day!"

Thanks for stopping by Rob! I know you had about a 90 minute drive to get here, so I appreciate you making the trip.

I enjoyed playing the games and, of course, any excuse to prepare a feast and have a party is perfectly fine with me!

As summer approaches I will try again to get listed in the Pennsylvania State Chess booklet as a Gothic Chess club and promote weekly evenings of Gothic and partying.

Maybe you could so something similar in New Jersey, who knows! This is how great things get started.

--Ed

I am thinking about starting the World Championship online here in September. I woud like to know if "the masses" would be interested it making it a money event?

The prestige of a World Championship for other events always includes a nice purse for the winner, a trophy worthy of display, and of course a title that means something.

If we have an event played for money, there will have to be an entrance fee.

So, you guys vote on it here. Entrance fee or no entrance fee?

I am thinking of the following for prize fund:

1. Winner gets 60% of the pot, 2nd place gets 30%, Gothic Chess Federation holds the remainder for running the tournament.

2. Winner gets 80% of the pot, 2nd place gets 10%, Gothic Chess Federation holds the remainder for running the tournament.

3. Something else??

Let me know what you think.

Prize Fund Idea: How about a small percentage going to BrainKing for hosting the tournament? (5% or something?) I know they have made some money by people comming here and buying memberships already, so...???
Winner: 60% of pot
2nd: 25% of pot
BrainKing: 5% of pot
GC Fed.: the rest

I like this idea! Now, what to set down as an entrance fee? Let's assume we get 100 people, like as in our current tournament.

Then for $X entrance fee, the payouts would be:

$10: 1st = $600; 2nd = $250; BK=$50
$20: 1st = $1200; 2nd = $500; BK=$100
$30: 1st = $1800; 2nd = $750; BK=$150
$40: 1st = $2400; 2nd = $1000; BK=$200
$50: 1st = $3000; 2nd = $1250; BK=$250
$100: 1st = $6000; 2nd = $2500; BK=$500

Now, based on those projections, how much would everyone want to pay to play?