Well, since I don't have any problems loading any BrainKing pages, there is no issue with the site itself, otherwise it would be slow for me too. It is probably a network problem, more like.

Doris: thank you DOris and beach.....just goes to prove it isnt always on this side of the world.....

it has to be Bk because all other sites including game sites are accessible easily...it is only here that I am having any trouble....done the usual clean ups etc and still no better....

I am also having the same problem. The site is usually very fast to load pages for me...but now I am having to sit and wait for them to load....like it was when I had dial up many years ago...:}

Bernice:  I am having the same problem white screen

Fencer: Was 1 second. Now over a minute. Still not too bad.

Bernice: Actually, the average page loading time is about 1 second, based on long term measuring.

what is wrong with this site? taking forever to load pages :( so bad I cant play games :(

Are there any plans to run site tournaments other then those run by members here?

Carpe Diem: sorry ... i forgot it was about ponds ... for the ponds link i went to the ponds section on the left side (below team tournaments and stairs) and on that ponds page i clicked on the link to the game rules (somewhere on the top) :)

*blush* from my side as well :)

Hrqls: Oh for crying out loud, why didn't I think of that? I use that link on a regular basis with other games - must've had it in my head that Ponds were different in that regard and never looked.  

Carpe Diem: when you play a game there is always a link to the game rules on that page (below the game board, directly after the name of the gametype) .. that link led me to the page i posted

Roberto Silva: No thats not it. This player has never been no more then a bishop. It happen last year also but have no idea if its fixed. In other words as a knight you can only play 1 tourny per game until it ends you can't play another. As a bishop however you can play more then 1. Only 5 bishops here and its easy to follow their membership status.

Marshmud: Maybe they were rooks when they signed up?

Or maybe the games only blocks them if they're already on a running tournament? If it's the latter it's a bug...

Why are bishops permitted to sign up for multiple same game tournys?

Hrqls: Thanks! Checked the FAQ, but failed to follow the "Former FAQ Entries" link - that explains it all very well. 

Carpe Diem: it is still being developped, not all game types are supported yet

have a look at Brainking for Android

Carpe Diem: the game rules for ponds can be found here

Also, is there anywhere for feedback on the Android app? Downloaded it yesterday now that I finally got a new phone, and it's awesome, except that a lot of games give me a blank screen. I understand that it's very much a work in progress, so I wasn't expecting it to be working right, but I'd be happy to give feedback if any was being sought. 

I feel like I must be missing some instructions or help somewhere on this site, because not only do I not have the foggiest idea what ponds are, I don't know how anyone else figures it out. If there's somewhere I'm missing, please point me in the right direction. If not, could someone explain them to me like I just landed on this planet and have no idea what a pond is? Aside from a place to get wet, that is.

Aganju: The third prize is split between third and fourth.

If a tournament has prices for 1 - 3. Place, and it is for example single elimination, there is no third (only two equal thirds/fourths). Who gets the price for third??
There are other possibilities, like two groups in round-robin, which are even more difficult. What happens?

This year again there will be the World Cup championship BK and continents as follows:

a) Continental Championship

- Start:
sometime in May / June
- Format:
from this year will spider
- Check-in:
I will send invitations to all active players

b) World Championships BK

- Start:
sometime in the month of March / April
- Format:
remains the same
- Check-in:
again I will send out invitations active players


A bit of history:

So I made sure there is a table of the order for the state championship in 2007 (all games), 2008 (all games), 2011 (99,5 % games) and 2012 (44 % games).
Total Games completed 223 of 299

<tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody>

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total medals
First	Czech Republic	70	60	79	209
Second	USA	26	30	32	88
Third	Poland	19	13	16	48
4th	Russia	15	6	4	25
5th	Germany	14	14	15	43
6th	Italy	12	10	9	31
7th	England	9	5	4	18
8th	Bavaria	7	1	0	8
9th	France	5	0	3	8
10th	Uganda	4	12	5	21
11th	Netherlands	4	8	6	18
12th	Sweden	4	5	4	13
13th	Argentina	4	1	0	5
13th	Trinidad and Tobago	4	1	0	5
15th	Slovak Republic	3	8	14	25
16th	Scotland	3	4	3	10
17th	Jamaica	3	3	1	7
18th	Belgium	3	2	5	10
19th	Portugal	3	2	2	7
20th	Turkey	3	0	0	3
21th	Bulgaria	2	2	9	13
22th	Serbia	2	2	2	6
23th	Australia	2	1	4	7
24th	New Zealand	2	1	1	4
25th	Dominican Republic	2	0	1	3
26th	United Kingdom	1	3	8	12
27th	Luxenburg	1	3	4	8
28th	Latvia	1	2	1	4
28th	Estonia	1	2	1	4
30th	Brunei Darussalam	1	1	10	12
31th	Norway	1	1	6	8
32th	South Africa	1	1	0	2
33th	Spain	1	0	4	5
34th	Tibet	1	0	3	4
35th	Finland	1	0	2	3
35th	Switzerland	1	0	2	3
37th	South Korea	1	0	1	2
37th	Wales	1	0	1	2
37th	Nepal	1	0	1	2
40th	Crimea	1	0	0	1
40th	Israel	1	0	0	1
40th	Iran	1	0	0	1
40th	Ukraine	1	0	0	1
40th	Costa Rica	1	0	0	1
40th	Greece	1	0	0	1
40th	North Korea	1	0	0	1
47th	Solomon Islands	0	4	0	4
48th	Northern Ireland	0	2	5	7
49th	Canada	0	2	2	4
50th	Guatemala	0	2	0	2
51th	Antarctica	0	1	1	2
52th	Vanatau	0	1	0	1
52th	Slovenia	0	1	0	1
52th	Japan	0	1	0	1
52th	Cocos Islands	0	1	0	1
56th	American Samoa	0	0	1	1
56th	Haiti	0	0	1	1
56th	Palestine	0	0	1	1
56th	Singapore	0	0	1	1
56th	India	0	0	1	1
	Without nationality	10	10	10	30
	Total	256	229	286	771

Total gold has gained 46 countries.

MadMonkey: Good job!

Just me playing ...... well, actually, i am trying to learn

coan.net: I think that was the case.

joshi tm: Try it now.

joshi tm: Does it give you a message on why you can't join? Maybe something like "already belong to another team" ---- just wondering since it might be maybe you belonged to a fellowship team, and the fellowship got deleted, and it still in the background has you "locked" in there and not able to join (in which case, Fencer would probable have to fix.)

Why I can't join any fellowships' PahTum team?

Why worry about me, just play the games and enjoy, lol

Thad: Thanks Thad - I had tried to place a period at the end. :)

Bernice: There's an extra 'dot' in the link. Try this, RatingDestroyer

earldrake: that is strange......when I click on your link "RatingDestroyer" I get my OWN profile....

Interesting. Over the weekend, I added some Cloning matches for Rated players to accept. All 9 were accepted by this character that joined over the weekend: RatingDestroyer I especially love the name. Anyone seen this happen before? I logged a bug but went ahead and moved in all the games just so I would not lose vacation time. I also added comments in one of the games and they have now disappeared, so I am feeling like I am in The Twilight Zone...

Aganju: It happens sometimes. Several times a year.

Looks like the time keeper process died. This pond has already -30 minutes (http://brainking.com/en/Pond?g=7319)

King Pyrhus: Do you mean Notepad or private notes in games?

Is it possible to change the size of some or all of the text in the notes box?
I can do that at Gold Token and it's very useful. :)

papillon77: I'm translating, it looks like an interesting variant:

Tutti frutti chess is a chess variant invented by Ralph Betza and Philip Cohen in 1978.

There are three pieces that are not used in conventional chess:
PRINCESS: bishop + knight
EMPRESS: Rook + knight
THE AMAZON: queen + knight

The amazon is placed in the usual location of the queen (column D). The queen herself is now on the other side of the King (column F), Princess right next to the queen (column G) and Empress on the same side of the King as the amazon (column A). The only knight is on the left column B, the only bishop on column C and the only rook on the column H.
The pawns are placed as in regular chess.

In short, the piece set-up is (white) : ENBAKQPR

The pawn that reaches the last row (from the perspective of the players) is promoted to rook or bishop or knight or princess or queen or empress or amazon.

The King can castle with the Empress in accordance with the rules of castling (if the Empress has made any previous move, castling is not possible)

All other rules are the same as classical chess.

Thad: Thad, you can do about that by setting the time for example to 6 days +1 day per move, no vacation, max 6 days.
That means everyone starts with 5 days 'vacation' plus 1 day for the first move, and plus 1 day for each further move.

The problem with all these settings is that you often hurt the wrong person: For example, if I start a tournament three months before a longer travel, and my opponent drags alone his full time for every move, I will lose on time during my travel, even though I used only 6 hours in the whole three month.

It would be a *major* improvement to this site if games, or at least tournament games, could be limited to allow only a certain amount of vacation days. Even if I sign up for a fast paced tournament, I can still get stuck by players with lots of vacation time. I understand the desire for it, but how about a way to make a tournament with, for example, a maximum of five vacation days per player (per round?). That way, someone can go on a weeklong vacation without forfeiting. Seems reasonable to me!

Aganju: Thanks to you and everyone for the responses - all were helpful, but yours gave the exact answer I was seeking. I wasn't sure, because each game taking up an hour seemed unreasonable, but so does being allowed to hold up all games for 35 days, to some extent. I guess with this being a turn-based site where people shouldn't expect blazing fast games, and the fact that one can set up a game or tourney that doesn't allow vacation days, it does make sense. 

Aganju: You are correct about vacation time. However you omitted one thing, namely that vacation time doesn't work for green dot games either in addition to red dot games not getting vacation.

rod03801: I'm wondering why all the games on a 3 day per move time limit all showed the exact same time... 5 days and 23 hours. beach said the same about hers, that it showed 5 days and 23 hours. What are the odds of ALL 3 day limit games showing the exact same time? I made moves in those games this morning, and now that my opponents have responded I'm seeing 5 days but different hours for those games... which makes sense, because no one expects everyone they are playing will move at the exact same time. So I'm wondering, if I could have seen the minutes as well as the hours this morning, would those numbers have been different or exactly the same?

You see where I'm going with this? I can't be sure, but from where I'm sitting there appears to have been a glitch of some sort.

Carpe Diem: i think the core point of the question was if each game draws by itself from the vacation; and the answer is NO.
If your first game times out, it will draw 1 hour of your vacation, and all your games will get an extra hour (except the ones with the red dot, which say "no vacation" - those do time out). So every vacation hour is good to move out all your games for an hour, etc.
And yes, as stated below, you get new vacation on Jan/1.
And! you have your weekends free in addition.
So - again, except the games with red dots - your first game will time out earliest 35 non-weekend days after Jan/1, which is about Feb/18.
Have a good vacation!

Carpe Diem: Without looking, I'm not even sure the help area has the correct answer. Fencer changed the vacation system, um, a year ago maybe? Or maybe longer. Time flies. Vacation time is now used hourly. So when your games get to the "time out" time, you aren't using a whole day. You could come online an hour after one of your games would have timed out, and see you have 34 days 23 hours of vacation left.

Now, as far the more technical aspects, I'm not positive of the smaller details of it. But yes, right now you actually have more than enough vacation time, because on Jan 1st, everyone's vacation time refills to whatever their membership entitles them to.

I found the small blurb about automatic vacation, and want to make sure I understand it properly. My profile shows me:

beach: Most of my games are showing the same as yours, 5 days and 23 hours (for the 3 day per move games). I've been getting online less because of the holiday, so for whatever the reason the extra time works well for me.

Aganju:  all games on my page have 1 extra day added i only play mostly 3 day games looks like the site is considering new years day as a holiday since it only started changing them from 4 days 23 hrs to 5 days 23 hrs today so looks like tuesday is consider a holiday which is kind of strange since I thought this site decided not to consider holidays at all 

beach: maybe Christmas was considered an extra weekend day?
Can you show an example?

why are 3 days games going to 5 days 23 hours to cover weekend time instead of the usual 4 days 23 hours