The FICS SR team is glad to present:
October 2000
Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) News
What's New? - FICS would like to welcome the 1,630 new players that have
joined the server in the month of September. Among the highlights in this month's
newsletter is the announcement of our $100.00 (US Dollar) prize tournament and the results of the Quarterly Computer Chess Tournament. Other FICS server notes include SuperMamer update news and links to the chess interface updates of Slics and WinBoard. Be sure to read the rest of the October monthly newsletter for other FICS news items and chess related information. Plus, don't forget to check out the link to our previous Newsletter issues, July 1999 to present. You may find a lot of useful information in our previous newsletter's 'Server Tip of the Month' sections. A special thanks goes out to JustJanie(SR) and knighttour(SR) in helping make this newsletter a success this month.
$100.00 (US Dollar) PRIZE Standard tournament!
Starting Monday, October 9th, 2000 - FICS will be presenting a prize tournament. The tournament is a Swiss-paired 6 round event with a 30 0 time control over a period of 6 weeks. Players have a total of one week to complete their game each round. You arrange the time to play with your opponent at both of your conveniences. First place will get $100 US in cash. Final note: You can join at any time before the start of this tournament, late-join entries will be accepted up to round #4. Each round's pairing will be posted at midnight on Sunday nights. For more information, "finger TributeTD" when online or you can email questions to: SuperIntellect(TM).
See you there!
Results of the FICS Quarterly Computer Chess Tournament
cubebox(C) wins the Chess Division
pindakaas(C) wins the Suicide Chess Division.
The FICS Quarterly Computer Chess Tournament was held on Saturday, September 30, 2000. A total of Eighteen computer accounts played to capture the FICS Quarterly Computer Chess Tournament titles. The tournament was a 5-round Swiss with a time control of 5 8. The tournament was open to all FICS registered computer accounts. Congrats to the winners, and thanks to all who participated. Crosstables from the tourn can be viewed at: http://www.freechess.org/comptourns.
A special thanks goes out to Daysleeper(TM) for helping the tournament run smoothly.
You can check out the standings of this tournament by visiting: http://www.freechess.org/comptourns.
Computer Accounts:
In order to be considered for a computer account,
email Computers@freechess.org
with the information requested in "help computer_app". The review
process usually takes a few days, you will be contacted about your request.
To see a list of computers registered on the server, type "=computer".
Details about these accounts are given in "help
computerlist". Computers are designated on "who" lists
by (C).
Unregistered computers will be banned from playing rated games.
New Slics/Chessbd Interface version 2.6u
The new Slics/Chessbd Interface version 2.6u has been released and can be downloaded from: http://www.dfong.com/chessbd. You can find this download near the bottom of the Web Page in the experimental section; dated Sept. 26, 2000. The new version incorporates an option for the new premove interface standard being seen on the major chess interfaces used on our server. Although this interface is still being considered an experimental version, no major bugs have been found at this time. Remember, if you want to change the telnet input colors; using your keyboard - select 'Alt-m' and press the 'Colors>>' button.
Announcing XBoard and WinBoard 4.1.0
A new release of both XBoard and WinBoard is now available. Version 4.1.0 adds several new features. All the features of Mark Williams's "WinBoard Plus 4.0.8" are merged in, and most of them have been ported to xboard as well. This interface also incorporates the new premove interface standard no being used on the server.
Webpage Full Interface 'Download' List Update
Our webpage full interface 'Download' list has been updated. You can view this page at: http://www.freechess.org/Download. You may also view this page by going to our homepage and pressing the Download Button from the menu on the left and selecting the 'full interface' download 'link'. A special thanks goes out to knighttour for helping with the html update.
Mamer Reminders
FICS newest version of mamer (an automated tournament director) is now online and currently in use. Some features that our previous tournament director (mamer) lacked were added. For instance, KOTH (which now runs through mamer) replaced KOTHbot, and more. Here are some reminders for you to help get by:
Message mamer online to report any bugs, you can find more information available at the mamer website: http://www.freechess.org/SuperMamer.
Parsing SuperMamer in your Interface
If you are an interface writer and are interested in parsing SuperMamer (the new version of mamer) you should visit: http://www.freechess.org/SuperMamer/parsing.html for more information. The main SuperMamer page is at: http://www.freechess.org/SuperMamer. If you have any unanswered questions, feel free to email the programmer directly by clicking this link: SuperMamer .
The 3rd Tórshavn International
The 3rd Tórshavn International Chess Tournament will be held between October 5th and October 14th 2000 in the Nordic House in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. More information and game histories can be found at the official website: http://www.faroechess.com/ .
2000 U.S. Chess Championships
The Seattle Chess Foundation is organizing the 2000 U.S. Chess Championships that will take place from September 25 to October 6, 2000. Twelve of the best United States chess players will compete in eleven rounds for the US Chess Championship. Ten of the best United States female chess players will fight in 9 rounds for the title U.S. Women's Championship title. Admission to watch the games and commentaries by IM Jeremy Silman is free.
Game histories as well as other information can be found at: http://www.seattlechessfoundation.org/2000uschamp.html.
The World Junior Chess Championships
The World Junior Championships took place in Yerevan, Armenia. September 18th through October 2nd 2000. The winners are posted on the official website at: http://www.armchess.am/wjgcc2000.html.
FIDE World Chess Cup 2000
The FIDE World Cup takes place in Shenyang, China September 1st through the 13th. Viswanathan Anand of India and China's own Xu Yuhua have won the men's and women's divisions.
More information is available at the official website for this event: http://www.fide.org/fide/html/review/Shenyang/index.html.
North American Open 2000
The North American Open at Bally's Las Vegas will award $100,000 in prizes this year, the biggest prize fund ever awarded in Las Vegas! The dates for this event are December 26-29, 2000. Keep posted for more information on this event in the future.
The World Open
GM Joel Benjamin: World Open Champion. The World Open staged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 28th-July 4th 2000. The tournament finished with eight players tying for first with 7 points. GM Benjamin became the World Open 2000 Champion by winning a single round robin blitz tournament among the winners. Ivanov and Fedorowicz didn't participate in the playoff.
More information is available at the official website for this event: http://www.worldopen.com.
Tornei Italian Online (TIO)
The FICS Tornei Italian Online (TIO) is played online on our server every Wednesday promptly at 20.10 GMT (15.10 server time). The tournament is a 6 round Swiss paired event with a 5 0 time control allowing a 2 round latejoin. Don't miss it! "Latejoin", for those of you who aren't aware with the system, will allow you to join the tournament if you arrive late, so long as you join before round 3 starts. Don't be fooled by the name, this tounament is open to everyone. For more information you can check out the web site: http://utenti.tripod.it/RinaldiF/partite.htm
.
Previous TIO games can be found in the directory: http://utenti.tripod.it/RinaldiF/files. The game collections of the TIO 33 and 34 are complete, other collections may be a partial listing.
Suicide on Saturdays (SOS): The SOS (Suicide On Saturdays) is a tournament run each
week on FICS by WarHawk(TM). The tournament is held every Saturday at 10:00 am
server time (CST). The score is kept for each player who plays in 1 or more
tournaments. The weekly tournament is a 5 0 Swiss consisting of 5 rounds.
There is also a quarterly Suicide Championship held for all qualifying participants in the
previous three months. Lastly, there will be an Annual Suicide Championship 4 player
5 0 double round robin! The quarterly championships will be a qualification
tournament for the annual tournament.
To qualify for a quarterly tournament, you must be in the top 4 scores in the over 1800 section or top 2 from the under 1800 section. If a player is forced to withdraw or is unable to attend, a wildcard slot will be available to the next qualified player from their division. The winner of the under 1800 section will receive a lesson from Haley (2344).
The FICS Grand Prix Finals!!!
The current edition of the FICS Grand Prix closed with the 45 5 tournament Sunday, September 17th, 2000. Because of some problems with the format, we will be holding off on the second cycle of the FICS Grand Prix until they can be resolved.
The 1999-2000 FICS Grand Prix closes with the final tournament leg; Sunday, September 17, 2000. Results will be finalized and double-checked. Because of some problems with the format, we will be holding off on the second cycle of the FICS Grand Prix until they can be resolved. This 'standard tournament' competition extended throughout the entire year and scores were kept based on FICS scheduled standard tournaments. The FICS Grand Prix cycle lasted 52 weeks: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 through Monday, September 18, 2000. During the course of these 52 weeks, a number of Grand Prix events will be held. At the end of this year there will be a $150.00 (US Dollars) guaranteed prize fund. You will find information for frequently asked questions, events listings, standings and a complete player list on the Grand Prix website at: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/EscapeArtist/FICSGrandPrix/index.html
The top three participants in a field of 334 players are listed here, bigbad maintains the lead!
Rank |
Name |
GP |
# of |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
1 |
bigbad |
3733.47 |
93 |
28 |
31 |
14 |
2 |
SGV |
2115.64 |
34 |
19 |
2 |
11 |
3 |
Killerman |
1569.76 |
27 |
14 |
2 |
5 |
(The following point totals reflect events posted as of the publication date of this newsletter.)
Click here for more FICS tournament information!
The FICS Chess Academy provides a medium for the interaction between strong and weaker chess players. Chess advisors, designated by the symbol (CA), donate their time to help weaker counterparts in order to share their knowledge. The most common event is semi-formal analysis of games or positions. There will also be lectures, master challenge sessions, guided group analysis of GM games, and more! Instructors are master or candidate master (expert) strength players and are enthusiastic about helping others improve their chess.
To receive instruction or otherwise participate in the Chess Academy, you should follow these steps:
Channel 65 "Events"
Channel 66 "Examine"
Channel 67 "Lectures"
Use tells to channel 65 during the Academy Hours ('tell 65 I don't understand the Lucena position'). Chess advisers will have (CA) after their handles.
Academy proceedings start in channel 65, but often "follow (CA Lecturer)" is used while examining a game or position. Prepare your questions and interesting games before the Chess Academy hour starts. Game submissions for analysis are welcome, and should be e-mailed to academy@freechess.org and/or saved in your journal, accompanied by a message to Academy.
The FICS Chess Academy weekly schedule for October:
| Day | Server Time |
Academy Event |
| Monday | 13:00 | Group Analysis |
| Wednesday | 15:00 | Group Analysis |
| Thursday | 7:00 21:00 |
Group Analysis Group Analysis |
| Saturday | 15:00 | Group Analysis |
| Sunday | 15:00 | Special Events* |
* Every Sunday at 15:00 server time, the Chess
Academy will hold
Special events such as: team games, simuls and master events.
A total of 1,630 new player accounts have been created for the month
of September.
Currently to date, FICS total size is 72,239 player accounts.
Active accounts in the month of August totaled 11,728.
Active accounts in the last three months totaled 17,296.
October's Server Tip of the Month will introduce the variable: silence
The silence variable is a temporary variable that cuts out distracting shouts, cshouts and channel tells when you play a game. If you have your silence variable set on then these types of communication will not be shown when you begin again a game. To play in silence type in: set silence 1 when online. Then, when you stop playing your game - you will see automatically start seeing shouts, cshouts and channel tells again. Your settings for the shout, cshout and chanoff variables, or channel settings, will not be affected.
Perhaps you may not want to hear shouts or cshouts at anytime. In that case you could then make a more permanent setting by typing in: set shout 0 or set cshout 0. To turn them back on, simply type: set shout 1 or set cshout 1.
If you want to just stop listening to channels at any time then you should set your chanoff variable. Type: set chanoff 1 This will allow you to stop listening to the channels with out removing them from your list. To start listening to them again type: set chanoff 0 Your channel list will not be affected. Users in a channel but who are not listening to it will be marked with {Handle} when you use the inchannel command.
Further information on the silence variable can be found in 'help v_silence' (or the online version).
If you should you have any problems with our 'Server Tip' that you cannot resolve,
please email support@freechess.org for assistance.
Would you like to see previous issues of the newsletter?
It's a great way to locate other helpful
"Tip of the Month" sections
and older news highlights that were covered in past issues.
The FICS Link Exchange Program:
The FICS Link Exchange program is where registered users can submit their homepage to have a link posted directly from the FICS homepage links section. If you have a personal homepage that you'd like to add to our list, then email MAd your web address for approval. It's as easy as that!
To view our links section, press the links button located on the bottom of our menu on the left. From here, you can access the many pages that have already been submitted y our players. Although it is not required, we request you add the FICS banner somewhere on your homepage in order to help promote FICS. More information about our banner is available on the Links section of the homepage.
We are currently looking for users who want to help us in
promoting FICS.
Among things, we are working on is to get the FICS Banner on your local
chess club and personal web pages. If you have time and want to help us
then send an e-mail to binford@freechess.org.
Please send comments and feedback on what you would like to see in future editions.
Edited by: afw.