Need to know -about C.O.T. please- What  Why Where ?

Look up the group leader   Roundtoit  you will need to be sponsered by a member.

Thanks Bill .

This discussion 

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/a-tally-of-database-users--non-users?page=18

contains some information about the Circle of Trust Group.

In particular,

 - post #345  - 

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- post #385 - The distinction between User and Non-User is on the basis of these COT guidelines:  

NON-USERS "... play "over the board" chess, as if we were playing face to face, and unable to use analysis boards, opening books, or any other external aid to help us, we promised we would use our knowledge and experience only to play the game."   ( http://circleoftrust.bravehost.com/ )   

USERS use any or all legitimate facilities while playing the game. This EXCLUDES Chess Engines (such as Fritz) and Endgame Tablebases. (chess.com playing rules)

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 - post #429 - 

For those who want to understand what CoT (Circle of Trust) is all about, here's a note from a fellow CoT OTB:

"When we first started CoT OTB, it was just a half dozen friends who wanted to play as we had years before, we wanted to try and make it as close as possible to playing a friend in you own house, and sitting over the board from each other, the rules were the basic rules you would use in such a situation. If you wouldn’t do it there (or if you felt uncomfortable about doing it) then you agreed not to do it while playing another CoT member, we use OTB in our Group Title, but many things are probably allowed in OTB competitions, which we as a group do not use, so the main thing in our group is the word Trust.

If you feel it may be against what you would do when playing a friend, discuss it, either with your opponent, or in the Group itself, we have had discussions, and allowed things to be used within the rules, but after all discussions, the final decision is made by Admin, based on the original vision of the group.

I have enclosed the rules as we see them, and hope this helps you understand, we never wanted the biggest or the best group, just somewhere to play what we call a “straight” game, and we are surprised we have so much interest. We have had members leave who said they could not play within our rules, and we have deleted people from the group who we felt may not be able to stay within the rules.

                        THE CIRCLE OF TRUST OTB                            MEMBERSHIP RULES 

COT Members agree to abide by the following rules when playing other COT Members: 

1.   DO NOTS.  -     Do not use any extra help, visual or electronic which may give you an advantage over your opponent once a game has commenced. This includes, but is not limited to, the following

1        Analysis Board

2        Conditional Moves

3        A separate board to practice “what if” moves on

4        Databases

5        Opening books (or other medium)

6        Any chess engine or text book which may give an unfair advantage over your opponent

7        Any other outside assistance you may think of ( Father, Mother, or Sibling ).-         This list of restrictions does not apply when playing non-COT games. 

1. You may study anything you wish while the game is in progress, as long as it does not directly and intentionally help with your current game(s). (Example of what is not allowed: (Opponent makes a move, you log off and intentionally check for an answering move for when you log back on)

-  Actions and tools allowed during a COT game

1        The Notes module on the specific game page.

2        Reviewing your last few moves with the Moves button

3         Your own brain, knowledge and creativity-  

This is a rough summary of the rules, but we hope the Trust part will cover anything we have not listed, we allow the notes, and  the moves review because we have members from 12yrs old, and into their 70’s so sometimes it is difficult not to lose your train of thought when it can take up to 24hrs between moves, any member playing someone outside CoT can use the prevailing rules if they wish. I personally play by CoT rules all the time (we do not play touched move, we use the submit button, if 2 members wish to play touched move, they can agree before the game starts, I never played touched move with my friends, and it only bothered me if they picked up pieces, and waved them around (then usually put the back in the wrong place) lol."

Many thanks artfizz for meticulous reply- I would stand little chance without occasional use of analysis board - so as in dragons den - im included out !

On the other hand I DO ADMIRE THE COT CONCEPT- PURE COMPETITION- maybe if i improve I could get by without analysis board but newbies let us remember may  be competing against years of intensive study aid off the board.

Donald, You might consider this group - http://www.chess.com/groups/view/win-or-lose-on-your-own - which has no objection to using the Analysis Board.