Group Protest

You cant have rated positions in which one side is lost.

That means a 1000 can easily score 1 win 1 loss (50%) against a 2600. Custom positions are good, but for training purposes against human opponents.

I would like to be able to play from a custom starting position too 

>>>You cant have rated positions in which one side is lost

Yes you can. In a tournament you play both sides AND you have the choice to join or not!

All objections which I've seen to custom start positions are easily answered and are so trivial compared to the humungous advantages.

You don't ever HAVE to play a custom position!

Steve

Next time quote my complete post, including my reason why it does not make sense.

thanks, rio.

Yah!  Me too, but for the life of me I can't figure out what sort of logic would make someone delete the themed games. 

You all realize there is only one currency that will affect this problem:  Currency.

 I refuse to renew my diamond membership till this is fixed.  

thanks for your support 

Please stay calm...Our purpose NOT against Chess.com so nothing to do with membership...we don't want turn things worst, thanks

Now it's included. Happy? Fact remains that each player should be smart enough to understand when they want to play rated/unrated. If they start a rated game from a lost position they deserve to lose rating points. I think starting from a FEN have good advantages and having a rated/unrated option isn't bad. If someone practice to mate with a rook against king for example, then let's hope people are smart enough to make it unrated. It could be set to unrated by default. If someone wants to play a rated game with the bishops replaced by knights and start with 4 bishops each. Then why not make it rated? Being able to play openings not in the ECO is a good thing too.

it is just an attidue, nobody against Chess.com here. we just want to see Chess.com being better.

Please read carefully, i havent said anyone against Chess.com either, i just remind stay calm to support.

Because ratinges reflect results in a certain UNIFORM pool. Now you are talking about chess variants. There is a reason why 960 and standard have different ratings, they are different things.

A game starting with 4 Knights vs 4 Bishops is NOT standad chess.

A game starting from a recognised ECO IS standard chess.

Personally I think starting from a position that is possible to reach is just as wrong as starting from a position unable to reach. This means I think either starting from a chess960 position or ECO position is just as rated/unrated by definition. However starting a new rating for each possible ECO would be ridiculous and therefor it impacts the normal rating. The same I think goes for starting with a FEN regardless of it's evaluation or legality. Chess960 on the other hand is played quite often compared to a single ECO/FEN and therefor it makes sense to give it a rating. The main point with starting from a FEN is not to start a new chess variant, but rather play things that might or might not be part of ECO.

This is just my opinion and if you think FEN games should be rated or unrated is up to you. With your logic this position part of the ECO should be rated while more balanced positions not part of ECO must be unrated

Is there an ECO for thet position??

I played a vote chess game from that position, so I guess it is.

Martin0...good one..hahaha i used to played that

Yes

http://www.chess.com/opening/eco/A00_Formation_Hippopotamus_Attack

>>>A game starting from a recognised ECO IS standard chess.

No it isn't. A game starting from THE standard chess starting position is standard chess.

And to repeat, you wouldn't ever HAVE to play a game from a custom position. It would be your choice, same as rated or not, your choice.

Steve