Dave, chess.com does offer a ton of thematic positions, but sadly, in openings like Bird's Opening, there are only 27 starting positions, and a few of them (I am not sure how many) are totally not practical. But with this, we would be able to start from any critical position, which would nail down all the outside sources.
custom position tournaments
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I recently have been discussing an idea, and I would appreciate your feedback on this -
I have created a forum (actually started this one a long time ago, but approaching it more seriously this time) that speaks about creating custom position tournaments. This could be anything from beginning at an opening, a middlegame, and endgame...the possibilities are endless.
This would allow players of chess.com to reveal novelties, if they desire, and open a forum for discussion, and then create thematic tournaments around their novelties.
Also, it doesn't have to be original ideas - we could explore ideas that are "on the market", so to speak, and discuss and play positions in tournaments.
This would also work in 1 on 1 games - if you simply wanted to play an idea against a friend, you could upload the custom starting position.
I was curious if you would read my forum, and if you are interested, if you would post ideas in this forum:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/tournaments/custom-position-tournaments
You don't have to respond in there, but I would appreciate any feedback. If chess.com sees this idea as something that is valued by its customers, they may take a better look at creating the ability to make custom positions in the starting tab.
Thank you very much, my chess friend...
BirdBrain