Anonymity Requested

I'm reluctant to post games on this site for two reasons:

1. Even if you anonymise the names of the players, since people mainly post their own games, it's not too hard to identify their opponent. Would it be useful to be able to copy a game to an pool of anonymity, so that when you provided a game reference (http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=12345678), the trail could not be back-tracked to named players?

Hmmm. Unless you are being disrepectful or something to your opponent, I don't see why having a game published on the forums would be such a big deal. People have to be aware of the fact that their games leave a trail, so if they are too embarrassed about losses, they may want to consider another hobby. One important facet of chess improvement is critical, objective self analysis, so a player should not be afraid to have a game looked at. I would gladly offer up and tear apart even my worst losses for you all to see. This isn't really a good game for those with fragile egos.

only a little off topic, but where they anonymise, do ppl tell the opponent (whether before or after - and if before, do they seek permission / agreement) that the game will be / has been posted on a forum with an invitation for public comment?

I don't think there is a way to make a hotlink sterile, but you could put the game into pgn and upload it, sans identifiers. Else you could do manual entry as well, which would give you an opportunity to annotate your game as you go. Just a couple ideas for you.

Inflammatory possibly rather than disrespectful.

In order to investigate the phenomenon of 'when is the appropriate point to resign' in a game, I would like to be able to post other people's games. This would lead (hypothetically) only to discussion of the hypothetically optimal resigning point.

The decision whether or when to resign or not remains a personal decision. And no-one can take that away - however hard they try.

I suspect that games played on chess.com are in the public domain. I'm doubtful whether a game (or a sequence of moves) can be copyrighted or patented. Imagine you'd taken out a patent on 1.e4 - and everyone who played it had to pay you a royalty or pay for a license - you'd be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

Do you trust anyone on chess.com enough to ask them to do that for you? Money talks.

 thanks artfizz, but my question relates purely to etiquette and practice - should posters, and do posters, tell the other person their shared game is up?

re the legalities, since you raise the issue, agreed we can feel pretty safe (or afraid) that our internet chess games are in the public domain. moreover, my very loose understanding is that you can have intellectual property in the expression of an idea, but not in an idea itself. not always easy to tell which is which, though not entirely a meaningless distinction - i might claim that 1. e4 is actually an expression of an idea (my brilliant idea being ultimately to 'checkmate', preferably not myself), but I suspect no court on this earth would see it my way. another stumbling block to anybody claiming they possess the copyright in 1. e4 might be statutory time limitations (i suspect the first person to have played 1. e4 has been dead more than 50 years).

anyway, back to my etiquette and practice question - sometimes the forum involves only the poster and the public, and I would be interested to know if the second player is unaware or simply doesn't want to participate. for those who do post their games, I would be interested in hearing about their thoughts and approaches to this?

Third post with an ape graphic.

I intend to take out a patent on making moves in a chess game that improves one's position.

Mr. Fizz, perhaps your anonymity would be better protected by disguising your species.

Overheard in a chess.com forum:

A: Has anyone ever successfully crossed an ape and a human?

B: I once double-crossed an ape in a complicated banana smuggling operation out of Puerto Rico.

C: Aha, Dr. <anonymised>, we meet again! The next time you try to double-cross an ape, you'd better be prepared to finish the job.

I was once giving a sound thrashing by a player 400 odd points higher than myself. He asked my kindly if he could post the game, no doubt to show his prowess. I thought it was nice of him to ask, but given the oppurtunity and becuase I am a crothety old git, I said NO NO NO NO!!!!! If it had been anon I prob would have said sure, fill your boots.

Which game was this? Could you post the link?

yeah sure its.......doh!

You could open, modify, and post the pgn?

Thanks for these helpful suggestions:

1.  you could put the game into pgn and upload it, sans identifiers. (Chessroshi) / You could open, modify, and post the pgn? ( kenny10293847)
   
2. you could do manual entry as well, which would give you an opportunity to annotate your game as you go. (Chessroshi)
   
3. you could anonymise them and then ask a friend to post the game for you (PerfectGent)
   

The poster could just say that that the game wasn't played online, or was played aginst a computer, or on a different chess website.

I have heard a number of people say that they asked permission from their opponent before posting a game.  I think that asking permission shows a great deal of class and courtesy, but I don't think it should be required.  Anyone can see any of the games on here already anyway, so there is no "reasonable expectation of privacy." 

I imagine that it would only be the losing player who would ever object to their name being attached to such a game, but as Chessroshi said, having others look at your losses is a vital part of improvement, and chess is no place for fragile egos.

When I posted the biggest upset in The Dark KnightTournament in my blog, I'll admit that I didn't ask permission from either of them, but I did change their names to "The Joker vs Batman," out of courtesy to the losing player.  But as Artfizz said, if someone really wanted to discover their identities, all it would take is a little homework.  But to what end?  All of the suggestions listed above can help cover the trail from any given post back to the original game, but again I say, "Why bother?"  What possible harm or good can come from discovering or further concealing these identities?

For some very colorful game narration, and some very entertaining games, come see "The Joker vs Batman" and "Frankenstein vs Dracula" in The Dark Knight Tournament Blog:

http://blog.chess.com/Billium248/the-dark-knight-tournament-blog

This is perhaps the key point. Once a game is posted, anyone - not necessarily the original poster - can criticise not merely the moves but the players (and particularly the loser) as well.

Who remembers a discussion in which someone posted a game and asked: was my opponent cheating? The consensus was that BOTH players had blundered so badly, it was a wonder either side managed to win!

This article http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-devils-chess-companion  contains terms useful in such a situation.