New Features & Fixes - May 3 2009

My videos won't work.   and 

I'm on the same page here!

I liked import PGN into Chessbase and print out a diagram of the game and make notes!

That "bunch of jerks" was arguably an adminstration full of fear-mongers and a media full of paranoiacs.  I don't see any 'greater good' here, either.

The FEN/PGN features should be put back.

During a "no vacation" tournament, I can still go on vacation (right?) but it just won't affect those games?

I appreciate that you guys are working hard to make this a cool site, but I am going to have to chime in on disliking the removal of the FEN from ongoing games. I just got set up for a new database this weekend, and now you guys are making it hard to use.

Do you really think that there are more cheaters in online chess than honest people using other databases?

You could read it that way, but in deference to Erik et. al. I'd caution against suggesting that the analogy stays intact under that interpretation.

My point is that sometimes useful tools are put to nefarious use by an unscrupulous minority and tough decisions have to be made about whether the value they add is worth the trouble they cause.

 you still can, you just can't bring it through Security Screening. My point is that it, i.e. removal of ability to download fen during game, won't really have any substantial effect on cheaters.

PGN download of games in progress is a normal and expected feature of turn-based sites. All the competition has it. In the old days, postal players kept track of their games with little notebooks with movable chess pieces and lots of record keeping. Turn-based chess changed all that. In turn-based chess, you can move your pieces without any record keeping, but when you wish to explore a particular opening in greater depth, one click gets the game into your private database where you can access your refined opening books.

Now, with the removal of PGN support for games in progress, it's back to copious record keeping, or reduction in database use. Or, more likely, back towards increasing activity at CW, GK, RHP, and others, and back towards decreasing activity here.

For the purpose of slowing down a few cheaters, you've "improved" turn-based chess by a negative ten years

Truthfully, I'm not in a position to say whether or not the trade-off makes sense, I really just wanted to offer a counterpoint to the vociferous opposition to its removal.

Hmm...I need to find out what all this database fuss is about.  What are people doing with the FEN and PGN that is so amazing?  How do you use it to help your game...maybe I should be doing it too?  I just have a Winboard.  I have downloaded ChessBase, but I haven't the first clue what to do with it.

Good joke. The removal of FEN/PGN download will certainly scare cheaters away :)) I am convinced that "professional" cheaters have a single pgn file with all the games they are playing.

I've never used those features. I tried, but I couldn't search the position from a pgn file and I forgot about them. But I think many people might download the pgn to a mobile device to think of a game while not being connected to the internet.

I watched a video today. It was nice. Instructive, too. I was pleased that it featured a line in the Sicilian that was also played in a game I was just going through earlier this morning in Informant 102.I'm certain there are other new features that I'll come to apreciate in time, too.

But, for all these added benefits, removing a basic feature of turn-based chess significantly harms the principal attraction of this site--high quality correspondence games.

Most databases (with Chess.com being one of the exceptions) allow you to enter the FEN code, and it will give you the data for that position.

correct

Ha ha!  :-)  Well, I certainly don't think the analogy applies as regards the administration of fear-mongers, but as for the paranoid media organization... yeah, I think that part comes across.  ;-)

Is it just me or ist the new and improved javascript chess board slower than the old one? When I play back and forth moves the moves are a little sluggish... quite annoying, maybe the animation time could be reduced? I'm also a little disappointed that the notes box in games is still a little too big and thus unnecessarily shows scrollbars for nothing. Okay, I quit whining and head back to my games.

cheers

Actually, before I found out the pieces were supposed to be sliding...I initially thought my pieces were acting weird and that maybe my computer was slowing down and the pieces were dragging.  I think you adjust after a short bit.  

It would be nice to be able to sort the videos by ones you've already watched and ones you have yet to watch. But hey, just finished my first one and great improvement! Thanks. 

Also I'm not sure if it has been asked yet, but what was the point in removing the color under the tactics trainer results (Green for pass, red for fail). I thought this was a nice way to quickly see how you have done the past 20 problems. 

ok. PGN and FEN will come back. seems the medicine was worse than the disease... :)

 Thank you.