They do have prizes. In a current event the winner in each section gets free coaching from a strong player.
FIDE should give out online titles
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I think the internet is a great medium for playing chess. People from all over the world can play together in a very convenient manner.
I imagine that in terms of the 'number of games conducted per day', online chess is now far more popular that OTB. The convenience is such, that it is difficult to imagine how the situation can be otherwise.
The popularity of online chess is only going to increase. As computers become more accessible, and future generations embrace the internet, it is going to be the number 1 way to play chess (if it isn't already).
So I agree with the OP that it is somewhat obtuse of FIDE to completely disregard it.
Cheating is of course an issue. However I feel it is deeply wrong for us to be so consumed by the thought of cheating that we give up on an entire technology.
There is always going to be some element of 'foul play' no matter what we try to do. If we always let it stop us before we've started, then we would never have email because of spammers, we would never have computers because of viruses, we would probably never have anything.
Cheating is a fact of life; It is always going to be there. It happens in all sports and games, no matter how well supervised. OTB chess is not immune to it either. All we can do is try to stay one step ahead. We shouldn't let it defeat us.
I have heard a lot of people talking about how difficult it can be to get norms, especially in the US. It does seem silly that US players have to travel all the way to Europe to get norms, when chess can easily be played live over a computer (and probably just as well supervised).
I also think it would be nice if online ratings could be translated more easily to official club ratings. There is no reason why good players should have to spend a year unrated and underrated, because they haven't chased enough OTB games.
I'm not saying that we should introduce online titles tomorrow, but I do think organisations like FIDE and the ECF need to get with the 21st century a bit more.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#24
SmackCakes wrote:
I think the internet is a great medium for playing chess. People from all over the world can play together in a very convenient manner.
I imagine that in terms of the 'number of games conducted per day', online chess is now far more popular that OTB. The convenience is such, that it is difficult to imagine how the situation can be otherwise.
The popularity of online chess is only going to increase. As computers become more accessible, and future generations embrace the internet, it is going to be the number 1 way to play chess (if it isn't already).
So I agree with the OP that it is somewhat obtuse of FIDE to completely disregard it.
Cheating is of course an issue. However I feel it is deeply wrong for us to be so consumed by the thought of cheating that we give up on an entire technology.
There is always going to be some element of 'foul play' no matter what we try to do. If we always let it stop us before we've started, then we would never have email because of spammers, we would never have computers because of viruses, we would probably never have anything.
Cheating is a fact of life; It is always going to be there. It happens in all sports and games, no matter how well supervised. OTB chess is not immune to it either. All we can do is try to stay one step ahead. We shouldn't let it defeat us.
I have heard a lot of people talking about how difficult it can be to get norms, especially in the US. It does seem silly that US players have to travel all the way to Europe to get norms, when chess can easily be played live over a computer (and probably just as well supervised).
I also think it would be nice if online ratings could be translated more easily to official club ratings. There is no reason why good players should have to spend a year unrated and underrated, because they haven't chased enough OTB games.
I'm not saying that we should introduce online titles tomorrow, but I do think organisations like FIDE and the ECF need to get with the 21st century a bit more.
I wish that that had been my OP. Because you have just expressed my point of view far better than I did. Yes. It won't happen tomorrow - I agree. But I can only see online FIDE titles being a matter of time. For me 2020 to 2025 will be when they are commonplace.
You do realize that FIDE is not affiliated with ICC, chess.com, chesscube, FICS, or any other chess sites right, and as such cannot give titles. Chess.com could give their own titles, but no one would really care or believe they meant anything, so there's no point. Not to mention that no one tries in correspondance here and blitz is not real chess. Man, this is a dumb thread.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#26
shepi13 wrote:
You do realize that FIDE is not affiliated with ICC, chess.com, chesscube, FICS, or any other chess sites right, and as such cannot give titles. Chess.com could give their own titles, but no one would really care or believe they meant anything, so there's no point. Not to mention that no one tries in correspondance here and blitz is not real chess. Man, this is a dumb thread.
*****
That is correct right now: FIDE is not affiliated with online chess sites. But I can in about 2020 - 2025 only see 2 outcomes:
[1.] FIDE continues as it is right now including such a lack of affiliation with sites like this one. Online chess will roll on like a juggernaut. Titles for online chess will be given out anyway regardless of what FIDE does. If FIDE wants to be left behind an d only matter to the remnants of otb chess that remain - in my opinion a clique of professional players and some scholastic otb chess as in Brooklyn Castle - then that is FIDE's choice to join the Dodo as something extinct.
[2] FIDE could take some notice of people like myself as a market and chess players and recognise the 21st century as a new post-internet world. I left school in 1992. People who have grown up with the internet since will never appreciate what a massive change the internet is for people who grew up in a pre-internet world.
If you put me in front of the people who run FIDE and asked me to give them a 5 minute talk on "how to be relevant to the 21st century" I would give some version of these 2 points.
Wiki_brah wrote:
The way I thnk it could be regulated is that FIDE could sponsor internet-based tournaments.
The players would have to play at a centralised location though, like in a big computer room, with federation inspected machines and be monitored the entire time.
I don't think this idea is any good if one could get an "on line" title just sitting in his underwear in a barca-lounger at home, smoking reefer and watching "Get Smart" on the television. Chess is supposed to be a sport after all.
That is not what the LinusBeak was saying though, I think he was more thinking of FIDE internet titles in competitions where the players had to use the internet all together, in one controlled location.
im pretty sure he means just sitting at home in your underwear becoming an online GM.
But whats the point of everyone going somewhere to play chess against each other over the computer? wouldnt it be easier to use boards? The computers of each individual competitior would need to be next to each other so that they can confirm no outside help is being given and disputes can be settled.
AnthonyCG wrote:
Wiki_brah wrote:
Why not? Just get a larger room. Use a convention centre if need be.
Who is going to pay for convention center rooms packed with hundreds of computers and software?
^^this
Its just a pointless idea, if everyones going to the same place anyway, why not use boards?
Oct 31, 2012
0
#29
I don't think that a convention centre is needed. I am happy for people to play from their own computers or mobile devices. The issue of supervision of games is interesting. Especially with mobile devices - who knows what will be around in 2020 in that respect? What MIGHT happen though and this is a bit of "blue sky" thinking is that when you look at a program like Watson winning jeopardy I could see AI getting to the stage of being as good as a human supervisor. Thus a condition of getting an online title could be to have such AI on throughout the games.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#30
Well, some of us would keep our clothes on! 
There would be special events that would be relevant; the majority of online games would not be classed as relevant. But if you entered an event that was relevant to it then you would get playing. You could have what I call "rolling 90 30" events. That is, you play as many 90 30 games as you want for the whole year - play 1 a day if you wish. At the end of the year you are given a rated score of your wins in relation to the strength of the opposition. So yes everyone could win 50 games. BUT what is the strength of those players that you got the wins against? I won't get any title for beating people below 2000. But if I got some wins against say, people who are over 2400 then along with a statistical formula for playing strength/performance etc then a title may be gained.
This is a bit like qualifying for the olympics. A runner can enter as many events that he or she wants to get the "A" time. But if they enter 500 events without getting it they don't qualify.
Online chess, at best, is something to do when you can't play face-to-face. Long games are a quicker option than snail mail, and fast games add a bit of excitement.
The larger issue with parity between face-to-face and online chess is the decline of social capital in our society. We have somehow fooled ourselves into thinking that the Internet is a real substitute for a true sense of belonging within our real life communities.
For me, there is no comparison between playing online, and staying tough at a two day face-to-face tournament.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#32
Actually I agree with you DazedKnight that there is a sad aspect to online life compared to real soclial interaction. I would like to play otb chess for that reason. But I cannot do so for various reasons that I have covered in other threads.
There will be some people for whom face to face chess will always be the only kind of chess that's worth anything. That's fine. OTB will always exist. But I am confident that by 2020 about 90 percent of all chess played will be online.
I don't see handles as being an issue [wiki's pt] as long as they are connected to the same person; before you start a relevant title-gaining game a pin code, iris scan whatever would ensure that the same person was playing. Of course you can never fully stop someone from cheating by their coach telling them to move etc. But you can do as much as possible to deal with that by requiring the same code to be put in after the game as well.
I expect that there would be some formal process before you became eligible for an online title attempt that's similar to the requirements for a passport etc in terms of document pts.
One great thing about this system that's occurred to me is this. Pfren and other titled people on this site go for norms. It can be a mathematical and practical nightmare? Is the event satisfying the requirements of FIDE for enough GMs, is the average playing strength high enough? Damn. GM Edvins Kengis and Hecht have dropped out and gone home. Where does leave my wins now? What a complete and utter mess that can be.
Imagine the situation online. You press one button that uses a title formula algorithim. It TELLS YOU if you are eligible, who you would play against towards taht end etc. It's all there in your hands. No unknowns. No ifs. No buts. And if you geta title you will know at least from the mathematical standpoint that you are titled. All that may remain would be the "political paperwork" of your games going to the relevant organisation such as FIDE. It would be THAT simple.
If I were trying to be a GM I know which of the two ways I would choose. Even if other people did cheat.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#33
No. They wouldn't. You would only need to do that if you were trying to make yourself eligible for a title. All other casual and assorted online chess players could continue as normal.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#34
Wiki_brah wrote:
Linuxx:
You mentioned that you dont want to play OTB for reasons before mentioned. I missed those, could you please tell us again?
I don't like the idea of allowing people to compete for officially rated and titled events from home. There just would be no control over what the player was doing.
Just imagine your online title match: Player one sitting in a chair in front of his computer quietly, with just his scoresheet, maybe having a cigarette or a drink but more or less comporting himself as if he were in a tournament hall.
He's playing Player Two "on line." Player two has got about 10 guys over at his house while the game's going on, half of them are chess experts. All of them are discussing the game, suggesting moves, taking notes, with the ECO, MCO, databases, tablebases, speciality opening manuals and every other printed aid they have all over a conference table. There's plenty of food to eat and the guys even end up calling over a couple hookers about an hour into the match just to loosen things up.
Meanwhile, Player one is quietly sitting there with just his pencil in his hand.
That's what the "online" games will be.
************
That is why a sustained level of performance is required for any titled OTB or online. In any 1 game a player can cheat. But over a number of games? Well, I suppose that there is always one in anything.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#35
I have not found otb chess players to be sociable or nice people. It's that simple for why I stopped playing otb chess.
Actually there are some titled players on this chess site that I have met in real life who were nasty to me. I don't want to give names. But such people would be wise to be civil to me on this site. Because I could start dropping names if I wished to.
Oct 31, 2012
0
#36
I have different experiences. I have accused people of cheating a few times on other chess sites. I have messaged them about it. Most times they have messaged me back and have convinced me that they weren't cheating by [1] explaining the logic of how I lost and [2] referring me to specific articles online where they learnt the named opening etc.
Maybe it is just me but I have believe it or not found honest people online. I've even apologised to them for making the accusation.
Why not submit this forum topic to FIDE themselves? See what they say and tell us. This should be a thrill...
Oct 31, 2012
0
#38
I think that I have addressed that at various pts.
OK. How do I send this entire thread to FIDE?
I am serious. I want to send it. I mean, I expect that they are a clique of 60+ dinosaurs who wouldn't know the internet from a pack of sultanas.
But anyway, let's send it. What do I do? Please tell me.
linuxblue1 wrote:
Actually there are some titled players on this chess site that I have met in real life who were nasty to me. I don't want to give names.
Who were they?
Personally I cant think of any aus titled players i know of whove seemed nasty
but none of them are for anything other than a pixelated trophy right?