Did anyone recently extend his membership? Mine will run out in a week, and I am in an ugly sitation in that I technically cannot pay - my problem is not that I don’t want to risk an annual Rook amount or don’t have the money, the problem is that I cannot get it to Fencer.

If you care to know why, read on below. If you are willing to help me and live in Germany, let me know (I don’t expect you to pay for me, just execute the transaction for me)

First, I cannot use Paypal, as Paypal has blocked me for life (for the incredible vile crime of having transactions in two different countries). In the past, after discussing with Fencer about it, I simply used a bank-to-bank transfer to his account; as I have an account in Germany, that was easy and fee-free. However, my bank has now started to disallow international transfers without two-factor authentication (in the name of security), but they only offer mobile TAN to german mobile phones (I don’t live in Germany, so I don’t have a german mobile phone), and they cannot handle international SMS. As a result, I can no longer send money to Fencer.
What I am looking for is a volunteer X in Germany, so I can transfer (Überweisung) the required amount to X (national transfers still work with paper TANs, which I have), and then X pays to Fencer in my name. Anyone? If so, send me a personal message with your name and IBAN, and I’ll order a membership, and transfer the respective amount to you.
Thanks!

crosseyed: Gone now the scheduled downtime must have sorted the glitches.

it's a bird...it's a plane...it's a BK system upgrade!

crosseyed: Still there today.

heavenrose: Thank you.

Happy New Year!

Clandestine 1: Thank you and Happy New Year to you and yes I do hope we will be here this time next year.

Happy new year to everyone.

Fencer:
Happy New Year Fencer

Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully I can say this again next year to you all!

Fencer:

Fencer: It is still 2017 here in Colorado.
Happy New Year!

Yes, we are still here.

Carpe Diem: Thank you. I hope you had a Happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

MrDelete: thank you! Same to you 

Merry Christmas

ketchuplover: In your dreams.

Me thinks it's time for a brainking.com membership fire sale. 75% off all paid membership through the end of 2017. Prices so hot they're on fire! Void where prohibited. Non-Sectarian. Not for profit.

playBunny: lol ... or visit me on jijbent.nl ;-)

Hrqls: against most opponents it's usually point 3 or 5 ... but against you, from now on, it will be point 4 :-)

Lol. Then I shall make a point of seeking calmness and tranquillity of mind.

Aganju: Yes, my opponent was going to be up against that limit a few moves later, and I was aware of it. I don't believe there was any malicious intent here; just a matter of them wanting to get as many pieces home as they could, I suppose.

Carpe Diem: well said.

Btw, Halma has a rule that you _must_ remove all your pieces from your own home after N moves, or you automatically lose. Although N is I think 30 or 50 depending on board size, and that is quite high. It is a bit like the 50-move rule in chess - only that one turned out to be too short after all, as now there are endgames known that force mate in more than 50 moves.

Glad I brought this up; some very interesting points.

playBunny: good points :-)

against most opponents it's usually point 3 or 5 ... but against you, from now on, it will be point 4 :-)

Aganju:that’s a good point. Some people collect Achievement points whereas others have no idea what they are. 

Clandestine 1: I especially hate being resigned on in the Dice Poker games. Several times I had managed to get 'Values in all Boxes', and my opponent resigned two moves before the end, denying me the achievement.

But generally, I agree.
If the game is mathematically lost, you should resign. There are other sites where this is implemented (the game just ends), but it is not trivial to code that for each game.

Carpe Diem: it's OK to resign! [,,,] why drag things out?

It might surprise you but for some people, it's not. They'd rather play the loss than resign it. It may or may not be related to suicide versus natural death. ;o)

Another possibility is that the person thinks that they're doing you a favour by giving you the satisfaction of the final, winning, move. I do know that I sometimes feel robbed of that minor pleasure when someone resigns close to the end.

A third possibility is that "mathematically eliminated" does not always occur to the non-mathematically minded.

A fourth ... an opponent might be resentful of the loss and dragging it out to punish you.

The most likely, I would guess, is thoughtlessness or mindlessness; the force of habit.... The game appears, the player moves, on to the next....

Carpe Diem: I think sometimes opponents try to see how many moves in a day they can make. Even a losing move/game counts as a move made. 

Hrqls: That is if they do not have the message box cancelled.

Carpe Diem: Yes I agree with you on that. So when I have that situation I resign and explain why.

Hrqls: Yeah, I certainly could, but I don't feel strongly enough to bother with that most of the time - just enough tonight for a small rant on the boards instead. :) And in this particular case, it's someone with in-game comments shut off. I feel better now anyway. :D

Carpe Diem: send a pm to your opponent, and ask them in the comments in the game .. most will resign after you ask them

Brief rant - it's OK to resign! I understand playing a game through to the end, especially when there is the possibility of some learning coming out of it. But once you are mathematically eliminated, and nothing is to be gained even in terms of knowledge, why drag things out? 

Carnie:
No, your opponent was a pawn. Took your King and promoted to a Rook.
Just use the move arrows to go back 1 move.