ketchuplover: Nope, Brainking doesn't reconize draw positions other than stalemate. If one or both players refuse to declare a draw you need to contact Fencer to end the game manually.

Fencer: Great idea

suentun: If you mean this game, it says "no vacation days" in the time control 

thisbeme: "Some games don't end if you can't move, you have to pass! e.g. Lines of Action/backgammon/Ludo"

And if the rules claimed those games used "standard CHESS rules", your point might actually be relevant.

Stalemate is in fact quite common in chess. It's the most common cause of draw with the exception of agreement to draw between the players. There are entire books written on how to cause stalemate and how to avoid it. It's a basic rule of the game.

thisbeme: Rules don't mention the knight moves in L and the bishop in diagonal. They just state "standard chess rules to move".

Universal Eyes: That and a fast network

MissDelish: cos you're too addicted to online boarding games?

El Cid: Yes, there was a change in Mainland Portugal (not so in the islands) from GMT to CET around the time the Schengen Area was implemented, so as to keep the same time zone as most Schengen Area countries, resulting in the Mainland being 1 hour ahead of Madeira and 2 hours ahead of Azores. Though we didn't actually stop DST, we just didn't reverse DST in winter that year, making it the new standard time - the following years adopted DST normally, just one hour ahead.

They quickly moved it back as, since people were going to work in the dark, they were more tired in early morning and employers reported a decrease in productivity as a result. All the regulations in the world won't reform biology: human beings have an innate tendency to feel more sleepy when it's dark and to have trouble sleeping when there's too much light.

happyjuggler0: Wouldn't Americans then be one our off on this site for 6 months per year rather than 2 weeks?

Thad: Those who programmed the clock he's using?

ketchuplover: Well April just started, and most people don't log in every day (specially on a Sunday), so it's not really an estimation of site activity.

Thad: I don't think that's really Fencer's fault, the system clock just acts that way: since czech time is the default, it'll use the European DST settings and calculate every other time zone from there. So those living in regions with different DST settings will see a one hour lag for a while unless they "cheat" by selecting a different time zone.

This problem is common in most websites I know, and usually works in reverse: since most websites are American, they run on American DST settings and those of us in Europe will see a one hour difference in the clock.

ketchuplover: By "this month", do you mean April?

plaintiger: After adding the person to your friends, go to the friends list and there should be a padlock symbol next to the name. Click on it to add/remove public friends (you'll need to wait for permission from them).

rabbitoid: Ditto! How come I never get these?

Gabriel Almeida: Agreed.

Fencer: "I don't think it's a critical issue when people can play unlimited number of tournaments"

True, but not everyone can - even those with paid subscriptions (knights and bishops) may be prevented from playing tournaments of a particular game for years.

Thad: Indeed, it should be possible to start the next round once the section winners are mathematically decided, even if there are games left. I'm not sure how much of a trouble it would be to code that however...

beach: Well said. I know it may be hard for some of the "10000 moves in a day" record-holders in here to believe, but some people actually do have a life outside online gaming, anc cannot afford to spend more than 10 minutes in a row at this site. The reason people pick longer time per move games is precisely so they can use that time - otherwise they'd join faster-paced games instead!

I realise this must be frustrating for pawns and knights who have a game limit, but for rooks? If that extra game in your list bothers you that much, it's time to recheck your priorities. Sorry if I sound rude, but if people are expecting "30 seconds per move" games, maybe they're in the wrong website.

happyjuggler0: Good suggestion, except in point 3 you need to check when your opponent made his last move, as that's when your clock starts ticking

moistfinger: Click on the fellowship name and scroll down, right at the bottom there should be a button to leave (remember to tick the checkbox first).

If there isn't one, you probably still have fellowship games or tournaments going on, and you need to finish them before you can leave.

The Col: I don't think you can check them off anymore. Auto-vacation is the default system now.

skyw7: Only you and your opponent can see in-game messages, no one else can (not sure about Fencer) ;)

skyw7: If he refuses even after you asked him to, you can send a PM to Fencer asking him to end the game manually.

1 - When you register to the site it's assumed you have read the terms and conditions and agree to abide by them. The fact that most people don't is besides the point: if you decide to register and complain afterwards about rules you should've read before, that's your problem.

2 - If you're seriously ill on a hospital bed and the first (or even the 50th) thing that comes to your mind is "I'm gonna time out on BrainKing if I don't get internet access soon", then you REALLY need to set your priorities straight!

thisbeme: I thought that's what autopass was for?

Gabriel Almeida: Either way, the fact that the page with that message was showing might explain why the "downforeveryoneorjustme" site found no problem connecting here. It could connect and receive a webpage, just not the one we're used to seeing (but the program can't know that).

furbster: You already have a black rook, so why do you need it?

rod03801: "No one is forced to belong to any Fellowship. ... It's VERY easy to not see their contents."

Well said

new mexico: You can buy another year even before your membership runs out, it adds 12 months to the membership time you already have.

plaintiger: Settings --> Game filter --> scroll down

Currently only available for backgammon variants. We definitely need an option for Ludo as well.

Gabriel Almeida: I can see it fine, using Chrome.

I remember reading that knights/bishops could play one single-player tournament per game type at once, and only one team tournament at once, but I can no longer find it either.

Bwild: "I imagine the alphabets are quite different also.... what would be the French equivilant of "q"?"

I'm pretty sure English and French have the same alphabet, though of course some letters are more used in one language than the other.

Artful Dodger: Maybe he manually set those days? Or is in a "weekend"?

Bernice: you also have to take into account that a member could keep signing on for tournaments in order to prevent the BB from removing them, just out of spite.

If a BB wants to remove someone from a fellowship they should be able to, and unless I'm mistaken, tournaments you've signed on for would still be played as usual right?

Bwild: Fellowships were created for the purpose of team matches, but so many are there for discussion only. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing, Fencer just wants to separate them into 2 categories: those for chat and discussion (groups), and those for team matches (fellowships).

MadMonkey: It depends on how you set the tournament. In a normal tournament a draw will result in the weakest player going through. If you set the tournament as "1 win matches" the game will be replayed until there's a winner.

MadMonkey: Not if the tournament creator specifically states that a victory is necessary to go through. If that is the case the game is replayed.

Doris: Maybe they were not pawns at the time, so their records appeared there and remained

MadMonkey: Just curious, what happens if a team signs up for a tournament, and one of the players' membership expires just before the tournament starts. Does the team get booted out of that tournament?

Pedro Martínez: that makes 4 of us

cd power: I don't have anything against anyone either - in fact, I don't recall ever having a problem with any user on this site. I don't even know who the user is/was or the reason for the ban.

My point is: the person was banned, for whatever reason, and has now returned. If Fencer gave that person permission to return, that's fine by me - or rather, I couldn't give a crap about it. If he hasn't, then it's a ban violation.

Pedro Martínez: That's absurd. A ban is a ban, and the banned person can only return after getting permission from the site administrator to do so. That's the rule in every web site I know. As far as I know, this hasn't happened.

New accounts from banned PEOPLE (known as sock-puppet accounts) are closed the moment they are discovered. Yes, it's true that administrators can't be expected to monitor every account, but once they're informed of a particular account they ban it as well.

The concept of banning an account but allowing the person to come back is something I have never heard of in so many years on the internet. Accounts don't violate site policy, people do.

That's like saying that if you commit a crime but change your name you can no longer get arrested because it was a different name that commited it

Hrqls: But a lot of those games are putting tournaments on hold

Czuch: Yeah, but personally I hate it when I win by timeout. It doesn't feel like a real victory.

If I realise I will lose the game in the next few moves I play it to the end. If I see I will lose but it'll take a long time I resign. What's the point of dragging a tournament just in case my opponent makes a stupid move or times out?

Bluefin: If you choose 12 games with alternate colours, the server will create 12 separate games, 6 with white and 6 with black. If you choose 2 games, it will create one of each.

If you want a match against a single opponent that consists of several games in a row, choose the 4th option (the one just above the chat box).

MadMonkey: It still says "Waiting", yet the games have strated already. Also, on the main page it says there are 9 players on the tournament, but I only count 8.

Should we start making a list of all the problems this tournament has?

AbigailII: Not to mention it's very easy to fake an achievement like that.