thisbeme:
I don't agree that trying to win on time is pathetic, it is just part of the game. The same thing happens in over the board chess, if you have a half hour game or a longer game with the clocks going back to be completed in 15 mins it sometimes comes down to player with a technically won position being short of time and losing. Time management is part of the game on brainking and competitive over the board chess.

thisbeme: I think players play lost games not because achievement, but because lack of chess etiquette. They are mostly beginners and they play until end and they hadnt occasion to learn it as we both had. I agree with you, it is anoying, but we can do nothing with it. Even more annoying it is in positions which are mathematically lost like often happens in backgammon or dice poker.

Even on ICCF server can play beginners and rules has count with every possibility. You can try to ask someone from ICCF:)

I disagree with you also in case of 3fold repetition (and also 50 moves rule). Such programs shouldnt be allowed. It is responsibility of every player to watch for for such situation and when this occure to inform referee. Referee on BK is Fencer and he can claim game as draw if you tell him (and you are right:). And he did it quite quick in my game. In OTB game you havnt such program, have you?

thisbeme: hooray for the constructive feedback! every site needs fresh ideas from its players

i dont know if you already did so, but could you post the mancala variant on the feature request board or on the mancala board ?

the reason why there is not real 'autopass' is that in that way there can be no talk between the (passed) game moves .. personally i would love real autopass or maybe an option to turn it off and on .. but fencer likes this site to be more social than the usual game sites on which you just make your moves

cd power:
This site has a 1000/2000 move/most moves in a day achievement. This means that lost games are more likely played on when the game if no longer entertaining.
The Laws of chess are clear the lone King never wins.
ICCF doesn't envisage a player playing on with bare king and there is no incentive to play on with a bare king. My suspicion is a bare king on ICCF wouldn't get the point and if it did the rule would change. They have rules envisaging the possiblity of adjudication and backdating time extension.

Implementing the Laws of Chess can't be that hard there numerous open source programs that correctly detect 3 fold repetition, 50 move rule and insufficent mating material.

As to why so many game.
When I was a pawn and later a knight I tried to enter prize tournament only to be denied due to no unrated players being allowed.
When my knight was about to go back to a pawn I entered as many tournaments as I would be severely restricted as a pawn.

It is perverse that the pawn can in theory win higher membership, only to be denied entry to free prize event due to lack of rating and the ratings take ages to get because of restriction on games.

This issue isn't about me, it is about whether a player who can't obtain the victory conditions of a game on the board should gain victory on the clock.

If someone really doesn't understand they are totally lost or really wants a game to accumulate moves fine, but anyone who thinks they should get a so called "timeout win" when it is impossible to achieve the game victory condition is IMO a bit pathetic..

Would this site be better if chess rules were correctly implemented?
Would it be better if you didn't have to make to click pass or enter the only legal move available?
My understanding is Fencer actually wants to improve this site and can only do that with constructive feedback.

happyjuggler0:
The same person who responds to bug posts told me as much. I noticed I timed out and was showing over 30 points (if you get 25 you've won usually)!

BTW why have mancala (blatantly won for the starter) and not Owari/Oware which is drawn with perfect play and a better game?

cd power: Exactly

rabbitoid and lukulus: I agree with both of you, well said.

thisbeme: I enjoy the games I am playing against you, so don't take this the wrong way, but if you are so worried about timeouts, then why are you playing over 3,500 games at once? The bulk of the responsibility belongs to you, and I don't like that you're placing fault with this great gaming site that Fencer has built.

Anyway, there are some arcane rules that are extremely difficult or costly to implement. For the chess draw rules, for example, to be able to recognise a 3 time repetition of the position you'd need to memorize something to identify a position for each move, and compare the position to previous ones after each move. It can be done, of course, but slow down the server.

To implement this timeout draw rule, which is controvertial anyway the server would need to know which position are "unwinnable" or "unlosable". OK, some things are obvious as a lonely king, but others are just as unwinnable and far less easy to identify.

Surely there are more important things to implement and correct on brainking?

This is not OTB game. Playing on BK or similiar server is like playing correspondence chess on ICCF webserver. And there is time exceeding counted as forfeit - look at point 6.f http://www.iccf.com/rules/2009/PRWebserver2009.pdf

thisbeme: For those interested as to what the "official" chess rules are regarding this situation, please check out rule 6.9 at the following link:

http://www.fide.com/component/handbook/?id=124&view=article

This should validate thisbeme's complaint regarding the mistaken chess rules here. Well, that is assuming you can indeed lose on time here at BK even though it is impossible for your opponent to mate you. I haven't played chess here so I can't verify or refute that claim.

thisbeme: But it is mentioned in the chess rules here that this kind of draws are not currently supported..

thisbeme: Not having automated passes and forced moves has been hot topic of discussion as long i have been on this site. And from what i heard its been discussed long before that too, probably since the beginning of BK. I think those auto-moves would be the number one thing to improve this site. But for some shoddy reasoning it has never been implemented.

The other point you make is a valid one too. If your opponent has insufficient material to win you should be able to claim a draw in chess. Even if you time out.

I've been informed that timing out even if in a position that is theoretically impossible to lose (like if facing a bare king at chess) is always a loss here!!

The laws of chess are clear that this scenario should be a draw.

It is insane to reward a player with more than they would get, if their opponent made the theoretically worst plays.

Also why isn't auto pass extended to all games will only one legal move/no legal moves?
On a related matter I don't need to acknowledge that I've lost the initial dice roll any more than I acknowledge that I go 2nd in other games.
Passing and making only moves is a big waste of time.

Fencer: yes thats what I meant, but deleting the cache in Firefox fixed it, after checking out safari and IE.. never saw that before though

GT: What do you mean "lost the grid"? You can see the board but not the lines between squares?

cd power: hey that did CD! thanks so much... seemed kinda strange for a min.

ahh it works in IE but not firefox

GT: you probably need to clear out the cache on your web browser

I lost the grid in the battleboats games and other games like ludo,actually all my games

happyjuggler0: thanks so much :).....I just wondered, it isn't a problem

Bernice: I assume it was these 3 games that you were talking about. They don't allow vacation days.

Hyper Backgammon (alilsassy vs. Bernice)
Hyper Backgammon (FilsdeTycho vs. Bernice)
Hyper Backgammon (Bernice vs. Sarah)

Bernice: probably games which didnt allow vacation days
games with a green dot only allow weekend days and no vacation days
games with a red dot allow no weekend days and no vacation days either

Gordon Shumway: thanks...I went there and it was already turned on :( so dont know what happened. All I know is I timed out on 3 games :(

furbster: can you see this?

http://brainking.com/en/ReadEvent?evid=400647&mfc=255

furbster: UMMMMM....I have no idea LOL...

Bernice: it appears you already have automatic vacation on, were they fischer clock games?

Bernice: http://brainking.com/en/Settings?p=1 there you can turn on automatic vacation.

Do I have to turn on holidays or anything?....I timed out in 3 games over the 3 days I wasnt online because of the cyclone. and if I have to set anything please advise where I have to go to do it....I have read and re-read and cant see anywhere.

Bernice: You : and us :

Mélusine:none for me now either LOL....12 hours later ROFLMBO

Bernice: No problem for me.

furbster: OK here.

all normal here, too

Bernice: not me .... everything working perfectly

are others having a great deal of trouble with the speed of this site?....all others appear to be OK.

thank you both :)...much appreciated

Bernice: And another way would be, go to the Player List link on the left side. Click on the "Level" column. It will then list by membership level. If it starts with pawns, simply click it again, and it will reverse the list for you.

Bernice:Under Paid Membership, in the left column. Each type of membership has the number of people who have that membership. Click the number.

is there any way I can get a list of PAID players only? I dont want to go through dozens of pages and most if not all of them are pawns.

Pedro Martínez: I've a way to go to get the record then

beach: Do you mean that now we must avoid playing with you ?

Artful Dodger: I just had the same thing on another game, with another opponent,

rabbitoid:I'm still waiting for dominoes

Pedro Martínez: Ludo is the most exciting and intellectually demanding game on this site, no question. At least until Fencer introduces Tic Tac Toe, probably in BK version 14.3.

Artful Dodger: As far as I know, the record is 48 consecutive passes. :)
Člověče, nezlob se (fretka vs. saeco)

MadMonkey: Sure !

rabbitoid:

Artful Dodger: Look on the bright side, the game is not over yet

Still, you never know, your opponent needs a 5 (well, at the moment), it could happen to them

Don't mention that Auto-Pass thing either

rabbitoid:

Artful Dodger: The probability of not getting a 6 33 times in a row are (5/6)^33 , about 2.5/1000. Not bad. I recommend buying a lottery ticket, fast, before your luck runs out.