WELCOME THE NEWGROUNDS BBS CHESS CLUB (V2.0)
For latest announcements, polls, and tournament scheduling/progress, please click here.
Opening post contents:
i) About
ii) How to Join
iii) Games: Tournaments and Exhibitions
iv) In-thread discussion
iv) Conduct and Rules
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ABOUT
Over three years ago I began a chess club here (link), and it fell in to disregard when my plans to maintain it were disrupted. This club is a revival effort. With the advent of userpages, it is possible to have a central and updatable page right here on Newgrounds. I have created an account called chessclub for this purpose. It will be the key organizational point for all planned activities outside of NG.
The purpose of this club is to bring the chess players of NG together so we can match wits over a game of chess, discuss tactics, moves or what have you, as well as inspire non-chess players to learn how to play. An eventual goal is to have enough active members so that one can easily find a willing opponent right here from NG to compete with at almost any given time. Another goal is to hold regular, organized tournaments, possibly with prizes.
If you're interested, please read on:
HOW TO JOIN
First off, anyone is welcome, so long as you make sure to read this opening post. I highly encourage you non-chess players who stumble across this to give it a shot and learn to play, it can be a very rewarding experience.
Technically, you don't have to go through a process to enjoy this thread. Feel free to start or participate in a discussion in this thread. However, if you plan on networking with people and getting some chess games played with NG members, you should register on the chessclub userpage (please read the following first).
Registration:
There is only one crucial piece of information required for registration, and that is your username that you use with an external game site that hosts chess, so we know who you are there and on NG.
Currently, this club is going to chiefly use the sites:
http://www.pogo.com
http://www.yahoo.com
So your first task will be to sign up for at least one of these sites (I recommend both). If you already have an account there, it is okay to use that but it would be preferable if you had "NG" somewhere in the screenname. It's also handy to start a new account that you use only with this chess club so that your progress here can be more accurately tracked. These recommendations are only optional, of course.
Extra information, such as your AIM, MSN, or other IM contacts would be very handy as well.
Once you've gathered what information you need, please click here to register. Be sure to remember to list which chess-sites your screenname is associated with.
The list generated from registering users will also serve as our memberlist, so to speak, so you can find and connect to other players, and update your friends' lists on your pogo and/or Yahoo accounts.
If you need to change/update your registry information, simply register again and PM me so I can delete your older entry.
GAMES: TOURNAMENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
Tournaments
The execution of these events will likely vary quite a bit as we progress with this club. The main component of each one will be handled by separate news posts made by the chessclub account. I envision the process to go something like this:
The structure of each tournament (e.g. Round Robin design, points, duration, time limits for the games, etc.) will be discussed amongst members here in this thread and/or via instant messenger. When it is agreed upon, a tournament registration page will be posted by chessclub where people announce their participation, and depending on the nature of the structure, what times would be best for them to play, which chess site they prefer, etc. This registration period will either be left for a certain amount of time or terminated by a participant cap.
The tournament organizer(s) will compile the list and create a schedule of matches, which will be posted on a different chessclub news post. Matches may be scheduled at specific times or left up to the opponents to organize between themselves before a certain date. When a game or series of games is finished, the winner of the match will post a comment saying that they won, or the loser can say they lost. (Conflicts should be rare, as we're hoping to attract honest members and the sites both have move-history logs by email, and Yahoo actually logs wins/losses).
When all games have been played or the predetermined duration period is up, the organizer(s) will compile the comments and announce winners. What prizes may be in store will depend largely on the success of this club. Establishing an inter-club leaderboard and ranking system is a likely venture.
Exhibition Games
When there isn't a tournament on, you may simply want to challenge a fellow NGer to a game. For this purpose, a Game Request post has been set up on chessclub, and you can simply scroll to the bottom of the comments to see what users are available to play. Granted, this may not be highly populated in the club's young period or during certain times of day, but I expect it to pick up.
Please follow the instructions in the post before advertising a game: link.
(Of course, you can arrange games in this thread too. But the userpage thing might work better if you'd rather not rifle through this thread looking for advertisements. If using this thread turns out to be more efficient, we'll scrub the news post idea).
IN-THREAD DISCUSSION
Though it's the chess club, it doesn't necessarily always have to be chess related, though discussion should not tangent too far off that line for too long a time. Besides playing, there are many things to discuss, if you're stuck for things to say.
Tactics, favourite pieces, favourite strategies, famous players, famous games, the history of chess... there are also many variants of chess aside from the standard play. Basically, I'm trying to say to try and keep on topic, but don't feel you MUST mention something about chess in every post.
RULES AND CONDUCT
As far as posting goes, of course regular BBS rules apply.
Since I'll likely be the primary mod in here, please acquaint yourself with my BBS policies if you haven't already.
A note: please don't bump this thread constantly if you're advertising for players. Post ONCE, and post how long you plan to wait and where you'll be waiting. Try IMing members, or using the chessclub Exhibition Games post.
As for playing games on the external sites:
- If you're caught spamming or being disruptive in any of the room or lobby chats, I'm going to count that as "raiding" and treat it as if you did it here.
- Pulling any wiseass moves during a game in order to try and gain an unfair advantage in any sort of way will get you banned from tournaments and will likely cause other players to avoid you in any other sort of game. Just play fair, and be vigilant WHEN you play.
I believe that is all. Any amendments or announcements will be made on the chessclub blog, so check there often if you plan on being an active member.
Cheers, and good luck.
