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Frequently Asked QuestionsWe may have used some terms you do not understand. Many of these are explained on other pages. In these cases we try to explain it here from a different viewpoint. Rules
Guests and members
Terms used and acronyms
Features
How to…
Problems
No answer?
If your question is not answered here or on other pages of the site, feel free to RulesThat depends on the league you play in - and on the type of chess program.
In the Human Chess League (HCL) the use of "chess engines" is strictly forbidden. A chess engine is a computer or computer program that calculates moves. The use of chess database software, however, is considered as similar to the use of chess books. These database programs are allowed as long as you do not use their built in move calculating facilities. Please read the In the Advanced Chess League (ACL) the use of such chess engines is required. But you are free to use your own brain and decide if you make the proposed move of your engine. The Computer Chess League (CCL) is for chess engines only. Here, you must make the move your computer proposed - even if this move loses immediately.
The What shall I do if I suspect my opponent of cheating? It is virtually impossible to *prove* that some player used a computer (or got help from a stronger player) - even if some games provide much reason to get suspicious. There are only two "good" solutions:
Don't try to "prove" that your opponent is cheating. This leads to nowhere. We never can be absolutely sure. But one thing is sure: players cheating with their chess engines are cheating themselfes much more than you and me...
May I use Nalimov table bases in the HCL? Many of you will not know what table bases are. Therefore, I try to explain. These table bases are a database of all possible positions with 5 (or less) pieces on the board. Each of these positions are known as being a win for White or Black - or a draw. As soon as a chess program reaches such an endgame position, it can easily say if the game is won. Yes, it can easily say what the next move should be (it simply selects a move that leads to a won position). One can use these table bases without a "chess engine" (program that calculates moves) to find winning moves by simply following the same method with a chess database program. Chess database programs are allowed at PlayChess since they are considered a modern substitude for opening books and chess magazines. But using Nalimov table bases is not allowed in HCL, because they constitude a way to calculate moves - even if the technical method is different from "normal" chess engine algorithms. May I discuss my running games with friends? No, the FIDE rules forbid that. Of course, you may show your position to a friend, but you should avoid analysing the game with him - especially (but not only) if he is a stronger player than you. I can't play for some days. Does this affect my current games? No. As long as your clock does not go below "0d 00:00", any delay is permitted. You need not move "every X days", just move quick enough so that your clock stays well above "0d 00:00". For example, if your clock shows "10d 15:00", you have enough time for a vacation of more than 10 days. You should make sure that every game has at least 10 days on your clock. For longer vacations (more than one week) I would recommend to inform your opponents beforehead - just a matter of courtesy. You can You can use your annual holiday buffer (7, 14 or 21 days) to take a leave if neccessary. The clocks of all your games are stopped during that period. ThanksTo(Theos666)Members and guestsMay I use multiple human player accounts? No, this is strictly forbidden. There are several reasons:
Players using multiple accounts for cheating will be banned from PlayChess. All their accounts will be deleted. Computer accounts. You can have one computer account (for the Computer Chess League) in addition to your human account. You can even use the same email address for both accounts. I have more than 10 running games as a guest - is this a problem? No, not at all. This can happen if your membership period ended. Even if you do not prolong your membership, you can continue all your games. The game limits determine if you may enroll in new tournaments. But they have no influence on already running games. If your number of running games exceeds these game limits, don't worry - simply play your games to their regular end. As soon as your number of running games drops below 10, you can enroll in new tournaments again. What is the difference between "evaluation" and "permanent" guests? Since May 2002 guest accounts are time-limited. After 3 months the guest player can no longer enroll in new tournaments, but can still play his/her running games as before. If you become a member, your account type changes from evaluation to permanent and will continue to be like this - even if your membership ends. This means that you can get a life-long guest membership for the prize of a 3-months membership (currently 8 Euro). The accounts of those lucky players who registered before May 2002, are permanent, too. My evaluation period is over. What shall I do? First of all: you can still continue your running games as before. Please play these games to a regular end. If you like playing at PlayChess, please consider to become a How to…How can I change my email address? This one is easy:
All messages from PlayChess will now be sent to the new email address. How can I stop PlayChess sending me emails? You cannot stop email messages from PlayChess completely, but you can How can I get the game board to reverse orientation? As a member you can configure the orientation of the board. Please follow the following steps.
How do I post my picture on my player home page? Go to your player homepage. Click on "Settings", then on "Personal Data". In the dialog, fill in the field "Image" with the URL to your picture (this must already exist on the web!), e.g. "http://www.mysite.com/images/mypicture.jpg". The images should be ideally 140 pixels high and 110 pixels wide, portrait format (higher than wide) and no more than 10 kBytes. This feature is restricted to paying members. Terms and acronyms
This is the "PlayChess Rating", the rating calculated from your games played here. The What does TER in the tournament table mean? This is the "Tournament Entry Rating", the rating you had when you enrolled for that tournament. This has only little impact since the rating changes at PlayChess are always calculated from the actual ratings - not from the entry ratings. The Tournament Entry Rating is only used to calculate the Rp and Rc values (see below). What does Rc in the tournament table mean? Rc is the rating average of your opponents. What does Rp in the tournament table mean? Rp is the rating performance. Read our section on What does SB in the tournament table mean? This is an acronym of the "Sonneborn-Berger value". It is used to create a unique ranking even if two or more players have the same number of points. The idea is the following: let two players lead a tournament with say, 4 out of 6 possible points - who should be ranked as number 1 and who as number 2? The Sonneborn-Berger value (SB) is a measure of that. The higher your SB the stronger were the opponents you defeated. The SB value is calculated as two times the points of the opponents you defeated plus the points of the opponents you drew with. With the SB value in effect, it is more important to win against a player that makes 3 points in total than against a player that makes only 1 (the first gives you 6, the second only 2 SB points). The SB value is used to create a unique ranking in our tournaments for only one reason:
Grand Prix Points (GPP) were meant as a measure for engagement and success at PlayChess. This number was meant to be used to compare players of any playing strength. However, this concept is currently not used anymore. Maybe, I will introduce it again in the future. FeaturesCan I have the game history in my emails? Your move notification emails can be configured to contain the complete history of moves of your game. Please follow these steps.
As a paying member, you can invite any other player for a so-called private game. Guests, however, can only accept invitations from members, but cannot invite other players themselves. If you prefer, you may try other sites that offer this service: Can I play "real time chess" here? No. But there are lots of sites that provide this service:
The Problems
Please go to the I did not receive my preliminary password. Please try to Sometimes I see an outdated version of a page. You should change the settings of your browser. Currently, it does not always fetch the current page from the PlayChess server, but presents an older version of this page to you. For Internet Explorer, follow these steps:
The names of menus and buttons differ between different version of Internet Explorer - and depend on your language. But maybe this gives you a hint where you should look at. Some parts of the pages are not readable. Probably you use an "exotic" web browser that does not support all features of the HTML standard. Please The pages of this site are optimized for "state of the art" browsers like Internet Explorer 5+ and Netscape Communicator 6+. I recommend to use Netscape 6+, Opera 5+ or Internet Explorer 5+, because their support of the HTML standard is much better than that of Netscape 4.x. Most pages of this site look best on Internet Explorer. (I am not a friend of Microsoft - just practical) The chess viewer applet does not show up You should activate Java in your browser. The chess viewer applet does not load any games The viewer applet is visible, but you cannot load any games. You should change the security settings in your browser. | |||||||||||||||
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