No cookies? No problem!

If you had cookies deactivated in your browser, you could run into problems when you tried to open popup windows (e.g. private notes). The server "forgot" who you are.
I corrected that problem.

Thanks, Randy (AntoniusBloch), for the error report!

Update of game pages

The behaviour of the game pages has changed a little: you can repeatedly preview your moves - and start afresh with the new "New Move" button.

Furthermore I split up the links so that the more important action links stay close to the chess board. The help links might still be pushed down by the "move dialogue" (the move and messages entry form on the right), if it shows a lot of text.

Please note that the version of the updated game pages is 4.02.

Chess clocks with upper limit

We have tournaments where the clocks have an upper limit of 30 days! New tournaments will have this "cut-off" with a 50% chance (pure random). Please be careful to select tournaments that match your personal preferences.

In such "capped" tournaments you cannot accumulate more than 30 days on your clock, no matter how fast you play.

Example:
You have 29 days 23:59 on your clock.
Then you make your move.
Your clock shows 30 days 00:00 (turtle or rabbit alike)

How do I recognize these cut-off tournaments?
In the tournament list is a column "Cut". This value is 30 for cut-off tournaments and 0 for the "classical" tournaments. The tournament page itself shows the cut-off as "10d + 48h < 30d" in the tournament properties on the left side. You can see this at
Tournament list ACL
Tournament ACL-E205

Which tournament type should I choose?
If you normally make your moves in a steady pace, you should choose the cut-offs. Then, you will no longer have to wait such a long time if someone lets his clock run out (in a lost position).
But if you sometimes get in time trouble yourself, you should stick with the "old" tournaments, where you can accumulate enough time to compensate business trips etc.. These classical tournaments are also better if you plan a longer holiday trip (but even better is not starting a new tournament under such circumstances).

FSO Turniergruppen

Die 5 Turniergruppen des Fernschachserver-Opens wurden aufgesetzt. Die Teilnehmer können bereits jetzt sehen, wer ihre Gegner sind. Die Partien sind derzeit noch als "paused" markiert, weil sie ja erst (wie geplant) am 15. Juni 2005 0:00 beginnen.

Eine vorläufige Übersicht über die Turniergruppen finden Sie unter
http://www.playchess.de/tourdir-list.cgi?league=ACL&class=F .

Noch ein Hinweis an die Teilnehmer:
Die versprochenen 2 Monate kostenloser Vollmitgliedschaft werden in den nächsten 2 Tagen aktiviert. Ich bitte noch um Geduld. Viele von Ihnen haben durch die FSO-Partien ihre Spielerlaubnis überschritten, so dass sie keine neuen Partien beginnen können. Auch dies wird bald korrigiert werden.

Preview and Javascript

The Preview button is back! As it seems, some people still prefer to enter their moves with the keyboard (because they disabled Javascript). So I restored our good old Preview button. Furthermore, I improved the error handling in the Javascript code on the game page.

PlayChess update

The promised Improvements have been activated. You can switch languages by clicking on the flag in the main menu.

German:
Die versprochenen Verbesserungen sind jetzt aktiv. Mit einem Klick auf die Flagge im Menü kann man jetzt zwischen Deutsch und Englisch umschalten.

New features

Internal structure
PlayChess has undergone substantial restructuring. I separated textual content from page layout. This makes multiple languages possible, the first "foreign" language will be German.

Features
+ German language (still incomplete)
+ Detection of draw by repetition
+ Detection of draw by 50-move rule
+ long move messages on normal game page (Preview is no longer needed)
+ Holiday requests can be cancelled as long as the games are not paused
+ Private game notes in separate window

When? Within 1-2 days. I am currently engaged in some final tests. This is your last chance for "veto" - please discuss these features in the forum.

Details
The German translation is still quite incomplete. But I focused on the most important pages, so that German players should be able to use the site with only little English. The translation is still going on.
Volunteers for other languages (even German) will be needed soon. But I first have to extend my translation system, then I will call for volunteers. But be warned: I cannot pay anything (except free membership) - and translations are an awful lot of work!

The restructuring needed for the translations may have introduced new errors. Please notify me immediately, if you find an error (please supply a concise description).

The draw detection can be started with a link on every game page. You make the "decisive" move, then click the "claim draw" link => your game is drawn (if the draw conditions are fulfilled). This small deviation from the FIDE rules is intended (for technical reasons).

The field for move messages can grow automatically. You no longer need to (ab)use the Preview button to reach the big message box. Consequently, the Preview button has been removed.

If you request a holiday leave starting in 3 days, you can change your mind and cancel this leave as long as the holiday period has not started. In this case there is no 24 hour delay anymore.

The private game notes can now be reached from a link in the move dialog. The open in a new window. This way, you can see the board and your notes more easily - and it is more obvious that you have to save them separately...

Participants of Ferschach-Server-Open
I will publish the tournament groups after the above update - sorry for the delay! (Die Turniergruppen der FSO werden unmittelbar nach dem obigen Update veröffentlicht)