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Correspondence Chess
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Tutorial for using the ICCF Server -- Game Page (Your Turn)

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In the illustrations, my cursor will be shown as or

 

Game Page (Your Turn)

The display of the game page is more complex when it is your move. The Game Page (Waiting) tutorial page information all applies to this page also, but additional features are provided to allow you to make your move. Go to the Game Page (Waiting) page for a full description of how to change diagram size, take leave, view opponents' leaves, etc. To save space I have shown a reduced size picture of the Game Page (Your Turn) server page to the right.

What if you are on leave?

If you are on leave when your opponent moves, you receive the normal email notification, the game page shows the current position after your opponent's move and you can read your opponent's last message to you, if he entered one. However, until your leave ends you are not allowed to make a move. As soon as your leave is over you can make a move. If you wish to continue the game right away you can go to your "Take Leave" link under the "Event" menu on the game page (see Game page (Waiting)) and change your leave to cancel the remaining days. However, you cannot cancel the leave effective immediately today. Once a day has started on leave you must take that entire day on leave. (25.06.2006)

How to enter a move

There are two ways to enter your move. Only one method is allowed, according to the setting of the Board menu setting "Drag & Drop" (see below).

1. Drag & Drop.

Using this method you place your mouse cursor over the piece being moved, press down the left mouse key, move the cursor (dragging the piece) to the destination square, and then releasing the mouse key. This is a very common method in chess software and databases, so you are probably familiar with it. This is the method of piece movement that I recommend. The javascript programming does not allow you to enter an illegal move.

2. Type Move.

Type in your move in the "Your Move" text box below the diagram using English Algebraic Notation. Either press the "Enter" key or click on the "Submit" button below the move. In this example above I had previously typed an illegal move (I tried entering it in Numeric notation, not allowed on the server). This caused the red error message "Please enter a valid move" to be displayed. It will not accept an illegal or invalid move.

The type of move entry is determined by a new entry in the "Board" menu, which isn't shown for a game where you are waiting for a move. This is a "toggle" switch. It is shown above set for the "Drag & Drop" method of move entry. Just click it to reverse the setting, click again to return to drag & drop.

 

Message to you from your opponent

This message box contains any message your opponent sent with his move (sorry, I didn't have an example of text available). This is "read only" so you can't change it.

 

Send a message (message from you to your opponent)

Type in your message to your opponent in this message box. It will be sent to your opponent along with your move. This message will also be included in the move notification email sent to your opponent, if he hasn't turned off email notifications in his personal settings. By saving the email notifications you receive from your opponent you can retain a record of your correspondence. Unfortunately, you will have no record of the comments you send to your opponents, unless you copy them to a separate text file you save on your own.

The server does not maintain a record of correspondence. This both saves disk space on the server and serves to honor the users' privacy. If you don't want to allow the exchange of messages, you can apparently click on the "Disable messages" checkbox, but I've never tried that.

 

Making a move

Once you have made your move on the diagram and entered any comments for your opponent, you must send your move to make it official. See "Propose a draw" and "Resigning a game" below if that is pertinent. In those case you'll need to do something before sending your move.

 

Here I have entered the move 22...Nd3 using Drag & Drop. The software has filled in the move in the "Your move" text box. The next step is to click on the "Submit" button (note, if you wish to propose a draw you must do it before clicking "Submit" ... see below).

 

Here I have entered the move 18.Bg5 and clicked "Submit". The move hasn't been sent yet, though. The server gives you a chance to confirm that the move you made is the intended move. The move shows up in the game score in red, the diagram shows the new position and there is a message to the right of the "Commit" button in green saying, "This is the board after your selected move. Select Commit or Cancel". If you want to go ahead and send the move to your opponent, click on "Commit". After that you are committed and cannot change your move. To discard the move (not send it) you can just go to another web page or click on "Cancel". Take great care if you wish to cancel, though, since it is easy to click the nearby "Commit" button by mistake. It is very unlikely a TD would accept such a slip as a valid excuse for taking back a move.

After you click "Commit" your are finished with your move in this game and the server tells you that "Your move was committed successfully".

 

Propose Draw

To propose a draw click the checkbox next to the "Offer draw" label before clicking on "Submit". This is a toggle, so if you change your mind you can click it again to turn it off. Click this checkbox before you click "Submit" to start to move transmission process. After clicking the "Submit" button you should see the red warning message, "Are you sure you want to offer a draw? Select Commit or Cancel". Then click "Submit" to send your move and draw offer. As I pointed out above, be careful if you intend to cancel. If your opponent accepts the draw the game will end immediately and you will be notified, if you are set up to receive email notifications. The result will immediately be entered into the on-line crosstable and the game will be over. You can still exchange messages with your opponent, though.

 

Resign a Game

To resign you don't need to make a move. Just click on the "Resign" checkbox and click "Submit". As with the "Offer draw" checkbox, this is a toggle ... click it again to remove the resign checkmark. After you click "Submit" with the Resign checkbox checked you will see the warning message, "Are you sure you want to resign and lose this game? Select Commit or Cancel."

Click "Commit" to complete your resignation, click "Cancel" or leave this web page to cancel the action.

 

Game Over

After you have resigned or agreed to a draw the game is over and your game list shows the game as "WhiteWins", "BlackWins" or draw.

You can still exchange comments with your opponent till you click "Close". It is suggested that you not close the game immediately to give your opponent some time to respond, a polite thing to do at the end of a game. Click on the result to go to the game page. The following message will be displayed under the board if your opponent hasn't closed the game either, which allows communications to continue just as when you exchanged moves, except no moves are sent.

If there is a text box you may send your opponent a message. If not, you will have to wait for your opponent to send you a message. Once your opponent clicks "Close" you will no longer be able to communicate with him via the server and the message above will be modified to say your opponent has closed the game. Once you click "Close" communications are also no longer possible via the server, plus the game will no longer be listed in your games list. This allows you to keep your game list short and neat by removing finished games.

 

© 2005 J. Franklin Campbell. All rights reserved.

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