First-ever live Freestyle event

[Anson Williams]

Actually, that sounds like a good idea. It would be a shame for something like this to disappear and go completely unnoticed.

Does anyone here have experience writing Wiki pages?

[Mike S.]

I didn't write a new one, but participated in editing or discussing some chess articles on the german pages. I didn't need much instructions. IIRC, it was possible to participate even without registration (the ip is stored and displayed). Seems to be like that, still. But I think, one should pay attention to the 'discussion' part, for example put some notes there what was done, why, etc. There are probably established editors who take care of a general topic, may review changes, ask for references or details, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... Editing%29

It is probably good to keep the contribution small and focussed on the main facts, with the relevant links. - Recently I read, that an english article about Arena the free chess interface was rejected, because some editor thought it is not relevant enough or something like that. It seems that the 'policy' is different though, in different languages (there are Arena articles in other languages).

[Tony Thomas]

You dont need a whole lot of experience to write a wiki page. I wrote one yesterday after I saw that Franz Josef Becking defeated Anand in a simultaneous. I have never wrote one before, so I didnt know how to add references. I just included two links on the bottom instead. By the way, I used your page for the first link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_Becking

[Tony Thomas]

May be you should write a wikipedia page about yourself.

what??

I am talking about the chess tournament win.

[Ciron]

Congratulations, Anson! Today I saw Nelson's report on ChessBase. Very instructive.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4336
May be next year many freestylers will meet at Benidorm (if they organise another "Advanced Chess Tournament" - do you think so?), or at any other place, where tournament organisers will follow this example.

By the way, I am trying to prepare the 8th PAL/CSS Freestyle on playchess.com in February/March. The Benidorm event should be a good argument for the sponsor to do so. (Same as the Anand-Kramnik match in Moscow, which was very close to Freestyle, as players were making more extensive use of engines than ever before.)

Best regards,
Arno Nickel

[Nelson Hernandez]

Re next year, I have a feeling that if Anson announces next fall that he's going to defend his tournament title that will attract some very strong European challengers. But, as Anson is not a chess professional and the prize fund barely covers taxes, travel and hotel costs even if you win first place...it's a challenge. (Never mind the eternal problem of finding a sympathetic employer for such a long stretch of days.) In the final analysis all that is needed is more of a prize fund and obstacles can be surmounted.

Sincerely hope you are able to shepherd through an 8th Freestyle tournament, which promises to be a greater trial by fire for all concerned than ever before! We'll be there for sure.