CRoberson wrote:
'You need the games to be written to a pgn database that is available on the web. On Playchess you use the url to begin the broadcast. The games should then auto-update on Playchess.'
I don't have a Playchess account, but does someone have a quick write-up on how this is done?
Believe this is where Steve Webber is doing his magic, if I can just get the pgn code re-written in 48 hours.
In the end, if I get this working the live-pgns will be available via something like this: http://oics.olympuschess.com/gameX.pgn with X being the game id for that game. (something I haven't deal with before).
CRoberson wrote:
'You need the games to be written to a pgn database that is available on the web. On Playchess you use the url to begin the broadcast. The games should then auto-update on Playchess.'
I don't have a Playchess account, but does someone have a quick write-up on how this is done?
Believe this is where Steve Webber is doing his magic, if I can just get the pgn code re-written in 48 hours.
In the end, if I get this working the live-pgns will be available via something like this: http://oics.olympuschess.com/gameX.pgn with X being the game id for that game. (something I haven't deal with before).
Albert Silver wrote:
I have to disagree regarding audience. I do think it needs to be better marketed though if you wish to appeal to the non-geek. Trying to make it sound like a big super event is not the way, but there are definitely strategies I can think of to generate interest.
When have I not accepted suggestions to improve the event? Please, by all means lay them out on the table.
Do you see a pattern here? The CCT tournament is by far the most participated event _every_ calendar year. Also what other tournament posts _instant_ results on this forum and it's website, plus has the games available for download after each round with in seconds of it completing?
Peter
I did not mean to besmirch it, if that is how it came off. Besides, you know I support CCT. The option to post news on it, is not in my hands, though I can lobby for it. For that to happen, it would need to be transmitted on Playchess, but even so I cannot make promises out of my control. If there is an interest in this happening, tell me and I can promise to make a pitch.
In any case, I don't think the idea is to pitch it as the event where cyber chess gods play. Instead, I think that the opposite should be done: pitch it as the wide variety of engines, weak and strong, where accessible opponents can be found and played against.
I think that outside of the geeks in this forum and others of its kind, the average user has not the faintest idea that chess engines number the hundreds, not units. That the programmers who build them do so for the sport and fascination, and each is unique, with varied weaknesses and strength just as your random human encounter. Show them how to make use of those engines in an easy way (think of the easiest instructions you can, the kind for your mother, and consider them twice too complicated), and link them to the participants. Etc. Humanize it. A picture of the programmer, a game, however absurd (actually a selling point), etc.
I think the whole interest in these things has been on the decline ever since the engines became untouchable, and while everyone admires Houdini, Rybka and Fritz, they would not dream of playing them.
I have been asked many times "Why don't you run Crafty on Playchess?" Answer is, I run linux on all of my serious boxes, and my development box is an air book running osx (another unix variant). I don't run windows anywhere, too unreliable and too easy for outsiders to hack into. What linux client is available for play chess?
BTW, this damned macbook does like to correct spelling, yes I know playchess is one word. It won't stop correcting it, however. Hmm, left it alone there, go figure...
hgm wrote:One which is updated move by move, as they are played, I suppose.
Correct. This is actually how all live broadcasts are done. In GM events, the electronic boards create a PGN on a move-by-move basis which is then used for the transmissions.
"Tactics are the bricks and sticks that make up a game, but positional play is the architectural blueprint."
(Uploading these live PGNs to PlayChess.)