7th Freestyle Tournament starts on Friday 7th September

[CRoberson]

Actually. I did not receive the voting emai.
I did receive email (a few minutes ago) with the results.

I signed up for the tournament just 2 days ago.
This will be my 6th Freestyle - I missed the 1st one.

[Nid Hogge]

Thanks,

1. I didn't know that actually, But I have just assumed. Thanks for that info.

2. The idea to abondon engine-only play is not motivated by an anti-engine attitude (as engine-use is still encouraged and nobody would have any chance without is), but by two other things:
a) technical issues (disconnections, engine-crashes), which often led to difficult situations for the TD: restarts failed, results had to be fixed by the TD, much trouble with the players, while he should have time for other important things like the pairings, updating information for the players etc. Sometimes the engine-only players weren't even on the server in order to answer questions etc. - You shouldn't forget, that a tournament with about 100-150 players and additional many spectators is an extremely hard job for a TD. And even Richard Sticklen couldn't say, he had no problems with that;
b) apart from this I suggest, that disabling engine-only play may also be motivated by the wish to impede multi-account strategies. Such strategies, where one person is playing by using different accounts at the same time, could lead to very unfair and unpleasant situations in a swiss tournament, and this has also been a source of troubles and suspicions.
Now, it is clear, that you won't be able to completely prevent such methods by disabling engine-only mode, but it would be more difficult to do so, as you would have to get operators for this job.

In the end, we should not forget, that these tournaments are the only big events, where amateurs can play grandmasters and top computer opponents in Adcanced Chess style and also may be win a lot of money! This idea is worth of getting popularised. And as I see by many last minute entries for the 7th Freestyle Tournament there are also a lot of guys, who like the new rules, especially because they were bored by playing an automatic engine, while it's owner might have sit in the sun waiting relaxed for his super machine winning a money prize.

I agree with you on most points.
I'm sorry if I sounded too harsh but that's really wasn't my intention.
As I have already said I really like the Freestyle concept. It's very fun and offers the best Chess level anywhere with good reports and fun.

The technical aspect is a serious problem I agree, and also players on engine mode that are not in the playing hall(I think there's should be a rule actually so they will be present).

The decision(Which is now thankfully reversed) to disallow centaur-mode would have bugged me more. You are correct that no one has the right to define Freestyle, But, It would seem a little strange that after a few succssesful Freestyles where CB has promoted and encouraged computer use it would suddenly go against it.
I mean, they know for sure that the use of computers would be continued evev if Centaur and Engine mode wer'e forbidden.(And they would not have a method to check if player uses computer assistance anyway).

So that's the only reason it has bugged me, The sudden change in the attitude towards computer use which I thought they wer'e portraying.
But if it's purely from technical and social reasons than I agree and support it.

Most strong players use Centaur mode anyway I think.

All in all it's a great tournament that provides ultra high level of games, diverse systems, and 'out-of-the box' thinking which I like alot.

Oh.. and good luck!

[Ryan Benitez]

Actually. I did not receive the voting emai.
I did receive email (a few minutes ago) with the results.

I signed up for the tournament just 2 days ago.
This will be my 6th Freestyle - I missed the 1st one.

I also never got a voting email. I am not happy with the rule changes though. I say enable all game play modes or just human. I was happy with just human mode and signed up when that was the rule.

[Ciron]

Thanks all for feedback!

Mischa, I remember very well your exciting games from the 1st Freestyle... Would be nice to see you again in the tournament.
I also feared, we might lose too many players - not simply because of a rule change, but the way it had been (dis)managed -; the more I am delighted, we will most probably have about 100 players and more, which could not have been expected after the chaotic sitúation one week before.

Thanks Daniel and others for sharing your views on Freestyle and for encouragement.

Best, Arno

[Richard Stickles]

Let me please put some things the right way:

1. The idea to disable engine-only play is not from the sponsor PAL, but from the organisers on playchess.com and CSS. It's true, that the CB sysop Richard Sticklen bashed this, but he is no longer a Freestyle TD, other people from CB were deciding on this matter.

2. The idea to abondon engine-only play is not motivated by an anti-engine attitude (as engine-use is still encouraged and nobody would have any chance without is), but by two other things:
a) technical issues (disconnections, engine-crashes), which often led to difficult situations for the TD: restarts failed, results had to be fixed by the TD, much trouble with the players, while he should have time for other important things like the pairings, updating information for the players etc. Sometimes the engine-only players weren't even on the server in order to answer questions etc. - You shouldn't forget, that a tournament with about 100-150 players and additional many spectators is an extremely hard job for a TD. And even Richard Sticklen couldn't say, he had no problems with that;
b) apart from this I suggest, that disabling engine-only play may also be motivated by the wish to impede multi-account strategies. Such strategies, where one person is playing by using different accounts at the same time, could lead to very unfair and unpleasant situations in a swiss tournament, and this has also been a source of troubles and suspicions.
Now, it is clear, that you won't be able to completely prevent such methods by disabling engine-only mode, but it would be more difficult to do so, as you would have to get operators for this job.

3. Nobody has an exclusive right to define, what Freestyle is and what not. If, for example, the tournament series would have started on a different server, where engine-only isn't possible because it's not implemented, nobody would have said it wasn't "freestyle". Same, if the CSS/CB organisers would have had this idea right from the beginning.
I think, the main point of freestyle is, that you can use as much help and computers as you like or can afford, but it's not necessarily depending on the possibility to have an interface, which allows engine-only play.

In the end, we should not forget, that these tournaments are the only big events, where amateurs can play grandmasters and top computer opponents in Adcanced Chess style and also may be win a lot of money! This idea is worth of getting popularised. And as I see by many last minute entries for the 7th Freestyle Tournament there are also a lot of guys, who like the new rules, especially because they were bored by playing an automatic engine, while it's owner might have sit in the sun waiting relaxed for his super machine winning a money prize.

Of course, there are lots of more issues and arguments on both sides. It's not the end of discussion, but only one stage of development.

Best regards, Arno Nickel

Thanks for the reminder.

I was very sorry to hear the rules changed and that engines are now forbidden to participate(And almost centaur).
I guess it shouldn't be called "Freestyle" anymore.

I am a very big fan of Freestyle but it looks like that for some reason they make it less "free" and more stiff for everyone.

No engines only allowed is a very poor decision I think. they also wanted to disallow the centaur mode but changed the decision in the final minute due to pressure from contesters..
So in the future maybe this won't be allowed as well, and this is going to be anything but "freestyle".
It takes out all the uniqueness the concept had.
I think it will discourage many potential participants in the long run.

I must also say thay for the first time in a long time iv'e also seen Chessbase officials join the criticism and go against that decision. (As I understand the decision is from the sponsor from UAE).

Best,

The more and more I read these comments, it makes me laugh more and more,

First off, I only found out about the rules change 1 week before, and through all the complaints I had received in the engine room……Yes I was livid when I herd about No Computer and No Centuar, So I immediately contact all parties involved and bitched until they re-instated at least Centuar mode(Little does everyone know, That was my doing) Seems that nobody was even willing to listen about pure engine any longer…..

Yes having pure engines players has it’s pro’s and con’s, There is crashes, there is error’s, But honestly this is a problem that a should have been dealt with many months before hand , NOT 1 week before the tournament , and CERTAINLY NOT after everyone has already paid , then they change the rules……

Many people might not like me, But I will tell you this, I honestly do not care, I get the job done one way or another. Engine room players are my focus…I will always stand behind them 100% , so when someone misleads them , it’s my job to fight for them…

You would certainly think that after 7 events, the organizers would have a better clue on how to run these events. And would make the rules more clear MONTHS before hand…Hopefully they can still improve on this…




Best Regards
Richard Stickles

[Ciron]

Richard, I think you have no reason to laugh about what we wrote here. I was also fighting for centaur modus very hard, as you should know, and I think, I also had "convincing" arguments, when talking to the organisers (CB & CSS): no money for the tournament.
So I don't see essential differences between us.

Best regards,
Arno

[Richard Stickles]

Agreed Arno,

Your doing a great job, Just to bad you have so little support..

[Ciron]

Seems they sent the voting e-mail only to those, who had signed up at a certain point of time, though I had advised them to send it to all Freestylers from the last tournaments.