*** TALKCHESS SERVER TO BE SHUT DOWN ***

[Jouni]

If this forum goes away I'd probably move on to some other hobby, too.

I agree 100%.

[Henk]

This is bad for computer chess in general or won't it have impact on Stockfish development.
If so it also might have impact on normal chess when development gets stuck for they are using engines all the time.

[Dariusz]

The good news is that we are probably going to make it before the end of the month with the help of Srdja. I talked to Quentin to give us some slack in case we need a couple of days or week more.

So be ready for the new outlook...

Excellent - thank you Ed and Srdja!

Also, thank you to HGM for raising the alarm.

I am in contact with HGM, to migrate together the forum to a new server, as mentioned to HGM, I am willing to engage 1 to max 2 month in this operation, tech hands on, then I will drop out again. In future I might be available to help fix occurring issues, or alike. Idk if we will make it until the end of the month, maybe there will be a certain downtime, we will see.

--
Srdja

I know that what I am writing is not the solution to the problem of moving the old forum to a new server, etc.
But, if for some reason (I don't want to believe it) the opening of a new forum doesn't happen or another forum is not chosen (such as Ed's forum) then I can open a forum on my site offering access to modern and contemporary tools for writing, running a forum and managing content.

[smatovic]

Maybe to give an update:

We have the old web-files, a database .sql dump, a new VPS, virtual private server, and can direct the domain to a host. Now the task is to set up the server, fix old forum tech issues, harden the system, test, and then live migrate.

Maybe we can aim Thursday, 29.02.24, 12:00-16:00 PM UCT+1 as downtime for a live migration. Will give an update, if we are in time.

A thx@the team: HGM, Ed, Chris.

--
Srdja

[Leo]

If there is a new site we will move to please make an announcment. Ill read this post more carefully soon. I will miss TalkChess and all the people here.

[hgm]

We do make some progress:

Today I rented a VPS (4 CPU hyperthreads, 8GB RAM, 300GB NVMe).
I installed a HTTP server on it (a so-called "LAMP stack": Linux, Apache, MariaDB and PHP).
This is now on-line at http://194.164.54.93.
As a test I put an applet there against which you can play Chess: http://194.164.54.93/chess.html

We did get ssh access to the ChessUSA server, and used it to dump and download the forum database, to experiment with. Of course this would have to be repeated when we are really going to move, in order to not lose any postings.

[towforce]

As a test I put an applet there against which you can play Chess: http://194.164.54.93/chess.html

Great little game! I played it in 2.5 ply. It made an illegal move (resigning in checkmate) - or was that your humour?

[pgn]1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 c6 3. g3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6 exf6 6. Qe2 Be7 7. b3 O-O 8. Qe4 Qd5 9. Qxd5 cxd5 10. d4 Bb4 11. Bd2 Bxd2 12. Kxd2 Bf5 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. Kxd3 Nc6 15. c3 h5 16. Nf3 a5 17. a4 Ra7 18. Rhe1 Rd8 19. Re3 Ra6 20. Rae1 Rc8 21. Re8 Rxe8 22. Rxe8 Kh7 23. Rf8 Rb6 24. Kc2 Kg6 25. Nh4 Kh7 26. Rxf7 Ra6 27. Rxb7 Nd8 28. Rd7 Re6 29. Kd2 Nc6 30. Nf5 Re4 31. Rxg7 Kh8 32. Rf7 Re6 33. Rd7 Re4 34. Rxd5 Re6 35. Rd6 Rxd6 36. Nxd6 Nd8 37. b4 axb4 38. cxb4 h4 39. gxh4 Nc6 40. Kc3 Ne7 41. b5 Nd5 42. Kc4 Nb6 43. Kb4 Nd5 44. Kc5 Nf4 45. b6 Nd3 46. Kc4 Nxf2 47. b7 Kh7 48. b8=Q Ng4 49. Qc7 Kh6 50. Nf7 Kh5 51. Qg3 f5 52. a5 Kg6 53. Nd6 Kf6 54. a6 Ke6 55. a7 Ne3 56. Qxe3 Kxd6 57. a8=Q Kd7 58. Qa6 f4 59. Qee6 Kd8 60. Qac8[/pgn]

[jp]

We have the old web-files, a database .sql dump, a new VPS, virtual private server, and can direct the domain to a host. Now the task is to set up the server, fix old forum tech issues, harden the system, test, and then live migrate.

Maybe we can aim Thursday, 29.02.24, 12:00-16:00 PM UCT+1 as downtime for a live migration. Will give an update, if we are in time.

Does that mean we still go to talkchess.com and it will automatically redirect to the new site?

I hope so. (Otherwise, we'd need to know the new url...)

[smatovic]

We have the old web-files, a database .sql dump, a new VPS, virtual private server, and can direct the domain to a host. Now the task is to set up the server, fix old forum tech issues, harden the system, test, and then live migrate.

Maybe we can aim Thursday, 29.02.24, 12:00-16:00 PM UCT+1 as downtime for a live migration. Will give an update, if we are in time.

Does that mean we still go to talkchess.com and it will automatically redirect to the new site?

I hope so. (Otherwise, we'd need to know the new url...)

Yes, it is intended is to keep the current domain talkchess.com and direct it to the IP of the new server.

--
Srdja

[hgm]

Great little game! I played it in 2.5 ply. It made an illegal move (resigning in checkmate) - or was that your humour?

Resigning is not a move, and it is never illegal to resign. The Applet uses a neutral message for admitting defeat, because it is designed to play many other variants besides Mad Queen, (depending on how it is configured on the HTML page), and in many of those checkmate is not the only winning condition. In Xiangqi you can win by stalemating the opponent, in King of the Hill by reaching a central square, in Shatranj by baring the King. And sometimes you have to capture the King to win.