Delaware Chess Weblog

As promised, here is the review on the second of our turn-based sites. As you may recall from the previous review, playing turn-based chess means you sign onto a site and challenge someone. Then you can make your move, sign off, and come back later to see if they have moved and then you move again. Basically, it is like correspondence chess but over the internet. You may also recall that last time I recommended that you checkout Itsyourturn.com where you can play chess and other strategy games.

In this review I want to introduce you to another site that is for chess fans only - Chess.ac. I’ll cut right to the chase, Chess.ac is a better site for playing turn-based chess. Why? Mostly the interface but Chess.ac also offers some other nice features.

So first, the interface. When you visit chess.ac for the first time you may find the interface a bit intimidating - I did, and I do quite a bit with computers. But you will quickly get used to it and appreciate the available features. When viewing a game you can see your other games, you can take notes in a window right on that screen and you can see your entire chat with that player. On itsyourturn.com you would have to go through many mouse clicks and page loads to get that same information. Moreover, on the game screen you can also replay the game very quickly. This is a huge deal when you consider that you may be playing 10-20 games at once and the other player may not have moved in that particular game for several days. If you are like me you really need to replay a few moves to get your head back in the game and chess.ac makes that fast and easy. A quick word of advice on leaving yourself game notes - the game notes entry box and the chat entry box are near one another and more than one player has accidentally typed game plans into the wrong box and sent them off to their opponent! So just be sure you click in the right box.

Now, on to the added features of chess.ac that I think make it a better chess playing site than itsyourturn.com. In the game screen you can switch to an ‘analyze mode’ where you can freely move pieces around the board to play ‘what-if’ scenarios. This is a nice feature. I know, I know, the chess purists would say “Hey, you shouldn’t be able to touch the pieces, you should have to calculate in your head.” But again, this is the beauty of this type of chess, you can take your time and you can play with the pieces. Another really neat feature of chess.ac is the ability to form teams. You may form your own team or join other already established teams. The teams can then challenge one another to a given number of ‘boards’ just like two clubs who are in the same town. I setup a team for my school club and I think this would be a great way for schools from across the US to play against one another. For that matter, I suppose you could play any school in the world. You do not have to belong to any team but if you do join a team you may not join another team until you quit your original one. In other words, you can only be on one team at any given time. Finally, another feature on chess.ac is the ability to play live games via thier flash interface. This interface certainly isn’t as polished as the high end chess servers but it certainly is sufficient if you feel like fitting in a few games of live chess while you are waiting for your opponents to move. There are some other nifty things that go on at chess.ac and some neat features they seem to be working on, but I’ll leave you to find them as you explore the site. So go on over to chess.ac and checkout the site and what it has to offer. Again, I think it is better than itsyourturn.com for playing chess. But chess is the only game chess.ac offers while itsyourturn.com has other cool games to play.

The beauty of this whole thing is that both sites are FREE so there is no reason to not be a member of both! What a nice place this internet is.

When you get setup feel free to send me a challenge (docfleetwood) or challenge my team (Charter School).

In the meanwhile, head on over to our chess forum and give us your opinion on the best places to play online.

I hope to see you online!

Until next time….

Tom Fleetwood

Dave Gertler sends this report:

Kevin Pytel earned his place in Delaware chess history by winning the top section of the 2006 First State Junior Invitational. Sponsored by the Bear Scholastic Chess Club, sixteen of Delaware’s top players under age 20 assembled at the Howard Johnson Inn in Newark on two Saturdays in January. Delaware Chess Association president Richard Martin and vice president Bob Wilder, known for their fine work with the Bear club, organized and directed the new event.

The players were divided into two eight-player sections by rating. The “round-robin” format meant that each player played the other seven players in his or her section. A time control of game/60 meant that four games could be squeezed into the first day, while the other three were held a week later.

In the Championship section, there was a tough battle at the top. First place was up for grabs even during the last round. Leader Kevin Pytel, with 5 points in the first six rounds, got into early trouble against top seed Jonathan Martin. One point behind Kevin was the rapidly improving Andrew Shermeyer, playing Black against state elementary school champion Aaron Gertler (who had lost an easily winning ending against Kevin in the previous round).

Andrew hoped that Kevin would lose and he would win, leading to a tie for first and a playoff. His hopes were raised early in the round, as Jon applied heavy pressure to Kevin’s King. Meanwhile, Aaron and Andrew maintained roughly equal chances in a closed position.

When Jon missed a couple of strong tactical shots, Kevin managed to trade down into an endgame where he was one pawn down but had more active pieces. At the same time, Andrew started to make some headway against Aaron’s solid setup.

Jon was finally persuaded to give the Kevin the draw he’d been asking for, which clinched the championship for Kevin. Seeing this result, Andrew offered Aaron a draw, wrapping up second place.

After an early loss to Andrew and a later one to James Sloven, Jon bounced back well enough to tie for third. Surprisingly, he was caught by Michael Escobar, who scored two losses and a draw in his first three games but finished the tournament by winning four in a row. Michael’s final win dropped his opponent, James, who played unusual openings such as 1.g4 and 1. … f6, from third to fifth place.

Rounding out the field were the three lowest-rated players in the Championship section: Aaron Gertler, Christian Martin, and Michael Pergeorelis. All of them gave tough battles to the leaders and gained a lot of valuable experience.

The plot was much simpler in the B section. Top-ranked Joe Reynolds won every game to finish with a 7-0 record. Apart from a lucky escape against John Hughes, he cruised pretty smoothly through the field.

Below Joe, though, the parity was remarkable. Aric Lu finished at 4.5-2.5; Alisa Spitelle and John Hughes were right behind him at 4-3; Francis Fish scored an even 3.5-3.5; and Josiah Martin went 3-4. The other participants were Brian Frame, who played in only the first four rounds, and Jacob Martin.

Each section’s winner was awarded a Ron Curry trophy, honoring the long-time Delaware chess player, teacher, and author. By winning the B section, Joe Reynolds also earned an automatic entry into next year’s Championship section.

He will probably face an even tougher field, as only about half of the 16 highest-rated Delaware juniors entered the tournament this year. After such a successful start, this tournament is likely to attract more of the top players next time.
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Games and crosstables available at: http://bear.delawarechess.org/FSJI_06_rpt.htm