Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Playchess.com: the chain is as strong as the weakest link

Author: Theo van der Storm

Date: 17:02:20 08/20/05

Go up one level in this thread


On August 20, 2005 at 16:17:45, Eduard Nemeth wrote:

>On August 20, 2005 at 13:22:27, Roy Brunjes wrote:
>
>>Playchess.com is simply terrible for broadcasts. Disgraceful.
>
>No! I like playchess.
>
>But the people for WCCC-Broadcasts, are unfortunately not competenet,
>so simple is that the case.
>
>Greets,
>Eduard.

I think what you mean to say is that the success of a broadcast depends on a
chain of components to function as a whole.

First there is the programer. He should design his program to update the same
game in the PGN file after each move. Some programs do not have this feature.
If this is true for both opponents, you f*cked, unless a kind soul (E. Walet)
enters the moves by hand.

Second there is the operator. He should fill in meaningful player information,
so you won't get axb2f7, wccc05 or www.hotel.nl (How much are they paying you,
Vincent?) as player name. He should also cooperate in setting up the local
network connection, unless chess boards with sensors are used. This requires
willingness to connect and some discipline.

Third there is the ICT infrastructure, e.g. networking and file sharing stuff.
This requires a bit of competence.

Fourth there is the Playchess chairman, actually a playchess user and member of
the organisation who starts and manages the broadcast. This requires a little
bit of competence.

Fifth there is the Playchess software. I have had a few software crashes
in the Leiden tournaments, but not many and never re-occuring.

Sixth there is the Playchess production server.
Servers need system and application management.
Normally the users don't notice it.
As a matter of fact I saw Mathias Feist of ChessBase helping out to
retransmit the games with full header information and complete game scores.

So, where does it typically go (somewhat) wrong:
willingness and discipline of the operators (although it was fine in the 9th
round: we did get all 6 games!) People in the organisation with the right skills
are overloaded with work.

Theo



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.