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baronderkilt
25-Oct-10, 04:42

Weird Things on GK ...
I run across some things that dont seem to call for a whole thread ... but seems might be worth mentioning. So this thread just for whatever seems out of place/kilter etc. Or strange or amusing would be of interest. The weird, inexplicable, etc. You get the idea  
baronderkilt
25-Oct-10, 04:45

#1 Tactical exercises ...
The other day I just noticed this ... I made my first correct move and went to analyze. Then can back and entered the 2nd move. But oops, WRONG. It Failed me on it since it seems that you cannot just return and resume where you left off. Instead the whole thing resets and must make the first move all over again. I suppose some players would notice a thing like that before moving . . .
baronderkilt
25-Oct-10, 04:49

#2 Blitz area ...
Just finished up a game that I wonlost. I made up that new word for a new situation ... Mate was made and shown on the scoresheet ... but it Time Forfeit me at the same time. lol. And you thought "mate ends the game" .
baronderkilt
25-Oct-10, 05:02

#3 GK contributes to daily life ...
I got my new mailing address last week in Box 8 , Section F. Thankful to coincidence and easy19 our game also started last week.

Now forgetful I may be, but always quick to grasp opportunity ... So thank you GK and easy19 for the handy mneumonic I now live by ...

"(F)reddy (Ate) the (Mail)"
black_cat_hamlet
25-Oct-10, 05:22

lol... I wonder how it tasted?  
easy19
25-Oct-10, 11:57

yuk that it was  
me sense much strangeness under that kilt  
playing i forbid.
baronderkilt
04-Nov-10, 17:22

whats with the
bishop1-2-3 and blitz. First game i set and wait for his move till he's under a minute. Plays a handful and stops to timeout. Now I sit and wait for a move ... confusion with corr chess? Ok, i better go see if the mail came in the second game lol . . .
baronderkilt
04-Nov-10, 20:45

The Chess Doctor
has found the cure. After mating me a couple times he plays much faster.  
baronderkilt
05-Nov-10, 04:48

The Mystery of MIKE ...
GK-Mike that is . . . Obviously much mystery remains !

gameknot.com
kiwisouth
09-Nov-10, 14:45

Weird Things on GK ... Submit!
How about changing that aggressive word on the submit button?
Some thing genteel like "my move" or "after due consideration, hows this?"
or at least go all the way and spell it in demanding capitals SUBMIT!
rich_sposato
09-Nov-10, 15:46

Weird problem #2
If you checkmate somebody just as the clock runs out, I'd say you won. Why would the chess engine post the winning move if you already ran out of time? Seems like a bug to me.
tactical_abyss
10-Nov-10, 14:29

I just had a 3 minute blitz game the other day and due to one of my famous piece sacrifices in the opening,my opponent had an overwhelming advantage.He also played amazingly fast,so near the end I had only 15 seconds left on the blitz clock and he had about 30 seconds left.So I played my best with moving the few pieces I had left which was my King and 3 pawns and he had like a rook,a knight,a couple of pawns and of course,his king.

The reason I did not resign was because I could foresee the possibility of a stalemate if I could freeze my pawns against his(which I did!)and move my king to a spot near the lower left corner.With all my opponents overwhelming power,he might just make a miscalculation by NOT allowing my King any movement from that position,yet not being IN check(Stalemate).

Well guess what?Thats EXACTLY what I did!But the GK blitz computer DID NOT recognize the game as a stalemate and i didn't even have time to press a draw request button(even though that position was not a draw).So my time ran out and I lost!

All that extraordinary work in vain!I checked 3 times.My King was in a true stalemate position and all my other pieces were froze.
So talk about weird things on GK or being frusturated once in a while!
tactical_abyss
10-Nov-10, 14:40

Deleted by tactical_abyss on 10-Nov-10, 14:41.
tactical_abyss
10-Nov-10, 14:47

Let me add to my above post...
Pehaps i'm wrong,since I play on other blitz sites that recognize stalemates.But regardless of mating material or not,isn't it a stalemate if my opponents last move created the position that prevented me from being able to make any legal move with my King(without placing it in check) and its my King that is the only piece I can move?
I don't know about you,but I would classify that as a stalemate!
Oh well...sob!

TA
baronderkilt
10-Nov-10, 22:16

Something in the blitz area ...
is starting to become Quite annoying with time. I click to the Chat box and type it in and look up and nothing is there. Why? Because my opponent has offered a new game or moved in the present one, or such so it throws me out of the Chat box completely.

Please GK ~! I assure you if I have clicked to Chat I Want to Chat ... and am prepared to take the consequences of That if you will let me Chat! lol.

Really tho, being a big boy i am prepared to lose a few seconds on my next move if only I be allowed to complete my message. And I dont know about others, but for me, to look up and find no message and decide if to do it over or reply to opp request first or whatever ... then type. Well it takes me a lot longer doing that than letting me stay in Chat till I click out.

Now I say this in the best of humor with the recognition that the new blitz is GREAT. But this one little thing does irk at times. Regards

}8-D
tactical_abyss
11-Nov-10, 18:45

GK or my computer?
Sometimes the simplest things bother me,especially if I can't figure them out!
When I move my mouse arrow over a clickable link area(but without clicking the mouse) I get an underline under the area to be clicked.This is ok,and I have had it that way for years.And when I click on the link,everything is ok and I get through like usual.
Now,recently,however,right at the same time I click on a link,a "box"appears with tiny dashed lines completely encircling the link.This has never occurred before and I was wondering if this is something generated from GK or is solely from something on my computer options?I do not remember ever changing anything.Tried several times to get rid of that retarded "box"which I do not like,but no luck!
tag1153
12-Nov-10, 09:37

Weird? I'll tell you what's weird.....
I just hit 13,000 games played, and am STILL over 10,000 games behind Julia on the 'Get a Life' list of fellow Gameknot addicts. I could complete 25 games a day and still not catch her for something like 17.3 eons. How weird is that????????

IfItimeoutImdead
elpafio
12-Nov-10, 14:41

Boxes with tiny dashed lines
Not GK. It's called an "Unsightly Focus Rectangle in Windows XP or Vista".

This link said how to remove It.
www.howtogeek.com

Not tested by me however.

Note: only works on 32-bit Windows (XP or Vista)
tactical_abyss
12-Nov-10, 16:49

Thanks elpafio!
I'll try your suggestion tomorrow.I have a 64 bit edition Vista Home Premium,however,so perhaps i'm doomed?
Funny how things change without my knowledge,permission or optional selection of such things.I'm no expert,so it might take me months to customize things the way I want.

TA
elpafio
13-Nov-10, 01:26

Deleted by elpafio on 13-Nov-10, 02:06.
elpafio
13-Nov-10, 02:06

Boxes with tiny dashed lines
After test, previous suggestion I've done about RemoveFocusRect.dll don't have any effect on boxes around links.
It's only a way for removing rectangles with dashed line around icons.

This link www.codingforums.com
explains box around clicked link is a standard usability feature for people using text readers and other visually impaired/disabled persons.
So, these boxes are very useful for some users.
It only could be removed by GK adding new functions in css file (very technical   ).
baronderkilt
13-Nov-10, 03:15

i have wt and just lost this game
"timed out"
44. Ra1 Kb4
45. g5 Kb3
46. Kf2 Kb2
47. Rxa2+
The clocks show 7 sec left for op, 6 sec left for me when i am informed i timed out. And my move of making check sat there for at least 5 seconds before that. numerous questions might be asked. lol.
How i time out with time on clock (seen elsewhere tho) and move accepted. Or did a move of his not show up to me? But i have 6 seconds ...
Is it me from using 64 bit browser ...
or ... oh well.
tactical_abyss
13-Nov-10, 04:36

Thanks again elpafio,
Technically,from what I read about this rectangle box,it would be a waste for the visually impaired or disabled person anyway!Why?Because the rectangle box ONLY appears at the very MOMENT you CLICK on the link or other clickable things and at the very moment its transferring to another page!So its TOO LATE already if you are visually impaired and you accidently clicked on the WRONG link or clicked on anything....the rectangle box did not technically help you!See?
(Atleast this is what happens with my computer).Now,the underline I have at the moment I "hover"my mouse arrow over anything that can be clicked is ok,and also is good for the visually impaired or disabled,but the box,in my humble opinion is technically a waste!Underlines and boxes....if I had my choice,I would have neither!
These should all be "options"that should be easily removed at "will" without getting complex.
And I do not like wasteful things!So I will get my computer genius friend of mine to "surgically"remove it,if possible.If he can't,then i'll live with it,I suppose.
It will make me itchy,however!

TA
elpafio
13-Nov-10, 05:31

Boxes with tiny dashed lines
In fact, this rectangle is also the same you can see when you use keyboard navigation and press the Tabulation key in your browser.
It is positioned around the link, or around the label of the button where the focus is.
So, if you press Enter key, you could open the link where the focus is.
Be able to visit a chess site and especially play chess without mouse and only with a keyboard would be however very strange, I grant It to you  
Some sites have made the choice to activate this rectangle (Google, Aol, Amazon, GameKnot), and some others don't (youtube).
This rectangle is sometimes useful:
On the chess puzzles page, when you solved a problem and return to main puzzles page, the link of the problem you just solved remained encircled with rectangle.
Removing this rectangle could certainly be possible by using your own css file, but I fear that It will be applied to all web pages you will visit. It will override colors, polices, background, etc, etc... But I'm not a Web developer specialist.

Have a nice WE
tactical_abyss
13-Nov-10, 11:12

I see your logic elpafio,except for one small detail.....

My box NEVER appears or focuses on anything.....unless I actually CLICK something!See the difference now?It only "appears"AFTER I click and then it disappears forever.Perhaps we are talking about different kinds of boxes,or different explorer options.So I never can focus the box on anything!Why?Because it does not exist!So pressing "enter"for example after a "box"is hovering over a link or anything else will not work for me because the box cannot encircle or hover over anything....until I have already clicked,which it then appears for 1 second and then disappears.
Well,I cannot explain anymore,and the notorious box will remain,useless to me until my computer Einstein friend dissolves it.

But thanks again!

TA
tugger
15-Nov-10, 10:58

* Submit

I'd never thought about it before, but submit as a verb can mean to yield, cede, or for another word, resign! Perhaps confirm would be a better word.
lord_shiva
15-Nov-10, 17:17

Scoring: Win Drops Score
I'm a newbie. I had won four games and was playing five more against pretty decent players, all new also (1200 rating). I won my fifth game and my ranking was set to 1457. Another player immediately resigned, and that win dropped my score 10 points.  

I guess I'll quit losing points for winning after I finish another 15 games, but it is a little disconcerting to lose points beating good players.
markb56
18-Nov-10, 13:21

pasha582, this phenomenon is addressed in the HELP section under Q3. Once you have finished 20 games, you will no longer have a provisional rating and this won't happen. After having played just 5 games, you've already gained 257 rating points(!), but this is due to the lack of any historical data with which to calculate your true strength. So enjoy gaining the easy points for now, as they won't be so easy later on