Chess Canada Webzine

[Bob Gillanders]

The long awaited CFC online magazine is almost ready. We are starting the 10 day launch countdown today. That means we go online January 19, 2009 by midnight or sooner.

We have a growing list of contributors including:

Lawrence Day
Kevin Spraggett
Mark Bluvshtein
Nikolay Noritsyn

But you don’t need to be an elite player to contribute.

We are extending the welcome mat to all whose wish to contribute. You may wish to submit an annotated game you are proud of, write an article about your local chess club (shameless plugs to troll for new members are okay), tell us your ideas for improving chess in Canada, or a personal interest piece about one of the many hardworking chess volunteers across Canada.

Send your contributions to info@chess.ca. The more submissions we get from the regular members, the better we can tailor it to what you want to see. The emphasis will be on local Canadian content.

Watch this board for further details as we approach launch date.

[Bob Gillanders]

I am pleased to announce David Cohen will be a regular contributor to the webzine. David has been an enthusiastic supporter of Canadian chess for many years. His contributions include:

Founder of the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame,
he has written extensively on the history of Chess in Canada,
chief fundraiser for the 2008 Olympic fund.

David was the driving force behind getting all our pictures on the website. Great to have you aboard David.


Everyone is welcome to be a contributor. You don't need to be an elite player or journalist. Members have told us repeatedly that they want local Canadian chess news. We need your help.

[David Lavin]

Kevin will be submitting his report shortly after it finished on anuary 31st. This should be a great event and we all wish Kevin luck!!

[Bob Gillanders]

One recurring complaint we heard about the printed magazine was that it was too focused on the international scene. That it had trended away from local Canadian news. A regular feature of years ago were reports from Across Canada. I would like to bring that back. But we will need your cooperation.

As chess organizers, take it one step further. Along with submitting the crosstable for rating, we would love to get a write up on the tournament. Tell us of the special moments that made your tournament unique.

Submissions can be sent to info@chess.ca

Tell us what you want to see, post here or send us an email.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Tell us what you want to see, post here or send us an email.

The page from the online version must be easily transfered to a readable printed page (i.e., printer friendly).

[Bob Gillanders]

Thanks Egis, we will definitely try to keep it printer friendly.

Many chess clubs struggle to attract and keep new members to keep their chess clubs viable. Vince and I are on the executive of the Mississauga Club, and along with Paul Roschman we started the Mississauga Junior Chess Club that meets just before our regular adult club. It have infused new life into our adult club as some of the juniors and their parents have joined our adult club. It has caused some problems as well, but overall, a great success to date.

I am planning to write an article on the Mississauga Junior Chess Club for the webzine. Perhaps other clubs can learn from our experience and start their own junior clubs. I am sure we aren't the 1st club to try this. I would love to hear from other clubs with similiar experiences and willing to submit it for publication.

If we can share these stories via the webzine, we can all benefit from the knowledge.

Please send your webzine contributions to info@chess.ca.

Cheers.

[Garland Best]

Hi Bob:

If possible, include profiles of one or two members of the club. Look for human interest angles and maybe one or two of their games. Talk to me next month and we can see about doing one on the RA club.

[David Lavin]

Hi Garland:

That's a great idea but Bob isn't producing content for the webzine but certainly wants lots of content to be on it!!

Do you want to do something for your club that we can publish?

[Bob Gillanders]

Thanks David.

The objective is to have as many contributors as possible. Let's build a sense of community and share our experiences.

Send contributions to info@chess.ca

Don't be shy. Have some fun with it!

[Erik Malmsten]

I hope every member who paid for 4/6 issues will get a letter in the mail telling them of the online magazine.

[Bob Gillanders]

I hope every member who paid for 4/6 issues will get a letter in the mail telling them of the online magazine.

Thank you Eric. That is an excellent suggestion. We are trying to save on stamps, so for those members that can't be reached by email, they will receive notice by regular mail.

One area where we can cut costs is postage. We have email addresses for only about 50% of members. Renewal notices have been going out recently by either email or regular mail. Hopefully we can cut postage costs further as renewing members are asked for email addresses for future renewals.

I really hope that those members disappointed with the loss of the printed magazine will give the webzine a chance. We plan on having new material every week. So we really need contributions to make this a success.

Please send your contributions to info@chess.ca

[Erik Malmsten]

To help with the costs of stamps, maybe a flyer for events like the Toronto Open, Canadian Open, Quebec Open, Victoria Open, etc can be sent with the notice of the online webzine, with the organizers contributing towards costs.

[Bob Gillanders]

The Chess Canada Webzine is now online.

All current members should have received an email (as long as we have your email address) with a username and password. Go to our new main page and find the link to the webzine. If we don't have your email address, please send us an email so we can send you the password.

There are some public accessible articles, but once you login, more will be available to you.

Try it out and let us know what you think.

For any technical problems, send an email to: vchow@chess.ca

This is phase 1 of the webzine. Additional features are planned for phase 2.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Bob:

Vincent seems to have done a nice job. Congratulations.

Bob

[Jason Lohner]

I noticed when I was looking at the 'membership' part of the webzine page that BC membership was still listed as $48. I thought BC had cut out its provincial fee and went with a per tournament fee.

[Bob Gillanders]

I noticed when I was looking at the 'membership' part of the webzine page that BC membership was still listed as $48. I thought BC had cut out its provincial fee and went with a per tournament fee.

You are correct.

BC memberships are now $36 (adult) as provincial dues are collected on per tournament basis.

We'll get that fixed.

[Garland Best]

BC memberships are now $36 (adult) as provincial dues are collected on per tournament basis.



So how exactly does that work, anyway? Do the TD's in BC send separate monies to the provincal association, or is it funnelled through the CFC?

[roger patterson]

So how exactly does that work, anyway? Do the TD's in BC send separate monies to the provincal association, or is it funnelled through the CFC?

If it is a CFC rated event, they send it to the CFC along with rating fees and anything else (and it is duely forwarded by the CFC to the BCCF). If it is not a CFC event, they send it directly to the BCCF.

See http://www.chess.bc.ca/FeeReorganizationNov08.pdf for complete details.

[Hugh Brodie]

Some suggestions for the online publication:

1) Make it a single PDF file that can be printed all at once. Have a "tabbed" index, rather than the present form, which often involves several clicks before getting the article you want.

2) Diagrams. I hate the form that they are in - as well as the colours. How about a clickable diagram with which you can follow the whole game (with notes)?

3) How does one get a complete rating list (or more than 50 names) in the requested category?

[Lawrence Day]

I agree with Hugh about the diagram colours. Blue is wrong. Normal boards are usually brown or green for a reason: ease on the eyes. This is amplified by too sharp contrast between the light and dark squares. For some printers black on blue vanishes.
All that intricate detail on the piece designs is pointless also; less is more for symbols.

Evidently there's no proof-reader yet. In the intro to the Makogonov-Bohatirchuk diagram:
~ 1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 3.e4 *g6 4.Nc3 Bg7* White has scarier ideas than simply castling short. Aside from 5.h4, 5.f4, and 5.Bb5+ there is
5. Bc4 Nh6 6. Nf3 f6 7. h3 Nf7 8. Be3 Bg7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. g4
[DIAGRAM] In Makogonov-Bohatirchuk etc ~

should read ...*3..d6 4.Nc3 g6* White has scarier... etc. This freaks the next diagrams so they look like retrograde analysis problems.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Some suggestions for the online publication:

I agree, that diagrams figures and colors should be possible to choose or set.
Possibility to comment (maybe I missed a such natural option :confused:
Lighter background color. Has your design considered what a typical age of the CFC player is? (i.e., Lawrence Day is really not in the best color)

Possible new columns: Q&A; book review.

[Hugh Brodie]

Here are some examples of how boards could look like:

http://www.quebecechecs.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5178

[Bob Gillanders]

My thanks to CFC discussion board posters who offer constructive suggestions for the webzine. We are listening. It has been a lot of work to get this far, and we are swamped with lots of requests for access. We will take all your excellent suggestions and incorporate as many as feasible into phase 2 of the webzine.

I see some of our friends at chesstalk are not so generous. Their first instinct is to attack and criticize. Nevertheless, we welcome their comments and suggestions as well. I would remind them that very few newborn babies can play the piano at 2 days!

But seriously, I want to thank everyone for their patience. Time and resources permitting, we will be making improvements.

But most importantly, we need content. We want to make this your webzine. Send us your contributions. Local club news, tournament reports, games, send us a club photo, and your stories. Let's show those chesstalk whiners what we can do. To quote Barack Obama, "yes we can".

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

But most importantly, we need content.

Recently I've read a semi-chess book "Three moves ahead" (see @ CFC amazon (http://astore.amazon.ca/chesfedeofcan-20/detail/0470178213); IMHO, it is better than Kasparov's How chess...), where the author provides information about Times (?) transition to internet. One step was to put all previous issues online. Why not the same thing with CFC magazine, while contributors write original works. I may help with this, but I have only 3 magazines :rolleyes: Fortunately, one is quite old (~1982).

[Jonathan Berry]

crestbook.com has good diagrams: to the right of screen, daily puzzle. Simple yet elegant.

Of course, boring tests need to be done to see how a diagram looks on different screens and printers.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

crestbook.com has good diagrams: to the right of screen, daily puzzle.

A similar feature is offered semi-free by Shredder
http://www.shredderchess.com/chess-news/shredder-news/chess-puzzle-webmaster.html

[Jonathan Berry]

A similar feature is offered semi-free by Shredder
http://www.shredderchess.com/chess-news/shredder-news/chess-puzzle-webmaster.htmlBCCF already uses the Shredder daily puzzles.

http://www.chess.bc.ca/index.shtml

but that doesn't negate the value of any particular graphic design for chess board diagrams. :)

[John Cordes]

A similar feature is offered semi-free by Shredder
http://www.shredderchess.com/chess-news/shredder-news/chess-puzzle-webmaster.html

I don't think there's anything wrong with the PalView software used; in fact I think it's an excellent choice. The choice of colour for the boards is definitely unpleasant, however.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the PalView software used; in fact I think it's an excellent choice. The choice of colour for the boards is definitely unpleasant, however.

If we talk about the daily puzzle, then the main problem is to have problems :)

I have not investigated internal parts of PalView, but I think, that to switch colors and figures should be not a big deal. (For my site (http://www.kris-egis.com/chegis/index.php/2009/01/13/lsl-200809-5-ratas-partijos/) I use other plugin which offered me several possible designs.)

[Jason Lohner]

The BC membership price has been changed on the CFC webzine site but when you 'buy now' and it forwards to paypal it still lists as $48 (at paypal). Also I am getting alot of mysql errors listed on the main page.

also when you try to buy a membership on the 'main' page
the error

Provider error '80004005'

Unspecified error

/membership.asp, line 14

pops up.

Basically it is impossible to buy a membership via the website right now!

[Lawrence Day]

heh

"...The traditional astrological meaning assigned to Mercury going "retrograde" in the sky is that one should prepare for and gird themselves for unexpected delays, frustrations, and surprises in everyday life. This includes everyday routines in commerce, commuting back and forth to work, and in one's communications..."

http://thezodiac.com/mercuryretro.htm

[Bob Armstrong]

I have seen posted a couple of times that Vince Chow is shooting to update the webzine weekly. Is this going to be done on a regular basis, on a specific day, like the ratings update on Wednesdays? The webzine came onstream on Monday, Jan. 19. Is it intended to update it on Monday, Jan. 26?

Bob

[Bob Gillanders]

I asked a friend what he thought of the new webzine.

Well, his answer was it's schnaz-tacular. I think that is a good thing !! Look that one up in your Funk & Wagnalls.

I'm not sure what the update schedule will be yet. It will depend on the frequency and quantity of new articles. I will discuss with Vince and let you know.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

I think, authors must be shown in the articles (at least the author should sign)

http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=144&Itemid=130
vs
http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=29&id=71&Itemid=130
vs
http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=26
vs
http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=26&task=show&action=view&id=152&Itemid=26

[Erik Malmsten]

I think, authors must be shown in the articles (at least the author should sign)

http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=144&Itemid=130
vs
http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=29&id=71&Itemid=130
vs
http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=26
vs
http://members.chess.ca/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=26&task=show&action=view&id=152&Itemid=26

Like many newspaper columnists, a thumbnail photo of the author along with their name would be great.

Also, In Hans excellent article there was a game, it would be nice to have a gameviewer next to the article to play through it, as not all of us can play blindfold.

I like the small junior report ending with the link to the Manitoba site and I hope many more small articles will be posted with links to the BC online magazine, SCC magazine and other sources.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Basically it is impossible to buy a membership via the website right now!

February 14: the same sh...

---
New? Please Provide Your Billing Information
{provided}
Submit

Answer:
"You are not authorised to view this resource.
You need to login."
---

Within fifteen minutes no email and I can not see any FAQ. Thus a membership was not renewed. Yes, I am frustrated http://www.kris-egis.com/chegis/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_piktas.gif

[Bob Gillanders]

Buying memberships via new webzine site isn't as user friendly as it should be. I just tried renewing my membership, and system wants to charge me for shipping, that's not correct.

I will review with Vince, and we'll get it fixed. In the meantime, the system via the legacy site is still working okay, or you could simply mail a cheque to

Chess Federation of Canada
PO Box 4790, Station E
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 5H9

Apologies.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

In the meantime, the system via the legacy site is still working okay

I hope it worked :rolleyes: