I see a lot of suggestions about what to include in upgrades.

Playing correspondence chess is like thumbing thru puzzle books.  When u have many games on the go you lose your train of thought.  I'd like to see a scratchPad so i can make notes next to the board that only i can see.

While these features are convenient, especially if you access the site from a workplace computer or library, if you play from your own computer, lots of database and player programs allow you to annotate your games in progress, and move ahead of the game's progress to look ahead so as to choose favorable lines of play.  Many such programs are freeware.

Old school correspondence players used notebooks, numerous physical chessboards and pieces, and piles of books to accomplish these tasks.  They also played far fewer games at one time than many of us do today.

My preference would be to see features added to the site which we can't take care of on our own, such as vacation flag.

It would be neat to be able to annotate the archived games, perhaps with the notes of both players in different colors, and a third color for non playing annotators.  This could provide an instructive resource.  Sorting archived games by opening code, or by players and results would be nice.  The games archive is most likely the largest database on the site.  Making it more useful seems a priority.

Regards,
WP

Quote from the current thread:
"...lots of database and player programs allow you to annotate your games in progress, and move ahead of the games progress to look ahead so as to choose favorable lines of play."
Quote from posting #58 (under Fair play and Ratings adjustment):
"Please do not use chess software to decide your next move. By all means use software to analyse your games after the event, but using it to dictate your moves is defeating the object of person v person play."
??????

This is a reference to "chess engines" which do the "thinking" for you.  These are prohibited.  Databases and their use are perfectly legal, because the player must interpret the information himself and decide on his next move.

Databases are today's books!  For example, you may record all of your own games in a database, and then sort by results.  This will not decide your next move in any particular game, but if you find you have a dismal record of results playing the Sicilian Dragon, you may examine master level databases to find where you are going wrong, or you may choose to go in another direction altogether.  Most high level correspondence players create a database called their "opening book" with detailed analysis of their repertoire of favorite openings, and detailed analysis done in advance, including prepared "surprises" and "improvements".  This has to take into account recent GM results, depending on one's level of play.

Your idea of a notepad is a very good one, because by recording your thinking process, and plan, you get to see how it is working out as the game progresses.  This is important in the post game analysis (win or lose), as it is doubtful you'll remember what you were thinking when the game ends weeks or even months later.

So by all means use databases, but avoid the temptation to utilize engines to decide your moves for you.

Regards,
WP

Mankind have been playing standard chess for centuries, believing that sort of arrangement of the pieces was the center of the chess universe. But the late GM Robert James Fischer proposed Fischer random chess (aka Chess960), just to skip over the ECO and the so-called "theory of chess openings"... and the all-powerful chess engines' databases.

Following his revolutionary idea, I have proposed to incorporate Extended Chess to the practice of the game.
Extended Chess is Chess960 with the option to play Alice chess in her two sub-variants (Alice I and Alice II).
N.B. There is a respectable chess site which offers Chess960 and Alice chess as separate variants but not yet Extended chess.
Wo dares to play Extended chess?
Standard chess is just one out of 2,800 and + possibilities to start a game, whether on one or two boards with the usual 32-piece set.

I suspect, almost certainly that Bobby's notion stemmed from the paranoia that plagued his later life.  He thought that the possibilities were near the point of exhaustion in the regular game.

That appears not to be the case, but the game is certainly more mature than it was a century ago, and the advent of databases and computers are perhaps threatening to some.

For most mortals and even most GMs, regular chess is still a battle of the mind, and memory is part of the mind.  The practice of not adjourning games and completing them in a sudden death time limit places a premium on even the GMs talent at quick evaluation of a position, rather than the brute analysis of teams of seconds as in Fischer's day.

The variants represent ground for exploration and fun for players of all strengths, but are really different games played with the same board and pieces.  A century from now, a new Nimzowich and Tarrach may debate the merits of their theories and systems of play in Chess960.  For now most have all they can handle trying to be somewhat proficient at the grand old game we play here.

Regards,
WP