Newsgroup: it.hobby.scacchi
Titolo: VOG 2 FREE START

__________VOG Newsletter - August 1999________________________________
Play games, chat amd make friends at VOG - 
http://www.vog.ru
- News about VOG2!
- Backgammon Reports
    - June TOC Results
    - July TOC Results
    - VOG Backgammon League
    - Ratings Inflation?
- Checkers Reports
    - Congratulations to Momma!
    - Welcome to Checkers Airbunny!
    - New Hosts
    - Tournament of Champions
    - New Tournament Schedule
    - Ron "Suki" King, by Momma
- Chess Reports
    - Tournament of Champions
    - Tip of the Month
    - Simultaneous Games Match
    - Tournament Schedule
    - Hosts
- Othello Reports
    - Othello Renaissance
    - National Othello Tournament News
    - New Sysop!
    - Othello Workshops
    - TOC Results
    - VOG Othello Challenge (VOC)
__________VOG2 News!!!________________________________________________
    On August 25, 1999, a month after release of the first public beta
version, we started another round of VOG2 beta testing releasing
version 2.06. We would like to encourage ALL of you to download that
version and give it an extensive testing. Play games, send messages,
chat, use every single feature that you can find! The more people try
it now, the sooner the final version will be released! And if you find
anything malfunction, please send us bug reports to 
vog2...@vog.ru
The more details you include in your report - the better.
    This version has all known bugs and malfunctions fixed. Some of
these bugs could cause severe system resources leakage in previous
versions, resulting in unstable Windows operation and frequent
crashes. We believe these problems are fixed now. Also all known
problems in the servers were fixed and servers proved to work very
stable in the past 2 weeks.
    New versions of game modules also add one *major* new feature that
will make the task of finding an opponent much, much easier than in
VOG1. VOG1 Backgammon players will appreciate our new and improved
random dice generator in VOG2. And of course a very big deal of VOG
Shell functionality was completed or improved.
    Please, visit our VOG2 Beta site at 
http://beta.vog.ru
 and
download VOG2. Be sure to read carefully the instructions on that
site; you may bring your VOG1 nick & password along with you into
VOG2, but you MUST tell VOG2 this information and signup, it does NOT
automatically carry over to VOG2.  Keep in mind, that VOG2 is on a
completely different server, and has no direct ties to VOG1.  We will
keep this site updated, so if there is any new information, this would
be the place to start in looking for answers.
    And that's not all... we're not going to be specific at this point
in time, but expect to see a LOT of brand new games on VOG2 during the
year 2000!  And they will ALL be fully available to you with your
single GOLD Membership (which will carry forward from your current
VOG1 registration).
__________BACKGAMMON__________________________________________________
Editor - Maxime
in...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Backgammon Editor
__________June TOC Results____________________________________________
    On June 26, 1999, 52 players came to put themselves on the line,
and take away VOG's largest jackpot.  Over the course of the next 6
hours, 22 minutes 50 players ended up being eliminated.  In the finals
(which was a 15-point match), we had TheLeadMan and _KLASSIK going for
the big trophy.  When the dust settled, it was _KLASSIK winning 15:4.
We offer our sincere congratulations to both fine players!
__________July TOC Results____________________________________________
    On July 31, 1999, 66 players played in the July TOC.  This was the
first TOC for a few months that we returned to the "Sr. Progressive"
(5/5/7/7/9) format for the TOC (by popular request of the players).
In a rare back-to-back sitting at the final table was TheLeadMan,
along with MASTEROFGAMMON.  After a grand total of 5 hours and 22
minutes of play, TheLeadMan won the match 11:9, in a thrilling attempt
at a comeback from 9:0 by MASTEROFGAMMON.  Our sincere thanks to
Kaysplace & Tatik (and many others) for a great job of hosting this
tourney!  The next TOC is scheduled for Saturday, August 28, 1999, at
1pm (CT).
__________Backgammon League___________________________________________
    Did you know VOG has a Backgammon League?  It's a league of 16
players per league, where play takes place over an 8 week period,
followed by a League Tournament of Champions.  For more information,
and to signup for the next league (tentatively scheduled to start
September 8, 1999, please visit 
http://www.brucegames.com/vog
.  Read
the rules, and if it sounds like you would be interested, use the
Signup-Form, and you will be confirmed the week before the league is
scheduled to start.
__________Ratings Inflation___________________________________________
    This piece was contributed by an anonymous player in VOG.  It
relates to "Ratings Inflation".  Just so you know, Ratings Inflation
is a violation of the "Code of Conduct", and if proven, WILL cause
your nick to be permanently banned...
    Many of us have been playing backgammon at VOG for over a year
now.  We have made many new friends and truly enjoy playing the game
with each other.  Some of us are definitely better players than others
and this shows in the games they have played, either with us, or
without us.  Sometimes, as many of us often do, I look in the
archives, to replay a match between two high rated players, to see if
I might learn something about backgammon that will help me be a better
player.  However, sometimes I see games and matches that absolutely
mystify me!
    This awe does not stem from seeing a fantastic match between two
players.  The mystery is why some  players with high ratings don't
complete several matches, why their opponent doubles over and over in
a losing match, why their opponent leaves blots instead of making a
block, why their opponent may resign after only making two or three
moves, or why their opponent resigns after not making any moves at
all!
    One afternoon I noticed a player that had a very, very low rating.
I saw he now had a new nickname, almost like his old nickname, but his
average was more than 600 points higher than his usual rating!  And
all this was accomplished in a week, and in under 70 matches!  I
decided to look in the archives, to see how this player got to be so
good all of a sudden.  What did I see?  Some very good matches with a
bit of luck for added insurance?  Nope!  I saw matches never played
and just resigned.  I saw matches where their opponent made ridiculous
moves that no player would EVER make!  I saw a low rated player soar
to new heights by having his opponents make it impossible for him to
lose.
    On another occasion I saw a player make 80 points in 20 minutes!
How did he do this?  I looked in the archives and I saw that another
player just resigned several matches in a row to him without even
playing the games!
    Did I say to myself, are they cheating?  Are they deliberately
inflating  ratings with the help of another player?  What's going on
here?  I decided to check on his opponents archives.  I spent the next
15 minutes looking in the archives, replaying the games, noticing the
same names appear over and over, all doing the same thing.  Why would
a player that plays the game well, make idiotic moves and appear to
deliberately lose after doubling and doubling and doubling?  None of
these suspicious games made any sense to me at all.  To me it appeared
the players were purposely inflating other players ratings by
deliberately losing.
    But, don't these players realize that people look in the archives?
Don't they realize that every game they play leaves a clear trail of
what they are doing?  Don't they care if other players see them cheat?
And what's the big deal about having a high rating?  Is it important
enough to cheat for it?  The only thing that really gets accomplished
is showing other players you didn't get your rating by playing fairly!
It shows other players that you are a fool for thinking your fake high
rating makes you a good player!  It shows other players what kind of
person you are, to do such a stupid thing!
    So, if you want to see the players that do things like this, and
there are many, many, many of them, all you do is click on "Archives".
Check the Room box next to "Short Backgammon",  type in the name of
the player you want to check, set the date a few months back (between
March 1 and Today), and click "Query List".  This will show you a list
of the matches they have played within that time period.  You may see
several high point matches that are just resigned. You may see high
point games never played. You may see many 0-0 games with resigns.
Then, if you want to see a game replayed, double click on that match,
and the board appears and with each click, a move is made and you can
see the game, roll by roll.  You might see that only a few moves were
made, you may see the players doubling at every move, whether they are
winning or not, and then you may see a resign.  You will be amazed at
these games!!!!
    I encourage you to take a few minutes, check the archives to see
this all for yourself.  Maybe you can figure out the mystery.  If you
do, please let me know!  But until then, I am one player that has no
interest in playing with people that play like that.  To me it's
cheating and deliberate rate inflation.  I think all players have the
right to know who cheats and who is really a great player that has
earned their high rating.  Cheaters that fake their wins are still
only losers.  And anyway, I don't want to play with a cheater.  Do
YOU?
__________CHECKERS____________________________________________________
Co-Editors - BCNU & Ms.Taz
In...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Editor - Checkers
__________Congratulations to Momma!___________________________________
    Momma has been a dedicated sysop on VOG for a year now.  She has
helped us one and all, please take a moment to congratulate Momma on
her new position as Head Tournament Director in Checkers.  If you'd
like to see new tournaments started in other variations of checkers
such as Pool and Give-Away, have questions about existing tournaments
or would like to become a host look for Momma the next time you log on
VOG Checkers. Congrats Momma! :))
__________Welcome to Checkers Airbunny!_______________________________
    The next time you are in Checkers bring a bushel of carrots and
welcome Airbunny to the Checkers Sysop Team as Assistant Team Leader!
: )  Airbunny has been a part of the VOG family for quite some time,
sysoping in all games and holding the ATL position in Othello, until
recently when she offered her services to come join us in Checkers.
Welcome Hop Hop! : ))
__________New Hosts___________________________________________________
    VOG Checkers would like to welcome two new hosts to our
family...Caviler and Cutie~!  Thanks for all your help ladies; you're
doing a great job!  If anyone is interested in becoming a Checkers
Tournament host please email 
Chec...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Head Tournament
Director.
__________Tournament of Champions_____________________________________
    Congratulations to Mr. Chad, the winner of the July Tournament of
Champions!  Final standings of this tournament are as follows:
Nickname     Score  Country
MrChad       6      United Kingdom
checkerist   5.5    United Kingdom
atucknik     4.5    United States
quickdraw1   4.5    Barbados
ae_pddecker  3.5    United States
scatcat      3      United States
Abdula2      3      United States
oldarch      2      United States
Viana_BA     2      Brazil
Taly         1      Chile
    The next TOC for checkers will be held on October 23rd, 1999 at
8pm CST. We have changed the day and time to allow more players to
attend. There are currently 42 players that are eligible to play, and
the list keeps growing! To get more information on the TOC and to find
out if you are eligible please go to
http://www.vog.ru/checkers/tourneys/toc.asp
.  Sign-up begins 30
minutes prior to tournament time and the winner will receive one year
FREE membership to VOG Checkers! :))
__________New Tournament Schedule_____________________________________
    VOG Checkers has added another Brazilian tournament, come visit
Taly and play in one of her awesome tournaments! :)) Check out our new
tournament schedule at 
http://www.vog.ru/checkers/tourneys
.  Winners
of all tournaments receive one week FREE membership added to their
account.
__________A look inside the life of Ron "Suki" King___________________
- by Momma
    Ron King, was the second child of four born to Hilda King in
Holders Village, St. George, Barbados.  Ron started playing checkers
at the age of 8, and his first Checkers game came about when he was
representing his primary school, St. Judes Primary, in a game of
cricket.  While waiting for his turn to bat, he got involved in a game
of checkers with a gentleman who was beating up everyone and bragging
about it. Ron was defeated six games in a row, which is known locally
as a 6 love. This was very embarrassing and to be beaten like this
meant that you couldn't play. After this defeat Ron cried and vowed
that he would get my revenge, which he did the next day. From that
moment on Ron became interested in draughts. He became the most sought
after person in Barbados to have a game of draughts with; he would
eat, sleep and breathe checkers.
    From the age of seventeen, until about twenty-two, Ron would bet
on checkers winning sometimes up to $5,000.00 in a day!  By this time
Ron was the NO. 1 draughts player in Barbados. After beating everyone
in Barbados he decided that he wanted to be the World Champion in
Draughts. Ron had heard about the American Checkers Federation and the
then World Champion Dr. Marion Tinsley of the USA.  He tried to get a
job, at that time, teaching draughts in schools, but was discouraged
by the Education Ministry. Draughts was not seen as a game suitable
for certain classes, it was viewed as a poor man's game and the
benefits to be derived from the game were not visible to the Education
Ministry.
    Ron's dream of getting checkers into the schools system came true.
He is presently employed by the Ministry of Education to teach
draughts and chess in the schools, and provide motivation to the
students. Ron has run primary and secondary school tournaments through
local sponsors like Barbados Coca-Cola using forty schools at a time.
    He has traveled to the USA every year since 1984, and has also
traveled to England, Ireland and throughout the Caribbean playing and
promoting Checkers. Ron is scheduled to travel to South Africa in
February to break the Guinness worlds record for simultaneous play,
where he will take on 1,000 opponents!   He will also defend one of
his world titles against the South African Champion Lulama Gwashi.
    To learn more about Ron "Suki" King and his lifetime achievements
please send an email to 
chec...@vog.ru
 with a subject heading of  "A
look inside the life of Ron "Suki" King".  Special thanks to Ron for
taking them time to share his life with all the members of VOG.
    Have you got exciting news of the world of Checkers? Email us at
chec...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Editor - Checkers, and share your stories with
all of VOG. Let us know about upcoming tournaments being held offline,
strategic classes, where to go for the best books on Checkers and
anything else you can think of.
    If you have any questions or comments please email 
chec...@vog.ru
suggestions are always welcome!
__________CHESS_______________________________________________________
Editor - Cheno
in...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Chess Editor
__________Tournament of Champions_____________________________________
    Congratulations to all players in the June TOC!  Competition was
tough!  For detailed play by play of the matches in the TOC, use the
archive on VOG to view the games.  For more information about the VOG
Chess Tournament of Champions, navigate your browser to
http://www.vog.ru/chess/tourneys/toc.asp
# Nickname   Score  Country
1 thelast    6.5    Russian Federation
2 MANGO_UA   5.5    Ukraine
3 Arlley     4      Russian Federation
4 dod        4      Russian Federation
5 Rocknroll  3      United States
6 manimal    3      Norway
7 Mighty*    2      St. Helena
8 o0o        0      Latvia
__________Tip of the Month____________________________________________
    Do you have a new email address?  Make sure to log on the "Edit
User Profile" page and update your email address there so that you
continue to receive VOG newsletters and information about what's new!
(Make sure to update your email address in all appropriate spaces on
the page) Navigate your browser to
http://www.vog.ru/edit-user-profile.asp
__________Simultaneous Games Matches__________________________________
    Ever thought about testing your Chess skills against numerous
players all at the same time? Well now you can!  VOG Chess is
currently looking for players to hold simultaneous games matches on
our gaming site, take a look at 
http://www.vog.ru/chess/match.asp
 for
more information.
__________Tournament Schedule_________________________________________
    Please check out the tournament schedule, as we are trying
different times and lengths to see what works the best for you.  New
players are asked to go to 
http://www.vog.ru/chess/tourneys
 to read
the rules and for more information.  Sign up begins 30 minutes before
the tournament starts.  If you would like to see a particular length
of time for a tournament, please let us know and we will try to get
one organized for you.  Please email 
ch...@vog.ru
 with your
suggestions.
__________Hosts_______________________________________________________
    VOG Chess is always looking for tournament hosts, if you would
like to host tournaments in VOG please email 
ch...@vog.ru
  - hosts
must be registered players and have the abilities to deal with people
in a pleasant and helpful manner.
    Suggestions, jokes, interesting links and comments are always
welcome at 
ch...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Chess Editor
__________OTHELLO_____________________________________________________
Editors - airbunny
In...@vog.ru
 ATTN: Editor - Othello
__________Othello Renaissance_________________________________________
    With VOG2 "ramping up" its public beta version of Backgammon and
Chess, it appeared for a while that Checkers and Othello were going to
be put on the "back burner".  Boy, were we wrong!
    To introduce the great VOG features to aficionados of these two
games which will soon be part of VOG2,  shura made VOG1 Othello and
Checkers available to the public on the 9th of July, with no
registration fee.   This has boosted our "numbers" in Othello, and we
run tourneys as often as we get enough people in the room to play
them. So if you like either of these games, feel free to download them
by simply running your vog1 setup wizard...Come join us!!
__________National Othello Championship_______________________________
    Guess what?? Eddie Williams,  our own BTSBrabantio, placed 3rd in
the U.S. National Othello Tournament in New York, in July!!  WAY GO
BRAB!!   Past and present VOG players Raphael Schreiber (won the US
Nationals and will be going to the World Championships in November),
Ryan Matreyek (2nd),  Hendra Lesmana (12th),  and Daniel Naylor (13th)
also competed.
__________New Sysop!__________________________________________________
    We'd like to welcome Tim "Tyrandt" Krzywonos to the Othello Sysop
team.  Tim brings a lot to our team.  He received the Best New Player
Award from the IIOA for his excellent play over the last two years.
When he isn't working, or in class, or attending an international
Othello competition somewhere in the world, he's hard at work in VOG
Othello, running (and usually winning) tourneys, training tourney
hosts, and helping Brab with the workshops (see below).  Welcome
aboard, Tyrandt!
__________Othello Workshops___________________________________________
    Yes, yes we set workshops!  Basic othello strategy workshop
returns with a new semester, and a new teacher!  WC player Tim
Krzywonos (Tyrandt) and Virginia Open champion "Eddie" Williams
(Brabantio) kicked off the lessons on July 31st with a fantastic
workshop on Notation and Maximum disc strategy.  Then on August 1st,
Tyrandt and shyuhe VOG introduced the "Expert's circle", a workshop
for the advanced Othello player!  They covered parity and wedges.
Don't know what we're talking about?  Come to the workshops and that
your skillzz up! :)
__________Othello Tournament of Champions_____________________________
    Speaking of Tyrandt, he won the VOG Othello Tournament of
Champions (TOC) on July 11.  Smitty came a respectable second in this
tourney.  The TOC is open to all players who win or are runners-up in
the three month period prior to the TOC.  The next Tournament of
Champions takes place on October 3rd, at 11 AM Central Time.
TOC Final standings
#  Nickname      Score  Disks   Country
1  Tyrandt       5      317     Canada
2  SMITTY        5      259     United States
3  yyyd          5      228     Australia
4  MSBugs        5      224     Hong Kong
5  Water.Bot     4      249     COMPUTER
6  twotwosix     4      244     Hong Kong
7  Bad2J         4      215     Lithuania
8  TourneyUltimo 3      210     Japan
9  Puyo          2      207     Hong Kong
10 everest       2      202     Argentina
11 Fuipig        2      192     Netherlands
12 airbunny      1      141     United States
__________VOG Othello Challenge_______________________________________
    Here are the results of the most recent VOG Othello Challenge,
held on July 25th:
VOC Final standings
#  Nickname     Score     Disks   Country
1  TourneyDawg  5         198     United States
2  spotbuttons  4         198     Singapore
3  W1shMaster   3         175
4  yyyd~        3         171     Australia
5  Puyo         3         142     Hong Kong
6  Ultimo       2         176     Japan
7  BIGidiot     2         147     United States
8  Mark         2         136     Netherlands
9  THELLO       2         112     Germany
10 acez         1         137     Singapore
11 smiles22     1         136     United Kingdom
12 SMITTY       1         128     United States

sara' bellissimo VOG ma a me quelli stanno sul ca%$o...
%$&
julian//