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Introduction
to FICS
Currently,
The
Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) is the most popular non-commercial
chess server in the in the world. It provides free access
to all who wishes to play. FICS allow chess enthusiasts
to participate in games and tournaments over the internet in real
time play. Members of the free internet chess server are
comprised of players of all calibers and skill levels -- from
beginners to grandmasters!
Aside
from being able to select opponents who are suited to your skill
level, players have a wide range of time controls they can choose
from for their game. Players who enjoy slow, well-thought
out chess moves may play standard chess games which have longer
time controls (e.g. 30 minute games, or longer). Those who
enjoy fast paced games have the option of playing blitz or lightning
chess. In blitz games, players are allotted between 3 to
10 minutes each to complete the game. In lightning games
players must complete the entire game within 1 or 2 minutes!
It is chess played at heart-pounding, break-neck speed!
There
are tournaments held many times daily on FICS. Lectures
are offered by strong chess players (usually masters) on chess
openings, middle games, and endgames as well.
FICS
also provides full coverage of major chess events. Often
times, grandmaster games (e.g. games of Grandmasters Karpov, Kasparov,
Kamsky, Krammnik, and other super-gms) from major chess tournaments
are viewable in real time over the internet as the moves are relayed
over to FICS. Strong players provide commentary and analysis
during these games. Beginners, intermediate, and advanced
players alike have the wonderful opportunity to learn from these
games.
Many
chess masters offer free simultaneous exhibitions over FICS.
Beginners and intermediate players have an opportunity to beat
strong players and learn from them as well.
Bughouse
on FICS
Users
are able to play bughouse
on FICS. In fact, it is widely considered to be the best place
to play internet bughouse in the world.
Here
is how to get started playing bughouse on FICS:
- Download
a graphical interface either from the downloads
section of the FICS website or from the downloads
section of bughouse.net. Install the software onto your
computer.
The Thief Interface is highly recommended for playing bughouse.
If
you are unable to log on to fics:
Email
support@freechess.org
for help on getting started.
- Register
for a free account on FICS
-
After obtaining your graphical interface and successfully
logging on to FICS, type:
1) '+channel 24' (without the quotes)
2) Then type:
'tell channel 24 Someone please help me get started playing
bughouse'.
Many of the bughouse players on fics are very helpful and
will help get you started.
-
Below is more detailed information on how
to get started playing bughouse. Most of the text is taken
from the Bughouse section of the FICS Helpfiles.
Don't let the text overwhelm you, once you get the hang
of the commands, playing bughouse on FICS is quite simple.
It is definitely worth the small effort to learn.
How
to Play Bughouse on FICS (from the FICS Helpfiles)
Bughouse (or
siamese chess) is a variant of chess played between two player
teams on two separate boards. The special feature of the game
is that pieces you capture are transferred to your partner, who
is playing with the opposite color pieces from yourself. He may
"drop" such a piece on an empty square as a subsequent
move in his game. Bughouse games have a separate rating.
Starting
a Bughouse Match
First, find a user who is available
for a bughouse partnership. The command "bugwho u"
will list users with bugopen set to 1 but who do not have bughouse
partnerships. Next, use the "partner" command to select
a partner. After that, find an opposing team. You may use the
Bughouse channel for this purpose (channel 24), and the command
"bugwho p" lists players who are members of a current
bughouse partnership.
Then, one of your team challenges his desired opponent on the
other team to a "bughouse" match. (A useful alias
for this is "alias bug match @ 2 12 bughouse" where
"bug user_name" is all you would need to type in order
to match user_name to a bughouse game having 2 12 time controls.)
When the match is accepted and all four players are present,
then two games are initiated simultaneously: one between the
challenger and the challengee with the desired colors, and one
between the other partners, with colors opposite from their
partners. The same time control applies to both boards, though
"moretime" can be used independently on each board.
Each player is notified of the game number of their partner's
game, so he may observe it as well as playing in his own game.
To help you form bughouse partnerships and bughouse matches,
a special channel is available: channel 24 -- Bughouse channel.
To enter this channel, type "+channel 24".
Playing
Bughouse
During bughouse play, you will
be periodically notified when your partner passes you captured
pieces. You will be told the type of piece that was passed,
and the set of pieces that you are currently holding. You are
also notified when your opponent's holdings change. Both player's
holdings are displaxt yed whenever your board position is refreshed.
Strength assessment takes held pieces into account, not just
pieces on the board.
A special move notation is needed to drop one of your held pieces
onto the board. The notation for making a drop is "P@fr",
where P is a piece you are holding [PNBRQ] and "fr"
is the empty destination square. Example: "n@f5" would
drop a knight on square f5.
You may talk to your partner during a bughouse match. It is
recommended to set up convenient aliases for common messages,
such as "I need a knight!!", "Don't give him
a bishop!", etc. The "ptell" command is used
for this purpose; only your partner will hear a ptell.
The match is finished when one player is checkmated, resigns,
or is flagged. At that point, *both* games end and the bughouse
ratings of *all* match players are adjusted, whether or not
the team result was because of their game. A draw request should
be made and accepted at *both* boards before the match is ended
as a draw [a near impossibility].
Note that checkmate is defined differently: there must be no
*possibility* of avoiding checkmate by a drop interposition.
Even if your opponent is currently holding no pieces that he
can drop in order to avoid mate, he/she may later get a piece
from his/her partner and use it to interpose the check.
Thus, only contact and knight checks can give a "decisive"
checkmate (meaning that no interposition or drops are ever possible).
For notes on strategy in bughouse chess, see the "bughouse_strat"
help file.
Observers should observe both games in order to see the full
match. You can observe your partner's game using several commands:
follow, observe, pfollow or pobserve. Pfollow and pobserve are
special commands especially for bughouse games, so become familiar
with them.
Kibitzes and whispers go to observers (and players) of *both*
games even if you are observing only one game. Observers will
also be notified of pieces transferred to each player's reserves.
(Note that kibitz can be used as a shortcut to tell your partner
something if you don't mind your opponents hearing it. It also
makes the game more exciting for the observers.) A "say"
will go to your opponent, as well as to your partner and your
partner's opponent.
Restrictions:
-
Pawns cannot be dropped onto
your first or eighth ranks, although they may be dropped
onto the seventh rank and promoted on the next move.
-
Pieces that had been promoted
revert to pawns when captured and passed to your partner.
-
Your partner variable is
not saved between logins. Use the partner command to get
a partner after you log on.
Special
Notes:
(a) Bughouse is not be supported
by all interfaces. Contact the author of your interface to determine
if you can play bughouse with it. If an interface relies on
the board position rather than moves, things should generally
work out. No new styles have been added to support bughouse.
(b) Because bughouse is such a nonstandard type of play, there
are a number of commands that are not applicable to a bughouse
game:
-
Adjournments and disconnections
can be resumed. Simply, re-log back in and re-partner
your last partner. Then, re-challenge the opposing team.
The stored game will then be resumed.
-
Simul commands cannot be
used for bughouse games.
-
Takeback is disabled (for
now). At best, takeback would work only on noncapture
moves (including drops) in order to avoid having to take
held pieces away from the other game.
-
Switch is disabled (for now).
-
Moves, oldmoves, mailmoves
and mailoldmoves do work during a game, but they now break
the PGN format, which doesn't allow drops. Moves are shown
as "P/@@-fr" and "P@fr" in the old
and PGN formats. Only moves and drops are recorded, not
changes to a player's holdings. Theoretically, knowing
the duration of each move in both games allows you to
reconstruct the holdings as well.
-
Except for commands that
terminate a game or involve certain forms of communication,
commands affect only one of the two games in a bughouse
match.
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