The series of IM Andrew Martin’s articles on ChessCube has come to an end, but you can still access this fantastic resource. Andrew Martin’s columns provide excellent game analysis. He analyses both recent and classic games, providing chess players with plenty to mull over.

The quizzes from Andrew Martin are a great way to test your chess knowledge, with Andrew providing further analysis.

These quizzes and columns should be revisited by every chess player who is keen on improving. Follow ChessCube on Twitter for a daily reminder of these articles.

Watch a live game on ChessCube with commentary:

We’ve been hard at work making some exciting changes to ChessCube – take a look and see:

ChessCube - spot anything new?

And, there is more on its way. Keep watching this space for announcements over the next few days.

In July 2009, ChessCube and CHESSA announced the first FIDE rated online matches. These were matches were played in the 2009 SA Open between players based in Melbourne, Australia and players based in Cape Town, South Africa. GM Amon Simutowe won the tournament.

ChessCube has recently released a report on the event for FIDE. The report summarises the key challenges and lessons from this chess world first, with the aim of encouraging increased online participation in chess tournaments. FIDE’s support for this venture, and in particular in rating these matches, demonstrates exciting possibilities in the world of chess.

This report and the player agreement are available for download. Click on the following links to download pdf versions of the report and player agreement. ChessCube SA Open 2009 Report (pdf). ChessCube SA Open 2009 Player Agreement for online matches (pdf).

Welcoming back tournament winners is a good way to start the week at ChessCube.

It was a great weekend for ChessCube employees Lefu Ntho and John Jurgens, who finished the 2009 Swellendam Open in joint 1st place overall. Both players scored 4.5 out of a possible 6. However, it was John who won with a higher tiebreak.

Bennie, Lefu and John

The highest rated player in the Swellendam Open, Dr A. Southey, scored 4.5 overall as well. Many expected Dr Southey to blow the competition away. However, with a drawn match against Benjamin Bosch, another ChessCube employee, and a loss to Lefu, Dr Southey was no longer in the running to win. The path was clear for John to take top honours.

ChessCube congratulates both Lefu and John on their achievement at the 2009 Swellendam Open, and Benjamin on a great tournament as well!

Releasing a new version of ChessCube is no small task. We’ve had some great feedback on ChessCube v4 already (thanks!). In case you were wondering what goes into launching a new version of ChessCube, I managed to squeeze in some time with Tracy to ask her a few questions. Tracy is the lead developer working on the ChessCube that you see and love, and below are her thoughts on the new version.

Sarah: ChessCube v4 has quite a few changes from the previous version. What are the major changes?

Tracy: The major change was the new skin itself. We tried to keep functional changes to a minimum to make the transition easier.

Functionality that did change was:

• Main menu and quick link menu (previous interface, top left buttons) functionality was simplified and menu options were moved to their context-specific areas (mainly areas in the left bar). For example, friend-related menu options were simplified and moved to the ‘Friends’ area of the left-hand menu
• The previous ‘personal panel’ on the top left was removed and replaced on the top right, with the new ‘player card‘. All personal / profile-related menu options will be located in this area
• Left accordion bar was replaced with the left-hand menu
• New ‘Play anyone’ feature and a tweak of the playing status rules
• Simplified overall functionality by removing features that aren’t often used and features that we’re going to be improving upon in the near future
• The move-history of games was improved on, making the interface a lot more stable & portable

Overall, we tried to clean up the interface to make space for all the new exciting things that we’re going to be adding.

ChessCube Chat v4

Can you talk a little bit about why it was time for an update?

Our previous version was great for its time, but started to get a bit cluttered as we added on new functionality. We also found that some older features were not being used optimally. We had new features that we wanted to implement plus we wanted to make the interface more fun.

So it was high time for a reshape and reconfiguration, to make way for the next era of the interface.

What’s involved with releasing a new version of ChessCube?

A lot of testing, sneak previews and a demo version running in parallel. Enthusiastic players enjoyed hunting for the secret preview URL, and also provided us with some good feedback.

What is your favourite part of the new ChessCube chat?

The player card – which has got lots more coming to it. Also, the fact that the simplified interface makes it easier to view and play on smaller screen resolutions.

There are some new features on the horizon that I have seen in the designs that I absolutely love. I cannot let the cat out the bag yet, but they are going to spice up the interface quite nicely.

Thanks Tracy! We’re looking forward to being able to show off the new features that are on the way!

“A man that will take back a move at chess will pick a pocket.”
- Richard Fenton (1837 – 1916)

CTRL Z Threadless Tee

So, when ChessCube Version 4 launched this week, it launched without the “take back” option. It’s back (some of you may be pleased to know), but we’ve certainly seen lots of debate around whether it shouldn’t even be an available option!

I asked for some opinions around ChessCube HQ, and John’s thoughts are worth sharing:

“When you take back a move in chess you have had a glimpse of the future and your opponent has not had the same advantage. Except in beginners’ games, it ought not to be allowed in my opinion.

Ultimately it can only harm the chess development of the player who takes back the move. Takebacks can also quite easily bedevil relationships.

The player who is asked for a takeback is placed in an invideous position. If she refuses then she risks being thought of as an ungracious person. And if she accedes then she has set a precedent which will be difficult to repudiate. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Much simpler to simply not allow the possibility at all.

Mouse slips? I have had a few and smarted most mightily for it. I’m much more careful with my mouse these days. ”

When playing games online, most players wouldn’t want to be at the mercy of their own mouse slips. It’s something we had to consider with the online games in the SA Open. For those games, even though the game was played online, each player also had a physical board to show their moves to the arbiter. That way, a request to take back a move based on a slip of the mouse could be verified against the board.

What do I think? Well, I’m quite the beginner myself, so I were to want to take a move back it would more likely be because I’d made the wrong one, rather than that my mouse had slipped. It would be better for me to learn to play the game without that “ctrl + z” option. For better players, I can understand the frustration of a mistaken move because of a sticky mouse. Take back remains for now.

What do you think?

[Image is detail of the "CTRL + Z" Tee by Ben Devens at Threadless.]

The latest version of ChessCube has just gone live. The interface has changed quite a bit to make it easier to use. We’re loving the new look, and we hope you are too.

If you haven’t yet, login at www.chesscube.com/play to try out the new version. If you’d like to let us know what you think, head on over to our forum to send us comments, bugs and feedback.

We’ll have a little more for you from the lead developer on the new version of ChessCube later on this week.

If you’re following us on Twitter (and if you’re not, you should! www.twitter.com/chesscube), you’ll have seen some mention of something very exciting: version four of ChessCube Play is on its way! If you manage to find it, you can even take a peek on a secret URL. For those who can’t find the secret URL, here are some screenshots to whet your appetite:

ChessCube Chat v4

Chess game in ChessCube V4

Looking good! We can’t wait for you all to try it out.

We’re turning into a film studio for the next few days. We’ll post more photos soon – here is just a teaser:

ChessCube Studio - Take One

Can you spy who is visiting us? And if you look closely, you can even spot the photographer (me!).