What's new about WebChess

August 1, 1996

Made a minor change that should stop the troublesome "Hey, this isn't my game" syndrome that has plagued WebChess since its start.

June 14, 1996

New software - I've updated the WebChess server software to allow for castling, en passant capturing, and pawn promotion. I've also tried to speed things up a little, and added some security for making sure moves are legal (so now it's harder to cheat). The summary page describes the changes in more detail, along with the rules for the new moves.

July 31, 1995

Unfortunately, no major changes yet. I am experimenting with the Netscape <meta http-equiv="Refresh"> tag to do automatic reloads of certain pages. For example, while you're waiting for your opponent to make a move, Netscape will automatically reload the game page every 30 seconds until your opponent moves or you choose a different link. I'll continue to play with this to add a little more functionality, but please send me bug notices on this particular aspect (if you notice any).

Feb 8, 1995

White always moves first. I think.

Jan 29, 1995

Created a "password" system to allow players to re-join a game from which they were unintentionally removed (such as their browser or computer freezing). Also, added the ability to choose between text and graphics mode for players. When you sign up, you can choose to play using a text board or a graphics board. This option only makes sense for players using graphical browsers - Lynx users won't notice much of a difference between the 2 modes. For internatonal users and others who had trouble loading 81 different images, this will be a much faster way of playing.

Jan 12, 1995

The user limit has been increased to 10 (up from 5), and the time-out has been reduced from 3 hours to 1 hour. This means that if you or your opponent hasn't made a move in 60 minutes, your game will be removed from the Server.

Jan 2, 1995

By popular demand, a BBS-type thing has been set up to allow you to leave notes letting others know when you plan to stop by The Chess Server. Notes are kept for 1 week, then removed.

Dec. 30, 1994

Now you can send messages to your opponent, and your opponent can send messages to you. This has been a highly requested option, and I think it finally works. Just a few more things on my to-do list...

Dec. 29, 1994

Move histories are finally implemented. Each move each player makes is stored in (almost) standard chess notation, and is displayed underneath the game board when you are watching a game being played, or in most cases when you're playing. (It isn't displayed on the page where you finish your move.) Also made some other minor changes, like the "opponent info" page.

Dec. 28, 1994

Two new options. If you wish, you can enter your email address when you sign up, so that your opponent will know how to get in touch with you after your game (this was a request). Also, if you wish, you can rate your level of game playing, which will only be displayed if you go on the "waiting" list. That way, other players can try and pick someone who is closer to their ability to play against.

Dec. 15, 1994

NEW PIECES! I finally got new (accurate) chess pieces. They also happen to be smaller, so the overall size of the board is smaller. I also added GIFs for board coordinates (to make it look pretty), so that they'll line up in Lynx and Mosaic. The coordinates are just there for decoration for now.

Dec. 14, 1994

Added an automatic timing mechanism to WebChess. Idle games (games where a move has not been made in 3 hours) will be automatically removed. Whee, less work for me! And more available resources for everyone else.

Nov. 15, 1994

Beginning of The Chess Server (WebChess); post made to comp.infosystems.www.misc to get people to try it out.