I second <Domdaniel> for Best Profile.

I nominate <SwitchingQuylthulg> for Most Informed.

I nominate <"Drawn and Quartered"> (A Petrov vs P Journoud, 1863) for Best Pun.

I nominate <Magnus Carlsen> for Player of the Year, because it's so obvious nobody bothered. :p

I second <dakgootje> for Funniest Kibbutzer.

I second Karpova chessforum for Best Post.

I second <wordfunph> for Best Profile.

########################

<Nominating>

I nominate <chancho> for Best Avatar

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I nominate <hms123> and <tabanus> for Most Helpful Kibbutzer

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I nominate <shams> for Best Post

From page 7 of <Carsen-Anand 2013> WCC round 10: Nov-22-13

Shams:

<Oh God, it's <<<Polgar>>> now. Grab pen and paper everyone, let's learn how the pawns move.>

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I nominate <technical draw> for Funniest Kibbutzer

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I nominate <hms123> for Most Constructive Kibbutzer

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I nominate <OhioChessFan> for Most Informed Kibbutzer

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<At the age of 12, Hou became the youngest player ever to participate in the FIDE Women's World Championship (Yekaterinburg 2006) and the Chess Olympiad (Torino 2006).[4] In June 2007, she became China's youngest National Women's Champion ever. She achieved the titles of Woman FIDE Master in January 2004, Woman Grandmaster in January 2007, she would have qualified for the International Master title in September 2008 by reaching the final of the Women's World Championship but in August 2008 she had already qualified for the Grandmaster title by achieving her 3rd GM norm. In 2010, she became the youngest Women's World Chess Champion in history by winning the Women's World Championship in Hatay, Turkey, at the age of 16. She lost her title in 2012 but regained it in 2013.>

<1. Best Avatar <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Annie K.

<1 nomination, awaits second>

Artar1, chancho, ketchuplover, moronovich, technical draw

<2. Best Username <->>

<2 nominations and in>

checkmateyourmove

<1 nomination, awaits second>

DrStrangemove

<3. Most Helpful <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Phony Benoni

<1 nomination, awaits second>

hms123, tabanus

<4. Best Post <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Karpova - Karpova chessforum

<1 nomination, awaits second>

Shams - Carlsen vs Anand, 2013

<5. Funniest Poster <->>

<2 nominations and in>

dakgootje

<1 nomination, awaits second>

technical draw, TheFocus

<6. Most Constructive <->>

<1 nomination, awaits second>

hms123, wordfunph

<7. Best Profile <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Domdaniel

<1 nomination, awaits second>

wordfunph

<8. Best Analysis <->>

-

<9. Best Game Collection <->>

-

<10. Most Informed <->>

<1 nomination, awaits second>

OhioChessFan, SwitchingQuylthulg, tpstar

<11. Best Historian <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Karpova

<1 nomination, awaits second>

suenteus po 147, tabanus, thomastonk, whiteshark

<12. Best/Worst Pun of the Year <->>

<2 nominations and in>

"Dial Emms for Murder" (D P Wheeler vs Emms, 2005)

<1 nomination, awaits second>

"Drawn and Quartered" (A Petrov vs P Journoud, 1863)

"Jeepers Kuipers, How'd You Beat Art Pijpers?" (S Kuipers vs A Pijpers, 2007)

"Rudolf the Dread Knows Rainer" (H Rudolf vs R Bezler, 2001)

"Slaughterhouse d5" (Team White vs Team Black, 2013)

<13. Player of the Year <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Magnus Carlsen
Hou Yifan

<14. Game of the Year <->>

<2 nominations and in>

Aronian vs Anand, 2013
Shredder vs Gull, 2013

<1 nomination, awaits second>

Doh!

<Anand vs Carlsen, 2013>(WC game 6) <Caruana vs Adams, 2013>(Dortmund) <Svidler vs Karjakin, 2013>(Stavanger)

and one notable mention in case anyone else is interested.. D Dubov vs Ponomariov, 2013 (World Cup Armageddon)

Well if we're all voting for our mates I vote John barleycorn for :best profile. It's blank more or less, but it's brilliantly blank!

I'll give <hms123> the most helpful vote.

Most informed: I'm voting for <Karpova> for digging out that Urcan article. I would have voted tpstar but he lied about Urcan having a handle here.

See how my last two are *deserved* votes? I'm not voting for Dom just because I like him, I gotta go against the crony grain. I think I could say with almost certainty that Dom would agree with me.

Best game Anand vs Carlsen, 2013

Most helpful <hms123>

Best informed <Karpova>

Best profile <john barleycorn>

Now a sincere question to the man/woman/men/women who are kindly moderating these awards...

Should we not have to give a valid reason as to why we cast each vote and nomination? It eradicates cronyism. It would be nice to know exactly why that person is being nominated. And in the best post category we have to give the specific post, as is the case with best game (or at least some are at least trying to give valid reasons). So can we please have the same for other categories??

And another sincere question although I don't expect an answer here (but it would be nice?). In the case of funniest kibitzer shouldn't one, at the very least of the nominees posts be posted, therefore giving a valid reason for the nomination and/or vote?

Some people win these awards year after year, and whilst *some* like "most helpful" are well deserved, some aren't at all. Can't just keep voting for members of the so called "old guard" or "elite members", otherwise these awards should just be for those so called people, and the name of the awards should be changed! If you want to pat your mate on the back for being helpful or funny, then go and do it, but don't do it when it's a SITE award because this SITE has 200,000 members (I think?). Otherwise you're proving Mr Urcan correct about certain things!

This site is fairly prestigious now, so why not encourage the whole site to nominate and vote by eradicating the blatant cronyism which stops nice, genuine, regular and friendly people from voting, by making the awards prestigious?

I sent someone an email the other day naming the eventual winners of 6 of these awards. Unless someone listens to my sincere suggestions I'm going to be proved right... and that's wrong!

Whether you love me or hate me (or just find me extremely attractive ;))nobody can deny I'm raising valid points here.

The only votes that should be counted should be the votes accompanied with a reason for that vote.

Honestly, if these awards are to be made fair and prestigious then not one single person can deny I've just raised a lot of valid points..

So please, unless it's a coincidence in future save your time. Not interested.

I nominate <David2009> for Best Analysis.

Here are my reasons:

He is prolific, and as far as my poor brain and crappy chess engine can tell, accurate.

He always makes the provenance of any lines clear.

He mixes "human words" with lines so that it's easier to understand and enjoy his posts.

He frequently includes pertinent and very handy external links to place his analyses in a wider context.

Here is a representative sample of his analysis to show what I mean:

Now there's a thought! Give certain people who deserve the awards a lifetime award and then just let the cronies pat each other on the back once a year giving me some unbelievably funny ideas for parodic posts and parody awards.

I do realise that everybody realises that nothing's gonna change and it'll be the same winners again... or something?!?