Everybody who was currently using any Java based viewer was today switched to pgn4web. All members who were thusly switched will receive a message on every game page that reads:

<NOTE: For compatibility reasons, your chess viewer was changed to "pgn4web". [more info] [OK, got it]>

• If you click on "more info" you will be taken to our Java Help Page where you receive technical help on the subject of getting Java to work with Chessgames, and other helpful information.

• To make the message go away, click "OK, got it".

Speaking of modern classics, I received an email a few weeks back where a member made a very critical and interesting observation: If you look at the games of very young talented players, there is a bias towards the oldest games. This is especially bothersome if the quality of their chess has escalated recently, and they have obvious classics that don't show up.

Perhaps the most stark example is Magnus Carlsen, where not a single notable game is beyond 2008. Looking at Sergey Karjakin you'd think he went into retirement in 2010. Yifan Hou is another one.

I think the reason for this is a kind of built-in bias in the math behind "notable games". We simply count the game collections the game is in, and sort them by that. Nothing more, nothing less.

So of course we'll find that Carlsen's oldest games are in more collections, simply because they've been on our site for the longest time. Some people who dropped it into "My Favorites" years ago don't even come here anymore, but their vote still speaks for that game being a favorite on a daily basis.

Here are four games with a speech bubble indicating kibitzing. But there is no kibitzing there. Perhaps some posts were deleted but then that speech bubble should go away too.

http://www.java.com/en/download/hel...

Which is hardly much help at all (with instructions like "Change the name of the directory to where you have installed the Java") and worst of all it says "For: Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux". And now you say that the Ubuntu control panel lacks whitelisting options? It is clear that their support for linux is lagging behind PCs and Macs.

I hope this is the last time I bother you and colleagues on this topic, but I just sent you an email- no SPAM COP has appeared so far.

I'd just like you to confirm you got this email with a quick reply- perhaps a "hey ho" would suffice.

That way I'll know my messages are getting through. Once I know for sure they're getting through I'll know the SPAM COP problem has gone away.

The email I just sent you says this in the subject heading:

<I just emailed the NOTES>

Thanks for everything,

That appears to be the standard method of handling these rare situations. Here's a quote from the original PGN standard, at http://www.tim-mann.org/Standard

<"8.1.1.7: The Result tag

The Result field value is the result of the game. It is always exactly the same as the game termination marker that concludes the associated movetext.

It is always one of four possible values: "1-0" (White wins), "0-1" (Black wins), "1/2-1/2" (drawn game), and "*" (game still in progress, game abandoned, or result otherwise unknown). Note that the digit zero is used in both of the first two cases; not the letter "O".

All possible examples: [Result "0-1"] [Result "1-0"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Result "*"]>

I have found ten "no result" games in the database. All use <Result *>, and most have notes explaining the situation.

Reshevsky vs D Zechiel, 1990

Purdy vs B Reilly, 1947

Tal vs V Tukmakov, 1983

L Watzl vs A Viaud, 1950

Huebner vs Korchnoi, 1980

Saduleto vs Polerio, 1590

A Viaud vs Purdy, 1950

Allies vs Lasker, 1907

<JFQ> Got your email and it's all a thumb-up in my book.

I did forget to put something in the email, but since the rest of the intended message is encrypted I can safely put it here:

I've come across this strange composition and don't want to "abuse" the PGN Upload Utility, yet I it has a symmetrical final position and may come in handy as GotD on July 28, 2061:

It is the visualization of the downfall of Halley's Comet. The Black ♔ is Halley's Comet, the White ♔ the sun and the White ♕ is jupiter:

[Event "Composition"]
[Site "Unterdarching"]
[Date "1912.10.02"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Schindlbeck, Ernst"]
[Black "N.N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]

1.Na3 a5 2.c3 a4 3.Nc2 a3 4.bxa3 Nc6 5.d3 Nf6 6.Kd2 Nd5 7.Nh3 Rb8 8.c4 Nc3 9.Qe1 d5 10.e3 Bg4 11.Be2 f5 12.d4 e6 13.Bd3 Be2 14.c5 Nd1 15.e4 Ke7 16.Ng5 fxe4 17.Bc4 dxc4 18.h3 Nxd4 19.c6 bxc6 20.Bb2 Rb3 21.Nxh7 g5 22.Bc3 g4 23.Nf6 Rxh3 24.Rg1 Re3 25.Nb4 g3 26.fxg3 Kd6 27.Nfd5 Nc2 28.Qf2 Be7 29.Bd4 Rbc3 30.Bc5+ Ke5 31.Qf4# 1-0

click for larger view

The opening is <Halley's Opening> (no, I'm not making this up) and the annotations are descriptions of the movements of planets, shooting stars, meteor swarms and our three protagonists.