Not intimately, but anyone wanting to explore the NICKey system can do so at their online database (http://www.newinchess.com/NICBase/)

The initial two letters are keyed to the common opening name and then further broken down by numbers. For example, the Sicilian Defense (B90) game Caruana vs Gelfand, 2014 is <SI 14.1.4> in the NIC system.

Better? Perhaps. At least you're not making assumptions about how much space various openings will require in the classification. After all, variations go in and out of fashion, and that will influence how many games and lines need be classified.

The thing is, computers and massive databases, which have caused many of the issues with opening classification systems, have also made them somewhat irrelevant. For my own correspondence games, I work through a position tree search with a large database and pay no attention to ECO or NIC codes.

<Dom "Digger" Daniel>

<How exactly does one discover the existence of something like that>

There is only one way. You must be motivated by the horrifying thought that cg.com has "disappeared."

<And what do they know that we don't?>

I'm not a computer expert, though I frequently tell people I am. I believe the website sends a PENGUIN to the requested URL.

If the PENGUIN flies back from the URL to the website, it means it is online.

<H> Well, I don't actually know what a "PING" is, so I decided to call it a "PENGUIN" instead.

I know a lot about PENGUINS.

Excuse me. I am an ambassador for the great continent of Antarctica, and I can assure you that we Antarcticadians do indeed pronounce the "c". If anything, we usually silence the first "t."

Probably because we are usually talking with shivering lips.

Of course, most of us usually refer to home as the Big Icy.

It's sometimes difficult to sync up though, not knowing what move the game was at when the comments were being made.

So, here's a crude, rough idea to float...

Would it be possible/useful to inject the game moves into the comment stream for these live games?

(Maybe)/(Maybe not) with the player's time?

(Maybe)/(Maybe not) at a fixed interval of moves (like every 5 moves instead of every move).

However, it must be said that one or two kibitzers - one in particular - come close to trolling. I'm not sure whether these posts, mostly attacking Anand, are technical violations, but they make for unpleasant reading on an otherwise excellent site.

I accept that this person's behaviour probably falls short of the level at which you introduce sanctions such as a ban. But would it be possible to introduce a different sanction for an event as important as the world championship?

Anands Berlin defence falling <exactly> 25 years after the real fall of the Berlin Wall is just too good to pass over :)

<Colleagues> I can report that there does exist such a scheme, or at least there used to.

I got suspended from a live WCC broadcast for typing "marker" after every post <Daniel Pi> made, because even though I had him on ignore, his comments were still visible in the "recent kibbutz" box under the game diagram.

I also got suspenced from a live WCC broadcast for remarking that "I haven't had so much fun since my boyfriend...."

There was yet a third incident on another live WCC broadcast, but I can't remember what I said that time.

On these occasions, after sending our webmaster rafts of lamentations with the begging to be let back and the much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, he finally told me about the special policy.

He said the WCC live broadcasts were special cases, and that my remarks, that might otherwise have been let slide on another page, where deleted by an admin who watches and monitors the WCC live broadcasts. Our webmaster told me these were special "24 hour bans" designed to keep idiots such as myself from irritating punters who might actually want to enjoy the live WCC games. Our webmaster told me about these special bans are lifted automatically after 24 hours. Finally, he said "Cut it out Missy" or something like that.

Anyways that's what they used to do. To me. Presumably others experienced the "special 24 hour muzzle" as well.

Also, I think there was also a special extra monitor for the WCC broadcasts? As in more than one admin active for these events.

Anyways this was years ago, before the war.