Source
r/Bitcoin•
BitChessCo

BitChess.co - Chess online tournaments with price pool of 1.000.000 bits this weekend

Hello r/bitcoin,

BitChess.co is an organization which is focused on improving online chess.

Our profession is bitcoin related so we had the idea to combine work with hobby.

With our partner lichess we are going to bring online chess to the next level.

Both companies are 100% non profit and funded by donations or own investments.

We don't know what's going to happen within the next years, right now we try to improve the online chess experience.

All current information you'll find here: BitChess.co

Friday ( 25.03.2016 - 10 PM CET ) we host the HyperBullet WarmUp for the upcoming ChessWhiz Cup IV.

BitChess HyperBullet

Prizepool around 130$ ( 300.000 bits )

Saturday ( 26.03.2016 - 4 PM CET ) ChessWhiz TV is hosting his ChessWhiz Cup IV, it's sponsored by BitChess.

ChessWhiz Cup IV

Prizepool around 300$ ( 650.000 bits )

We'll provide more information within the next days.

There will be at least 2 tournaments each week including a prizepool of at least 100$. Let us know if you are interested in different variants.

Posted Mar 24, 2016, 3:48 PM UTC

3410
themerkle•

My only issue with competitive online chess is how ppl can use a machine and cheat

3
BitChessCoOPredditor for 17 days•

It happens occasionally, you are right.

It's not easy to configure an engine to make natural looking moves in this short time. You will need to win at least 20 games to get cash prize and most of the engine player are unknown + fresh registry date.

I suppose this is fairly easy to detect. The LiChess team is excelent in detecting engine cheater.

http://en.lichess.org/tournament/whizcup3

This was our first tournament, the top 20 are well known players.

5
themerkle•

Bitcoin and Chess really do go well together, I am glad you guys have a way of combating engine cheaters as that was my biggest issue when I participated in online chess tournaments.

2
Rimm•

It's basically a who can find/program a better chess script tournament

3
BitChessCoOPredditor for 17 days•

I didn't know you guys were so concerned about the chess engines.

I am going to give you some perspective why I personally think this is not a problem.

Currently we support only lower time controls, e.g 3+0. It's almost impossible to cheat this way if you enter the moves by hand. Most "average" engine-user are already out of business now. Of course there are people who enter the moves by a machine. This requires programming skills. LiChess does a pretty good job by detecting unnatural moves. As an engine user you need to mix up the move times you gotta feed the engine with natural moves etc. If you actually follow a suspected cheater for more then 10 games you are going to catch him eventually and you won't win a tournament as noname with less then 20 wins.

If there are some new fresh accounts which play bullet / blitz like a 2600 with unnatural moves, ultra fast captures etc. we will certainly find them. You don't play like that without having a backround.

I can't prove anything right now, we will talk about that again after both upcoming tournaments.

People and organisations are scared of online chess tournaments with money involved, we are not.

I left Thibault ( inventor of lichess ) a message, maybe he is going to say something about the anti engine system.

It's not LiChess or BitChess alone who is responsible for this community. Every legit / fair player should report any suspicious activity immediately. We invest money from our own pockets because we believe in it.

3
waxwing•

Speaking as someone who's used online chess sites for about 15 years, I can tell you that you're kidding yourself if you think you can provide a meaningful monetary incentive, and prevent cheating.

In the case of ICC, which was pretty much the only game in town during the 00s, they can detect cheating alright - after the event. It takes careful analysis, in particular looking at a number of games ideally; a crude cheater will just throw stockfish or whatever at a blitz/bullet game and play optimal moves, that's obvious, but you can be much cleverer than that.

And to get down to the basic point: there is no objective way of establishing cheating v non-cheating anyway, so it's basically unethical to withhold money from someone because you think they cheated.

3
futilerebel•

I love how BitChess is just BitchesS capitalized wrong :p

2
mamece2•

very nice! I'll take a look

2
BitChessCoOPredditor for 17 days•

The original thread in the chess subreddit is here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/4brmdh/bitchessco_430_tournaments_within_the_next_2_days/

We use "bits" instead of "bitcoin". It looks more appealing.

1
Bitcoin-for-freedomredditor for 1 month•

This is really cool! But What's to stop people cheating with a bot? Or will it turn into prize money for best bot :)

1