How to find old games, etc.

The SchemingMind site contains a wealth of stored information: old games, old tournaments, old forum posts. Just think: almost every game of ChickenChess ever played in the world is recorded in the SchemingMind database! Unfortunately, it isn't always easy to find old games or forum posts on the website, and one sometimes has to page through long lists, looking for a specific item. For people who like to relive the past, here are some hints for retrieving old information on SchemingMind.

 

1. Be proactive: folders and urls

If there is a game, tournament, team match, or forum post that you know you will want to look back at in the future, it might be smart to save it now, before it gets lost in the mists of time. One way to do this is to simply save the url (for example by bookmarking the web page on your browser). An easier way to save games, available to paying members only, is by using GameFolders. Game folders could also be used to keep track of tournaments or matches of interest: just save any game from the tournament or match in a folder, and you can easily go from the game to the tournament or match.

 

2. Finding old games

 

2.1. Game Explorer

The GameExplorer will let you find all of the games played on SchemingMind with a particular opening. It also provides an easy way to hunt for a specific game, if you know who the players were, using the Filter tab. To use this method, you need to be a paying SchemingMind member (unless you can get a paying member to do it for you). Also, this method only works for games of standard chess or Chess960, not for other variants. In the Game Explorer, click on Filter and enter the usernames of the two players. You will probably also want to click on Player 1 is White or Black, unless you know what color that player played in the game you are looking for. After you apply the filter, only games played by the specified player(s) will be listed as SchemingMind games on the explorer.

 

2.2. By tournament or team match

MiniTournaments, dropout tournaments, and team matches can provide a quick way to find a specific game, if you happen to remember what tournament or match that game was played in, since the lists of tournaments or matches are usually much shorter than the lists of games.

Also, if you are not looking for a specific game, but you want to find a certain type of game (for example games in a specific variant, or games played by high-rated players), mini-tournaments are one good way to find the games you want. Use Find Mini-Tournaments in the Community menu, check the box for Show advanced search options, and choose the parameters that best describe the sort of tournament you are looking for. (Note that if you just want to see standard chess or chess960 games with high-rated players, you don't need to use the advanced search options, just choose to look at master norm or senior master norm tournaments in the main list of options.)

To find a specific mini-tournament, go to the profile page of any player who played in the tournament, and click on Mini-Tournaments. (To find the profile page of a player, go to Search Player Database in the Players menu.) If you played in the tournament, you can skip the profile page step, just go to Mini-Tournaments in the My Games menu. In most cases, the list of mini-tournaments will be short enough that you can pretty easily find what you are looking for. If you don't know the username of any player in the tournament you want, you will have to use Find Mini-Tournaments.

To find a specific dropout tournament, go to Events in the Community menu.

To find a specific team match, go to the team page of one of the teams involved (which you can find by going to All Teams or My Teams in the Community menu), and click on Matches.

 

2.3. By player

If the above methods don't help, you might have to look for a game by searching the lists of all games played by a player. From the profile page, click on Games, and then click on the variant that the game you are interested was played in. If you are looking for an old game that you played, you can use this method, or you can go to Completed Games in the My Games menu. Going through the profile page is often faster than Completed Games, because the games lists via the profile page are seperated by variant. To get to your own profile page, go to View My Profile in the My Details menu.

If you are looking for games played by top-level players in a specific variant, one approach is to go over games of TitledPlayers. Go to Titled Players in the Players menu. From there, you can find strong players in most of the SchemingMind variants, and click on a player to go to their profile.

 

2.4. Search Game Database

You can find the Search Game Database option in the Chess menu. Basically, this page lets you specify a variant and, optionally, the "context" of game (mini-tournament, team match, etc.). You will then get a list of the 100 most-recently active games matching those criteria.

This page can be very useful if you want to learn a new variant, and you are looking for examples of games played in that variant. Another use for this page is to find ongoing mini-tournaments in a specific variant (choose "Mini Tournament" under "Game Context"). Finally, if you are looking for a specific game, and you know the game was played on a variant pyramid (especially one of the smaller pyramids), Search Game Database might be the quickest way to find that game (choose "Pyramid" under "Game Context").

 

3. Finding old forum posts

We can't really help you here. Good luck.


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