January 2005

GoldToken Newsletter: January 2005

edited by: prophy tactics

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Editor's Introduction

Hi all, welcome to this first edition of the GoldToken newsletter. May I take this opportunity to thank all those who have messaged me with items for inclusion -- your support and ideas, and contributions are much appreciated! I only wish that we had the space to use them all, such was the quality, but some inevitably must be held over for future editions. In this month's edition, we have:

• Site News
• Monthly Message from Badger
• Monthly Quiz (very kindly done by Oartkickel of the Wolf Pack and your chance to win a GoldToken pen!)
• Chess Corner
• Tournament News
• Testamonial Of The Month
• Love on GoldToken

In short, there is something of interest for everyone, I am sure! So, all that remains for me to do now, is to wish you much pleasure in your reading, and to invite you all to contact me with items to be considered for next month's issue (out February 7th) read on!

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Site News

• A few people might have been surprised by early christmas presents, here at Goldtoken in December. Was it Saint Nicolas? Well, of sorts Over 200 Silver memberships were awarded to people who were found to be online at a certain time ... by none other than the owner of the site, Badger.

• There has been a huge uptake in the new Platinum Membership, which has become the creme de la creme of membership options here at GoldToken. Platinum Membership comes with up to 1000 games, your own GoldToken email address, your own wiki, have a picture on your profile, and much more! You even get a GoldToken gift should you purchase Platinum membership of 1 year! To find out more about Platinum Membership, please check out our memberships page, and discover why so many of our members have already chosen to upgrade!

• The 2,000,000th game milestone has been reached! This is between DragonHeart MIA & { Player: Dismond } and is a backgammon game -- go check it out!! #2000000

• Our very own Kran has obtained her 4000th GoldToken -- Congrats!!

• Congrats go to Buz for obtaining a total of 15000 (yes...15000!) Gold Tokens!!

• Congrats to Paul -UK- & shelly (uk) who got engaged on Christmas day!!

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Monthly Message from Badger

Hello! I would like to start this message by wishing you a very Happy New Year!! 2005 is indeed going to be a great year for GoldToken! We have a word game in the works, the doubling cube about to be released and several other games yet to be anounced. New discussion boards have been opened, with plans for more exciting boards and lots of fresh game prizes to win. But our remodeling is far from over. The site tournament structure is being renovated to include exciting new features and tournament options for both the site and the many private clubs. GoldToken will soon be releasing the Platinum token...given for each tournament game won. We are quickly becoming one of the best online family game communities ever. We are one big family after all!

Badger

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Tournament News

thanks to Kran for this update

• We'd like to take this time to remind you that new tourneys are starting every Monday! We have a tournament for each game type once a month, with a few special tourneys thrown in. For instance, each month we offer a Fast Backgammon, and Fast Nackgammon tournament, with one day timeouts. We also have a Thematic Chess tournament, with a new opening each month. And so the guests can take advantage of the tournaments we also offer one standard (non-variant) game type tournament that is open for guests, with the game type changing from month to month!

• We have also had many sponsorship tournaments, with funds donated by many of our generous members. In these tourneys the highest placing guest wins a membership! Coming up for this month we have: Pepperbeach's Memorial Tourney, a round robin Backgammon tournament in which the highest placing guest wins a 6 month gold membership, and Reddragon's Wooden Guest Salvo, a round robin Salvo tournament in which the highest placing guest wins a year wood membership! Make sure to take a look at the tournament signup page so you don't miss out on those! If you are interested in sponsoring a guest tourney send a message to Kran to work out the details.

• Goldtoken would also like to take the time to send a big congratulations out to all December Tournament winners!!!

2nd Mid-August Double Trouble- Punisher Pele
4ier!- McStack
Golden Giveaway (Giveaway Chess)- Sartex
Goldtoken Olympic Loop Trax- Phil The Hat
Late August Double Trouble- Nukhulls
Late August Fast Backgammon- mongoose1199
Late August Trax- What did you say
Mid August Fast Backgammon- Nicodemus
Mid August Small Reversi- klaashaas
Mid July 8x8 Trax- jbdobie
Mid July Loop Trax- CHESSCATJAY
Nackgammon Blast- mrbugs001
November Trax- dgb
October Blackhole 4iar- grade1teacher
October Blackhole Reversi- pioenroosje
October Giveaway Checkers- dama1
October Trax for all Players- dgb
Reversi 6x6- eli
Septembers Blackhole 4iar- coan_net
Septembers Giveaway Checkers- dama1
Septembers Giveaway Chess- Sir Gilmour of the GoldTable
Septembers Giveaway Reversi- { Player: Dismond }
Septembers Loop Trax- Chad
Septembers Reversi- Birds of Prey
Septembers Trax- Phil The Hat
Septembers Zero G 4iar- tjancira
Trax June 2004- Kevin
Trax Madness 8x8 Trax- Chad
Trax Madness Loop Trax- Phil The Hat
Zero G June 2004- tjancira

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Chess Corner

this week's by: prophy tactics

No, not editor bias, lol, just leading by example, and giving you all time to get your contributions done for next month Seriously though, I like to analyse my chess games, and doing so will add more points to your rating than learning openings. Whether you play chess seriously or for fun, it's a good way of identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and improving your game; but a lot of players don't really know how to approach it.

I am rather elaborate in my annotations, because it helps me in clarifying my thought processes to sometimes to read back through them. Other players are very brief, and tend to focus more on lines and variations rather than comments. It's really a case of 'horses for courses' and it depends on the game and the person.

I was going to put in an annotated game of mine in here, as a demonstration, but it would have taken up quite a lot of space, and could well be 2006 before you get to the other stuff lol. Like I want to get angry messages for your time-outs! So, what I thought I would do instead, is give some pointers for those who wish to analyse their games and improve their play.

Firstly, whether you play the game online or over the board, you should always analyse over the board. Many players use chess programs to analyse, and I will come to that in a moment. The important thing to realise though, is that even if you have 3D boards, using a program never looks the same as true over the board -- and 2D looks totally different. I always analyse my games over the board, using paper and a pen (remember those items from the years of BC (Before Computers)?! lol.)

As for using programs, my advice is don't. Use programs just to check your analysis later on, but the real point of the excercise, is for YOU to look over your game, as training. Using a computer would rather defeat that purpose, and would be a hinderance to your improvement. Use a program merely as a check on your analysis afterwards, and of course to put the game in a database for future reference, but the first analysis should come from you.

During analysis, it is very important, to look for improvements in your own moves, and in those of your opponent. Where could either of you have played better? Also, identify turning points in the game -- find the moves, either good or bad, that change the equilibrium one way or another. A chess game is full of wasted opportunities, let off's, and inaccuracies more often than not.

Further more, should you come across a position you do not understand, analyse it in depth, even make a diagram of it, giving your plans for both sides. This helps your positional understanding, and builds experience. Look for structural changes that were made (or could have been made) that would change the outlook on the game for either side. Always look for better moves than those played in the game. You may have played a good move, and won, great! However, post-game analysis can show that a fine response was missed. Ok, you may feel a bit humbled, but at least you will not make that mistake again and risk losing next time!

Upon completion of your analysis, you will have made mental observations about your play. Are you being too hasty? Do you expose your Queen too much? Are you getting outplayed positionally? Is your opening knowledge great, but you are poor in the endgame? Finding these weaknesses, (and being honest and objective about them), will help you to work on the worst points in your game, and over time you will become a better player. Finding flaws in your play is a good thing, by the wy -- the time to worry is when you can NOT find a way to improve!!

Should you wish to analyse and annotate your games, then I hope that this can inspire you to start, (any further questions, please feel free to message me) and I hope that you will send them in to the newsletter having done so Good luck!!

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Love on GoldToken

The sender of this story wishes to remain annonymous. I am sure that you will all agree that it is a very nice account of how GoldToken can change lives As a note, it is Valentines Day next month, so any love-birds on here, (or would-be love-birds), get your dedications in early!!


Where do I start?? Well I know I am not the first to meet someone online or on Goldtoken but never did I think I would meet the guy of my dreams. I never believed in love at first sight but it has happened to me.

I started on this site in October 2003 thanks to a mate of mine (sheer lazyness on her
part cause she couldn't be bothered with the phone!)

It must have been about March 2004 that we started talking. Who invited who we really dont remember, i definitely say him. lol It started as nothing much just some flirty messages back and forth, we must have played a few games joked about meeting and then didnt speak for a couple of months.

We finally exchanged work emails and it started from there. I would love to say we met straight away but fate seemed against us (well not really fate just me!) We were suppose to meet in June for lunch but for personal reasons (friends!) i cancelled after which he didnt speak to me for a while (silly) lol. Then i got back in touch in July/Aug 2004 and that was when i realised that i was starting to fall for him. We had exchanged photo's in the beginning and although he thought i was pretty!! i couldnt really see him in his! We had arranged for him to come up to to see me for the weekend but again for personal reason (me being stupid!) I cancelled on him. It was at that point that i knew he had feelings for me!

Finally after a lot of convincing we met at the end of September and as soon as i set eyes on him i knew he was the man for me. The first time we were together was only for 24 hrs but it was amazing. He has since been to stay with me twice and I have been to his. I am moving to be nearer to him and who knows maybe live together one day.

Like i said i really never thought in a million years i would date anyone of the net never mind fall in love

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Newsletter Quiz by Oartkickel of the Wolf Pack

Send prophy tactics your answers by the 25th of January, and the first person drawn at random will win a GoldToken Pen! Winner & answers revealed next month -- good luck!!

1. What country does Inner Mongolia form part of?
2. Who called his favorite steed, Brigham, "the best buffalo horse that ever made a track"?
3. What newspaper's 1987 snooping after Gary Hart sparked a debate over journalistic ethics?
4. What's the chemical symbol for nickel?
5. How many Community Chest squares are there on a Monopoly board?
6. What film took place at Ames Billiards?
7. What 1980 movie featured Robert Redford as a '60s prison reformer?
8. Who always wore her hair in 56 curls?
9. How many people survived infection by the Andromeda strain?
10. Who made his screen debut in 1941's Las Vegas Nights as a vocalist with Tommy Dorsey's band?

A trivia fan? Be sure to check out the new 6x5 Trivia Addicts board for your daily dose of trivia, and win prizes. You can also message 6x5 for more details.

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Testamonial Of The Month

'Thank's again Mary! I am so glad I found this site (my friend who plays here told me about it)! You, Chad, your staff, and volunteers, have done an incredible job to make this the best family gaming site, attracting good, friendly people! I look forward to playing here whenever I get the time! And the best thing about this site is that you, Kran, and so many more, actually care and show a genuine interest in the players! That means more to me than the games! I can't tell you how much I appreciate that! I send a heartfelt thanks and KUDOS to a job well done! As we said in the Navy, it's not JUST a job...! :^) Ben'

Would you like to make your affection for GoldToken known? Please send your testamonials to me for possible inclusion in future editions -- thank you!

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