How it Works

We organize Slow and Rapid Online Chess Tournaments. The games are played on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS). The Snailbucket and FICS memberships are free.

Preparing to participate

1. Create an FICS account, unless you have one already.

2. Play five rated standard games on FICS, so that we can give you a rating.

3. Create your Snailbucket account, sharing info such as:
a) Which game controls do you like best? (enabled for slow, but not rapid chess tourneys)
b) Which times are generally bad, e.g. your sleeping times?

4. Once a tourney is joinable, study its rules and format on the Regulations page.

5. Are you ready to commit to the tournament? Log in, sign up!

Playing in the tournament

6. An email will notify you when a new round starts.

7. Access your Game forum. That's a chat window where you and your opponent discuss when to play. You might say e.g. "Hi, How about Sunday or Monday at 1100 FICS server time?" FICS server time equals EDT/EST which you can compare to your local time by typing the date command. Avoid offering times marked as bad by your opponent (see above). There are contact deadlines which you can find on the Regulations page. Game forum messages are forwarded to your email address.

8. Have you and your opponent agreed on a convenient time? Then one of you can set the clock in the game forum.

9. Show up on FICS at that time, and play your match.

10. You may watch other games in the tournament. Use the whisper command to share thoughts. Players can read them after the game.

11. Are you sometimes busy? In some tourneys, you may skip a round; in others, you may schedule (and even play) games ahead of time.

Now you know how Snailbucket works. Go ahead, create your account!