How it Works

Our Slow and Rapid Online Chess Tournaments are played on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS).

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 free Snailbucket account, sharing info such as your Slow Game Control Preferences (90 30, 120 30, ... Not enabled for our rapid chess tourneys), and your Generally bad times (your sleeping times, ...).

4. A tourney is joinable? Study the Info page & sign up!

Playing in the tournament

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

6. 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 Info page. Game forum messages are forwarded to your email address.

7. Have both of you agreed on a good time? Then one of you can set the clock in the game forum.

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

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

10. Busy life? In some tourneys, you may skip a round (BYE); in others, you may schedule games ahead.

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