Helmut Edelmann
Holtenerstr. 302
D-47167 Duisburg
Germany

phone +49 203 58 68 58


ChessBase Game Exchange Circuit: Idea and Rules
===============================================
[shortened version of the German original text, and
 adapted to Internet communication]

Basic Idea
----------
The Game Exchange Circuit offers many games for few. You send in your games
and, since many others do so as well, receive back a multitude (a factor of
10 or 20). Assume, for instance, that there are 20 other people sending in
between 90 and 100 games. You have sent in 100 games and receive back between
1800 and 2000, as evryone else does.

The distribution of printed material, the collection of data, the
distribution of games and other coordinating activities are centralized.
I want to take over this task and would appreciate your suggestions and
offers for support. I am 38 years old, married and work as Industriemeister 
in a rolling mill. As a correspondence chess player I hope to receive from
the Exchange Circuit games that are difficult to find (current tournaments
and correspondence games).

Rules
------
1. This Exchange Circuit is appropriate for you if you can read and write 
   the ChessBase CBH game format.
   The Circuit is at no charge for the internet community (mail users pay for
   their stamps and should add international reply coupons if they want to
   receive normal mail.

2. Objective of the Circuit are chess games (see 6, 7). Every contributor
   assures that s/he only sends in games that are not copyrighted. Games
   received from the Circuit may be exchanged further.

3. The material will be made available to participants on an ftp or by email
   server by Stephan Busemann. He will notify people individually about the 
   where's and when's.

4. You are participating in a Circuit issue if you send in 100 games in time,
   either by snail mail to me, or by email to Stephan Busemann.
   a. You can participate at irregular terms, but you will only receive issues
      if you have contributed sufficiently.
   b. If you send in 200 or 300 games at once, you may select two or three 
      issues at once.

5. <left out in english version>

6. Games sent in have to be acknowledged by me or Stephan Busemann in advance. 
   Acceptance of other material cannot be guaranteed. In every case, a precise 
   indication of the source is needed (book, bulletin, journal). This 
   information should be entered into each game source data.

   Suggestions for input material come from the participants of the Circuit or
   from myself. I take over responsibility for the distribution of tasks among,
   and in agreement with, the participants. If you do not react up to a given
   date, I have the right to ask somebody else to enter the material and to
   reject your input.

7. Games must be entered following the guidelines in the appendix of the 
   ChessBase Handbook. Names must be spelled like in a recent volume of Chess 
   Informant. Please take care of the following points (all taken from
   current practice):

    a Umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and "ß" should be avoided.
      Wrong: "Lößmeier,P"             Correct: "Loessmeier,P"

    b Titles like Dr. or Prof. are not entered.
      Wrong: "Lasker,Dr"              Correct: "Lasker,Em"

    c Titles of nobility like "de" und "van der" start with a Capital letter
      and are not abbreviated.
      Wrong: "v.d.Velde,K"            Correct: "Van der Felde,K"
      Wrong: "deFirmian,N"            Correct: "De Firmian,N"

    d Double names are spelled without dash or underscore.
      Wrong: "Fries_Nielsen,J_O"      Correct: "Fries Nielsen,JO"

    e Prenames are best spelled out, or abbreviated with initials without periods. 
      Prenames must not contain dashes (this is wrong with many NicBase files).
      Wrong: "Mueller,K.H."           Correct: "Mueller,KH" 
      Wrong: "Mueller,Karl-Heinz"     Correct: "Mueller,Karl Heinz"

    f No other information than names should be entered in the names section.
      Country names should not be added to player names. If this is considered 
      necessary, the country name should be abbreviated to three capital
      letters, and it must occur after the given name.
      Wrong: "GER Mueller,KH"         Correct: "Mueller,KH GER"
      Wrong: "Mueller, KH (Deutschl.)" "Kasparov,G (01)" "Karpov,An (2770)"

    g Do not write Blanks before or after the dash.
      Wrong: "Mueller,KH - Meier,HP"  Correct: "Mueller,KH-Meier,HP"

    h For ChessBase4.0 users: The dash "-" must not be replaced by an underscore "_".
      Wrong: "Mueller,KH_Meier,HP"    Correct: "Mueller,KH-Meier,HP"

    i Source encodings for correspondence games must start with "corr"
      and not: "Fp", "Fernpartie", "cr"  or similar.

    k For ChessBase4.0 users: With commented games, the commentator's name is 
      appended to the source line between square brackets, e.g. "Novi Sad [Huebner,W]".

    l If a game mentions other games as commentaries or variations, those games
      should be entered separately.

    m If there is a variation at the end of a game (e.g. 40.Nf5 "and 1:0 
      because of 40.-gxf5 41.Qg3#"), the variation must start at the last 
      move of the game (in the example 40.Nf5 [40.Nf5 gf5 41.Qg3#] 1-0).

    n <left out in the english version>

    o For ChessBase4.0 users: If numbers of rounds are known they should be added 
      after the source. The format is always two digits between round brackets 
      Wrong: "(2)"                    Correct: "(02)" 

    p If games are missing from a tournament, a base position with all usual 
      data should be entered. A text "not available" should be entered. 
      If the number of moves is known, it should be added, e.g. 
      "not available, 52".

8. <left out>
9. <left out in english version>

Last change March 21st, 2000. Stephan Busemann