USCL was responsible for a major explosion in the atomic chess population and from the second half of 2000 until about the summer of 2003, it was my primary chess server. I spent a lot of time online there, so I was able to save a lot of things from my time there. Of special note was that I had already spent several years on other servers and already had an ICS-related page up on the Internet by this time. But USCL didn’t add atomic chess as an available variant until a couple of years after it opened.
When Atomic first started on USCL, there was an initial rush of experienced players and ICC transplants jockeying for position on the brand-new and completely blank best list for atomic chess. I was able to store and track some of the games I observed on USCL and of course, all of the games I played on USCL until I reached the 2400 rating level. It’s all contained within a single PGN file. I even presented an atomic chess lecture on USCL that was advertised for everybody to come and observe on January 30, 2003.
For a time, USCL allowed legal duplicate accounts, then disallowed them, then allowed them again. Especially when they transitioned to a pay-based server model, they finally allowed as many paid accounts as you cared to pay for, which led to some interesting situations with people creating dupes just to play others in chess variants without giving away who they were. The shared atomic community on USCL grew more and more every day – it helped that USCL had their own atomic computer ready and willing to play all comers (Chernobyl).
I had two primary accounts on USCL at the time (Moon and Angel). I also had a few others as well, but those will be revisited at another time. Here’s a few fingers of Moon and Angel:
| Finger of Moon: Last disconnected: Sat Nov 16, 16:18 EST 2002 rating RD win loss draw total best Atomic 2602 78.6 20 6 2 28 2602 (16-Nov-2002) |
Finger of Angel:
On for: 26 secs Idle: 0 secs
rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 1774 52.2 156 105 13 274 2110 (06-May-2002)
Standard 1920 91.2 104 54 24 182 1963 (23-May-2002)
Lightning 2002 47.8 580 397 52 1029 2103 (15-Aug-2000)
Wild 2600 103.4 750 191 6 947 2666 (13-Mar-2001)
Bughouse 2154 95.1 515 301 4 820 2257 (25-Mar-2001)
Crazyhouse 2345 68.9 590 440 5 1035 2700 (06-Aug-2001)
Suicide 2083 49.3 440 205 7 652 2256 (04-Apr-2001)
1: It’s time for a change…
2: MazrimTaim(4): if it werent for computer cheating the internet would be
\ the ideal medium for chess
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8: 1000th lightning game: July 15, 2002
9: 1000th crazyhouse game: July 18, 2002
10: 4.5/9 World Open 2002, 4/5 G/10 World Open 2002
15:25_fics% date
Local time – Tue Mar 16, 15:26 EST 2004
Server time – Tue Mar 16, 15:26 EST 2004
GMT – Tue Mar 16, 20:26 GMT 2004
15:26_fics% fi
Finger of Moon:
On for: 8 mins Idle: 0 secs
rating RD win loss draw total best
Lightning 2087 31.7 627 205 50 882 2315 (18-Jan-2004)
Wild 2596 28.5 475 358 49 882 2619 (14-Mar-2004)
Bughouse 2500 137.7 21 11 0 32
Crazyhouse 2190 46.3 213 137 2 352 2372 (08-Jan-2004)
Suicide 2437 146.7 23 15 3 41 2501 (31-Mar-2003)
Losers 2000 59.0 59 88 2 149 2029 (13-Jan-2004)
Atomic 2606 82.7 118 12 6 136 2625 (02-Dec-2002)
Email : nalong@unity.ncsu.edu
Total time online: 5 days, 7 hrs, 2 mins
% of life online: 1.1 (since Thu Nov 14, 16:15 EST 2002)
Timeseal 1 : On
1: Professional Eeker.
Finger of Angel:
On for: 6 hrs, 13 mins Idle: 0 secs
(playing game 1: Angel vs. Oblivion4)
rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 1853 53.0 192 131 13 336 2110 (06-May-2002)
Standard 1929 83.2 113 59 25 197 1963 (23-May-2002)
Lightning 1918 32.1 708 492 67 1267 2103 (15-Aug-2000)
Wild 2691 90.9 803 191 6 1000 2666 (13-Mar-2001)
Bughouse 2227 87.9 570 314 5 889 2257 (25-Mar-2001)
Crazyhouse 2220 46.8 618 470 6 1094 2700 (06-Aug-2001)
Suicide 2053 32.9 491 470 10 971 2256 (04-Apr-2001)
Losers 2015 62.2 36 28 0 64 2051 (23-Aug-2002)
Atomic 2513 25.9 438 159 11 608 2513 (26-Sep-2002)
Email : nalong@unity.ncsu.edu
Total time online: 52 days, 14 hrs, 31 mins
% of life online: 6.8 (since Sun Aug 13, 20:39 EST 2000)
Timeseal 1 : On
(26 Sep 02)
Finger of Moon:
On for: 3 mins Idle: 0 secs
rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 2004 75.9 797 346 68 1211 2006 (18-Jun-2004)
Standard 1758 92.1 499 364 188 1051
Lightning 2145 65.4 2025 726 192 2943 2315 (18-Jan-2004)
Wild 2405 75.1 1481 727 69 2277 2634 (05-Apr-2004)
Bughouse 2162 113.4 769 385 6 1160
Crazyhouse 2140 59.8 1220 905 9 2134 2400 (15-Jun-2004)
Suicide 2437 176.9 581 552 19 1152 2501 (31-Mar-2003)
Losers 2300 84.1 346 1100 22 1468 2300 (03-Jun-2004)
Atomic 2606 128.9 832 311 45 1188 2625 (02-Dec-2002)
Email : nalong@unity.ncsu.edu
Total time online: 10 days, 11 hrs, 33 mins
% of life online: 1.5 (since Thu Nov 14, 16:15 EST 2002)
Timeseal 1 : On
1: This server is full of corruption.
2: Still the only player with 9×1000 games… established that in 2002.
3: I’m leaving and not coming back. Tah.
Finger of Angel:
On for: 1 hr, 20 mins Idle: 0 secs
rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 1907 45.6 205 138 16 359 2110 (06-May-2002)
Standard 2100 45.3 208 63 26 297 2110 (07-Oct-2002)
Lightning 1945 34.2 724 503 71 1298 2103 (15-Aug-2000)
Wild 2691 93.3 803 191 6 1000 2666 (13-Mar-2001)
Bughouse 2206 66.3 648 348 6 1002 2263 (29-Sep-2002)
Crazyhouse 2256 44.2 637 476 6 1119 2700 (06-Aug-2001)
Suicide 2024 38.5 491 499 10 1000 2256 (04-Apr-2001)
Losers 2013 38.0 127 57 3 187 2051 (23-Aug-2002)
Atomic 2297 25.6 568 210 23 801 2520 (03-Oct-2002)
Email : nalong@unity.ncsu.edu
Sanctions : chmuzzle
Total time online: 54 days, 13 hrs, 6 mins
% of life online: 6.9 (since Sun Aug 13, 20:39 EST 2000)
Timeseal 1 : On
TOTAL RD: 431.0 – Angel (7 Oct 02)
Finger of Angel(*):
On for: 24 secs Idle: 0 secs
rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 1731 42.7 668 289 45 1002 2110 (06-May-2002)
Standard 1666 86.1 468 348 184 1000 2110 (07-Oct-2002)
Lightning 2222 86.7 1008 617 99 1724 2222 (16-Mar-2003)
Wild 2702 149.2 805 191 6 1002 2666 (13-Mar-2001)
Bughouse 2222 132.5 663 354 6 1023 2263 (29-Sep-2002)
Crazyhouse 2222 97.1 729 543 6 1278 2700 (06-Aug-2001)
Suicide 2222 92.1 558 537 16 1111 2256 (04-Apr-2001)
Losers 2222 105.8 179 1047 17 1243 2222 (23-Jan-2003)
Atomic 2444 105.9 714 299 39 1052 2520 (03-Oct-2002)
Email : nalong@unity.ncsu.edu
Total time online: 83 days, 11 hrs, 7 mins
% of life online: 7.8 (since Sun Aug 13, 20:39 EST 2000)
Timeseal : Off
1: . __ __ ______ __ ____ ______ __
2: ./\ \ __/\ \/\__ _\ /\ \ /\ _`\ /\ ___\/\ \
3: .\ \ \/\ \ \ \/_/\ \/ \ \ \ \ \ \/\ \ \ \ \__/\ \ \
4: . \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ __\ \ \ \ \ \ \___“\ \ \
5: . \ \ \_/ \_\ \ \_\ \__\ \ \L\ \\ \ \_\ \ \/\ \L\ \ \_\
6: . \ `\___ ___/ /\_____\\ \____/ \ \____/ \ \____/\/\_\
7: . ‘\/__//__/ \/_____/ \/___/ \/___/ \/___/ \/_/
8:
9: 9×1000, 9×2100, anything else? No.
10: So I guess I’ll see you around when the next variant’s added.
(16 July 2003)
As you can see, I had quite a few games played on USCL but it all came crashing down to earth on 16 July 2003 (which I’ll write about elsewhere). I became an administrator on USCL. And almost as quickly, was removed as an administrator.
There’s been quite a few players since USCL added atomic that learned the game from USCL, but some of the more well known ones would be GrandLapin, MillzesChess, chessbomber, luckybbad, blastol, and acdc (laazrockit on FICS). As I find more files related to USCL atomic specifically, I’ll continue to add them here.
As USCL had an unique “culture”, its atomic community began shrinking rather rapidly after 2003 (after it turned into the Global Chess Server, then the World Chess Hall of Fame Chess Server, then a bunch of other names). Eventually, ICC poached GamesParlor’s CEO – Joel Berez (aka Zork, JoelB on ICC). Then JoelB acquired the World Chess Network along with the current version of the USCL/GCS/etc… and merged the two (FICS codebase & proprietary codebase) into a modified ICC codebase. And then the collapse was imminent, to the point where you can’t even play atomic chess on WCL anymore (as of the last time that I checked).
So for now, Atomic on USCL/WCL is dead.
Update (May 11, 2009) – Atomic has been active on WCL again as of approximately a year ago. Thanks to Nathan826/CarlsHair for alerting me to this fact. But this just means that they deactivated atomic chess due to their proprietary interface (Dasher) being incompatible with atomic chess. I’ll reserve further judgment but it sounds like they may have begun to regrow their atomic chess community, which is always a good thing.
Update: WCL no longer exists due to a full merge with ICC. So none of this matters anymore.
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