"I was able to reach that level [one of the top-rated juniors in the U.S.] primarily due to the vast training resources afforded by the Internet Chess Club" — Matthew Herman
"seek 2 12 w17 u" -- Advertise for a wild 17 unrated game
with a 2 12 time control
"seek 1200-1800" -- Advertise for players rated 1200 to 1800.
"seek f" -- Uses your current formula to screen respondants.
Use "seeking" to post a sort of advertisement requesting a match. On Blitzin
and some other interfaces, there's a Matches Sought graph indicating all
the "seeking" ads. Otherwise, one can receive seeking messages in text
form (see below), and there's a list viewable with the command "sought".
For example, if you are Darooha, and you type:
This means that Darooha wants to play a game of time control 5 0
against an opponent whose blitz rating is between 1300 and 1600.
Anybody in that rating range can then type "play 17" to begin the
game.
Players with compatible seeking ads sometimes get paired up in a game
automatically.
Note that to seek a game in the 5-minute and 1-minute rating
categories, you type "5-minute" or "1-minute" instead of using
the "seeking" command.
The current ads can be seen with the "sought" command. "unseek" removes
all of your ads, and "unseek 3" removes your ad numbered 3. You can
repeat the same ad if nobody has accepted it yet, but it won't be
broadcast unless you wait one minute.
The "seek" variable controls whether you see such messages. "set seek 0"
to see none, "set seek 1" for the default of seeing them only when you're
open, and "set seek 2" to see them whether or not you're open.
Do you get too many "seek" ads on your screen? Read help sfilter
for ways you can limit which "seeks" you will see.
The handling of the parameters is done as in "match". All of the
parameters are optional. Here is what they mean.
time The initial time of the match (taken from your time
variable if omitted)
increment The increment of the match (taken from your increment
variable if omitted)
r/u Indicates if the match should be rated or not.
It must be "r" or "u".
w# The wild number of the match. (taken from your wild
variable if omitted). For example, "w5" for wild 5.
white/black Specifies if the seeker will get white or black.
It must be "white", "black" or "w" or "b".
auto/manual Specifies if the match should start automatically
when another player issues a play command. In auto
mode (the default) the match starts immediately. In
manual mode an ordinary match command is issued. It
must be "auto" or "manual" or "a" or "m" for short.
rating-range This is simply two numbers with a "-" between them.
The minimum is 0 and the maximum is 9999.
You may add an "f" onto the end of your seek command. Then only those
people who fit your current formula can accept. Be careful, it is
possible (and irritating to others) to issue a seek that cannot be
accepted by anybody. For example, if you do "seek u" asking for an
unrated game, and your formula is "rated", then nobody can accept your
seek!
If you don't specify the options, they will be taken from the settings
of your variables. There are four variables for seeks: minseek,
maxseek, manualaccept, useformula. minseek and maxseek specify the
rating range in the seek. manualaccept and useformula will add a "m"
and "f" to your seek, if they are set on. See help vars for more
information on how to set your variables.
Examples:
Schroer might issue the following command to solicit match
requests for a simul:
seeking 20 20 u white manual
He does not want the game to start, so he specified "manual". He also
wants to be white in all the games. He's not particular about rating
range or registered status.
Suppose you want to play kriegspiel. Then you can specify this with;
seeking w16
When you issue a "seek" command, ICC also issues a "resume" command for
you. It is more important to finish your stored games than to begin
new games.
HELP Top
ICC Help: seeking