Play chess onlineGameknot is an online turn based chess website. Gameknot has over 400,000 users and is known for its simple user interface. Unlike other turn based websites, Gameknot specialises in chess. It makes large databases of past moves available to players in order to improve the standard of play. It allows for games where each move must be made within a certain number of days as well as 10 minute blitz games.
Special features include the analyze board option and annotated games. Players may create teams or join teams which compete against each other. There are also many tournament options in Gameknot.
Paying members are able to play more simutaneous games than non-paying members. They are also able to create teams and be team captain. Many other features in Gameknot are only available to paying members.
Gameknot also has bi-monthly chess tournaments, leagues and mini tournaments which are available to paying members.
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Genes Reunited Friends Reunited and websites like it took the internet by storm a couple of years ago, as tens of thousands of people realised they could trace long lost friends and relatives around the world.
Now Friends Reunited has added a new feature: Genes Reunited.
It is a tool to create your own family tree and search for other people using the system that might be distant blood relatives to you. And despite the .co.uk extension there are no geographical boundaries to this website.
You will need to register to search for entries, and the privacy policy looks solid to me.
Once registered your homepage clearly displays the next steps. Search for your name, or the name of a relative, using the box provided.
All the entries will be listed in a results page, and you can use the link to send a message to the owner of a tree if your name appears in it. It is up to them if they want to make their tree accessible to you.
Clicking the link to build your own tree opens an editing feature that is really self-explanatory and easy to use. All you need now are the details to complete it.
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Pixel Press
Pictures can tell a powerful story and Pixel Press is dedicated precisely to this concept.
Its aim is to provide a forum for documentary photographers to display their work.
Often thought provoking, always surprising and sometimes distressing, the stories told on these pages are not all current affairs and news, although they do go there sometimes.
These stories cover everything from an American perspective on the war in Iraq, to a South African view of Christian worship and religious ritual.
Click on Contents to get to the main stories and archives. All you need to do to enter a story is click on a thumbnail, but they all work differently once inside.
Some have pop-up captions when you roll your mouse over, others ask you to enter a series of subpages and read the text that goes with the pictures.
My only complaint is that it is sometimes quite fiddly to move around. But the stories are often powerful and very revealing as they come from an insider's viewpoint.
A word of warning, this website can be quite heavy going definitely and is not one to lighten the mood.
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StickScene.com StickScene.com, which was sent in by Roger from the UK, is a brilliant idea, and should help kill a few minutes at the end of your lunch break.
Think you are a bit of a movie buff? Why not test out your knowledge by trying to guess the name of the movie from the stick man recreation of a scene or the poster?
Choose whether you want to start playing from a particular puzzle or just take a random selection and click the appropriate link. The next page displays your image.
There are clues you can choose to reveal on the right and you type in the movie when you think you have it just above.
There are no prizes, no running high scores. It is just a bit of fun.
You can even submit your own entries using the link in the top navigation bar, but to do this you will need to register with an e-mail address first.
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Sketch Swap
If you are still feeling in a sketchy mood then you can get some pretty instant gratification if you point your browser towards Sketch Swap.
The concept here really could not be simpler. You use the sketchpad on the opening page to draw something and when you have finished you submit it using the button in the bottom right hand corner.
Your reward is to see someone else's sketch drawn out in front of your eyes.
It is a bit like watching an Etch A Sketch that has been possessed by a ghost.
Most of them are a bit wobbly as it is quite hard to draw freehand if you do not have a graphics tablet, but you have no idea what you will get back and some of the images can be quite amusing.
Please do bear in mind though that this is a public access website and while I have yet to see anything unsuitable for children, the site's moderators cannot monitor it 24/7, so make sure you keep an open mind