NOST

Founded in March, 1960 by Robert Lauzon and Jim France, the kNights Of the Square Table began as an organization for playing Chess by correspondence. Their aim was to play Chess in a less competitive atmosphere, in which friendship and conversation were more emphasized than winning. Over time, members of NOST also began playing Chess variants together. These included Avalanche Chess, Magnetic Chess, Knight-Relay, English-Progressive, Triplets, Berolina Chess, Kriegspiel, U-Chess, Grand Chess, Overloader/Restorer Chess, Chessplexity, Alice Chess, Dynamo Chess, and Shogi. They classified this last one as a "non-Chess game", and other games they played in this category included Checkers and Go. NOST published a magazine called NOST-ALGIA, it held an annual convention called NOSTvention, at which members could meet in person, and it held an Annual Chess Championship each year. One of the most prolific members of NOST was Ralph Betza, who created several Chess variants. NOST lasted 43 years, closing down its website in 2003. This is partly because its members had aged or died, and partly because the internet had provided new ways for people to play Chess and Chess variants by correspondence.

The domain formerly used by NOST (nostgames.com) now points to a website selling sporting goods. Here is a link to the most recent copy of the NOST website available on archive.org:

• nostgames.com from September 19, 2003

The NOST webmaster also kept a copy of the NOST site on his own domain until at least 2016. Here is a link to it on archive.org:

• NOST copy from October 24, 2016