I am thinking of ditching ICC and hooking up with the ChessBase Playchess server.
Does anyone have experience with both servers? With Playchess?
Which, would you say is superior in terms of:
quality of opposition
customer service – does it exist on Playchess?
Navigation/interface: ICC’s is a nightmare, a throwback to computer terminal days. What about Playchess?
community: Does Playchess have forums for problem solving and support? (ICC has none).
prevalence of scoundrels, weasels, and cheaters? (ICC has a significant number of all of the above)
(IMPORTANT) quantity/quality of real-time lectures, training/education, and special events
(IMPORTANT) quality and availability of off-line (archived) lectures, training/education
(IMPORTANT) all-inclusive price: I know everything (except for simuls) on ICC is free. Do any lectures/training/educational activities on PlayChess require payment?
As a long-time ICC member and infrequent visitor to Playchess, I know that the Playchess interface is MUCH better than ICC’s. I also know that ICC is run like a concentration camp – all decisions by staff are final – and there is essentially no customer service.
Also there is FICS, which is perfectly OK; a small chess server that’s worth a look is Caissa’s Web. Since you already have CB, Fritz and so on, do you not get to play at Playchess for free? Why not just try it out?
Anyone who can set a Saitek clock should be able to find a good online home for blitz games.
I can answer a little–I was also a long time ICC user and switched to Playchess.com ( am also on chess.com but that is not site for serious chess players)–I have not looked at the lectures as I almost always only play 5-0 blitz–I am a premium member and plan onlooking at the lectures and simuls as they do look pretty good.
The Fritz Interface I use is much nicer than Blitzin. The ICC has “fiv” where they randomly assign opponents and people who disconnect or abort lose points--Playchess.com does not have this and many games end after 1 or 2 moves. I have not had a problem playing people at almost any time of the day at 3-0,5-0 or with small increments–my ratings on these sites vary from 1600-1700 for the most part.
Here’s a perspective on the various websites from a decidedly non-tournament player. dk-transformation: where to play on the web. I won’t comment on his non-chess opinions…you can decide for yourself whether any of it is useful. Interesting point on playchess is that apparently some of the lectures etc are not included in premium membership – it’s kind of a pay-as-you-go model.
My add to chess.com on the “pro” is that it’s great for browser-based play. I haven’t seen any issues with progs that red hot pawn has encountered. Another pro is the GM/IM team they’ve lined up for the articles. There’s a small but present OTB community, and it’s easy to see that chess is globally popular. The cons are more difficult to discern, but one is that the articles are the equivalent of a bite-size snickers. Filling for about 5 minutes and then you need to find something more substantial. Second con is that the talent pool of the general population isn’t that high – the average rating might be 1400 uscf, possibly lower. Third con is they’ll constantly hound you to become a premium member…with no additional benefits that you can’t get using Crafty and a cheap buy on CT-ART 3.0 (cheap b/c 4.0 is out now…).
That was my impression with chess.com as well, Crume.
It would be nice to hear from someone who’s pulled out all the stops at Playchess.
To me the greatest value of ICC is the fact that it’s a highly diverse community that includes a lot of top players, and the “education.” Boris Alterman’s Gambit Guide, for example, has been inspirational and the starting point for serious study into several interesting openings. Similarly, the game of the week (sometimes “day”) and major event coverage are top notch.
To me, these features are worth many times the annual subscription fee (which I’ve forgotten). No exaggeration.
I was just wondering of perhaps Playchess was better.
I guess I’m a cynic, then. But I already knew I was I can’t answer your original post directly because I have not used the other two servers, and therefore cannot tell you how they compare.
I can tell you this, though:
All playing strengths are present on Fics, from beginners to masters - even a few IM’s and GM’s - but not very many of those.
We have admins and service reps on Fics and we help where we can.
Using Fics is basically a matter of you type something, Fics does something. There is no “official” interface, you can use the Java-based interface on the web page or download any or all of a couple dozen standalone interfaces to use. They are free, so you can download as many as you like and try them all and see which one you like best. (I recommend Babas Chess.) Most of them have drop down menus that you can use in addition to, or even instead of, typing what you want Fics to do.
There are help channels on Fics. There is an unofficial forum on a fan site (not maintained by Fics).
There are abusers and cheaters, but admins are very adept at catching them - people are still encouraged to report them to make catching them faster.
There are bots that conduct basic lectures, analyze your games, etc. but not much in the way of formal instruction. There is a bot that runs tournaments, we have plenty of tournaments.
Fics is free.
I play there for the same reason I play in real life - for fun. Hope this helps.
I wonder if part of the issue isn’t just OTB-vs-Online, but rather how many people would have relatively current subscriptions to both of them?
I’ve got a subscription to Playchess courtesy of Fritz 12, but I can’t say I’ve used it enough to give you the kind of feedback you’re looking for. (In fact, the only thing I used it for was watching World Championship coverage, so far.) My ICC memberhship expired so long ago it would be of no use comparing it to now.
Also, knowing not-quite-enough about it (other than I know it’s owned by ICC,) is World Chess Live so similar to ICC that it doesn’t bear having a separate mention?
For that matter, I know ICC and WCL have free trials, and that Playchess also has a free version (though not a full-paid trial like ICC’s.) I take it you’ve logged in with that and given it a try? Might help answer your questions about community, though not necessarily training…
I can’t answer your original post directly because I have not used the other two servers, and therefore cannot tell you how they compare.