Chess.com vs I.C.C.

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imreallylousy
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Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:10 pm

Chess.com vs I.C.C.

Post by imreallylousy » Sat Mar 05, 2016 8:24 pm

I would appreciate comments regarding the relative value of the above online chess sites. Is one "better" than the other?
Thanks...

gcohen
Posts: 65
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:16 pm

Re: Chess.com vs I.C.C.

Post by gcohen » Sat Mar 05, 2016 8:59 pm

I investigated ICC.
Someone got back to me, gave me the low-down, was very friendly and helpful.
There are several types of matches; long time controls.
It is for players who take their CC seriously.
If one joins, one has to be patient---this assumes you really play and study your games seriously and push wood--
do real analysis.
Various time controls; mostly 10 moves in 40 or 50 days.
Here, at net-chess, only the high-rated players are serious.
Most players here do not push wood, don't use books, don't analyze.
Whatever floats their boat~~I'm not criticizing.
But...it is evident that most, here, just burn their eyeballs out looking at a computer screen and than make their move.
What we have here are mostly move-junkies.
They need their daily fix of moves.

ICC is inexpensive; you pay $8-10 for a match; pay as you go--no dues.
If you contact them on their web-site they'll explain things to you.

gcohen
Posts: 65
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:16 pm

Re: Chess.com vs I.C.C.

Post by gcohen » Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:48 am

P.S. it occurred to me that I automatically read ICC as meaning ICCF.
I don't know if there is an ICC.
My comments referred to the ICCF.

irrawang
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:23 pm

Re: Chess.com vs I.C.C.

Post by irrawang » Mon Mar 07, 2016 12:11 am

what dampens serious correspondence chess is the use of engines.

I am more than happy playing on net-chess.com. Very few engine users here and certainly none at my level.

gmiller
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Re: Chess.com vs I.C.C.

Post by gmiller » Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:03 am

ICC is pretty much the same as freechess.org. They run basically the same software and were the same community at one point, then split back in the 90's when ICC started charging money. I used to be a paying member of ICC, but switched to freechess.org when ICC did a massive rate hike about 5 or so years ago. So, if you're curious about ICC, just try freechess.org and see if you like it.

As for ICCF, and it's twin IECG. The reason this site exists is because those two wouldn't enforce their time controls. I played in both about 20 years ago. The time controls were something like 1 move in 14 days, and a few moves in 30 days. When someone violated the time controls, you'd e-mail the TD in charge of your match, and after a few days they'd see the e-mail and send a message to your opponent, and if they didn't respond in 14 days you'd be awarded a win. Net result is the 1 move in 14 days time control really ended up being one move in a month. There was a high dropout rate too, so you'd end up studying a game for a full month that your opponent had given up on. Back then, there were only a few web based correspondence sites, none had time controls, and had almost no organization at all (thus, this site was born). Maybe now they're a lot different since there's a lot more competition. The games were rated, and you were assigned opponents near your skill level, so you don't have to worry about competing against people referencing books, databases, etc, unless you do it yourself. But you can imagine with a time control like 1 move in 14 days, you have a lot of time to think, so the quality of the games was pretty high.
Greg Miller

gcohen
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Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:16 pm

Re: Chess.com vs I.C.C.

Post by gcohen » Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:09 am

I agree with you Greg. I never did sign on for anything with ICCF, both because of the long time controls and also because my
contact told me there was a certain drop-out rate. You put in a lot of time on a game and it ends up being wasted.
What I like about net-chess is you can set your own time controls and look for someone who is amenable to them.
I like to keep things going. I started playing CC with the USCF Golden Knights, years ago, postcards by mail, 3 days per move.
I still consider that an ideal. I no longer sign up for any 30d matches: my experience has been (all too often) that after 12 opening moves or so one accumulates 50 to 60 days and then your opponent drops out of sight because he's playing 75 games
and you have to wait 2 or 3 weeks for a move, etc.
I do not know any of the other sites mentioned, but I'm not curious about them.

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