Author: David H. McClain
Date: 10:23:58 01/17/05
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On January 16, 2005 at 21:37:06, Peter Skinner wrote: >As some of you know, about 1 yr ago I put out a review of all the most popular >chess servers one can use. > >Well I just updated it, and it can be found at: > >http://www.crafty-chess.com > >It is offered in .doc and .pdf formats for all to read. > >I hope you enjoy it. > >Peter Peter, Your comments mirror my thoughts nearly 100%. This does not include FICS because I don't use it at all. And I only play engine to engine matches, so I won't comment on cheating, nor on rating systems. ICC offers the most customizable features of all, there is no question about that. Actually, there are so many features on ICC that most, including me, are not aware of them all. Games are saved for resumption if disconnected, a feature that Playchess has yet to address successfully. Actually, disconnections are a nightmare on Playchess, and one must pray they don't become involved with one personally. Sysops are in the background on ICC if you need them. Unfortunately, Playchess combines all games, from blitz, to rapid, to long games into one category. Not a big deal and I use two legal accounts to compensate for that. ICC's methods of dealing with this are ideal by category. One problem on ICC is that there too many "C" accounts that are allowed "!computer" play in their formulas, yet they may pick and choose computer accounts THEY wish to play. The reverse is not allowed. I realize they are a few multiple accounts on ICC that experiment with human play and computer play. Robert Hyatt is one of the exceptions so this does not include his accounts. There are a few others. Playchess does not appear to have this problem. If you access the engine room, you either play engine-to-engine matches or play engines as a human or Centaur. It's a shame that it is not possible to take the best features from ICC and Playchess and combine them. Both of these sites would be at the top all the time and would have more members than they would know what to do with. Both Playchess and ICC offer a lot, but Playchess has a few shortcomings that never seem to be dealt with, GUIs notwithstanding. DHM
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