Your Assessment of Red Hot Pawn
18 Feb '16 18:291 editYour Assessment of Red Hot Pawn
"Red Hot Pawn" (By Edward Scimia, Chess Expert)
"Red Hot Pawn (and several other sites that offer the same service with a slightly different look and feel, such as Play The Immortal Game) is a turn-based correspondence chess site with more than 100,000 members. With players at all levels and a wide variety of time controls and game types, it's a great way for players to get involved in online correspondence chess. Free memberships are available, though paying subscribers have access to more features.
Features The basic concept of Red Hot Pawn is simple: after signing up for an account, you can challenge players from around the world to turn-based chess games. Okay, so technically, all chess games are turn-based: but in this case, we're talking about the kind of site where you'll log in, make moves in any active games you have, and then log out while waiting for your opponent to make a move.
What makes Red Hot Pawn a great site for correspondence players is the types of time controls typically played there. The length of time you have to make a move is measured in days, rather than in seconds or minutes. A typical game will feature three days for a player to make a move, along with a "time bank" of seven additional days. Essentially, this is like a standard game with a very long time delay: you won't lose on time unless your time bank is entirely exhausted, and it won't start being depleted unless you overstep the normal three days per move time control. Of course, these numbers aren't set in stone; you can choose to play games that are faster or slower, as well as games that only have a time bank with no additional time per move.
Some features of the site are free for anyone who signs up for an account. As you play on Red Hot Pawn, you'll be given a rating based on your play. You can also play up to six simultaneous games, play in a selected number of special events, and enjoy additional game types on the site (like blitz chess).
Paid Subscriptions and Benefits If you want more from Red Hot Pawn, the site does offer players the opportunity to dig deeper into the site with a paid subscription. This costs $39.95 per year, but players do receive quite a few benefits to go along with the added cost.
For instance, paid players won't see any ads on the site, and can play as many games as they can handle simultaneously. They can also enter all of the tournaments offered, including some interesting selections like thematic tournaments, where everyone is forced to play the same opening line.
There are a couple of unique options offered to paid players that I especially liked. First, there are Chess Clans - groups of players who can play together in leagues against other clans. This is a fun way to get into team play, especially if you have some real world friends who are interested in fighting alongside you in league play. A similar idea is the "club" feature, where players can group together in order to run private tournaments and other events that are only for members of that particular club. Players can even get their own club ratings that will allow them to see who's top dog in a given club.
If you've been looking for a place to play some slow-paced chess online, Red Hot Pawn is the perfect place to start. While there are plenty of beginners around for newer players, there's also a nice population of strong players (including some that are at master level or higher). The variety of tournament types and special features like clubs and clans is also very welcome, and the large player base means that there's always a new opponent around the corner for you to challenge." http://chess.about.com/od/playingchessonline/a/Red-Hot-Pawn.htm
_____________________
Questions: 1) What is your own personal overall assessment of Red Hot Pawn's online correspondence chess game and public forum functions and features? 2) Which of these do you enjoy and benefit from the most and/or least? 3) Other objectively focused and relevant comments? Thanks,
"Red Hot Pawn" (By Edward Scimia, Chess Expert)
"Red Hot Pawn (and several other sites that offer the same service with a slightly different look and feel, such as Play The Immortal Game) is a turn-based correspondence chess site with more than 100,000 members. With players at all levels and a wide variety of time controls and game types, it's a great way for players to get involved in online correspondence chess. Free memberships are available, though paying subscribers have access to more features.
Features The basic concept of Red Hot Pawn is simple: after signing up for an account, you can challenge players from around the world to turn-based chess games. Okay, so technically, all chess games are turn-based: but in this case, we're talking about the kind of site where you'll log in, make moves in any active games you have, and then log out while waiting for your opponent to make a move.
What makes Red Hot Pawn a great site for correspondence players is the types of time controls typically played there. The length of time you have to make a move is measured in days, rather than in seconds or minutes. A typical game will feature three days for a player to make a move, along with a "time bank" of seven additional days. Essentially, this is like a standard game with a very long time delay: you won't lose on time unless your time bank is entirely exhausted, and it won't start being depleted unless you overstep the normal three days per move time control. Of course, these numbers aren't set in stone; you can choose to play games that are faster or slower, as well as games that only have a time bank with no additional time per move.
Some features of the site are free for anyone who signs up for an account. As you play on Red Hot Pawn, you'll be given a rating based on your play. You can also play up to six simultaneous games, play in a selected number of special events, and enjoy additional game types on the site (like blitz chess).
Paid Subscriptions and Benefits If you want more from Red Hot Pawn, the site does offer players the opportunity to dig deeper into the site with a paid subscription. This costs $39.95 per year, but players do receive quite a few benefits to go along with the added cost.
For instance, paid players won't see any ads on the site, and can play as many games as they can handle simultaneously. They can also enter all of the tournaments offered, including some interesting selections like thematic tournaments, where everyone is forced to play the same opening line.
There are a couple of unique options offered to paid players that I especially liked. First, there are Chess Clans - groups of players who can play together in leagues against other clans. This is a fun way to get into team play, especially if you have some real world friends who are interested in fighting alongside you in league play. A similar idea is the "club" feature, where players can group together in order to run private tournaments and other events that are only for members of that particular club. Players can even get their own club ratings that will allow them to see who's top dog in a given club.
If you've been looking for a place to play some slow-paced chess online, Red Hot Pawn is the perfect place to start. While there are plenty of beginners around for newer players, there's also a nice population of strong players (including some that are at master level or higher). The variety of tournament types and special features like clubs and clans is also very welcome, and the large player base means that there's always a new opponent around the corner for you to challenge." http://chess.about.com/od/playingchessonline/a/Red-Hot-Pawn.htm
_____________________
Questions: 1) What is your own personal overall assessment of Red Hot Pawn's online correspondence chess game and public forum functions and features? 2) Which of these do you enjoy and benefit from the most and/or least? 3) Other objectively focused and relevant comments? Thanks,
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