05 Sep 07
I used to play on ICC and my rating was 1900+. Months ago I started to play on FICS and my rating quickly reached 1900 as well. My OTB rating (still provisional) is only 1783, so ICC & FICS ratings are a little "inflated".
However, these ratings are achieved mostly under 30 15 time controls, which are less popular for realtime online games. So if your rating there is much lower than OTB, probably it's because you played faster games there. If I play OTB time controls online (OTB 90 30 feels like 90 0 or 60 30 online), I probably would get higher ratings.
05 Sep 07
Originally posted by mipmcptThe two cannot be compared. One is a server for instant chess, the other a correspondence site. While FICS offers CC and RHP offers blitz, neither of these have enough merit to warrant comparison.
what do you love about it? that rhp has not got?
For online play of the sort offered at FICS, playchess has passed by ICC as the best server. Both of these are light years ahead of FICS, mainly because FICS takes no steps to deal with its lag pandemic, and is ineffective at tracking down cheaters (likely the main cause of the ratings there running slightly lower than ICC and playchess).
Case in point illustrating the problems at FICS: I played in a 1 0 tournament in which most games took 2 1/2 minutes. Why? My opponents averaged 45 seconds lag in 60 seconds. Such games are not bullet. If FICS would monitor all users lag, as do both playchess and ICC, and prevent laggers from entering tournaments or playing fast time controls, it would compare favorably to its commercial competitors.
05 Sep 07
Originally posted by demonseedChess rating is chess rating is chess rating. They often can't be compared. If RHP were to change the rating system so we were all rated 200 points lower would you say it's the better site?
There seems to be a higher standard there than ICC. I struggled to get by 1600 (I am 1800 OTB!).
It's a number, in this case different numbers mean the same thing. You are not any better on one site or the other, you just get a different rating.
P-
05 Sep 07
1 edit
Originally posted by Wulebgryou know, I almost never get lag on FICS. well, not more than a couple of seconds anyway. I feel no difference between 5 0 on FICS and 5-minute on ICC in that regard. are you sure it isn't your gear? at some point I had freak lag & disconnection problems, but they turned out to be caused by a hidden remainder of zonealarm firewall, and the problems completely vanished after I got rid of the hidden ZA component. (I had uninstalled ZA months ago, but obviously it left something behind. it wasn't until I tried installing something else, which complained about the remaining component, until I found out about it.)
The two cannot be compared. One is a server for instant chess, the other a correspondence site. While FICS offers CC and RHP offers blitz, neither of these have enough merit to warrant comparison.
For online play of the sort offered at FICS, playchess has passed by ICC as the best server. Both of these are light years ahead of FICS, mainly because FICS ta ...[text shortened]... naments or playing fast time controls, it would compare favorably to its commercial competitors.
does anyone else get such huge lags on FICS like what wulebgr talks about?
although it could also be the time difference as we're on different continents. maybe the server is just less crowded when I'm on...
I like ICC better as well though.
05 Sep 07
Originally posted by badivan1My blitz rating is the one I meant. My standard is a little inflated at 1900 but my standard rating on ICC was always about 1950-2050.
Do you play blitz or standard? I also play at FICS, but my standard rating of 1700-1800 is much higher than my fluctuating 1500 blitz rating.