Better Site: Playchess or ICC?

t think you sOriginally posted by no1marauder
I'm really not that interested in playing IM and GM level players. I do prefer a larger pool as I really don't like blitz and try to get 30-60 minute games if I can. I seem to remember that being very difficult on FICS.

At the moment there are more than 9000 players online on chess.com live chess area (to compare with 3000< in Playchess for example). So I don`t think you should have a problem to find suitable opponent even for such a time control.

Originally posted by no1marauder
I'm really not that interested in playing IM and GM level players. I do prefer a larger pool as I really don't like blitz and try to get 30-60 minute games if I can. I seem to remember that being very difficult on FICS.

Chesscube is awesome... you can actually win miniscule amounts of money lol

Originally posted by no1marauder
I think I've reached the end of what CC can usefully do for me chess-wise and have decided to play on one of the timed sites. I played on both in years past, but don't have a clear recollection that one was superior to the other. ICC is a bit more pricey at $69.95 while Playchess has a basic membership around $41 and a premium of $62. Cost isn't a huge f ...[text shortened]... So please any other players who have played on both could you give me your opinion? Thanks.

Honestly, the best part of ICC is its video lectures. Easily worth the yearly subscription cost alone.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
lucky you, sometimes i have a problem getting beat up by 1100 rated players. But I
have learned that I need time to calculate accurately, blitz simply does not facilitate
this, in fact, its really harmed my development to be honest, not that i would be much
better, but at least i would not play purely on instinct all the time, without attempting to
ascertain the possibilities in a position.

The thing about blitz Robbie, is that you're only putting into practice what you already know. You will never learn from playing blitz. Not chess anyway. But it is fun.

Originally posted by hedonist
The thing about blitz Robbie, is that you're only putting into practice what you already know. You will never learn from playing blitz. Not chess anyway. But it is fun.

You will never learn from playing blitz. Not chess anyway-hedonist

Thats not true. I have learned my best opening gambits and end games tacticts playing blitz.-Uther

Originally posted by hedonist
The thing about blitz Robbie, is that you're only putting into practice what you already know. You will never learn from playing blitz. Not chess anyway. But it is fun.

yes, rather excellent, for what its worth, yes the masters play blitz, as you say, its
purely for fun, its not an environment which appears to me to be conducive to learning,
look at Uthers statement above, he gives the impression that's he has learned
something during the game, when in fact he has rather unwittingly given credence to
your own statement. He did not learn opening gambits during play, he must have
known of them prior and put them into operation during play, the same with endgame
technique. It appears to me that one is trying to run before one can walk, for example
a musician practices scales so that he can play a piece with ease, yet fluency is the
thing to be desired, not speed, for anyone can play fast, but not with accuracy.
Accuracy is built up over time, learning slowly from what was understood previously so
that the whole becomes an organic learning curve. Playing at slower time controls
and gradually building up seems to me to be the course of wisdom.

Originally posted by utherpendragon

You will never learn from playing blitz. Not chess anyway-hedonist

Thats not true. I have learned my best opening gambits and end games tacticts playing blitz.-Uther

while i cannot disprove personal experience, I side with hedonist and state that you were merely putting into practice that which you knew before.

Speaking on blitz - it`s useful to get experience in opening lines you`ve never played before. If i want to play OTB some new opening/opening system I always play in it online blitz first.

I play more on chess.com now, as the time controls suit me. I have very little free time evening/weekends now, hence my non-renewal on RHP. I manage to slip a few 5/10 minute games in at work on Chess.com although I do sometimes have problems with losing connection.

Originally posted by hedonist
The thing about blitz Robbie, is that you're only putting into practice what you already know. You will never learn from playing blitz. Not chess anyway. But it is fun.

That's a close-minded attitude. Isn't it a valuable chess skill to know how to handle yourself in time pressure? And others have already mentioned that it's a good way to get practice playing new openings.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
That's a close-minded attitude. Isn't it a valuable chess skill to know how to handle yourself in time pressure? And others have already mentioned that it's a good way to get practice playing new openings.

I play blitz to practice and learn new openings. I think that chess computer "Monte Carlo"-style analysis was created because other players do this, and it was a great application of chess computing power to "turbocharge" the method.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Isn't it a valuable chess skill to know how to handle yourself in time pressure?

Nowhere near as valuable as the skill of avoiding time pressure. It's a fact that even a GM's play deteriorates significantly in time trouble and that blunders occur. It's simply a bad state to be in. Any training to minimise the impact will be vastly outweighed by avoiding it in the first place, so focus on training your time management instead.

Originally posted by hedonist
You will never learn from playing blitz

...if you don't review your games. If you are reviewing and making changes to your game you can improve quite quickly.

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
...if you don't review your games. If you are reviewing and making changes to your game you can improve quite quickly.

Good point. Dvoretsky in his books recommends training one's intuition by playing fast games, and then as you point out, reviewing them to see how good our guesses were. If you don't review, you don't get the necessary feedback.

On the downside, if blitz gets to the point where it is training bad habits (laziness, etc) more than good habits then it becomes counter productive. So maybe it needs to be done in the correct way and amount; a fine balance needing some discipline.

Originally posted by Varenka
Nowhere near as valuable as the skill of avoiding time pressure. It's a fact that even a GM's play deteriorates significantly in time trouble and that blunders occur. It's simply a bad state to be in. Any training to minimise the impact will be vastly outweighed by avoiding it in the first place, so focus on training your time management instead.

Sure, it's preferable to avoid time pressure, but it's unrealistic to think that you can avoid it every game. Will you not match a large investment of thinking time by your opponent in a tricky position out of fear of falling into a later time scramble? I'd rather be able to match the time and know I can still hang with him when we're under 5 minutes.