Originally posted by bahusas long as Levon Aronian comes preatty often to play on FICS with a different nickname, maybe you should replace that 1% with top 0.(0)1%.
Of course,
I guess most people here play either on ICC, FICS or Playchess. Many have a handle on multiple sites. Level of competition is maybe too weak for the top 1 % (i.e. 2200+) but for us humble patzers FICS is just as good as ICC/Playchess.
- bahus
Do not ask, I will not disclose his nickname there.
I asked people in these forums why they played on ICC or Playchess rather than FICS as some of them seemed quite dismissive of the free site. The most relevant (to me) complaints they had were about lag times and cheat detection.
I have rarely had trouble with lag times. Maybe this is more of a bother to those who like bullet time controls. I have had very occasional extreme incidences where an opponent's clock seems to tick down to zero then keep going for a couple minutes and you can't flag them or even abort. I don't know if this happens elsewhere but in the big picture it doesn't bother me that much.
The other point is that, as a free service, FICS lacks the financial backing to put effective cheat detection measures in place. Who knows how much of an actual problem this translates into. Frankly if it makes someone feel big to put in Herr Fritz's moves and call the their own they'll be playing out of my league anyway. What does bother me is the thought that somebody might be turning for help now and then just to get themselves out of sticky situations etc. Sometimes I wonder about this if, for example, I built an advantage only to have my opponent turn the tables on me with some brilliant play. This probably happens naturally... I have done it to others without help after all. Knowing there more effective measures in place might be more assurance that I'd been beaten fair and square I guess.
Originally posted by SkorjI mostly play 3 0, and the lag is a serious problem.
I asked people in these forums why they played on ICC or Playchess rather than FICS as some of them seemed quite dismissive of the free site. The most relevant (to me) complaints they had were about lag times and cheat detection.
I have rarely had trouble with lag times. Maybe this is more of a bother to those who like bullet time controls. I have had very o ...[text shortened]... e measures in place might be more assurance that I'd been beaten fair and square I guess.
Lag happens in many playchess games, too. However, there you cannot start a game when your lag is too high. FICS provides no such protection, and no way of screening potential opponents based on lag.
When I played on ICC, I played mostly in the 5 0 pool that prescreened all players for lag.
On FICS, when an opponent is at -3:00, adjourn is your only recourse (unless you want to resign). On playchess, one can claim win on opponent's disconnect; there are no adjournments.
For a free site, FICS is terrific. The Babaschess interface it excellent. As a Fritz owner, I have choices and FICS is quite distant behind my top choice (but not so far back that I let a week go by without playing there).
Originally posted by WulebgrI am in the same boat as you except that my main interest is in slow games where lag has never been a problem. I use Playchess mostly these days mainly because on average it takes less time to find an opponent. Lately I have had several opponents play 2 or 3 moves then start requesting a draw and had one opponent prompting me to move faster in a 30/30 game. Should I assume that, with no sought graph, these folks don't realize they are picking up a slow game? That would be a shame- even most basic freeware interfaces have a sought graph so you'd think the mighty Chessbase could come out with one.
...As a Fritz owner, I have choices and FICS is quite distant behind my top choice (but not so far back that I let a week go by without playing there).