Originally posted by Falco Lombardi I have had experiences like that as well. Many people cry "stupid American!" when I beat them.
You gotta wonder about someone who is willing to call you stupid after you've just proven that, whatever your level of intellegence, you're smarter than they are.
Few things why I like ICC better than PlayChess or FICS.
- 5-minute pool which automaticly pairs you, weeds out laggers and sets noescape feature for both players
- more standard timecontrol players than FICS
- free simuls every day
- scheduled standard-tourneys every weekday
- free of choice GUI for playing
Atmosphere is very nice at ICC, of course there is always some jerks who want to make other people miserable, but that's what +censor is for.
Originally posted by Skorj You gotta wonder about someone who is willing to call you stupid after you've just proven that, whatever your level of intellegence, you're smarter than they are.
LOL, can one really say that beating another at chess proves that they are smarter?
Originally posted by Skorj If there's a case for ICC being that much better I'd like to have it clearly explained. My experience there is limited to a trial membership period a year or so ago, but not only wasn't that enough time to convince me ICC was significantly better, it's not at all clear that I'd prefer it to FICS if they were both free. Perhaps there are advantages I am unaware there just some who are more willing to nitpick over the remaining 5% than I?
It's been three years since I let my membership lapse on ICC, but I recall two differences that are huge:
ICC variables permit screening based on potential opponent's lag, while endemic lag almost ruins the FICS experience. (Both ICC and playchess will deny your challenge seek when your lag exceeds certain thresholds, while in my experience 10% of FICS users always exceed these thresholds.)
ICC (and playchess for that matter) is vigorous in pursuit of cheaters, and investigates complaints. FICS asks you to donate your time and talents when you complain, and lacks the resources to pursue any but the most flagrant abuses.
Ive been playing on the web for years now and icc has been around a long time now.both sites are good. Icc has a lot of the same players...but you can watch a lot more high rated games on icc then you can on playchess. However playchess has a much better anti-cheat system then icc. playchess makes you work your way up in rankings before your able to take advantage of some of the features.Icc does not.you might look at chess.net.Its also been around a long time and its an easy interface to use.Its less money to join also.
Originally posted by drmccoy Ive been playing on the web for years now and icc has been around a long time now.both sites are good. Icc has a lot of the same players...but you can watch a lot more high rated games on icc then you can on playchess. However playchess has a much better anti-cheat system then icc. playchess makes you work your way up in rankings before your able to take ad ...[text shortened]... t.Its also been around a long time and its an easy interface to use.Its less money to join also.
chess.net was the first place I played online with any regularity. It has not improved since 1999.
What I like the most about ICC is the playerbase. At any given time you can watch high ranked GMs playing each other.
The most fun example was probably watching Gata Kamsky playing for hours each day and one day someone asked him if he was going to play the New York Masters, and he answered 'yes'. A couple of weeks later the Kamsky-comeback was big news everywhere. And I was among the first that heard it. 🙂
Also Radjabov, Naiditsch, Morozevich, Nakamura, to name a few, plays regurarly on ICC.
Other than that I don't think there's much difference between the three (ICC, PC, FICS). Although I love ICC's 5- and 1-minute feature where you just type '5' or '1' in the console and within seconds you're matched against someone.
Originally posted by Zlaire What I like the most about ICC is the playerbase. At any given time you can watch high ranked GMs playing each other.
The most fun example was probably watching Gata Kamsky playing for hours each day and one day someone asked him if he was going to play the New York Masters, and he answered 'yes'. A couple of weeks later the Kamsky-comeback was big news ev ...[text shortened]... just type '5' or '1' in the console and within seconds you're matched against someone.
For me its a question of the "package" offered. I got the latest version of Fritz, a DVD with GM tips, as well as 1 year of access to the Playchess.com server. And all this is cheaper than ICC.
If ICC were to offer a GUI as good as Fritz, offer Shredder/Junior or Rybka and a 1 year membership then I would have that alongside Fritz/Playchess.
On playchess you can regularly watch GMs like Short, Adams and Luke McShane. Its not true that playchess is German/European as there are gazillions of players from the USA/UK. Don't forget that playchess also offers free access to players for certain Geograhpic regions.
Both Short and McShane can be seen regurarly on ICC as well (especially McShane).
Playchess simply can't compete with the number (or quality) of GMs playing.
As for the package I also have Fritz and a subscription to Playchess. And I analyze my ICC games in Fritz without any hassle.
Playchess is a minor bonus when getting Fritz.
And about the money it costs, Fritz+Playchess may be cheaper than ICC, but FICS beats them both. I don't take money into the calculation at all (less than $5 a month is hardly a big deal).
I'm sure you can find things about Playchess that's slightly better than ICC, but as I said, they're all pretty minor things. It all comes down to your own preferences.
The only thing Playchess can't compete with is the playerbase, so that does it for me.
I can see that you have moves=0 so unless you signed up just to share your insights I can assume you have a vested interest. It could also be the case that you are a regular who has opened another account just to troll the forum.
Playchess all the way for me. I've tried ICC and found the interface to be pretty piss poor compared to playchess. I bought fritz 8 and for some odd reason my playchess subscription doesn't run out until 2040 so I'm happy just sticking with that😏
Originally posted by z00t I can see that you have moves=0 so unless you signed up just to share your insights I can assume you have a vested interest. It could also be the case that you are a regular who has opened another account just to troll the forum.
Someone get z00t a seat on the RHP welcoming committee.
21 Dec '06 05:54
playchess or icc?
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