Of course, World Chess Network isn't comparable to the number of players online, but i like the looks of the graphics, charts, etc, which look superior to icc and fics. The only problem visually is the size of the playing board. There may be a way to make it bigger that im not aware of. I just like variety. When i'm sick of icc (maybe because i'm getting my brains beat out in blitz) i like to go somewhere else. Unfortunately, WCN is rather pricey, 40 odd bucks for a year for a gold membership. they have a silver membership which allows you to play 12 games a day. i can see the problem of these sites. if they eliminate all but the paying members they won't have enough of a mix to make it worth while. but if they make it too easy to play, people won't see any point of paying anything. that's why we have sites like fics. icc may regret going into an all-pay status. we'll see how they make out in the end.
Last year, Feb and March we had this Univ. Chess thing for Canada. First time I heard of it but I was board 4 for our Univ. There were 10 teams I believe and we came in 3rd and this was our first time. Fantasy team they called us, Cindrella story etc...
Anyways, I was give 2 months free on that site because of this Univ. thing.
I though the site was great, less players though compared to ICC, but they were always lectures, simuls, guess the move and other great activities. Always great coverage or major events. To me they didn't seem like jerks unlike ICC (chess.fm online videos, and other stuff people hate ICC for).
I think ICC keeps jacking up their fee without giving much back. Every month if you are lucky there might be 1 new online lecture.
So I think it's a great site. I'm not sure how much the cost is but if you don't mind there being fewer players, and maybe board settings then I'll go as far as to say it's better then ICC.
I play on WCN. When you are a subscriber you can determine the size of the board, only guests are stuck with the small board. The big plus factor is the nice interface and graphics and the really straightforward set-up, it's a dream compared to ICC
It is well subscribed, i never have to wait more than 30 seconds to get a blitz game. They have plenty of strong players. The only down side is the lack of long games, the longest time factor is 30mins with 5s increments. If you are happy playing 1,2,5,10,15,20,30 games then it's a decent site.
Every friday guests are allowed to play rated games all day so you can try it out then to get a feel if it's for you.