andrew martin wrote:
ICC is obviously losing a lot of trade to PlayChess, which is a much better site all round. The ICC interface is ugly,cheap and outdated and the amount of abuse which is tolerated and obvious cheating makes it unattractive to play there. The rating system is also ludicrous, as it is on PlayChess. Rampant inflation rules. It's amazing how many chessplayers get a kick out of seeing big numbers by their name. What an ego trip. However, I would like to praise the Chessbase site; of course I work with them, but I think its certainly the best site for chess around. Of course you have to pay.
Naturally,there is nothing wrong with starting a new venture like the ECF club and we are working to provide you with an excellent service. The look of the site is already superior to any chess site I know and the facilities will only improve. We'll have online lectures ,shows and lessons before very long from world-class players, as well as terrific research facilities. There may be a charge for this,a preminm membership, as the last post suggests, but the basic facilities as they are now,free at the point of delivery , will remain unchanged . One can hardly expect top Grandmasters to work for nothing or even IM's; that is ridiculous and anyone who questions this obviously doesn't earn a living from chess.
Anyway thanks to everyone for signing up. Keep going!
Andrew
Actually I find the Playchess site looks very nice but has about 1/10th of the functionality of ICC. I prefer the ICC interface. Each to their own I suppose. I think the market for chess servers is essentially an oligopoly as a server needs critical mass to be successful. I'm not sure there's room in the market for another. But it must be funded somehow so I assume someone somewhere mmust be willing to pay for it. I just hope it's not paid for through ECF membership fees since those should be spent on chess development.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
Aha - my time to jump in with an advertisement! 
) "chess lectures"?