Why Im Ending My Subscription after Years of Loyalty

After being on the ICC since 1998 or so, Im finally going elsewhere, for various reasons. The ICC folks have had a great run, but theyve failed to keep pace with the competition. This is a real shame, since they really helped kickstart the online chess revolution. Many online chess sites have them to thank for proving out what could be done to attract interest in our favorite game. Alas, the ICC has become a venerable relic among internet chess services. How long are they going to try to milk their old 1990s, console based server technology? I suggest you look at what amazing things lichess.org has done.

Some big complaints. 1) Ratings deflation. For some reason, my rating on other sites is much more comparable to my actual USCF rating than it is on ICC. Bizarre, but true. Maybe 200-300 points lower here. Depends on the time controls. 2) No emphasis on analysis of your games. See lichess.org for what can be achieved 3) Extremely short memory of my recent games. Only 20? 4) Hard to analyze your games afterward. I want to play some variations on the mobile app... please. 5) Just plain lack of innovation. The mobile apps have kept them alive, but they havent improved a thing in years now, and the latest iOS release has broken their educational video feature. 6) Diminishing population. Its not as easy to get an offbeat time control game on ICC anymore. Be prepared to stay in the 5 minute pool.

Larry C, Joel B, John W and Dan H are all stars, and perhaps the only reason to keep an eye on the site. Great content, but dont plan on watching it with this app.

Underdog323c about Chess at ICC, play & learn, v5.0.25