Saturday, December 01, 2007

I Am Unhappy With ICC

As mentioned in a previous post I still have 2 correspondence chess games going on at ICC. In Game #23 my opponent went over the time limit on move number 11. I complained about this twice and it took about 3 weeks for the tournament director to issue a warning! What I don't get is why ICC issues warnings when players exceed the time limit! Why have a time limit if you are not going to enforce it? My opponent was warned and given an extra 20 days to play the game! I really do not believe that this is fair! Why let someone get away with cheating? I wasn't given an extra 20 days to play the game! Why let a cheater have extra time? If this was an over the board game my opponent would have lost! There would have been no warning and extra time given. Why allow this bull shit in a correspondence game?

My ICC membership expires on December 23 if I remember correctly. I have no intention of renewing it if I can finish these 2 games by then. I am up a knight and a pawn in one game, so I know my opponent will accept a draw if I offer one just to get the game over with. In the other game I am down material but about to get it back. With even material I may be able to get a draw out of that game too. I would like to win that one on time forfeit, but we will see.

Stan's Net Chess has the server keep track of time used just like ICC does. However, at Stan's Net Chess the server will award a time forfeit win if one player exceeds the time control. It is done automatically and thus there is no need for me to submit a time complaint. I will us Stan's Net Chess for correspondence games and let my ICC membership expire. Again, this is contingent upon my being able to finish these 2 games in time.

1 comment:

Steve in TN said...

Mike, the problems at ICC partially stem from the fact that a couple CC volunteers have passed away over the last couple of years.

I "feel" your pain; I have three games currently progressing despite the opponent having ignored the time limit, not just "over-stepping," but seriously in time default.

As for other servers, I currently play at ICCF in both ICCF and USCF CC events. The catch there is that these are not free (about $7 for an USCF event and $11 for an ICCF event). However, you are paying about $60 for a yearly membership at ICC.

Both of these strictly enforce time limits.

The other place I have positive experience at is Scheming Mind. You can buy a membership, or play for free there.