Monday, November 5, 2012

On-line Chess - Part 1.18 - Play for free

The most famous chess web sites hardly allow a player to play for free (unless you are a very famous chess player, in that case you are very welcome to join). Important chess servers’ access is not free but you can try for free for one week only. Others require a free registration with limited features and a premium registration with prices per month, 3 months, 6 months and per year. Premium memberships are full options in this case but there is a saving for long term registration.


Figure 14 – http://www.chesscube.com premium membership fees


Another policy is to have different premium memberships from the lowest level one with some features only to the highest level with full features.


Figure 15 – http://www.gameknot.com premium membership fees


Usually free registration limitations are on

  • the number of games playable at the same time or in a day, 
  • the possibility to access tournaments, 
  • the number of game archived is limited, 
  • computer analysis is not allowed, 
  • play in teams is not allowed, 
  • very basic statistics, colors and pieces customization are not allowed, just to mention a few.

Other providers who ask money as well to all the members offer an “exploration” mode in which the user can play for free for a limited amount of time or games. Expired this period they are invited to pay the fee for the next games.
Talking about money, some web sites allow playing with money (both symbolic and real). I understand that could be attractive for someone but I believe playing a game gives other immaterial earnings.



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