And the winner is...
Submitted by
on Wed, 04/01/2009 at 7:30pm.
[Originally posted on Tuirgin.com.]
For the last couple weeks I've been playing at both Chess.com and SchemingMind and I've been trying to figure out which site is going to give me the biggest returns on my investment of time and money. I also tried out LetsPlayChess, and just today RedHotPawn and GameKnot. I'm sure each has its devotees, and perhaps they all have some stand-out feature. As I've already discussed I like SchemingMind's simplicity, lack of distraction, and the ratio of its affordability to feature set. LetsPlayChess underwhelmed me as being rather an old interface and not very clean, though the community seemed nice. GameKnot and RHP—well, I really didn't spend long enough with them to give them a fair evaluation, because the reality is I kept finding myself coming back to Chess.com and liking it. The one oddity I kept coming across both on RHP and across the web was the teeth gnashing certain members of RHP were doing in respect to GameKnot. I don't have any clue what the history is there, but someone's cheerios got pissed on somewhere at some point.
So... the winner of my coin is Chess.com. I'll be taking on more games and get into some tourneys there. I'd still like to do some standard games on FICS, but my time is just too unpredictable right now. If anyone wants to friend me at Chess.com, my nickname is “Tuirgin”. I'll still be around SchemingMind and will still accept matches there. But the bottom line is I like the added features of Chess.com. Maybe I'll see you there!
Update: Okay, okay, call me fickle but I can't decide between them, so I'm fully embracing both Chess.com and SchemingMind. I've already got a dozen games going at SchemingMind and have joined the Chess Improvement Club over there. My only question is, with all this playing, when am I going to find time to study the game? ;-)