Chess Over The Internet
NOTE: You must have a UB computer account to use the internet
(or have some other service that provides internet access). A UB
computer account can be provided to all UB students at the Computing
Center in room 215.
There are two major internet chess servers to play live chess:
FICS
(free internet chess server) and
ICC
(Internet Chess Club).
Type: telnet chess.lm.com 5000 (to play on ICC)
Or type: telnet ics.onenet.net 5000 (to play on FICS)
[If you are using vax, it is telnet (the address)
/port=5000].
However, the ICC chess server charges a yearly fee (while FICS is free).
This yearly fee pays the administrators of the ICC server for the
services they provide: chess lessons, viewing and participating in
games between Masters and GM's around the world, etc.
On BOTH chess servers you can:
- play chess 24 hrs a day.
- play games using any time controls, one minute to a whole game in 5 hours.
- get ratings for blitz and slow chess. Each game is rated right after it
is played. You can play unrated games also.
- watch GM's and IM's playing chess.
- obtain graphical interfaces that allow you to make moves with
a mouse on a board. (See information about XBOARD below)
- talk to people from all over the world.
For more information, log on a server and type help to get a list of
all the help files. This list of files should provide all the necesary
information you will need (and a whole lot more). You can also talk to
administrators who are there to help you
(Administrators have an "*" by their name).
XBOARD- a graphical interface for the chess servers
Xboard provides a graphical interface to ICC and FICS.
It displays the board, and allows moves to be entered with the mouse.
Xboard is almost a necessity to play blitz games.
Using xboard:
- In order to use Xboard, you must be using X-windows.
(To use X-windows, you must have a unix account, and be logged
on to either an X-terminal, or a SUN workstation.)
- To start xboard enter the command: xboard -ics
Xboard will automatically set up a telnet connection
to chess.lm.com. If you start, or observe a game,
xboard will display the current position in a separate window.
To log on to ics.onenet.net 5000, simply type:
xboard -ics -icshost ics.onenet.net
E-mail Chess
For free ongoing E-mail chess pairing services, all you have to do is mail:
chess.info@vpnet.chi.il.us
and include the following information:
Name:
E-mail address:
Level of play (optional see below)
If you provide an established rating, or preferred level, you will
start off at that level, otherwise, you will be deemed unrated, and
paired accordingly. The levels are divided by the following
comparable USCF-compatible ratings.
- Category M: 2200+ (Master)
- Category 1: 2000-2199 (Expert)
- Category 2: 1800-1999 (A-player)
- Category 3: 1600-1799 (B-player)
- Category 4: 1400-1599 (C-player)
- Category 5: 1200-1399 (D-player)
- Category 6: 1000-1199 (E-player)
- Category 7: less than 999 (E-player)
-Games will be rated according to USCF formula
(although not affiliated with the USCF).
-For more information on 2 game matches, contact Lisa Powell
at: rpowell@uoguelph.ca
-Any other questions can be mailed to William Moxley
(chess.info@vpnet.chi.il.us)
WWW sites
A wealth of information and fun can be found on the world wide web
sites regarding chess. All that is necessary, is a unix account,
and that you be logged onto an Xterminal/Sun workstation.
At the prompt type: Mosaic
After the mosaic interface opens up, click the open button, and
then enter one of following addresses:
http://ux5.cso.uiuc.edu/~koo/bughouse.html
http://www.brad.ac.uk/~mdcrowth/chess.html
Mosaic uses a GUI (Graphical User Interface) text, so you simply
point and click with the mouse on highlighted words to advance and
move throughout the screens.
Chess News
The worldwide chess newsgroup is at rec.games.chess.misc
Accessible by typing news at the $ prompt on VAX.
( trn at prompt when using Unix)
Type s rec.games.chess.misc and then g rec.games.chess.misc to
subscribe and go into the newsgroup (if using VAX).
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