Free Internet Chess Server: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:05, 24 November 2024

Revision as of 19:16, 24 November 2024

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==History==

{{stack|[[File:Free Internet Chess Server (banner).jpg|thumb|250px|FICS Banner.]]}}

In January 1992, Michael Moore of the [[University of Utah]] and Richard Nash started the first online service facilitating live chess games, the American Internet Chess Server (commonly known as the Internet Chess Server or ICS). The initial release, accessible via [[telnet]], was hosted at the University of Utah, but over its first two years it moved repeatedly across American universities, with additional servers opening and connecting to each other through Nash's Internet Ratings Server.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Petroff |first=Chris |date=2009-03-05 |title=History of the Internet Chess Server – Part I |url=http://members.cox.net/cpetroff/FICS/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313150500/http://members.cox.net/cpetroff/FICS/ |archive-date=2010-03-13 |access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref><ref name="fics10year"/><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Doggers |first=Peter |title=The Chess Revolution: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age |publisher=Puzzlewright |year=2024 |isbn=9781454959243}}</ref> The software was coded, supported, and operated by volunteers. [[Daniel Sleator]], professor of computer science at [[Carnegie Mellon University]], took over operation in July 1992 and improved the code. One of his primary contributions was a mechanism to adjust clock times for the effects of internet lag. He announced plans to commercialize the service, copyrighted the code in 1994, and rebranded it as the Internet Chess Club (ICC) in 1995, charging membership fees.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.edcollins.com/chess/fics-icc.htm |title=Pawns Call King a Rook |first=Brad |last=Stone |access-date=2010-05-10 |date=2006-05-11 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=November 1995 |title=Trapped in the (Inter) Net |url=https://www.chicagochessleague.org/cicl/bulls/history/Yr1995_96/Nov1995.pdf |website=The Chicago Chess Player}}</ref>

Sleator's decision to commercialize the ICS was controversial, outraging members who felt the internet should be free and open, or who simply did not want to pay for a service which had been free.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurst |first=Sarah |title=Chess on the Web |publisher=Batsford |year=1999 |isbn=9780713485776}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Several former ICS programmers saw the move as exploiting their work. On the day its rebranding was announced, programmers created a mailing list focused on developing an alternative, though work had been in progress, using Nash's original code, since Sleator initially revealed his commercialization plans.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> Several developers contributed, led by Nash, Henrik Gram, David Flynn, and Chris Petroff. The effort reacting to commercialization led to servers in several places around the world and in the United States, with the latter consolidating to form the Free Internet Chess Server, which launched on March 5, 1995.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name="fics10year">{{Cite web|url=http://www.freechess.org/Events/Anniversary/2005/index.html |title=FICS 10th Anniversary Celebrations |access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref> After a few months, it had 1,500 members.<ref name=":3" />

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==Usage==

FICS is accessible via [[telnet]] and was text-only by default. Whereas ICC has dedicated, proprietary graphical interfaces, several have been developed for FICS, with none having official status. The earliest were XICS and [[XBoard]], with subsequent programs including [[XBoard|WinBoard]], BabasChess, Jin, Thief, Raptor, eboard, [[PyChess]], and JavaBoard.<ref name=":0" /> Though built with pre-web technology which typically requires a dedicated client, there are also web-based interfaces. Users can play using an anonymous guest account or register for an account with a username. Registered users can play games rated using the [[Glicko rating system]].<ref>{{Cite web |author=vek/glickman |title=Vek-splanation of the Glicko Ratings System |url=http://www.freechess.org/Help/HelpFiles/glicko.html |access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref>[[File:babaschesssmallcrop.jpg|thumb|250px|FICS using BabasChess interface]]

===Connecting===

[[File:babaschesssmallcrop.jpg|thumb|250px|FICS using BabasChess interface]]

Playing chess on FICS requires connecting to the server either through a web-based applet on the FICS website or else by using a [[client (computing)|client]] program, which could be as simple as a [[telnet]] client, but is usually an [[graphical user interface|interface]] designed specifically for playing Internet chess.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freechess.org/Help/QuickGuide/index.html |title=FICS QuickGuide : Graphical Interfaces |access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref> Users can log in either as an anonymous guest or else by registering for a free account. Each user is permitted only one account. The server maintains rating and game statistics for registered users. FICS uses the [[Glicko rating system]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freechess.org/Help/HelpFiles/glicko.html |title=Vek-splanation of the Glicko Ratings System |author=vek/glickman|access-date=2010-05-10}}</ref>

===Gameplay===

Players can watch for game requests by other users broadcast or create their own seeks and wait for someone to respond. Seeks include time controls and frequently an optional ratings limit. Seeks can be programmed to require manual acceptance by the user, or they can automatically be accepted by the player. Users can challenge specific players to a game by using the match command. Moves are made with a mouse on an image of a chess board or users can type in moves in [[algebraic chess notation]]. All games played by registered users are recorded by a computer and made publicly available.<ref name=":0" />

=== Time controls ===

Since the mechanics of play are simplified, chess games played online tend to use faster time controls than in over-the-board (OTB) play. Longer games (i.e., usually 15 or more minutes per player) are called standard and are also common on the server. Separate ratings are maintained for lightning (under 3 minutes), blitz (usually 5 or 10 minutes), and standard (over 15 minutes). Irregular variants, such as Fischer Random, are grouped together into a handful of formats like Wild, and these are not further classified by time controls.<ref name=":0" />

[[Time control#Compensation (delay methods)|Fischer delay]] is popular: the time control is specified by two numbers, the minutes each player is allotted at the start of the game, and the seconds added to a player's clock after making a move (the ''increment''). For example, in the popular 2–12 time controls, each player receives 2 minutes at the beginning of the game, and 12 seconds are added to a player's clock after they make a move. Since all games are assumed to last 40 moves for format classification purposes, 2–12 is grouped with 10-minutes-per-player (10 minutes = (60s per minute * 2 minutes) + (12s * 40 moves) / 60s per minute).{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

The timeseal is a utility which allows the server to adjust for the effects of internet [[lag (video games)|lag]]. Each move is time-stamped locally and the time it takes for each command to travel to the server is not deducted from the player's clock. This method of time stamping each move is helpful for players with slow internet connections. FICS does not track lag centrally and does not permit users to exclude persistent laggers.<ref name=":0" />

{|

! Format || Popular Controls (minutes and optional increment)

|-

| lightning (x<3) || 1

|-

| blitz (3<=x<15) || 3, 5, 2–12

|-

| standard (15<=x) || 15, 45-45

|}

===Interfaces===

[[File:Mobila Chess Layout.png|thumb|300x300px|Mobile Interface]]

FICS is accessible via telnet and was text-only by default. Whereas ICC has dedicated, proprietary graphical interfaces, FICS does not have official interface software. Several have been developed, starting with XICS and [[XBoard]], and expanding to include [[XBoard|WinBoard]], BabasChess, Jin, Thief, Raptor, eboard, [[PyChess]], and JavaBoard.<ref name=":0" />

===Channels===

FICS has a number of very conservatively censored chat channels numbered 0 through 255. Many of the channels are reserved for administrators and bots.<ref name=":0" />

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===Relay===

FICS relays major chess events. A bot takes the moves in ongoing games and relays them to special demo accounts on FICS. These demo accounts bear the names of the [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmasters]] playing in the event. Users and guests on FICS can watch the games in progress and chat about the games with each other. The relay has covered every single World Chess Championship since its inception. Other major relays include the yearly relay of [[Tata Steel Chess Tournament|Wijk aan Zee]], Morelia-Linares and Amber Melody.<ref name=":0" />

== Archive ==

All games played by registered users are recorded by a computer and made publicly available for free.<ref name=":0" /> The FICS game archive has been used in academic studies on memory,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nagy |first=David G. |last2=Török |first2=Balázs |last3=Orbán |first3=Gergő |date=2020-10-15 |title=Optimal forgetting: Semantic compression of episodic memories |url=https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008367 |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=e1008367 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008367 |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=PMC7591090 |pmid=33057380}}</ref> decision-making,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Slezak |first=Diego Fernandez |last2=Sigman |first2=Mariano |last3=Cecchi |first3=Guillermo A. |date=2018-03-02 |title=An entropic barriers diffusion theory of decision-making in multiple alternative tasks |url=https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005961 |journal=PLOS Computational Biology |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=e1005961 |doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005961 |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=PMC5851639 |pmid=29499036}}</ref> and user interface design.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Picussa |first=Juliano |last2=Garcia |first2=Laura S. |last3=Bueno |first3=Juliana |last4=Ferreira |first4=Marica V. R. |last5=Direne |first5=Alexandre I. |last6=de Bona |first6=Luis C. E. |last7=Silva |first7=Fabiano |last8=Castilho |first8=Marcos A. |last9=Sunye |first9=Marcos S. |date=2008-06 |title=A user-interface environment solution for an online educational Chess server |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/rcis.2008.4632106 |journal=2008 Second International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science |publisher=IEEE |pages=179–186 |doi=10.1109/rcis.2008.4632106}}</ref>

==See also==