Free Internet Chess Server: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:46, 24 November 2024

Revision as of 20:59, 24 November 2024

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In 1998, the Free Internet Chess Organization (FICS) was organized as a [[nonprofit organization]], although the formal entity was dissolved in 2007.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://gambiter.com/chess/online/Free_internet_chess_server.html|title=Free Internet Chess Server|website=gambiter.com|language=en|access-date=2017-09-28}}</ref> The server is still maintained and administered by volunteers.<ref name=":0" />

FICS never matched the popularity of ICC, but as of 2012 it had about 900 people logged in at any given time, and by August 2014, it had over 650,000 registered accounts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menn |first=Joseph |title=All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |year=2003 |isbn=9781400050062}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In 2016, 50,000 active players played a total of 23 million games.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ficsgames.org/2013_stats.html |title=FICS Games Database – Statistics for 2013 |access-date=2014-08-03 }}</ref>

In a 2024 book, Peter Doggers drew a comparison between the FICS and ICC rivalry and the later Lichess vs. Chess.com rivalry, with one side committed to free and open principles and the other offering more features for a fee.<ref name=":3" />

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==Usage==

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

FICS is accessible via [[telnet]] and was text-only by default. Before graphical interfaces, users would see a board created by [[ASCII]] characters, with the lines of the board created by [[Hyphen|hyphens]] and [[Vertical bar|pipes]], and pieces represented by letters.<ref name=":3" /> 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" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Fernández Slezak |first=Diego |last2=Etchemendy |first2=Pablo |last3=Sigman |first3=Mariano |date=2010 |title=Rapid chess: A massive-scale experiment |url=https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/152631 |journal=High-Performance Computing Symposium (HPC 2010) |language=en}}</ref> 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>

Once connected, discussion takes place in a wide number of function-specific or subject-specific chat channels numbered 0 through 255. For example, channel 0 is for administrators only, 1 is for general help, 50 is general chat, and 49 is for tournaments.<ref name=":0" />

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== 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 |last1last=Nagy |first1first=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 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=7591090PMC7591090 |pmid=33057380}}</ref> decision-making,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1last=Slezak |first1first=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 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7358 |pmc=5851639PMC5851639 |pmid=29499036}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> and user interface design.<ref>{{Cite bookjournal |last1last=Picussa |first1first=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. |chapterdate=2008-06 |title=A user-interface environment solution for an online educational Chess server |dateurl=June http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/rcis.2008.4632106 |titlejournal=2008 Second International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science |chapter-urlpublisher=http://dx.IEEE |pages=179–186 |doi.org/=10.1109/rcis.2008.4632106}}</ref> The server and its archive have been used to train [[Chess engine|publisherchess engines]] and chess-related [[machine learning]] projects,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=IEEECheng |pagesfirst=179–186Isaac |last2=Chico Camargo |date=2023 |title=Machine Learning to Study Patterns in Chess Games |url=https://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.30894.52807 |language=en |doi=10.110913140/rcisRG.20082.46321062.30894.52807}}</ref> while the FICS code has been used to launch similar regional or thematic chess servers as well as influencing the design of other chess projects.<ref>{{Cite web |isbnlast=978Bouman |first=Egbert |date=2012 |title=Tribler-1G: A Decentralized Social Network for Playing Chess [Master's Thesis] |url=https://egbertbouman.github.io/tribler-4244g/publications/Tribler-1677-6G%20A%20Decentralized%20Social%20Network%20for%20Playing%20Chess%20Online%20(MSc%20thesis).pdf |website=Delft University of Technology}}</ref>

==See also==