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On [[March 1, 1995]], Sleator announced his intentions to commercialize ICS himself, renaming it the [[Internet Chess Club]], or ICC, and charging a yearly membership fee of $49. This announcement was highly controversial among existing members. Many volunteers who had contributed in various ways to the flourishing of ICS were upset that anyone would attempt to profit from their efforts. Active players on the server who were used to the service being provided without charge were not pleased with the addition of the membership fee.
A handful of programmers who had worked on the original ICS became unhappy with what they saw as the commoditization of their project. They formed the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS), and continued to allow everyone to have access to all features for free. In 1996, John Fanning, uncle of [[Napster]] founder [[Shawn Fanning]], started [http://chess.net chess.net], a commerical Internet chess server to rival ICC. Both services remain operational today.
== Protocol and access ==
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