Internet Chess Server: Difference between revisions

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== History ==

In the 1970s, one could play correspondence chess in a [[PLATO System]] program called 'chess3'. Several users used chess3 regularly; often a particular user would make several moves per day, sometimes with several games simultaneously in progress. In theory one could use chess3 to play a complete game of chess in one sitting, but chess3 was not usually used this way. PLATO was not connected to internet predecessor [[ArpaNetARPANET]] in any way that allowed mass use by the public, and consequently, chess3 was and still is relatively unknown to the public.

In the eighties, chess [[play-by-mail game|play by email]] was still fairly novel. Latency with email was less than with traditional [[correspondence chess]] via paper letters. Often one could complete a dozen moves in a week. As network technology improved, public, widespread use of a centralised server for live play became a possibility.

Michael Moore, of the University of Utah, and Richard Nash recognised the potential of an Internet chess server and created its first incarnation. The official opening date of the ICS was January 15, 1992. John Chanak, William Kish, and Aaron Putnam moved the server to a host machine at [[Carnegie Mellon University]] in July 1992, and took over its operation. Although it was [[Software bug|buggy]] and suffered from [[Lag (online gaming)|lag]] problems, the server was popular among a small group of chess enthusiasts. Over time, many features were added to the ICS, such as [[ELO rating system|ELO ratings]] and support for [[Graphical user interface|graphical]] clients, and the server was made more stable.<ref>{{cite web |author=Tim Mann |title=Internet Chess Servers |url=http://www.tim-mann.org/ics.html |accessdate=May 14, 2013}}</ref>

In late 1992, [[Daniel Sleator]], professor of [[computer science]] at Carnegie Mellon University, took over management of the ICS. He addressed, among other issues, the frequent complaint that players would lose blitz games on time due to Internetnetwork lag. In 1994, he copyrighted the code, and began receiving purchase offers from companies wanting to commercialise the server. There were questions about whether Sleator was right to claim that the ICS was his intellectual property, since he did not code the original server, although he had made substantial improvements to its code.{{fact}}

On March 1, 1995, Sleator announced his intentions to commercialise ICS himself, renaming it the [[Internet Chess Club]], or ICC, and charging a yearly membership fee of $US 49 ($US 59.95 in 2007). 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.