InstantChess.com

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An instantchess session.

InstantChess.com is an Internet chess server catering to casual players. It is headquartered in Moscow, but its membership is international. InstantChess.com is not free. Registration is required, and after the first 25 games a fee is charged. [1] This however can be bypassed by going into Documents and Settings/ Your user name/ Application Data/ And deleting the macromedia folder. There are also other functions, for example a forum, which requires an additional fee. InstantChess.com actively seeks school chess clubs and offers free memberships to all middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities.

[edit] Instantchess features

Instantchess features includes chat system and "takeback" move options common in most chess programs. However, the GUI also shows the current opening system being played, the moves played (which can be tranversed to the start of the game) and at the end of game, a chess engine that analyzes a current position and shows the percentage of winning for white and black.

[edit] Controversy and security issues

The Internet College Chess League has posted a negative review of the site including allegations of violations of privacy. Instantchess has the usual Terms and Conditions forbidding harassment, abuse or any kind of behaviour disrespectful to others' race, sexuality or religious beliefs but the site administrators freely allow such behaviour to go unpunished; lawsuits are pending on this regard. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that complaints to the site administrators invariably receive a totally inadequate response, but retaliatory type measures often have been known to follow such as their personal details being leaked, including payment card details.[2] Other blogs contain similarly unhappy experiences. [3]