ChessWorld

ChessWorld (aka letsplaychess) is a correspondence chess server hosted by the Barnet Chess Club in England and with over 400,000 members in more than two hundred countries. The site appears to be a comprehensive online chess club with games, many forms of tournaments, user homepages, active chess and social forums, and even annual "meet-ups" where members meet in person for chess and socializing. Non-members are permitted a certain number of games and are invited to play in special tournaments.

Event formats

ChessWorld offers rated and unrated correspondence games, with time controls of one day per move, two day per move, three day per move, five day per move, 10 moves within 50 days, 10 day per move, and 15 days per move, individual challenges, double round-robin tournaments for any number of players from three to fifteen (in a double round robin, each player in an event plays every other player in the event twice, once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces). Also offered are pyramid events (a three dimensional take on ladder play where players ascend the pyramid by winning) and knockout tournaments, where losing players are eliminated (in the event of a draw, the player with the black pieces advances to the next round). Members may also join teams, captain teams, and participate in team matches.

Tournaments

Members may create round-robin and knockout tournaments, name them, designate a theme or dedication (e.g., Lasker Memorial Tournament), and fill the tournaments by invitation or allow anyone to join, by putting the tournament on the tournament sign-up page. Members can also join as many tournaments as they wish, but non-members can only be invited to special tournaments. There are two different types of tournaments: knockout tournaments, and all-play-all tournaments. Knockout tournaments allow two players to be paired for a game and whoever wins, gos to the next pairing. The one player who is left, wins. If the game is a draw, black wins. You can either have eight players or sixteen players in a knockout tournament. All-play-all tournaments are when one player plays all the rest of the other players twice at the same time. In other words, everyone plays everyone twice. One white, one black. There can be three to fifteen players in an all-play-all tournament. If you win a tournament you get a tournament norm.

Teams

Teams are a group of chess players that play against other groups of chess players in teams. It sounds confusing but its just like football, baseball, basketball etc. Every year there is a team tournament of all the teams in that league. Example: League:Pets; Teams: Team Dogs, Team Cats, Team Fish etc. Each team in the league will go against each other to see which team is best. The teams will each play white and black. Example: Team Dogs white vs Team Fish black, Team Dogs black vs Team Fish white. If you win a team tournament you and the rest of the team will get a team norm. Of course, this happens only once a year, so in the mean time, the captain of the team can set up friendly team matches to practice for the upcoming season.

Players can also make their own team, the player is then called Team Captain. Team captains may recruit players by invitation or accept applications from site members.

Forums

Chessworld also has forums. A player can post messages, read, and help out by answering questions from other players. A non-member is limited on how many messages he/she can post. Members can post as much as they want but only admins can answer questions. There are four categories which the player can post: Social, Chess, HelpDesk and Suggestions.

Puzzles and tips

Chessworld also offers chess puzzles. There are thousands of rated chess puzzles which can increase your rating if you get the puzzle right in a limited amount of time. They are open to non-members and members both. There are also hundreds of chess puzzles created by Chessworld members.

There are tips too. There is: Quick Member Tips, Improving Tips, and Winning Tips. Inside each category, there are sub-categories.

You can also "Analyse" your game after you have finished. You also can analyse other players' games as well.

Cost of membership

(Note: Chessworld pays with United States dollars)

• Single Membership for one player:$28.50 a year
• Partner Membership for two players:$52.00 a year
• Family Membership for four players:$98.00 a year
• Club/Team Membership for seven players:$166.00 a year

You can pay with Credit/Debit Cards for instant Membership or pay with Paypal, which is only available for the United States.

External links

• ChessWorld Home