Αφήνω λοιπόν μία επίσης υποκειμενική παρουσίαση και αξιολόγηση όπως την ανακάλυψα...
Chesscafe Chesscafe is quite simply the best chess site on the net. World class players (many GMs), high quality chess coaches and fantastic chess authors contribute regularly and yet the site is completely free! Dvoretsky is possibly the site's most impressive contibutor being as he is the most respected chess trainer in the world. Very highly recommended. 10/10
Chessville A relative newcomer this site is packed with high quality material. The contributors include IM Andrew Martin and GM Nigel Davies, both of whom are well respected authors and coaches. The content is not quite as impressive as that offered by chesscafe but it is still very good and still free! The comprehensive links page is worth browsing through and the chess news is kept fairly up to date. The front page is a little 'heavy' but this is a minor quibble. Highly recommended. 9/10
The Week in Chess This is the best source of chess news on the net and is a good source of chess games (downloadable in a number of different formats). Again, this is a free site which makes it extraordinarily good value! Very highly recommended. 10/10
The London Chess Centre In addition to being the home of TWIC (see above) the Chess Center homepage also hosts John Watson's book reviews, Kingpin, and Chess Express. Watson's reviews are always worth reading. Not only is he thorough and fair, he is also a wonderfully erudite individual who can spot errors buried deep in hidden variations. (And he's an IM, which helps). Articles from Kingpin are usually quite funny. Chess express is a chess newsletter. The Chess Centre also boasts a chess store which, in my experience, offers excellent customer service. Very highly recommended. 10/10
ICC (Internet Chess Club) This is where Grandmasters go to play chess online. It sets the standard for online chess. You can also watch major chess events live on your screen along with commentary on the ICC's internet radio station chess.fm. You have to pay to register but if you are happy to play as a guest it's free: there are java interfaces you can use without having to download any software, the best of which is probably Coffee House. Highly recommended. 9/10
FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) A free chess server. You'll need to download and install some software to play on FICS. Some GMs do play on FICS but fewer play there than on the ICC. You can't go far wrong with a free service like this and if you want to play chess for free it's better to register on FICS than play on the ICC as a guest. This site was unavailable for a while; apparently they were suffering from server problems. Recommended. 8/10
Chesslab Chesslab is essentially a database of two million chess games. You can search by position and by player and the interface even allows you to have their software analyse the position you set up. The database is updated quite regularly. A fantastic free online resource. Highly recommended. 9/10
Chess Today The above link is the home page of Chess Today which is a chess newspaper. You have to subscribe to receive the pdf files in your e-mail but it is excellent value for money. The best bit is undoubtedly the annotated game in each edition. The annotations are from the pens of GMs and IMs and are of a very high quality. Very highly recommended. 10/10
Chessbase This is arguably the best online source for commercial chess software. The chessbase database is the market leader and Fritz is probably the second strongest chess playing program money can buy (after 'Rybka'). 'Chessbase Light' is a free version of the Chessbase database software (with a limit on the number of games). CBLight also has a version of Fritz embedded which can provide background analysis. Recommended. 8/10
The Playchess Server This is a relative newcomer to the battle between online chess servers, but it's grownig fast and a lot of very strong players play there. It's run by Chessbase and if you buy Fritz, for example, you get free access to the playchess server for a fixed period of time. You can just download the free software they offer to play, but, like the ICC, you have to pay if you want to register. Some people are a little cynical about the motives behind the creation of the Playchess Server, but setting intentions aside, there's not really anything wrong with it. It's just a matter of taste, but, as good as it is, I prefer the ICC. Recommended. 8/10
Chess Publishing This is a chess opening theory site. It contains continually updated material from GM's and IM's. The site provides not just analysis of the latest theory but also e-books which are essentailly introductions to openings, though they are frequently updated too. To access the bulk of the material on the site you need to subscribe. However, there is some free material there and it's worth having a bit of a poke around to see what you can find. The opening repertoire recommendations by Martin and Davies and the free e-book on the Classical & Rubinstein variations of the French by McDonald are particularly valuable. Recommended. 8/10
Richard Palliser's Reviews (Note that this site is currently inactive.) This site is primerily concerned with book reviews, all written by talented IM Richard Palliser. Older reviews are available in the site's archive. There is also a page of chess links. Palliser is a well respected author himself and so his views on other chess books carry that extra bit of weight which is lacking in many book reviews on the web. In my opinion the reviews are not only interesting but also very useful (though sometimes a little too diplomatic). As a co-author of 'Chess on the Web' Palliser's extensive knowledge of the internet chess 'landscape' shows through on the links page. Worth visiting at least once. 7/10
Instant Chess This site does exaclty what it says in its name. It allows you to play chess online (for free) without having to register. Admittedly, the opposition you will face may not be especially challenging, but if you just want a quick game and don't care who you end up playing against then it's worth a look. The java interface is neat and clean and loads quickly. Note that you have to pay if you want to register a username on this site. Worth a quick look. 7/10
Victorian Chess Pages Don't let the strange name and basic look of the site put you off; if you take the time to have a rummage you'll find all sorts of instersting material. A couple of the programs on the chess software page are particularly good. Some of the articles are quite good too. However, some of the content is considerably less valuable, so I'd advise you to take it all with a pinch of salt. Worth visiting at least once. 7/10
ChessUp.net ChessUp.net is a beautifully crafted piece of precision programming. The site allows you to create chess diagrams, online, for free. You can customise the colours of the pieces and squares and you can enter your position in FEN (Forsyth-Edwards Notation) which is handy. You can add game details and create a 'tiny URL' link to the image. The diagram generated is saved as a '.png' (portable network graphics) image file. There's also a blog, a funky little forum, and an introduction to the rules of chess. Recommended. 8/10
Superfluous guide to marks:
Mark out of ten
Interpretation
10 Simply fantastic.
9 Almost fantastic.
8 Very good.
7 Worth visiting at least once.
6 Not bad.
5 Almost dross.
less than 5 Dross.
Mark out of ten
Interpretation
10 Simply fantastic.
9 Almost fantastic.
8 Very good.
7 Worth visiting at least once.
6 Not bad.
5 Almost dross.
less than 5 Dross.
