I shall leave the chess platform Free Internet Chess Server.
First of all, there is no one to play with
Almost everyone prefers to play blitz or bullet. Only some players agree to play rapid or slow games. The number of players interested in rapid or slow games is not big enough. If you want to play with time control 15 minutes per game or slower, usually there are no challenges, or your challenge will not be accepted.
Sometimes, you must wait hours before someone accepts your challenge for a rapid game.
It is particularly so if your rating is above 2000.
Sometimes, the system ignores your "formula" and gives you an opponent with a rating above or below the limits you had fixed.
One of the players on FICS has an abnormally high rating. If that player is a grandmaster, I know his name but will not reveal it here. Considering that only a few players have high ratings, that player must always win to keep an exceptionally high rating. I suspect the player is an admin and uses chess engines during the games.
FICS Chat is abusive
When waiting for challenges or for your challenge to be accepted, you look at the discussions in the chat.
Interestingly, the Free Internet Chess Club members discuss everything in the Politics chat, including the chess candidate tournament.
It is even more surprising that when you enter the Politics chat, some members ask whether you are interested in politics.
Unfortunately, you cannot freely discuss politics on the FICS Politics chat.
You think you are talking about politics with chess players who consider themselves intelligent. Instead, you regularly speak with the same anonymous governmental political instructor.
If your opinions or even questions do not match with the Western compulsory narrative, you will be constantly targeted in an abusive way.
Your arguments will not be refuted. Instead, everything you say will be distorted and wrongly interpreted. The context will be changed. The unacceptable argumentum ad hominem will be used. Personal attacks will constantly appear.
The political instructor, a thought policeman, will constantly observe whether you have joined the chat. As soon as you enter the chat, the political instructor joins it. The political instructor is probably one of the admins of FICS.
Anyway, the FICS has not de-platformed that nasty person.
The political instructor attributes you with various motives and beliefs and sometimes even explicitly declares that one suspects you of being a criminal.
A symmetrical answer would be to declare that you suspect that this person is a paedophile, corps-eater, etc.
Sometimes, the political instructor makes some explicit extremist announcements.
Once, that person declared that all philosophers should be jailed.
The McCarthyist political instructor even goes as far as to personally target you absolutely outside the context. For example:
YOU:
"Hello! It's nice weather today!"
POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR LOGS IN:
"You may talk about the weather, but a week ago you expressed stupid views about the Ukrainian war."
(Then, the political instructor will misdescribe your views.)
Then, someone accepts your challenge, and the chessgame starts. You are supposed to play chess right after some totalitarianist Stalinist maniac has seriously insulted and slandered you.
Your game's notation and result will be recorded, but the chat is self-destructive. The evidence of abusive behaviour will be eliminated.
It is not freedom of speech. Instead, the FICS is hosting some info-terrorists who are seriously damaging others' freedom of speech.
Mobialia chess interface
The best chess interface for FICS is probably Mobialia Chess. It is sufficiently laconic so that nothing disturbs you during the game.
Unfortunately, once, it failed to show me the chessboard and did not allow me to abort the game either.
Because of unknown reasons, Mobialia also has an Android app for mobile phones. It is pretty useless as most players play blitz, and correspondence chess is excluded from FICS.
Mobialia's nice feature is tactics problems. I like it as the problems are chosen from the games of great chess masters.
However, Mobialia behaves like a spy program. It hangs your clipboard.
Mobialia can be connected with FICS or ICC (Internet Chess Club). To change my account, I need to insert my password using the clipboard. Unfortunately, Mobialia has taken over my clipboard, and to be able to use it, I have to switch off Mobialia and restart my computer altogether.
