Did someone say wine? Will LisaV and Trysts and I toast to wine please.
I did that toast already, when I opened the bottle. Let's toast to something else.
Lol okay let's toast to free chess
Good one! But, remember that earthquakes always happen when you're drunk
Tell that to my cat if a genie shows up to a woman who happens to be standing next to him and use her wish to wish that my cat were a handsome prince forced by feudal law to marry her.
Ok - that's the one exception; I'll try and keep it in mind next time that happens.
No need to, you are right...he was broke and homeless when I found him wandering aimlessly on the streets of Akron with pus coming from his eyes (bloody diarrhea also, as I soon discovered).
Did someone say wine? Will LisaV and Trysts and I toast to wine please.
I did that toast already, when I opened the bottle. Let's toast to something else.
Lol okay let's toast to free chess
Good one! But, remember that earthquakes always happen when you're drunk
Lol I watched that video and they were all just kissing the earth, nothing to worry about. 3rd rock rules
Oh, missed a lot.
Yeah, I saw Bush-bro's scales emerge from his hand. He was having difficulty controlling his shape-shifting. Of course, I may have been drunk on communion wine.
Oooh, I love French toast. I'll toast to free chess and French toast with whatever wine trysts chooses. (I like sangria and Hungarian red wine--that's all I know. Trysts, need your help in the wine dept.)
Here's a nice Hungarian Pinot Noir:
And here is the next President of the United States:
Oh, missed a lot.
Yeah, I saw Bush-bro's scales emerge from his hand. He was having difficulty controlling his shape-shifting. Of course, I may have been drunk on communion wine.
Oooh, I love French toast. I'll toast to free chess and French toast with whatever wine trysts chooses. (I like sangria and Hungarian red wine--that's all I know. Trysts, need your help in the wine dept.)
Here's a nice Hungarian Pinot Noir:
And here is the next President of the United States:
Now why the heck would a dumb dinosaur human hybrid be a president?
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.
Did someone say wine? Will LisaV and Trysts and I toast to wine please.
I did that toast already, when I opened the bottle. Let's toast to something else.
Lol okay let's toast to free chess
Good one! But, remember that earthquakes always happen when you're drunk
beer can do that?
When beer can't do that, it is a sure sign you are an alcoholic.
beer can do that?
Depending on the person, yes, very consistently.
Begs the question that you don't have to answer. How many beers/wine does it take for you to cause an earthquake?
Depends if it is my fault or not.
Ha, nice pun.
Thank you thank you. Hope you didn't fall over laughing. maybe I should have stopped when I was ahead.
I find it reasonable. There are new videos everyday and tactics trainer is really great.
I don't understand how the membership here is "too expensive",specially with everything you get,plus there are several membership options. I don't mean to bash anyone,obviously some of us are better off than others financially,but really,14 bucks a month isn't much. If you smoke,that's two packs of cigarettes,simply not buying 2 packs might help you save. You can always cut a few corners elsewhere to help you save. I just don't really see how an adult with a PC and internet access can't afford 14 dollars.
The chessmentor training alone alone is worth the price of admission,and c'mon,they have TONS of videos in various different subjects that can help you out immensely. Watching a few of the free samples isn't going to get you anywhere.Besides,the videos are tailored to teach you,unlike ICC videos where they assume you are a GM and just show you a video going over several lines in openings or various other attacking games with several lines where they just assume you know what's going on. I can follow their videos,but I wouldn't say they are instructive to your average pawn pusher.
I'd say give it a try for a month,if you don't like it,don't renew. But don't ask about it and then say 14 dollars is too expensive,that just doesn't look good.
Well, let me just add some explanation to my earlier post. A couple of weeks ago, Chess.com granted me a 1 week diamond membership trial which provided me full access. I did take advantage of the trial since I already have a membership with ICC and since I can only afford 1 membership I want to make sure I have the one I can have the most benefit with. Although I found the benefits of the diamond plan nice, I didn't find them to be that far off from what ICC already offers in their standard membership, therefore I can't justify paying the increased price. At that point I made the decision that I would pay for the ICC membership and at the same time play for free at Chess.com.
As per the ICC videos being for GM's....I really disagree since I'm extremely far from ever achieving that level and I still learn a lot from their videos, their live analysis, and watching GM's play. Also, you must take into consideration that ICC always have discounts for the yearly memberships. For example, my current yearly membership for ICC was $54.00 since I took advantage of a special offer for USCF members. Oh, and in ICC or WCL there is only one membership which grants you full access to EVERYTHING. Having multi-tiered memberships is actually a let down in my opinion.
Interesting. However, on visiting your profile, I see you appear to have not played one live or online game on chess.com (what's up with that? how would you know personally, how good or awful chess.com is in practice?)
sftac
I know that, in general, all the strongest players play online chess at either ICC or Playchess. I want access to the strongest possible pool of players. Also, I hear that there have been cheating issues on chess.com...not something I want to deal with. I understand cheating can occur anywhere, but I have never felt I played a cheater on ICC or on Playchess (when I played there for a couple of years).
Thanks for the explanation (prejudging chess.com based on gossip, and not feeling shy about spreading such opinions). I wish you well.
sftac
You should save yourself some money and buy a tactics book. I got one called "chess tactics for champions" by susan polgar. It has been a great help to me.
Chess.com is tremendous bargain for the price. Where else can you get hours of enjoyment at this price. If you can not afford these meager fees, perhaps you should question your economic future. I don't want to be rude, but perhaps you need to work at building a career. Everything in life costs. No free rides. Get a good education and a job. Not only will chess.com look affordable, but life in general will improve.
Chess.com is tremendous bargain for the price. Where else can you get hours of enjoyment at this price. If you can not afford these meager fees, perhaps you should question your economic future. I don't want to be rude, but perhaps you need to work at building a career. Everything in life costs. No free rides. Get a good education and a job. Not only will chess.com look affordable, but life in general will improve.
Money spent, is gone forever.
Chess.com is great value to basic members (better than paid ICC membership imo, though I do lament the lack of Live Chess tourneys, and would certainly like a seek filter for opponents' lag).
If you've money to blow ($103/yr for Diamond times, say, the typical chess players' active chess playing lifetime of 70 years = $7,210), and the time to actually get some benefit out of all the extra features you get through premium membership, then sure, why not?
sftac
Interesting. However, on visiting your profile, I see you appear to have not played one live or online game on chess.com (what's up with that? how would you know personally, how good or awful chess.com is in practice?)
sftac
I know that, in general, all the strongest players play online chess at either ICC or Playchess. I want access to the strongest possible pool of players. Also, I hear that there have been cheating issues on chess.com...not something I want to deal with. I understand cheating can occur anywhere, but I have never felt I played a cheater on ICC or on Playchess (when I played there for a couple of years).
Thanks for the explanation (prejudging chess.com based on gossip, and not feeling shy about spreading such opinions). I wish you well.
sftac
I gave my honest opinion on "Is chess.com too expensive?" and my reasons for my opinion. You asked me why I have not played any games on chess.com, and I gave my honest answer. Remember, I do have the Diamond Membership (or whatever it's called) on chess.com, not only because I find it valuable, but also because I like to support some of the authors' work (Prasad/Panchanathan, Pogonina, Smith, and Zenyuk are the main ones I read).
I say, have everyone pay, even if the entry level fee is only 99 cents per month. Just think of the size of the membership and how many dollars that would be!
Umm...let's see. 4 million members x 99 cents per month x 12 months = approx. 48 million bucks! Chess.com could hire more highly qualified chess experts to provide a gazillion more services, like someone to polish my chess set.
I wonder if chess.com corporate ever plays games with numbers like that, wondering, what if we...
Does chess.com even have 48 paid staff members? Each would make a million dollars per year, using my math. Ya know, they should pay me good money just to think up creative stuff like that on a regular basis.
This appears to be a case of music and math having no correlation whatsoever
That's why I like to use the word approximately a lot.
Anyway, 99 cents is approximately one dollar. So, 4 million members x 1 dollar = 4 million dollars per month that chess.com could put in their greedy little hands. That's a ton of cash.
4 million x 12 months = 48 million bucks per year. That's a huge budget.
IM Rensch and Pruess could drive Ferraris and still have plenty of money to hire personal secretaries, chefs, etc. That sounds kinda nice. I should work towards being a professional chess player and teacher. 
Tell that to my cat if a genie shows up to a woman who happens to be standing next to him and use her wish to wish that my cat were a handsome prince forced by feudal law to marry her.
Ok - that's the one exception; I'll try and keep it in mind next time that happens.