ICC buys over WCN
I’m a bit late in finding out about this but my favourite online playing site, WCN is acquired by ICC. I don’t know whether this is a good or bad thing. I just hope WCN will still be around as I don’t play in the other play sites. 
Out of my 3 services - Playchess, ICC and WCN - this last chess server was by far the least of my faves and after a short period of addiction, I eventually gave up. My special problem was with the interface: it wasn’t very friendly and reminded me of the old Yahoo! chess UI, very “cartoony”. Plus the community on WCN wasn’t quite as noisy as I saw on ICC and Playchess.
I feel differently from The Closet Grandmaster. I love the ‘cartoony’ interface and I feel the interface is intuitive and has fast response compared to other sites like ICC and PlayChess. The community is not that bad either on WCN. I do have friends that I occasionally log in to chat with.
I immediately logged in after the reading news just to see if there was any changes to WCN. Thankfully there was no changes yet. I logged in and played a couple of bullet games and manage to improve my rating.
Here is the full press release:-
The Internet Chess Club (“ICC”), the world’s premier online subscription chess service, has today announced the acquisition of two competitive online chess services, World Chess Network, from Master Games International, and Chess Live, from GamesParlor. The two services will be merged together to form a new service, separate from ICC, to be called World Chess Live.
Founded in 1997 and with the long time support of one of the world’s most respected patrons of chess, Dato’ Tan Chin Nam, the World Chess Network has developed a friendly, loyal community of chess players from around the world who enjoy playing and talking together as well as participating in a variety of fun and educational chess activities. Chess Live, positioned as the family-friendly online chess community, was created in 2000 as the online chess service of the U.S. Chess Federation, but has since expanded to welcome chess players of all countries.
In contrast to these other online chess services, ICC has traditionally been the first choice of chess professionals and those who strive for the top ranks, including among its members more than half of the world’s chess Grandmasters. “We recognize,” says Joel Berez, President and CEO of ICC, “that both the World Chess Network and Chess Live communities have cultures and traditions that are much more similar to each other than they are to the ICC community. Therefore keeping them together in a new service with an atmosphere similar to what they already enjoy makes more sense than forcing them to move to ICC and will undoubtedly be appreciated.”
In keeping with the spirit of moving both communities with minimal disruption to the members, the new World Chess Live administrative staff will be headed by Julie Trottier, long time Chief Administrator of the World Chess Network, assisted by Chris Fitzgerald, who held a similar position on Chess Live, as well as other administrators drawn from both services. According to Martin Grund, ICC’s Vice President of Online Operations, “Julie and Chris have both done a remarkable job of maintaining happy and healthy communities with limited resources and I’m honored to welcome them into the ICC family.”
World Chess Live, while separate from ICC, will enjoy the benefit of much shared content and costs, such as:
The most feature-rich online chess software platform on the Internet.
ICC Chess.FM audio and video regular shows, plus live coverage of major chess events around the world.
An extensive library of chess educational material and special interest programs.
Online events hosted by the world’s top players, such as a recent charity chess simul by #1 rated GM Vishy Anand.
Founded in 1995 as one of the first premium gaming sites on the Internet, today ICC is firmly established as the premier online chess service, with more members, more Grandmasters, more volunteers, and more loyalty from its members than any other classical game service on the Internet. More than 35,000 paying members from all over the world regularly enjoy playing casual or tournament chess games against each other; watching others play, including hundreds of titled chess masters; attending online lectures, classes, and special events; or simply socializing with fellow chess enthusiasts in a club house that’s always open.
www.chessclub.com
# # #
Contacts:
Joel M. Berez
joel@chessclub.com
Martin Grund
lateknight@chessclub.com
Related Link:-
Susan Polgar - ICC acquired WCN and Chess Live
The Patzer - Online Weekend Chess
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[...] But I do manage to catch a game or two on WCN (World Chess Network). I played just now because I wanted to see if my favourite online playing site was around after reading news that WCN has been acquired by ICC. [...]