Our own online chess site?
I’ve been asked this question a few times now. Can we start our own Malaysian online chess site?
Actually Stonemaster.biz already has that service but it’s the email/correspondence style of chess where your time limit for a move can be from a few minutes to a few days. This type of service is easily implemented on almost any shared hosted webserver (cost : RM 100-500 per year)
Live Chess is Expensive
ICC or WCL style of chess where time control can be as fast as 1 minute for the whole game requires pretty accurate timing for every game being played. Measurement of lag, checking whether a person is cheating (using computer), and many other requirements require that a dedicated and fast server be used. This means dedicated hosting or co-located webserver (cost RM 400-1000 per month). Needless to say few individuals have attempted to do this on their own because of cost. FIC (Free Internet Chess server) is an exception.
I’ll probably set up more stonemaster style chess playing sites of my own or for others but I’m still very interested to setup an ICC-type chess playing webserver. Theoretically it’s possible as the server software is available free. All that is needed is some technical knowledge in installing the software and configuring the server.
Perhaps as a trial, we could host it on a home computer using (dare I say it?) Streamyx broadband.
If this can work, then the next step is to see if a sponsor can be found or if the service can pay for itself via membership fees.
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