Editing Free Internet Chess Server (section)

== History ==
=== Internet Chess Server ===
{{main|Internet Chess Server}}
In January 1992, Michael Moore of the [[University of Utah]] and Richard Nash started the first online service facilitating live chess games, the [[Internet Chess Server|American Internet Chess Server]] (commonly known as the Internet Chess Server or ICS). The initial release, accessible via [[telnet]], was hosted at the [[University of Utah]], but over its first two years it moved repeatedly across American universities, with additional servers opening and connecting to each other through Nash's Internet Ratings Server.<ref name="Petroff-2009">{{Cite web |last=Petroff |first=Chris |date=5 March 2009 |title=History of the Internet Chess Server – Part I |url=http://members.cox.net/cpetroff/FICS/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313150500/http://members.cox.net/cpetroff/FICS/ |archive-date=13 March 2010 |access-date=10 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="fics10year"/><ref name="Doggers-2024">{{Cite book |last=Doggers |first=Peter |title=The Chess Revolution: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age |publisher=Puzzlewright |year=2024 |isbn=9781454959243}}</ref> The software was coded, supported, and operated by volunteers. [[Daniel Sleator]], professor of computer science at [[Carnegie Mellon University]], took over operation in July 1992 and improved the code. One of his primary contributions was a mechanism to adjust clock times for the effects of internet lag. He announced plans to commercialize the service, copyrighted the code in 1994, and rebranded it as the [[Internet Chess Club]] (ICC) in 1995, charging membership fees.<ref name="Stone-2006">{{Cite web |url=http://www.edcollins.com/chess/fics-icc.htm |title=Pawns Call King a Rook |first=Brad |last=Stone |access-date=10 May 2010 |date=11 May 2006 |archive-date=28 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928230044/http://edcollins.com/chess/fics-icc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The Chicago Chess Player-1995">{{Cite web |date=November 1995 |title=Trapped in the (Inter) Net |url=https://www.chicagochessleague.org/cicl/bulls/history/Yr1995_96/Nov1995.pdf |website=The Chicago Chess Player |access-date=24 November 2024 |archive-date=10 May 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050510030854/http://www.chicagochessleague.org/cicl/bulls/history/Yr1995_96/Nov1995.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sleator's decision to commercialize the ICS was controversial, outraging members who felt the internet should be free and open, or who simply did not want to pay for a service which had been free.<ref name="Hurst-1999">{{Cite book |last=Hurst |first=Sarah |title=Chess on the Web |publisher=Batsford |year=1999 |isbn=9780713485776}}</ref><ref name="The Chicago Chess Player-1995" /> According to journalist Brad Stone, "players lost their tempers and were exiled from the server, opposition groups were formed, lawsuits were threatened, ICC administrators were harassed, and plans to erect alternative servers were formed".<ref name="Stone-2006" /><ref name="Doggers-2024" />

=== Development of a free alternative ===
[[File:FICS telnet login.png|thumb|FICS login screen]]
Several former ICS programmers saw the move as exploiting their work and, on the day its rebranding was announced, they created a mailing list focused on developing an alternative. Work had been in progress, using Nash's original code, since Sleator initially revealed his commercialization plans.<ref name="Petroff-2009" /><ref name="The Chicago Chess Player-1995" /> Several developers contributed, led by Nash, Henrik Gram, David Flynn, and Chris Petroff. The effort led to servers in several places around the world and in the United States, with the latter consolidating to form the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS), launched on 5 March 1995.<ref name="Petroff-2009" /><ref name="The Chicago Chess Player-1995" /><ref name="fics10year">{{Cite web |url=http://www.freechess.org/Events/Anniversary/2005/index.html |title=FICS 10th Anniversary Celebrations |access-date=10 May 2010 |archive-date=26 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626015722/http://www.freechess.org/Events/Anniversary/2005/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Its tagline is "we do it for the game--not the money".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Slater |first=Derek |date=1 September 1999 |title=Knight Moves |work=CIO|pages=20}}</ref> 

=== Growth and rivalry with ICC ===
After a few months, FICS had 1,500 members.<ref name="Doggers-2024" /> In 1998, the Free Internet Chess Organization (FICS) was organized as a [[nonprofit organization]], although the formal entity was dissolved in 2007. The server is still maintained and administered by volunteers. FICS never matched the popularity of ICC, but as of 2012 it had about 900 people logged in at any given time,<ref name="Bouman-2012" /> and by August 2014 it had over 650,000 registered accounts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menn |first=Joseph |title=All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |year=2003 |isbn=9781400050062}}</ref> In 2016, 50,000 active players played a total of 23 million games.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ficsgames.org/2013_stats.html |title=FICS Games Database – Statistics for 2013 |access-date=3 August 2014 }}</ref>

The two servers used different names for similar features, which were then part of the rivalry. For example, very fast games in which each player only has one or two minutes to make all their moves are called "lightning" on FICS but "bullet" on ICC. The terms became [[Shibboleth|shibboleths]], marking members of each community and derided by the other.<ref name="Doggers-2024" />

In a 2024 book, Peter Doggers drew a comparison between the FICS and ICC rivalry and the later [[Lichess]] vs. [[Chess.com]] rivalry, with one side committed to free and open principles and the other offering more features for a fee.<ref name="Doggers-2024" />