Given that we've been discussing Chess recently, I was wondering if any of you would be interested in playing it over the Net. However I wasn't particularly thinking of using Yahoo Games as the host, though... That's somewhat impersonal.

Instead I suggest using NetMeeting (or a similar voice client) to play games. If any of you have ever tried NetMeeting before, you know it's sort of like using your ISP to provide free long-distance telephone service through your computer. It's ICQ with voice (using a head-set microphone). The voice quality is pretty good. I was hoping NetMeeting would be a neat way for Rinkers to get together and play Chess together. It would be the next best thing besides face-to-face and without the horrendous phone bills.

You see, I would prefer to be able to *talk* to the person I'm playing with. For example, it would be wonderful if an expert (like Darien) could teach me via ruthless ongoing critique of my lack of technique. Actually I would prefer to do "cooperative" chess-playing until beginners like us get better. The object would be to coach and improve each other's skills, pointing out the dumb mistakes. Winning would be incidental if we got to that point at all. Once we had a reasonably equal grasp of the game through its various stages, THEN it could turn into cut-throat competition :)

So is anyone interested in playing this type of Internet Chess? I think it would be great. I know it would be difficult to get something going regularly -- what with work and all the different time zones -- but co-oping once in a while could certainly be fun.

Wolfspirit