Choosing an Online Chess Site: chesscube.com
October 29, 2010
Tags: Learning Chess Articles
Written by guest author Jason Repa for Wholesale Chess
A continuation of Jason’s reviews of online chess sites. Be sure to check out Jason’s ICC review, ficgs.com review, and Yahoo Chess and PlayChess.com review.
Chesscube.com is a real-time chess server based in South Africa. It features a sharp and intuitive flash-based interface with fairly smooth gameplay. Chess 960, otherwise known as Fischer Random Chess, can be played there as well. This is the only chess variant they currently offer.
Chesscube.com utilizes a unique system of levels ranging from 1 through 20 that rewards you based on how much you play, referred to as XP (short for experience, not for the Windows operating system). The more you play the higher the level you achieve and the more features and functionality you ‘unlock’. New accounts start off at level 1, but even here, you are able to chat in public chat rooms (pending email verification), play in tournaments, post games to Facebook, set rating range for seeks, copy your games as PGN, etc. At level 2 you are able to view your recent games and some basic playing stats. As your level continues to get higher, features such as Audio/Video chat in the public chat rooms, etc, also become available.
The chesscube.com server features a wagering system in a currency that goes by the name ‘cubits’. You are given a hundred or so cubits en prise upon creating a new account and are given more each day you log into the server and from winning cubit wagered games and winning or placing in tournaments. Cubits can be purchased as well, which is how chesscube.com makes their money, along with selling ‘premium’ memberships which range in price from $4.95/month – $24.95/year. Premium members are entitled to features such as in-game-analysis while spectating, preferential listings in chat rooms, custom pieces, etc.
Most of the games at chesscube.com involve cubit wagering in predefined amounts ranging from 10-2000 cubits per game. If you win your game, you don’t win an amount equal to your wager. Chesscube.com takes a commission of 20%. In other words, if you are risking 20 cubits, you can only win 16. The cubits, once you have accumulated a great many of them, have questionable value. There is not much you can do with them other than pay for the privilege to stream a limited number of chess training videos via the online ‘ChessCube Cinema’ (2,500-50,000 cubits per video) or pay for background images that range in price from 1000-8000 cubits each. Cubits can also be used to pay for a premium membership. At present, no tangible goods may be purchased with the cubits and they may not be redeemed for cash.
Although the premium membership rates at chesscube.com are lower than most of the other fee-based chess servers, they suffer from the same issue prevalent at the free servers, which is a marked lack of strong players. I fail to see any significant value in being a premium member and for this reason expect future releases of their interface to systematically reduce functionality in the absence of paying fees.
Jason Repa is a CFC rated national chess expert and part-time chess coach from Winnipeg, Canada. He has been a tournament chess player since 1995 and has been teaching chess since 2002. He can be reached at jasonrepa @ hotmail.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
October 29th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
As a long time player on chesscube.com (since 2008), I think this is a very fair and accurate portrayal of the website.
November 1st, 2010 at 3:54 am
Hey Jason,
Just a few comments..
The level system at ChessCube is not capped at 20. It’s actually capped at 25, however you continue to earn XP even after level 25.
The Cubit wagering system is from 0 Cubits (no wager) – 200 Cubits. It’s not as much as a “commission” fee that ChessCube charges, it’s more of a house rake (common practice in any wagering game).
Cubits is a great way to purchase ChessCube’s virtual goods (ChessCube Cinema Videos, Piece sets, Backgrounds) -note: ChessCube does not sell any tangible goods. Cubits can be used to enter Tournaments too.
The Premium package is quite nice. I’ve found myself being able to disallow those annoying takeback/abort requests, and found the “Insight” feature really improve my understanding of the game. The level of customization in a Premium account is great
Nice summary, and great website.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:45 am
Hi “V”. I was wondering something…do you have a real name or do you always post under a pseudonym?
Thanks for your compliment regarding my article, but I’d like to correct you on a few matters.
Commission = Rake. They both mean the exact same thing and result in the exact same effect for the players, which is a loss of value. It’s not a common practice to charge a 20% commission at wagering games. That would be considered quite exorbitant by any standards. Casinos, for example, charge a pretty standard 5.4% commission (rake) on roulette (generated by the two green zeros) field bets. Baccarat and craps (most bets) are even lower. And even a terrible blackjack player is well under 15%, and perhaps as low as 2 or 3% with correct basic strategy (no card counting). In poker cash games run at casinos, the average rake normally works out to be around 6% or less on average (for NLHE, or PLO). Even the rip off high commission (rake) video lottery terminals are only charging 5-15%.
What is the point of continuing to ‘earn’ XP past level 25?
XP have no inherent value other than to get to the next level in order to unlock a feature. They cannot be redeemed for cubits and they are never deducted, so earning more is meaningless.
The cubit wagering system goes up to 2000 cubits per game, as I stated in my article, not 200. I’ve played many games at chesscube for 1000 and 2000 cubits a game and have had my cubit bank account well over 30,000 cubits (without ever having to purchase any). Perhaps you think it’s only 200 because you don’t have enough to wager more. The next increment is 500 I believe. But if you only had say 480 cubits in your account, you wouldn’t see the higher amounts that you can wager in the drop down list.
I’m of the opinion that chesscube ‘virtual goods’ have very little value, as I stated in my article. For example, I don’t think a mere background image or choice of pieces/boards/etc should be something you should have to pay anything for. If you feel differently here, you are entitled to your opinion.
At playchess.com, for example, the ducats (name for playchess.com currency) can be redeemed for any of the industry standard chess software that chessbase offers. And if you hold an IM or GM title you can redeem them directly for cash. So there is clear value here.
I don’t believe you have to be a premium member to change your settings to avoid takeback/abort requests, unless this is a very recent change at chesscube.com. It’s a rare occurrence, at any rate, and if I were to play someone who abuses the feature (in the event that you can no longer change settings to avoid takeback/abort requests without premium membership), I would handle it the way I handle any other form of abuse, such as chat abuse, etc. I would just add the abusive party to my ‘ignore’ list and would no longer have to deal with them. End of story. I’ve never known this to be an issue at chesscube.com
The ‘insight’ feature is targeted for weak novices. All others will get no benefit from it. If you’re interested in computer feedback training, I’d suggest buying the latest Fritz or Rybka and leaving the default (training mode) on. This way you’ll not only get a year of membership at one of the world’s best chess servers, but you’ll own valuable chess software with much more sophisticated training/coaching programs as well.
And I fail to see any value in this “level of customization” you speak of. I know that they put a little icon by your name (in the chat rooms) if you’re a paying member, but to my mind that’s something only a young child would find any value in. It reminds me of the gold and silver stars my grade 2 teacher would put on our test papers if we did well, lol. But in this case it’s even less meaningful because it’s not the result of any accomplishment on the part of the player, just a willingness to throw money away.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:45 am
Mr. Repa,
The tone of your response to The_V is insulting. Perhaps not all people who play online chess can match your level of Amazing-ness. Perhaps most people out there enjoy the game as a pursuit of fun, and any website that offers small incentives and (somewhat meaningless) bonuses can draw people to the game of chess. Perhaps any website that brings more players to the game is important, no matter how it does so. Perhaps a flood of amateur chess players is a great thing because we can drown out the negative attitudes of the snobs who look down on amateur players.
December 4th, 2010 at 2:00 am
We really do enjoy your ideas, thanks a lot!
March 7th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
Okay,
Chesscube is okay, it’s no Playchess or ICC in the way of talent. If you’re out to have some fun and relax online and play chess this is the site for you.
The site has serious flash issue’s and constantly blames Adobe for the issue’s when it’s not Adobe’s fault. If your Youtube works then your flash is fine.
The cubits thing is weird. Don’t ever buy them only use the free ones you get. When you play someone and say…you gamble 100 cubits…you lose the whole 100 but your opponent only gets about 80. So fundamentally the site is charging you to play or gamble and is making money by taxing you on that.
Over all the site looks great. Nice features. I would give it 8 stars out of 10 but the moderators there are giving way too much power and are not managed themselves and are free to do whatever they want. So I give it 6 stars out of 10. My name there is Zulu_Zombie.
July 4th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Dear Jason, everything you said in your article is SHORT-SIGHTED! I read it some time ago, so I decided that those coins that you get are meaningless and I have spent thousands of coins to buy videos, which could not be then saved, etc. Anyway, only a couple of days ago i understood the proper meaning of these coins.
Yes, everything is about money!!! You cannot play in ChessCube if you have zero coins! Even a game without gambling coins takes you 10 coins, like it or not. So having say 9 coins will not allow you to play even a game without gambling coins.
So, it is good that I gambled a lot of coins (say 2000 per game) and played strong players in order to lose all coins and understand what they are doing. For a relatively strong player, he/she can collect some coins by playing weaker players. But an ordinary player can receive his daily 25 coins and play only 2 free games without gambling for which he will lose 20 coins and have to wait until the next day to play again.
I would rate the ChessCube as commercialized pigs. Not that I cannot gain coind by reasonable gamblind against weaker players, i just hate how they step-by-step “infected” the Facebook, first for free, then by forcing you to by coins to play. I thought they can get money by selling products and VIP accounts, but by their tax of 10 coins even for ordinary game without gamblind they f#4ked the site.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:59 am
Still a very accurate review, even though a few things have changed on Chesscube since, including a second “crown” currency as of Jan 2011.
However, I fail to see the point in critizing the revenue methods of ChessCube or belittling the people who pay for “virtual” services and objects. People pay for entertainment, nothing unusual or wrong with that.