I have been a member here for 10 years. I have seen that getting live games has gotten tougher. I have seen my favorite part of Caissa, the correspondence games, slow down heavily.
 
There used to be much more variety. I played in the live and the correspondence team events. One of them was Nova's Cup. There were other tournaments, both live and corr, organized more frequently. I was able to play many differnt people from many different places.
 
Now I see the same names in the corr tourney boxes all the time. Not that I don't like them. I have had some great games. Got to "know" some good people. But a lack of variety gets old.
 
I joined ChessWorld.net a few months ago to try it out. There are numerous tournaments going on all the time. Play can range from 4 people all play all up to 15 all play all. You get a game with white and black against all opponents. There are also knockout tournaments. 1 games against an opponent. Win and you move on to the next round. the site has thematics. You can start your own tournament at any time as well. There is also a large selection of team leagues of all sorts to chose from. You can also challenge individual players. You can platy unrated individual games as well. There are a number of the better players who offer there services to annotate a game for you. Plus they offer to play unrated games and offer instruction as the game progresses. All of these tournaments and games have the capability to be set at different days allowed per move.
 
Beyond that there is an enormous amount of educational stuff. Puzzles to solve and get a rating. "Play like GM XXX", where you try to make the next move in the game and score points on the correctness of your choices. there are videos that members post with their games or games chosen from the GM's of the world - excellent stuff to watch. There are annotated and commented games to play over.
 
Of course there are forums as well. Plus much, much more. It cost me $28 US for a year. For every new member that I would bring in I get an extra month free. There are thousands of members. I get to see fresh ideas and different styles all the time. You can chat during a game if you like. After the game is over you can send a "goodie" to your opponent - like a handshake, a beer or perhaps your opponent found a great combination or something you can send them the applause emblem.
 
ChessWorld has put the excitement back in my internet chess world.
 
For 10 years I called Caissa my home. I did not think there was anything better out there. I did not need anything better out there. But I believe we all can see that things can change as time goes by. My membership here at Caissa does not run out till December. But I want to say so long now to all the great people I have "met" through the years. I won't be playing any more games here. I appreciate the games and the sportamanship you all have provided.
 
Thanks,
 
Larry
 

HI LARRY,
I ENJOYED PLAYING YOU AND WOULD HAVE GLADLY PLAYED YOU IN MORE CORRESP GAMES..
 
HOPE YOU COME BACK AND VISIT....
 
ELIOT

Hope u change your mind and stay.I've enjoyed our battles over the years

playchess.com is a fantastic site as well --- top GM's play there ...svidler.short,morozevich and I think Kasparov on rare occassion, though I cannot remember his handle ---

I was wondering, is this a commercial for ChessWorld.net?
 
grandpa13