WCN to
World Chess Live Move
Frequently Asked Questions
On the evening of Thursday, May 28th at 11pm, server time, World Chess Network will be turned off to allow for data transfer. By noon on Friday, May 29th, World Chess Live will be fully operational and ready for WCN members to move in.
As we will be transferring information for all WCN members at once, it will not be possible for some to move earlier than others. However, the WCL interface software will be available for download about a week before the move for you to preview and even play some games against your own computer.
Once World Chess Live is operational, just go to the old WCN web site or directly to www.worldchesslive.com/wcn. From there, you’ll be directed through a brief signup process to confirm your member information and agree to the move. Finally, you’ll need to download and install the new WCL software and then just login.
Most members will. In some cases, though, your player name will already be taken and you’ll need to select a new one. Names are reserved in advance for WCL staff and titled players. After that, names will be temporarily held for current WCN (and Chess Live) members, with priority given based on membership level. In rare cases, a name may be duplicated between two services and will be given to the first person who claims it. (Note that the ICC service has its own set of user names. Except as noted above, ICC names will not be reserved on WCL and vice versa.)
Your Blitz, Bullet, and Standard ratings will be moved unchanged to WCL. There is no longer an overall rating, but many other ratings now exist for chess variations, such as Fisher Random and Bug House.
All remaining Gold Membership time as of the move date will be converted to the same amount of time on the new WCL service. As there is no equivalent to Silver Membership on WCL, Silver Members will receive half of their remaining time as a full membership on WCL. In addition, as a token of our appreciation for your commitment to the WCN community and in recognition of the extra effort required to learn the new software, we are offering additional FREE time to all members who make the move to WCL. Gold Members on an annual plan will get three FREE months of additional membership on WCL. WCN Gold Members on a monthly plan and Silver Members on an annual plan will get two months FREE. Silver Members on a monthly plan and all regular or guest WCN members will get one month of FREE membership on WCL.
Yes, provided your credit card on file is still valid. When you go through the web pages to move to WCL, you will be shown your new expiration date, including your additional free time, as well as the amount of the charge that will occur on that date. You may cancel your membership at any time before then and will not be charged. If it is necessary to update your credit card information, you will be so notified shortly before your expiration date.
WCL has only one level of membership, which corresponds to WCN Gold membership. The annual cost is the same, $49.95. A monthly membership option is also available for $4.99 per month. A student membership, with proof of age or college enrollment, is available for only $24.95 per year. There is also a Family Plan.
An adult (“primary”) member may buy memberships for other family members living in the same household for just $9.99 per year or $.99 per month, depending upon the primary member’s own payment schedule. Each family member gets his or her own user name with full membership privileges, except that all of the accounts in the family are tied together for certain purposes.
It will be converted to a full membership according to the guidelines above. Sorry we are not offering an equivalent membership to Silver at this time.
The agreement that you approved in joining WCN does not permit refunds of any type. We have added extra time to your existing paid memberships and will do our best to ensure you enjoy the services of WCL and the many other benefits of the ICC family.
The interface program downloaded onto your computer to access World Chess Live is called Dasher. For the Dasher FAQ, go to http://www.chessclub.com/helpcenter/Dasher/FAQ.htm.