ChessBase provides the proprietary Playchess software, which is included with popular computer chess software like Fritz, Junior orShredder. With the purchase of any of these playing programs, customers get one-year of access to the server. Alternately, users may download the client software, a pared down version of the Fritz GUI. New users may try the server for a short period of time before access requires a serial number. In the eighties, chess play by email was still fairly novel. Latency with email was less than with traditional correspondence chess via paper letters. Often one could complete a dozen moves in a week. As network technology improved, public, widespread use of a centralised server for live play became a possibility. The program permits searches for games, and positions in games, based on player names, openings, some tactical and strategic motifs, material imbalance, and features of the position. In these variants the same pieces and rules as in chess are used, but the board is different: It can be smaller or larger, non-square overall[12] or based on triangle or hexagon cells (instead of square cells), or even modular regarding shape or number of cells; it can even be extra-dimensional.
