It is kind of amazing that this referral program has generated such heated debate!? It's an imperfect system, that doesn't seem to be in doubt. But in the blink of an eye, Filip could just as easily scrap the whole thing, and we'd all have "no brains"! Not that he'd want to necessarily, he has his own reasons for it being there, but he could do away with it.

For example, over two years ago, when I was a pawn, I referred a player who immediately became a Rook, and that player referred several other players of a specific game type who also became Rooks, but I got nothing. I later became a Knight, then a Rook, then back to a Pawn, then a Knight, but there was no retroactive payment for my referral; just the way it goes.

There seems to be about five times as many Rooks as Knights, so it is obviously the optimum choice for those who do pay (or get a membership via grant). However, this is common knowledge, so retroactive rewards do not seem in order, but that is Filip's domain, so I'll say nothing more.... I'd become a Rook again, except that with over 50 games going, I cannot devote enough attention to each and play as sharply as I'd like, although this may not be of concern to many other players that just to have a lot of games going. The main drawback of the Knight membership is having to wait for other players to finish their games before another tournament of that type can be entered, but by trying new games I have adjusted to that somewhat; also, I look for events with shorter time limits.

After experiencing many different internet games sites over the past several years, I believe beyond question that this site is by far the best, all things considered.