discount voucher for y2 and y3

In case you didn't know yet, ICS has a discount offer of $75 for y2 and y3 full year subscription. As for me, aside from the fact that it's still costly and still beyond my chess skill need, I'm still struggling with M3 of Y1?!

I must repeat the whole Year 1 of ICS, but I keep getting distracted with other things.

I also wish this site would stop failing to deliver e-mail notifications of new posts.

Sad to say, not only have the vouchers disappeared, but you have to buy the courses by the month (no reduced price for full year purchase).

So, does anyone know what the 'regular' price of either of the 2 courses in the 'buy 1 get one free' was? Usually when retail stores offer that kind of thing, they jack up the price on the merchandise to make it look like you are saving more than you normally would.

I believe $27 was the original monthly (12 months) price for either course 2 or course 3, while if you ordered a whole year of course content at one time you got a $75 discount on the course. Prices were same for each course.

I think it was $27 for Y2 and $29 for Y3 or something like that. But now it's just one payment of $27 per month and you get both of them. Really huge savings, as I have said in the other thread, for those who need it and a real heart breaker for those who already subscribed before the promo.

I believe the special offer of 2-for-1 on courses 1 and 2 ends at end of this May.  After that, I guess it's full price unless they put out a new deal.

Good to know, thanks Don :-)

For anyone who hasn't seen it, ICS are currently running a BOGOF on the Practical Chess and System of Champions content. Not for me as have another 10 months of the core course to go, but thought I'd mention it in case you'd not seen it and had been considering it at some point in the past.

Yes I saw that. Tempting indeed! I have bought 4 chess books since completing this course. Guess how many I have read?! I really need to stop getting distracted by other stuff.

I'm not sure what to say about the two courses other than they a probably different that what you might expect...

Practical Chess is a collection of annotated games between like rated players. Each month the ratings of the annotated games increases until the final months where the career development of a couple of elite players is chronicled. If I were to summarize the intent of the series I would say it is a study in chess psychology. The course includes a collection of videos each month, alternating between tactics and endgames delivered by Nad Petre, the same annotator as the year 1 course videos. In my opinion the videos are the gem of the course, covering areas you might not have seen elsewhere.

System of Champions is a collection of annotated games and related videos focusing on a different opening system each month. It offers a chronological explanation of the development of each system. The games explain the theory of each system; they are not a repertoire but will give you an understanding such that you can effectively recognize and evaluate the critical positions should you decide to include the system into your own repertoire. The videos for this year are also delivered by Nad Petre; they are OK, but somewhat less compelling than his videos in the Practical Chess course (I'm somewhat prejudiced here, since I used one of his ideas in a correspondence game and quickly found myself groveling for a draw).

Thanks for the summary, PC - definitely something of interest for me ... though not right now with my plate full of the core course and I must admit, even with the Bogof, they seem pricey. But then again, if one really takes the time over year to study them then perhaps worthwhile. I can see myself picking them up at sometime in the future either way ... and especially if they get even cheaper after I have finished the core course!