Play Chess Online

There are lots of great places to play chess on the web. These are just some of my favorites.

Reviews

The New Age of Internet Chess by Susan Polgar
A useful overview of playing online with annotated links. Current and excellent.

Online Chess Playing Sites Reviews
A collection of reviews from ChessCentral.

Sites

Internet Chess Club (chessclub.com)
It really is like a chess club on the net. One of the best places to play live on the web. This is where I go just to watch the GMs play.

Free Internet Chess Server
The name says it all.

Playchess.com
From Chessbase and popular.

Chess-Live
Considered by some the best place to play online.

Chess Net
A free site similar to FICS.

RealChess.com
Play online chess, E-mail Chess, beholderboard chess and Webchess. All free with no software to download.

Instant Chess
So you are sitting at your desk and wouldn’t mind a 10-20 minute game with just about anybody — instantly? This is the place to go. Play 60 games for free before joining the club. Instant pairings will generally give you weak opponents. But it is a fun and quick game.

Play Chess On-line
A collection of links to online play sites.

iChess
Features a Java display of games.

The Red Hot Pawn
A nicely designed site for online play. I especially like the feature that allows you to watch ongoing games.

Playsite
A great place to play many different java-based games, including checkers, backgammon, chess, and more.

Caissa’s Web
A nice interface.

International Correspondence Chess Federation (iccf.com)
For online and correspondence play. A site for serious players.

International E-mail Chess Group
For serious e-mail play.

International E-mail Chess Club
Similar to IECG, but some annoying pop-up ads here.

Chess World Play Online

GameKnot.com
Play against others or their computer.

PlayChess
A web site devoted to online tournament play. Some good community-building here.

AtlanticChess
Online chess and chess variants play site.

Chess21
A multi-featured European chess site.

Soundkeepers Sound Chess Online
A multi-feature online play site that allows you to view games in progress.

Game Colony
Free but heavily commercial chess and game site.

Play Chess against tkChess Computer
An interesting program from Yale that offers you all legal moves to choose from. Not bad for a very fast program.

World Chess Network
A growing site that features interactive games.

 

Updated 05.29.2005 | Contact Michael Goeller