Chess on the Internet

Yes, there is chess on the internet. The Internet offers many options to the chess playing Internet nomad. In fact, there is perhaps too much chess on the Internet. Sorting it all out can be difficult. Therefore, I provide the following advice to get you started with the basics.

Unfortunately, the major proponents of chess in our world (USCF, FIDE, etc.) have been slow to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the growth of the Internet. While these bureaucracies have slept, a variety of others have alertly established there chess services on the Internet. Such is the case with rated live and correspondence internet chess play.

Interactive Chess on the Internet

Several Internet Chess Servers offer live chess play 24 hours a day. (The sun never sets on the Internet.) I recommend starting with the American Free Internet Chess Server or AFICS (the AFICS link is their web site; not their chess server). Use the AFICS quick guide to get started. The Internet Chess Club is another quality server. However, you must pay an annual fee to become an registered player at ICC. When you arrive at either of these sites, you may:

• Login as "guest" to look around and get your bearings;
• Access the various "help" files to learn more;
• Enter "help interfaces" to discover the free graphical chess interfaces available for various computer operating systems. Many of these interfaces may be downloaded from the AFICS web site.;
• Watch games in progress; and
• Whenever you're ready, play on-line chess.

Registered players have many other privileges. Type "help" after you have logged on as a guest to learn about these servers.

Each ICS connects you and your opponent by a Telnet link. Then you can play chess with others on a crude ASCII (text) board. You will find it hard to visualize chess with these crude text boards. Several independent software developers have written graphical user interfaces for the most popular computers. These GUI ICS front-ends offer various functions. I currently use the latest version of WinBoard for IBM PC compatables, and XBoard for Unix systems.

There are other ways and means to play chess on the Internet, but most other chess playing servers have one or more deficiencies. Either they are unable to provide you a record of your game moves, or they have few good players to challenge you, or they have a poor selection of time controls. For this reason, I recommend you start with the AFICS server above.

Correspondence Chess on the Internet

Correspondence or email chess is the modern day version of postal chess. Its advantages to normal postal chess are obvious especially when playing opponents in foreign lands. Paper mail services may take a month or more to reach its destination one way. Too often, mail just disappears in route, leaving both players wondering what became of their opponent. Ever changing postal regulations and postage rates provide an additional dimension of frustration to traditional paper mail. Whereas email is economical, fast, and reliable. Therefore, I recommend the International Email Chess Group.

Computer Chess Freeware or Shareware

Yes there are some freeware or shareware chess playing programs you can download for the PC. Try this site for a broad selection of chess programs.

More Information

See the USENET chess FAQs for more information on chess on the Internet.

I am always interested in receiving comments on how these pages can be improved. If you have comments or questions about beginning Internet chess play that have not been answered above, then send me email.

Here is an outstanding chess database on the internet that provides opening and positional search capability. Strictly for the more advanced player.

This internet chess library is an excellent resource too.