Chess sites wanted
April 15, 2011 10:29 PM
I'm looking for free sites on which to play chess against live people.
I have read the other AskMe posts about chess, but they mostly linked to sites for developing tactical skills. I'm specifically looking for sites where I can play against other humans.
I currently use pogo.com most nights, but they don't have a huge amount of chess players.
Can anyone suggest some free alternatives to me?
I have read the other AskMe posts about chess, but they mostly linked to sites for developing tactical skills. I'm specifically looking for sites where I can play against other humans.
I currently use pogo.com most nights, but they don't have a huge amount of chess players.
Can anyone suggest some free alternatives to me?
The canonical example is FICS, the free internet chess server.
posted by ceribus peribus at 11:01 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by ceribus peribus at 11:01 PM on April 15, 2011
instantchess.com isn't bad for a casual game. FICS if you're looking for more serious play.
posted by Homo economicus at 11:02 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by Homo economicus at 11:02 PM on April 15, 2011
The 2 best real time chessplaying sites in my opinion are, ICC internet chess club, and FICS free internet chess server. FICS is free, while ICC charges for a full membership.
posted by Chessbum at 11:02 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by Chessbum at 11:02 PM on April 15, 2011
chessatwork.com is good and free. Slow games, but good games.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:08 PM on April 15, 2011
posted by Sys Rq at 11:08 PM on April 15, 2011
The bloke who made chessatwork.com (aka redhotpawn.com) also made uchess.com for realtime games.
posted by pompomtom at 12:29 AM on April 16, 2011
posted by pompomtom at 12:29 AM on April 16, 2011
My high school team used Stan's Netchess for correspondence chess.
posted by Stephanie Duy at 4:13 AM on April 16, 2011
posted by Stephanie Duy at 4:13 AM on April 16, 2011
Another FICS user here. Why go elsewhere?
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:19 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:19 PM on April 16, 2011
You can play free as a guest at playchess.com. The main limitations of being a guest are you don't get a rating, and you can't select opponents based on ratings. But if you just want a quick game with a probably-reasonable-level opponent, that will work out ok for you.
posted by philipy at 5:00 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by philipy at 5:00 PM on April 16, 2011
Chess.com is free; in real-time; and gives you informal, automatically-updating ratings, as well as a range of options for clocktime and opponent-search.
posted by darth_tedious at 6:03 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by darth_tedious at 6:03 PM on April 16, 2011
The online realtime chess site requiring the absolute least investment is probably uchess.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:48 AM on April 17, 2011
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:48 AM on April 17, 2011
I've also played a bit at Red Hot Pawn/chessatwork.com in the past, and it worked well. I've played more at Queen Alice Internet Chess Club, another correspondence chess site. Red Hot Pawn is free with some features that are subscription-only; Queen Alice is free, donations optional.
You can set the speed of the games, so if you don't want to play a game over the course of months, just be sure to start or accept a game that has a shorter per-move time.
It's been a while since I played, but I preferred the smaller scale of Queen Alice because it made things simpler and easier to navigate. Queen Alice also had comparable features and customizable settings for a nice game experience: e.g. time controls per game, allowance for vacation time, moves history for games played, the ability to download past games in PGN format, and a "think" function where you can try different moves on the board before deciding to make your actual move (helpful for me as a novice).
Just as an FYI: Aside from chessatwork.com, Red Hot Pawn also operates their chess site under a few other domain names, each with a different appearance. So you can choose a different "theme" if you prefer. From their FAQ:
You can set the speed of the games, so if you don't want to play a game over the course of months, just be sure to start or accept a game that has a shorter per-move time.
It's been a while since I played, but I preferred the smaller scale of Queen Alice because it made things simpler and easier to navigate. Queen Alice also had comparable features and customizable settings for a nice game experience: e.g. time controls per game, allowance for vacation time, moves history for games played, the ability to download past games in PGN format, and a "think" function where you can try different moves on the board before deciding to make your actual move (helpful for me as a novice).
Just as an FYI: Aside from chessatwork.com, Red Hot Pawn also operates their chess site under a few other domain names, each with a different appearance. So you can choose a different "theme" if you prefer. From their FAQ:
Why do redhotpawn.com, chessatwork.com, redhotchess.com, timeforchess.com, and theimmortalgame.com exist?posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 8:52 PM on April 18, 2011
Each site is identical. Same users, same games. No difference. They just provided a different look to the same site. For example, chess at work is more suitable for playing, you guessed it, at work! (Where your boss might be about...)
nthing chess.com...especially the phone app (at least on my Android). Also, it doesn't appear that you need to pay money to get a rating.
The app just added live chess but I prefer a few moves a day (which they already had).
posted by screamingnotlaughing at 10:04 AM on April 19, 2011
The app just added live chess but I prefer a few moves a day (which they already had).
posted by screamingnotlaughing at 10:04 AM on April 19, 2011
Thanks to this thread I decided to sign up for FICS, and my handle is MoriaGambit.
Maybe we should make a MeTa thread to swap handles?
posted by philipy at 11:51 AM on April 25, 2011
Maybe we should make a MeTa thread to swap handles?
posted by philipy at 11:51 AM on April 25, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Proginoskes at 10:37 PM on April 15, 2011