Aug
Where to play chess online – part II. FICS (Freechess.org)
Freechess.org (also known as Free Internet Chess Server – FICS) was the first place, where I started to play chess online seriously. Before that time I played on some servers, but Freechess.org gave me the real feeling of educated chess community for the very first time.
At these days FICS has more than 300000 registered users and this huge number makes it one of the largest internet chess servers where you can play chess over the internet for free.
Functions on FICS are quite expected from chess server. You can play single games with any time limit, you can play tournament (I remember one where I even took some prize), you can attend chess lessons or chat with other users. Of course, games could be rated or unrated – depending on your choice during setup the game.
There is also a choice of different chess rules and you can play games in suicide chess, bughouse etc.
To be able to play chess on FICS you need a client. Yes, playing through browser is not possible. Or do you know about any plugin to Firefox for example? I am using WinBoard client. The control of your activities on FICS through WinBoard is a bit user unfriendly – it is in “unix mode”, so you have to write your commands on classic command line. Maybe there are better clients for FICS from this perspective, but you know – old habit is old habit.
When I have time, I usually try to participate in blitz tournaments (5 minutes per game) on Saturday and Monday. My nick is nyxcia and I would be happy to meet you on FICS.
August 20th, 2009 at 5:59 am
http://www.babaschess.net/ is one of most popular client, you should mention it just for the sake of its popularity.
Also, there is a client called Jin that you can play on your browser if you have Java installed.
Just click on ‘Login Now’ on the left side of freechess.org, and you’ll start Jin :)
August 20th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Thank you for adding another clients! It is very helpful. Also, good to know that one can play on FICS through browser.
August 20th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I have played a few games on FICS using babas chess,it is a
very good interface.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I prefer instantchess just for a quick game, I used to play over
FICS and ICC back in old days.
September 30th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
[...] P.S. If you don’t know what FICS is, read my post Where to play chess online – part II. FICS (Freechess.org) [...]