Top Three Online Chess Sites
I like playing chess, but don't have anyone locally I can play against. So, I've had to resort to playing online chess, but, as it
pertains to that, have found playing live chess online unsatisfying because, one, it can be time consuming sitting at the computer
waiting for your opponent to move, and two, if you're ahead and your opponent knows it, often they'll just leave, and most of the
time the game won't be counted in your favor.
Therefore, I have found that the online chess organizations I've set myself up to play in work well for me. There are three I'm
going to highlight here.
The first is the very first one I joined over 10 years ago, the International Email Chess
Club, isn't as much an online chess organization as much as it is an email chess club. You sign up on this page, where
you can view other games as well as historical games, and some chess software, which allows you to plot your moves within a
program without having to write everything down. It also offers many different ways to play games, either one person at a time
or multiple people and games at once, in many different varieties including thematic games, where some of the moves have already
been made.
All games are played by email, reported by email, and if there are problems reported to moderators, volunteers all around the
world. They even have someone to coach you through the first game or two, just to make sure you understand not only the rules
of the game, but the etiquette of email chess. I have met some wonderful people over the years through this forum, but it's the
toughest to play because players can take up to 10 days to make a move at times, and those who are really dedicated and patient
players will show their talent more than someone like me, who likes to make most moves within 30 seconds.
There is no limit to how many games you can play, but you can only play against people within your own level in almost all of the
games, which means you'll never be matched against someone you shouldn't be playing to begin with.
The next online site to talk about is called Scheming Mind, and it's a true online
chess site. It's free to join, but you can only play eight games at a time, which for most people is enough, unless you get into
a tournament, which you can get into one every three or four months. I pay $20 a year for the right to play as many games as I
wish to, and of course to help the guy who created the site out, as I met him through playing email chess and he seems like a
good guy. The rankings seem more realistic by my count, and if your opponent starts a game and then stops making moves, you get
credit for the win and the points associated with it, whether less than ten moves were made or not; that seems fair to me. I have
tried playing some of the different types of games here, including one called Atomic 960 where one can make multiple pieces
disappear by taking one that's attached to others. You receive notification that it's your move through email.
The final online site is called Net Chess, and it's probably one of the largest
groups. You can play as many games as you wish to, all for free. I made the mistake once of getting myself into 60 games at
once; that almost drove me insane. You can both join and set up your mini- tournaments, or you can challenge one person to a
game. You also get to set the time limits if you create the game, as well as the levels of the players you get to play against.
I rarely join a game where the players are ranked more than 400 points higher than myself.
One of the minor complaints about this game, though I don't have a real problem with it, is that you can get ranked really high
for doing absolutely nothing. My ranking on this site at the present time is 1850; I know I'm not anywhere near a real 1850
player. You won't earn any points if your opponent disappears and you didn't get to 10 moves, but it doesn't mean you won't
get mega points from other players who just stop playing. Also, since almost all the games are mini tournaments, one really
has to pay attention to how many games they're actually getting involved in, the speed of the games (3 days, 7 days, 30
days, etc) as well as how many days are added after each move. But I like this site because, for the most part, people
tend to move fairly fast.
All three of these are quality sites and organizations, so depending on what you like, I recommend you check each one of them out.
