Where are some great places to play internet chess,
particularly ones that have nice looking boards and
pieces. Any advice would be appreciated.
Try gameknot.com
very nice graphcs and good competition and free if you only play 6 games
Try freechess.org
Enjoy,
AJG
CoachBob:
Thanks I have joined. After you finnished 4 games you can start to play one more game that would give seven; each time you finnish 4 games you get to play one more game to a max of 20 games. If a person want they can be a paid member and what plan you want can get up to have 200 active games.
Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, Local TD
12313120
After playing on Gameknot for a while,I joined for a few bucks and this allows you to play in a Challenge League and on Teams;I like League play very much and have just started Team play.
Sometimes if your opponent is online,you can almost finish a game in 1 or 2 days!!!
CoachBob:
It is not that bad, do like the place. Thought of being a paid member, then again how many games from the internet are needed. My chessknot handle is localtdforsythe if you want to play a few games of chess.
Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, local td
12313120
Nothing beats free Yahoo.com chess.
I’d play at uschesslive but that requires a download and I only get internet at the library.
Note: Uschesslive is no longer in existence; the new server is simply called Chess-Live because it is international. As an (SR)™ [Service Representative, Tournament Manager] on the site, I encourage everyone to go to chess-live.com and sign up as a USCF member. There are even greater perks to paying and becoming a Royal member.
amazed no one said chessclub.com
GM’s, IM’s, FM’s are regularly there.
Do know players that go to chesclub.com, it is not free for the mass amount of players. Thought of the idea to join, it is not the reason that GM and IM, or other titled people go there. For the ones that join and wish to talk with a titled player, then talk to a titled player in a way that only plays too the ego – the few titled people I know, would find that very annoying. The marketing, that a chess player could bump into a titled player, the membership is way to rich just to chat and play a titled player, if and only if a titled player would play me.
Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, Local TD
12313120
Well, they also have have many tournaments, free lectures, live coverage of world-wide events and a great support staff.
Yes, chessclub.com a.k.a. ICC. It IS the Internet Chess Club. Come join, try a 14 day free trial (2, 7-day free trials). If you’re a USCF member, you can get a 30 day free trial on top of that.
No other site compares.
A 30 day free trial with ICC, because I am a member of the USCF. It sounds good, have been more of a player that likes rated games, the over-the-board rated games. Just have a problem to join up for 30 days and then leave after my free trial is over.
Earnest,
Douglas M. Forsythe, local td
12313120
I used to play on FICS but tend to use ICC now a days. Tried http://playchess.com/ a bit since it came with my Fritz 8 upgrade. Playchess.com interfaces with Fritz 8.0 and that interface is nice. Seems like fewer players on playchess.com.
Chris Roberts
I invite you to take the chess player opinion poll at http://home.comcast.net/~zugz/
Admittedly, I am biased about the subject, being an admin on FICS (and had been an admin, SR, and TM at what was then USCL–now known as Chess-Live)…I would simply point out that both ICC and Chess-Live both require paid memberships to get full benefits of the servers, while on FICS, all you have to do is register at freechess.org (and please understand that you never have to pay membership dues at FICS) 
And, I think it is fair to say that the functionality at FICS is similar to ICC, since after all FICS was there first! ICC was spawned from FICS, right?
One thing I don’t like entirely about online chess is that I don’t get the same motivation to beat my opponent as I do when I play against a person across the table. Even for long time controls, I tell myself to move slower, but I don’t think twice about the move and make the move. Then when I blunder, I just click resign.
So my question is, not how to motivate myself online (because I can’t) but will playing these half minded games deteriorate my game, and make me careless in actual playing situations? Or make my focus even sharper during taournaments?
I agree that you bear down more against a live opponent. There is no resign button in OTB play, no take back. Mono Y Mono. It is just more serious. It also impacts your “real” rating rather than your online rating that, as you know, can be inflated or impacted by the widespread cheating in online chess.
One 2500 player I know tells me to play no Blitz – well, Blitz for fun but not improvement – and to focus on serious study if I want to improve. Another 2500 player I know advised me to spend half my time playing Blitz. Both have been State champions. So, to each his own I guess.
I can tell you that many moons ago when I was in High School I cut my teeth on Blitz and had a great time. Later, I moved from 1600 to 1800 by playing Blitz with an expert at work every day at lunch. He clobbered me for months but I learned and improved. It was painful. 
We would play the same openings back at each other and study them at night. More battle with new ideas the next day.
The best is playchess.com ran by chessbase. I like ICC as well except for the interface. Also, the best free sit is chessanytime.com. Anand is on there all the time.