I’m almost embarrassed to say I’ve played 10s of 1000s of games on ICC. Despite an almost complete lack of customer support and arcane interface they are by far the best. Their educational programming is second to none, well worth several times the $70/yr price (you have to pay extra on PlayChess for that kind of material). Seems like they have at least 20 hrs/week of free programming that you can listen to/watch any time. Highly recommended.
I also play slow server games on letsplaychess.com. Also recommended.
Both sites have cheating problems, unfortunately. The bane of online chess.
When a 1600 player beats me 10 g/3s in a row he’s either using a computer or someone is playing for him. ICC claims to have an algorithm to catch the former, but I doubt it can be effective. You don’t need to pick Fritz’s best move to beat me!! And it’s impossible for the server to tell if someone is helping a player. ICC management seems to be unaware of this.
On the slow chess server, if you claim a 1400 OTB ELO in your profile and sport a 2200 rating then you are using a computer.
I play FICS when I feel like playing blitz, although that’s usually late at night, or listening to music, so I never feel like I’m playing my best online. I enjoy it, but I can’t focus on it in the same way I do OTB.
I also keep a handful of correspondence games going on Queenalice.com. A nice little free server. Its far from perfect, but I liked it better than Gameknot and a few others I tried a few years ago, so have stuck with it.
I play ICC exclusively. For those of us who live in the middle of nowhere, online chess is often the only way we can play often. I find the price well worth the enjoyment I get from ICC.
Thats exactly why I play online chess. I live in a rural area in KY. There is a major university in town (and by all accounts, its fairly progressive city because of it), but there isn’t a lot of options for playing OTB chess if you work 2nd shift. The nearest weekend “club” is an hour away and meets Saturday afternoons for only a couple hours. Not the ideal OTB option for me.
If you want slow chess try chessworld.net where the time control varies from 1 move every 2 days [tournament time control] up to 1 move every 30 days. This is almost postal chess for the internet, except that I have found most players will usually make 1 move every 1 day no matter what the time control. I like that it has players from around the world and that you can see (by the country flag) where they are from. For faster forms of chess [i.e. G/3-g/15] I will either go on FISC or onto Chesscube [which is accessable via Chesscountry.com], but I now avoid the Yahoo or MSN chess sites. It is a shame that the USCF couldn’t somehow tie into the Yahoo or MSN chess sites as a potential draw or connection to/from the general (chess) public.
I have used ICC and liked it playing fiv ( 5 ) with assigned pairings) since they raised their fees I have played on playchess.com and it is OK. I still play mostly 5 0 . I fool around on chess.com but the Live chess is hard to get a game and the cc chess it is hard to figure out if your opponent is a person or engine. Also I do not like how the site infects my computer.
ICC is probably the best but it has become more expensive.
Surprised that no one recommended Gameknot.com It is not really for anything but slow (2-days to 14-day per move) but it has many great features, such as an openings database, that makes playing there a nice learning experience. Because I am a lower rated player I do not gain anything from playing the blitz and bullet chess like on ICC or other sites. I have a Playchess.com account, but use it only for watching the high level games when they are broadcast live. If you want the training tutorials and such to help with your learning experience then I recommend ICC.
Gameknot is not a slow time control chess place. By slow time control chess we all mean live chess that is slower than 15 minutes per side. The usual time control at most places is Game 45 45, where each person has 45 minutes on his clock to begin with and receives an extra 45 seconds increment added to his time for each move he makes. This brings the game on the internet more like a standard, slower time control game over the board, something like Game 80 with a 5 second delay, for instance.
I play on Gameknot, Queen Alice, Playchess.de, ChessHere.com and the IECG server. They are all internet sites that are server run and more like correspondence chess than any of the live chess types seen on ICC, FICS and Playchess.com. I also like the “days per move” option because I can use it to study and practice my openings. It is also nice to set up a particular position from one of my games on a real chess set and board and analyze.