{"id":3350,"date":"2022-05-02T14:54:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T14:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/?p=3350"},"modified":"2022-07-14T21:47:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T21:47:37","slug":"best-chess-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/best-chess-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"(Confirmed) The Best Online Chess Websites and Why!"},"content":{"rendered":"

⭐⭐⭐ Take 11 minutes to read and improve your chess game ➡️ : This article was first published on, and is Copyright of Chessquestions.com<\/p>\n

You are a chess player who has tried a few online chess sites or is thinking of checking some out but have not decided on the best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a lot of different online chess sites to choose from, and it can be hard to know which one is right for you. Different sites offer different features, and it’s important to find one that fits the things you are looking for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be looking for daily correspondence chess or the quicker, live rapid chess options like blitz for quick games. You might want to solve chess puzzles, or get some chess courses or training and watch videos too, to assist, I’m improving your chess game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have compiled a list and taken into account all of the aspects that could be considered, with handy reference tables for a quick view of what each chess site features, as well as some more in-depth commentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope it helps<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Chess Websites Compared<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Options<\/th>Chess.com<\/th>Chess24<\/th>Lichess<\/th>Playchess<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Premium<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>⛔<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Live Chess<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Rapid<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Correspondence<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>⛔<\/td><\/tr>
Computer<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>⛔<\/td><\/tr>
Tournaments<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Puzzles<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Lessons<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Live Streams<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
News<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>⛔<\/td>⛔<\/td><\/tr>
Rankings<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr>
Videos<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td>✅<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Best Chess Websites Reviewed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I do not use all the websites listed here to play chess online but use chess.com<\/a>, chess24<\/a>, and Lichess most often. For the others, I have spent some considerable time learning about each, playing chess games, and investigating all features for these reviews and the chess site comparison above<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chess.com<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The number one website for playing chess online is chess.com<\/a>. It has the flexibility to offer both daily correspondence games<\/a> as well as live rapid games across a wide selection of time controls but that’s not all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ll find chess lessons, tactics training<\/a>, game analysis, video lessons, and much more to improve your chess skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chess.com can be enjoyed with a free account, but there are options for premium membership, which allows more ways to learn chess<\/a> and analyzing games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Premium users gain full access to live streams where you can often enjoy major tournaments, watch grandmasters<\/a> play, and many resources and unlimited access that is not available in the free version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The biggest online chess site in the world, and the first one I ever signed up for when looking to play chess online it is huge. I first registered for a free basic membership, playing the computer and other players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had no idea how vast the site was and began analyzing my games and investigating the site to see what else was on offer. Being limited, the amount of research, analysis<\/a>, and puzzles I could complete, I soon registered a premium account and today have the platinum level, which for the time I spend on the site, works out excellent value for money. I have certainly become a better chess<\/a> player after signing up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chess24<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A favorite for chess players all over the world, Chess24<\/a>, is one of the most popular chess websites to play games in either correspondence style games or live chess formats. They have an excellent chess app to play online games and get chess instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much so, that I would say, the ‘Play Magnus<\/a>‘ owned site is the best for improving your chess abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The playing experience at Chess24<\/a> is generally agreed to be slightly below that of the main rivals chess.com and lichess, but they have an extensive video library and even more when going premium allowing deeper analysis and also participation in events like Banter Blitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The site is slick, looks good and the money spent is obvious to the eye, however, from a playing perspective, it just doesn’t quite deliver for me personally like chess.com or Lichess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s not to say it is not good, it works, it is clear and the user interface is excellent, perhaps I am a little too used to playing elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with chess.com, to analyze your games you will require a premium membership starting at 14.99 a month, although this can come down to around 90 with one of the frequent promotions that are available.<\/a> I signed up using a deal, which effectively lowers membership to just 7.50 a month when paid annually in advance, and that’s pretty good value for everything that is behind the paywall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I particularly like chess24 for the news section<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lichess<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lichess is one of the best sites for playing live games of chess and you’ll find many top players as well as titled players<\/a> enjoying Lichess over other websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic membership is all you need at Lichess as well, there are no premium options which makes playing on this site easy and enjoyable which is why it is one of the top online chess sites in my list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I really enjoy puzzles, I mean, like too much, and the great thing here is you can play an unlimited number of them without having to upgrade to a paid plan where other sites have a daily limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really like the playing experience on Lichess too it has a really smooth feel and a wide range of time control options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best thing though is the practice area, there are close to 300 practice lessons, with tactics training that will really up your chess game<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Playchess<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Play real games of chess online with playchess.com which comes from the fantastic chessbase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A superb site with a ton of options particularly from a learning perspective and it provides an insight into the quality of the paid products available from chessbase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of playing chess, you can play against Fritz chess program that plays like a human and makes subtle mistakes for you to take advantage of, or you can play normal games with a time control of your choice, as a beginner where you get hints within the game, or you can enter a tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I like the user experience when playing games, it’s not better than others, but the part of playchess that is the most promising is the interactive video series lessons with real chess players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only problem is, that I have never been able to get them to work beyond question 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may just be me, but it always fails, which is nothing if not frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you don’t even need to register an account to play here, you can register for a free account or there is a premium membership which is cheaper than elsewhere at less than $50 per year, but in terms of value, doesn’t offer quite as much as can be gained for spending a little more with other sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Internet Chess Club (ICC)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beginning way back in the early days of the internet in 1995, the ICC at chessclub.com is one of the first online chess websites to have been founded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And being one of the first it used to be the most popular, but as one of the oldest chess servers, it has been overtaken by those mentioned above although it retains a loyal and excellent chess community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may not be the best website for playing chess online, but the learning center, video series, and puzzles are excellent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So yeah, great for learning, but playing does require registration and software download which is a bit of a bind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Free Internet Chess Server (FICS)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We do it for the game, not for the money, say the Free Internet Chess Server, which is all very well, but it’s pretty obvious with a poor-looking website, and the necessity to download software to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thought was originally a good one to offer free chess play when ICC started charging, but it now finds itself way down the list of preferred sites to play chess on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again it has a loyal base of users, but they are very few in comparison with other websites to play chess on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GameKnot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Free online chess games<\/p>\n\n\n\n