Yes, you can… 🙂
I mean, if you've been asking this question – Can I play chess online for free? You can play chess for free on many online platforms. These platforms offer a free sign-up or a free trial, which allows you to play chess for free forever. You can play two players chess, join multiplayer challenges, or even play against the computer for free.
I have been playing free chess games online for more than 5 years, and I have tested so many platforms to use when I want to learn and play chess.
Because of that…
I wanted to share with you my experience with what I believe are the top 10 best sites or chess platforms to play free chess game online.
Play Free Chess Game Online Top 10 Lists
I understand that we often desire to entertain ourselves and enjoy playing chess online for free.
Also, looking for online chess platforms saves you from downloading and installing software to your computer, and playing with your web browser is more easy.
Aside from that…
Many online chess platforms have multiplayer options, allowing players to compete and engage with chess enthusiast from all around the world.
So, in no particular order, here are our top picks and reviews for free internet chess games you can play…
Internet Chess Games For Free
You're a lucky one because just a few years ago, players could only dream of having the resources you have today.
There are so many great chess websites today for playing, learning, and watching chess.
So many of these that you might be confused about what the best sites for chess are.
Don't worry, because today, we are going to count down our top 10 favorite chess websites that you should check out.
We'll start with the number 10 on my lists.
10. Gameknot (gameknot.com)
Starting off our list at number 10 is Gameknot.
This website has been around for quite a long time already.
However, there are still a lot of players here. So finding a good match isn't going to be difficult.
One problem with Gameknot is that it only offers correspondence chess.
This means that when you make a move, your opponent has days to respond.
You can set your games to 2-days per move up to 14-days per move.
Read article about: Important Rules of Who Makes The First Move (Explained)
Correspondence chess allows you to think deeply about every move you make.
However, it can take long for one game to finish.
Without the option of live games, Gameknot has fallen behind other popular chess websites today.
One nice feature of Gameknot, though, is how competitive you can get in here.
Have you ever wanted to be part of a chess team?
In Gameknot, you can join a virtual chess team or create your own.
You can discuss strategy, tactics, and all things chess with your teammates.
And you can battle it out with other teams in tournaments!
If you're not into team games, you can take part in the league system of Gameknot.
When you join, you are going to be placed in league with players that are at the same level as you.
After battling it out with them, the victors will be moved to the higher leagues.
Here you are going to face even tougher opponents.
If you end up at the bottom of your league, you are going to be demoted to a league where weaker players are.
These leagues are very competitive.
Unfortunately, you will have to get premium membership to participate in these leagues.
9. Chess Tempo (chesstempo.com)
Another great website to play chess is Chess Tempo.
Chess Tempo is another website that is alive with plenty of players at all times.
And some features set Chess Tempo aside from other websites.
Chess Tempo is excellent because it doesn't only allow you to play correspondence chess, but also live chess as well!
If you don't want to wait for days before your games finish, you should go for live chess.
You can choose between different time controls, anything from 1-minute games to 45-minute games.
Players also have ratings here, so you have an idea of how strong your opponent is.
What makes Chess Tempo special, though, is not the playing, but rather the training.
Chess Tempo is famous for its comprehensive tactics trainer.
We all know training tactics are one of the best ways to improve your chess.
And Chess Tempo has one of the best tactics training tools around.
It is designed for every level, from beginners right up to advanced tacticians. There is something for everyone with Chess Tempo's tactics trainer.
If you want to study endgames, Chess Tempo has you covered. We all know that endgames are played differently from the rest of the game.
And we know that to improve, we have to study endgames deeply. Once again, Chess Tempo is going to be your friend when it comes to this.
Their fantastic endgame trainer will sharpen your skills in the last stage of a chess match.
You may also like to read about: How to get better at endgames
8. Chessgames.com (chessgames.com)
Not all the best chess websites today have to do with playing chess; others have to do with studying.
You've probably heard by now that one of the best ways to improve is to consider grandmaster games.
In the past, you'd have to collect books to study the great games of the past.
Today, all you need is Chessgames.com.
Chessgames.com has one of the largest databases of chess games.
There are hundreds of years of top-level chess all stored up in this website for you to study.
If you have a favorite player, look them up, and you can see all their games. You can search Kasparov, Fischer, Tal, or even as far back as Steinitz!
Any time you want to study top-level games, Chessgames.com is for you.
You can see exactly how your favorite grandmasters dealt with specific openings and situations.
And you can also really appreciate their playing styles as well.
Check out our article about: The best Chess Game players biggest upsets
7. SparkChess
While chessgames.com is excellent for studying grandmaster games when they are finished, ChessBomb is excellent for watching grandmaster games as they happen!
ChessBomb is the perfect website for watching all the best action as it unfolds.
If you're not into watching grandmasters play, you should change this.
There is so much that you can take away from observing their games.
And it is very entertaining to see the best of the best go head to head as well.
There are a lot of big tournaments that you can watch, and ChessBomb makes it very easy for you to do this.
They are going to show you every move made in real-time.
So if you're cheering your favorite grandmaster, this is going to be very thrilling for you.
What's more, ChessBomb spectators can also access a strong chess engine.
This engine is going to show the best possible moves that the players can make in the position.
So you are going to have a lot of insights on what exactly is happening on the board.
And you will be crossing your fingers, hoping your favorite player finds these fantastic ideas.
6. FIDE Arena in FIDE website
Back to playing chess, have you ever dreamt of attaining a title?
All players do.
Having a title such as FIDE Master, International Master, and of course, Grand Master is exceptional.
It is a significant achievement in chess and something that you can carry with you forever.
The way to get these titles is by joining tournaments and picking up rating points.
In the online world, there is no way that you can do this.
Your online chess ratings are not connected to your official ratings in any way.
So no matter how good you get at online chess, you can't claim one of these prestigious titles.
Things are changing, though.
Recently, FIDE, the official governing body of chess, released the FIDE Arena.
FIDE Arena (check out the official website of FIDE) is an online chess platform that has “official” ratings!
These ratings aren't connected to your offline ratings, but it is possible to attain titles with it.
If you play well, you can get the title of Arena FIDE Masters, Arena International Master, and of course, Arena Grand Master!
Getting these titles is going to be tough, though, because the level of play in the FIDE arena is high.
There are several downsides to the FIDE arena, though.
For one, it isn't a free website.
You have to get a membership to play.
Finding equal opponents can also be a challenge as this isn't quite as popular as other chess websites today.
However, if you can attain an official title, it is all going to be worth it.
Also read about: Playing Quick Online Chess
5. ChessBase (chessbase.com)
One of the most popular chess websites today is ChessBase.
ChessBase is one of the best resources you have for studying chess.
As the name suggests, ChessBase has one of the largest and best chess databases around.
Just like chessgames.com, this is an excellent website for digging up games from the past to study them.
One advantage that ChessBase has, though, is that it also has a strong chess engine integrated into the site.
This chess engine is going to help you with your studies greatly.
Instead of just observing what the grandmasters did, you can see what the engine says the best moves were.
You can also use this engine to help you with your studies on the opening.
Not only will the database show you what the best players have done in a specific opening, but you can also see what the best moves are according to the computer.
So you can go in-depth on the best ways to play a certain opening with the help of ChessBase.
To top it all off, you can also enjoy some quick games in ChessBase as well.
This makes ChessBase a perfect website for both studying and playing chess as well!
Check out this book related to ChessBase here (link to Amazon)
4. ICC (chessclub.com)
The ICC, or Internet Chess Club,is one of the oldest chess servers around.
For the longest time, it was the primary chess website on the internet.
Today, it has fallen behind the big 3. However, it is still very active and is always up there with the very best places to enjoy chess online.
Whenever you want to play chess, there are going to be hundreds of challenges waiting for you here.
But ICC is so much more than just a website for playing chess.
ICC is complete with tactics trainers, article and video lessons, computer analysis, different chess variations, teams, and more!
Plus, there are a lot of titled players who use this site to play online chess.
The only real downside to the ICC is the membership fee. It isn't a free website.
There is a free trial for one month. But after that, you will have to be a member to get in.
However, when you get a taste in the free trial, you will see just how worth it is to get full membership!
3. Chess24 (chess24.com)
Up next is the big 3.
These 3 websites are the best and most popular on the internet today.
They are all complete with a lot of players, tactic trainers, articles and video lessons, computer analysis, mobile versions, and so much more.
And the best part? They are all completely free!
Starting the big three is Chess24.
While Chess24 has it all, most people would rank it slightly lower than the other two in terms of playing experience.
However, it more than makes up for this by its amazing library of videos and lessons.
When it comes to these, no website even comes close to Chess24.
They have the best line-up of grandmasters teaching openings, middlegames, and endgames.
They get deeper into their lessons than anywhere else.
Read more about: 5 popular chess openings that you need to memorize (explained)
Chess24's library is truly a treasure for every chess player who is serious about learning.
Another great thing about Chess24 is their fantastic live coverage of significant events.
Not only do you get to see the moves as they happen, but Chess24 also hosts live-streams where grandmasters analyze the position in real-time.
Watching these will make the game a lot more interesting for you.
And the hosts who are very good at chess but also very entertaining will keep you watching for hours and hours.
The only reasons why Chess24 lags behind the other two are due to its ever-so-slightly inferior playing experience and tactics trainer.
In Chess24, you can only play standard chess with limited time controls.
Other than that, Chess24 is the perfect chess website.
Also, read our article about “learning chess online” click the link to learn more!
2. Lichess (lichess.org)
Again, like the other big 3, Lichess has it all.
Everything that you can want from a chess website, Lichess has it for you.
The best part? Lichess is 100% free.
Of course, the other 2 can be enjoyed completely free.
However, they do have some premium features (not a lot) that require membership.
Lichess, on the other hand, is wholly kept alive by donations and volunteers.
This is why you are never going to have to pay a single penny to enjoy everything that Lichess has to offer.
One of the things that Lichess beats the other two is the analysis board they have.
In Lichess, you can deeply analyze all the games you have played.
What's more, you can also import other games, or try potential positions to see what the best moves are.
You don't need to go to another website to get all of your analyses done any more thanks to Lichess.
What's more, their tactics trainer is based on real-game situations.
This means that all the tactical puzzles they give you happened in real games.
The problem with solving randomly generated puzzles is that you are never going to see anything similar to them in practical chess.
Lichess tactics trainer, on the other hand, will provide you with situations you are very likely to encounter in your games.
1. Chess.com (chess.com)
We've had a look at 9 incredible chess websites. By now, you should have all you need to enjoy online chess to the fullest.
But if you are looking for the best of the best, the only website that you need for a complete online chess experience, you should go to chess.com.
Chess.com is complete with absolutely everything.
And while Lichess and Chess24 also have everything you need, Chess.com does it better than these two.
- The playing experience is incredible here.
- The tactics trainer will train you to become a lot better.
- There is a fantastic forum where you can discuss everything chess related.
- They have some amazing video series on chess lessons.
- There are so many chess articles that you can read to learn.
- They have some exciting tournaments to follow.
- They have live coverage of significant events.
- They have a reliable computer analysis board.
- And so much more.
If there could only be one chess website, it would be chess.com.
Read more about chess.com review here
Wrapping Up
There you go, that's a great list of best free online chess (to learn and watch) that you can find on the internet…
If you want to play and learn more about chess and don't have anybody to play with, you can browse this list for your convenience.
The best part of playing chess online is that you don't need to have a physical board anymore.
You can experience the same excitement with playing chess online.
And a bonus with some of the website is they can teach you tactics and other strategies in chess… 🙂
Feel free to share this list with your friends or family who loves to play chess.
Have fun playing chess online!
